Page 103 of Love Bites Extra Hard

“As long as he doesn’t hurt you again.”

I grabbed my phone and hit the button to call Izzy, remaining pressed against Talon as I held the phone to my ear. It rang a few times before she answered.

“Hey, Avery. Is everything okay?”

“Yep,” I said. “Quick question—how hard is it to learn to weave magic?”

There was a moment’s pause.

I’d probably caught her off guard.

“Not easy,” she finally said. “Are you in trouble? I’m sure we can find a way out of it without you needing to learn that shit. It’s… dark. It feels dark, at least. It always made me feel fucked up. Are you sure you want to deal with that?”

I bit my lip.

She had a point.

I did have a slight problem with the power-high I felt when I was in control of people, sometimes. I’d definitely been humbled when Sylvester nearly killed me, but still.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn how to manipulate anyone.

“Maybe not,” I finally said. “I don’t think anything else would work, though. The thing we’re trying to do isn’t something you can manage with brute force.”

“Clem has never had a problem with her magic. You could ask her to do whatever it is,” Izzy suggested. “Or you could have her teach you. She sees the power differently than I do, anyway, so she’d be a better teacher.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I agreed. “Thank you.”

“No problem. If it becomes a brute force thing, just let us know, okay?”

“Will do. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

We hung up, and I sent Clementine a quick text, asking her to call me when she was back from the fae realm.

Dropping my phone, I lowered my face to Talon’s neck. “I probably shouldn’t learn the magic. I like being in control of people too much. It’s not healthy.”

“Some people are just control freaks, Ave. Welcome to the club. It’s shitty here.”

My lips curved upward. “We’re not in the same club. I never would’ve been able to sleep outside your door for a month the way you did with mine.”

He chuckled. “Maybe I’m not as much of a control freak as I could be. But I did keep everyone else away from you.”

“With the strength of a truly stubborn asshole.”

His chest rumbled with humor. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I think we’re going to have to let Clem come here to use her magic on him, if we want to kill him without risking anyone’s life. My power is stronger than hers, but it’s raw and wild. Hers is a weapon. With the combination of both, and the way we know he reacts to my power, we should be able to finally take him down.”

“I’m sure none of the dragons will have a problem with her and Kai coming to help. Everyone wants him dead.”

“Then it’s a plan,” I said.

A shitty plan—but maybe one that would actually work.

eighteen

AVERY

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