Page 62 of Love Bites Extra Hard

Her gaze shot to me, her eyes widening in a way that made my heart sink. “Why do you want to know?”

“Talon lost his scales. He gave them to me,” I said. “But I think you know that.”

Her face was draining of its color, but she nodded. “I’ll tell you everything after we’re done with this.”

I bit back a demand that she tell me everythingnow. Before anything else happened.

But dealing with Sylvester would make my escape from Talon so much easier.

So, I nodded.

She looked relieved.

We reached the prison door, and she pulled it open so we could both slip through. When she jogged to Sylvester’s cell, I did the same, though I had to work harder than her to keep up. Stella’s legs weremuchlonger than mine.

There were a handful of guards crowded around the cell, all of them talking animatedly. Most were men, but there was one other woman in the mix.

“She’s ready. You’re all going to have to go to the back of the hallway,” Stella announced, waving them all behind us.

A few of them grumbled, but they all moved away. Something told me they were all too afraid to risk Talon’s wrath by staying close. He’d nearly lost his mind the last time I used a big blast of my magic on Sylvester.

“You’ve got this,” Stella said, her gaze meeting mine. “I’m not going anywhere. If I do something weird, we’ll agree never to speak of it again.”

I nodded.

I was too nervous about the outcome of what was going to happen—and the conversation that followed it—to say anything else.

So, I stepped up to the cell door and wrapped my hands around the bars like I had those first days. Stella stepped up next to me and grabbed two other bars. She didn’t pin me to the door like Talon had, of course. Something told me she was using her grip on the cell to brace herself against my magic.

After a glance over my shoulder to make sure everyone else was out of the way, I focused on the bastard in the cell and pushed my magic forward.

It swelled smoothly but quickly, making Stella gasp as it overwhelmed her.

Sylvester shuddered in a way I’d never seen before. It seemed to tear through his whole body, despite his scales.

He sank to the floor, his hands to his head and his body trembling.

I ramped up my magic, pouring everything I had into it.

He made a sound of desperation and crawled over to the door, but didn’t shift.

I hit him harder.

He was panting.

Grabbing himself over the scales that covered his cock.

Mumbling words that sounded like gibberish.

I finally dropped my magic when I couldn’t hold it anymore. My heart pounded, my breathing heavy and ragged as I turned back to Stella and shook my head.

The hope in her eyes died slowly.

“If you put me in the cell, I can do it,” I said.

“I can’t, Avery.” Her gaze was pleading.

“You can.”

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