Love Bites Extra Hard (Mated to the King #5)

Chapter 8

eight

AVERY

Talon showed up the next morning with breakfast again. The circles under his eyes were darker, but I still didn’t bring it up.

I couldn’t help but look sideways at the man as he sat next to me on the edge of the bed. I’d had time to get dressed, and had decided to go with my own clothes just in case Talon wanted his things back.

He eyed the folded pile while I started eating, then grabbed a clean pair of thick socks from his pocket and tugged them over my feet.

“You’re not cold today?” he asked.

I swallowed the food in my mouth, and cleared my throat. “I am.”

“Then why don’t you wear the hoodie?”

“I thought you might want it back.”

He scowled. “I gave it to you.”

“For the day.”

“For as long as you want it.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I went back to my food. “If this takes much longer, at some point, I’m going to need a ride back to Mistwood.”

“I have no idea how long it’s going to take.”

I didn’t either.

“In a few weeks, we can make the trip back,” he said.

“Maybe Stella can loan me some clothes that fit better? I try to dress well. For safety. Looking… attractive… is the best kind of protection a siren has.”

“You don’t need that kind of protection here.” His voice was low and gravelly.

Stella had said it was impossible for a bond to form between us over time, but I didn’t want to take a risk.

“Wearing my own clothes could help me avoid becoming your fated mate. Wearing yours is kind of intimate. I know you’re already a little possessive, and Stella told me all dragons are like that when they’ve slept with someone, but?—”

He interrupted me. “The way you dress isn’t going to stop a mate bond. It’s not like a monster’s imprint. If a dragon is fated to you, they’ll be fated whether you’re naked or wearing a snowsuit and a mask over your face.”

I bit my lip.

He finally took a bite of his food, chewed, and swallowed. “And we haven’t slept together.”

There was a growl in his voice.

My face warmed.

Right.

He’d just… gotten me off.

And the way he’d growled told me he must’ve been annoyed that I suggested us sleeping together.

Was he not attracted to me? He had felt attracted to me when I drank from him, but maybe my magic didn’t affect him like that anymore. Or maybe he wasn’t interested in me because of it.

Maybe he thought it was unnatural or something. My ex had thought so. He despised it when I used my magic on him, even when he forced me to.

I made myself refocus on my breakfast.

I didn’t want Talon anyway.

Or I wouldn’t want him, if we actually screwed. I never wanted the same guy twice.

And he obviously didn’t want to be fated to me, so hopefully, we would be safe from that.

We finished eating in silence, and he took my plate again as I stopped in the bathroom to brush my teeth the same way I had the day before.

He was gone when I came back out. After I pulled his hoodie over my head, I couldn’t stop myself from tiptoeing over to the basket of scales and peeking in.

There were so many.

I took my bottom lip between my teeth and glanced at the door.

The dresser would look so much better with them on it. And I might have enough time to arrange them.

My teeth dug into my lip harder.

After a moment of silent debate, I crossed the room and quickly locked the door. Then, I went back to the basket, and pulled out an armload of scales.

The weird, obsessive part of me was thick with satisfaction as I spread my scales over the dresser, taking care to make sure each of them was situated just right.

Talon knocked on the door while I was adjusting the position of the last one. My basket still had more in it, and I was itching to put them on the bookshelf.

“Avery?” He sounded calmer than he had earlier.

“Just a minute,” I called out, grabbing my basket by the handles and carrying it over to the shelf. I liked books—but I liked scales more.

Which was literally insane.

But somehow still true.

I pulled all the books off the top shelf and arranged my scales there, before stepping back and studying it.

Perfect.

Talon knocked again. “Is everything okay?”

Maybe it had been a few minutes.

Or ten.

Or fifteen.

Oops.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a second.”

I loaded all of the books into the basket, and carried it to the door. The poor basket was straining under the weight of them as I pulled it open and held it out to Talon.

His eyebrows lifted, just slightly.

“Here.” I held it out toward him a little more. “You can have your basket back. And your books.”

He looked past me, into the room, and his eyes darkened when he saw the scales on the dresser.

I opened my mouth to tell him he could still have them back, but the words that came out were entirely different.

“They’re mine now.”

His lips curved, slightly. Like he was trying to fight a smile but failing.

He headed down the hall, and I headed with him. We only walked a few feet before he stopped in front of a door, and opened it.

I frowned.

Whose room were we going into?

I peeked in as he stepped inside, and my eyes widened as I saw the large, open space. There was a kitchen to one side, and a simple living room with a TV across from a comfortable-looking couch. Two doors stood open, and I could see part of a bed through one of them and a desk through the other.

The whole room smelled so thickly of Talon, there was no question it was his. I took in a deep breath, and something in me settled.

He set the basket down near the door, and I noticed two more identical baskets, both bigger than the one I’d filled with books. They were stacked together, with the medium one inside the biggest one. Both were empty.

“Want to look around?” he asked me, apparently noticing the way I was staring at everything, taking it in.

“I’m okay,” I said, forcing myself to stay put. “Stella is probably waiting for us.”

“She gets there at six every morning,” he agreed. “She only leaves every evening because she knows I’ll drag her ass to therapy if she doesn’t.”

He slipped out of the room, and we headed downstairs together.

“She seems to blame herself for his actions,” I said.

“She does. Hence the therapy.”

“Have you actually done it? Taken her to therapy?”

“Many times. I don’t think she’s really going to have closure until he’s dead.”

“I can’t imagine what the situation must’ve done to her,” I admitted. “It’s bad enough when you care about someone and they hurt you , but to find out they did that to your friends ? Hurt them? Killed them?” I shook my head, my throat swelling.

If Wendell had so much as touched one of my sisters, everything that had happened between us would’ve played out and ended much, much sooner.

Talon stopped.

Abruptly.

His hand was on my wrist, holding me in place. “Who hurt you?”

His voice was low.

Dark.

A lump lodged itself in my throat. “No one.”

“Avery,” he growled my name.

“I don’t talk about it.”

“You just did.”

“My sisters don’t even know. I don’t talk about it.” I pulled my wrist free from his grip, and padded down the stairs. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“You can talk to me.”

“I don’t know you. You don’t know me. And you don’t even like the idea of sleeping with me. Why would I tell you anything?”

He made a strangled noise. “Why the fuck would you think I don’t like the idea of sleeping with you.”

“You turned me down when I told you to take your pants off. Then left me in bed alone.”

“I’m being respectful.”

“Finger-fucking someone isn’t respectful . It’s hot, and it feels amazing, but it’s not respect.”

He made a sound of frustration. “Fine. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about you thinking I don’t want to sleep with you.”

“I mentioned dragons being possessive of people they’re sleeping with. You pointed out that we aren’t sleeping together. That seemed like a pretty clear statement.”

“I was trying to say that’s not why I’m possessive of you. Not that I don’t want to sleep with you. Obviously, I do.”

“Then why are you possessive of me?”

He grunted. “It’s… complicated.”

It took him a minute to come up with the right word, but the right word didn’t impress me. “Does it have something to do with Jamie? Stella said it might.”

He didn’t answer right away.

I must’ve guessed correctly.

“Stella told me you only slept together once, and it wasn’t good. Did you have feelings for her anyway?”

“No.”

I eyed him, waiting for more of an explanation.

He finally admitted, “We were like siblings. I was almost as close with her as I was with Stella. Everyone kept telling us we had chemistry, but neither of us had ever felt it. A few decades back, Kai sent us a few bottles of fae wine after I helped him deal with a mess in his wing of the Manor, so we all broke them open together. Our friend group. There were eight of us. The wine hit hard, and everyone paired off. They were fucking in the bathroom. Under a blanket on a couch a few yards away from us. In a closet.”

Oh.

Wow.

“Jamie and I were just as drunk as the rest of them. She asked if I wanted to try it, to see if they were right about the chemistry. I agreed, and we went to the bedroom. She took her clothes off and touched me, but I couldn’t even get it up.” He shook his head, grimacing. Almost looking disgusted. “She obviously wasn’t turned on either. We laughed it off and decided never to speak of it again, but some of our friends were done hooking up when we got back out to the couch. They saw us come out together, and we told them we did the deed.”

“Damn.”

“We solidified ourselves as siblings after that. And no, I don’t see you the way I saw her. Obviously. But regardless, I don’t want any woman near the fucker in that cage.”

I took his arm, wrapping my hand around his bicep. He glanced over at me, surprised by the contact.

I’d surprised myself with it too, but I didn’t want to go back.

It felt too right.

“It was my ex,” I said quietly. “Wendell. He was a wolf shifter. And he’s dead, so you don’t need to do the possessive king thing and threaten to kill him.”

Talon’s body tensed, but we kept walking. “I guess you’re used to the possessive king thing.”

“My sisters are always talking about it,” I agreed. “And Hale acts like he’s my brother at this point, so there’s no avoiding it.”

We reached the door that led to the prison, and he pulled it open.

“We’ve been working on getting phone service out here,” he said. “In another month, it’ll be ready.”

“I can’t wait a month to text my sisters. They’re going to think I’m dead.”

“I’ll fly you out to text them. How long can we wait?”

“Two weeks at the most. They’re going to be freaking out.”

He nodded. “There’s a place in the sky not too far from here. I can fly you there when we hit two weeks.”

I didn’t get the chance to ask why he wanted to wait before we reached the end of the hallway. Stella was already there, and sitting with another guard, as expected. She grinned at me, and I smiled back.

“I’ll come back with lunch,” Talon said, glancing at Stella before looking back at me.

I nodded, and took the guard’s seat as I sat next to Stella. Him and Talon headed away, leaving us alone.

“Ready to knock this fucker’s socks off?” she asked, her voice upbeat.

I laughed, and could’ve sworn I heard Talon growl from the far side of the hall.

“Definitely.”

Talon walked me back to my room that night, like he had the past two.

“This is going to take a long time,” I warned, biting back a suggestion that I needed to go into his cage if we actually wanted to make Sylvester shift.

“I’m not in a hurry.”

Was I?

I supposed I hadn’t thought about it. I did want to get back to my sisters, but I wasn’t truly missing them. Not the way I had back in Vamp Manor, when I was alone all the time.

I would never admit it to them, but it had been lonely when they all paired off and left me behind. I was glad they were happy, but it was hard to be the one person who was left out.

Especially when being left out meant I was the only one who was trapped in Vamp Manor for my safety.

But the dragons needed me.

I was safe in their castle. I was free, there. Even without a mate.

The time wasn’t passing painfully slow anymore.

I was having fun. And when I wasn’t having fun, I was making a difference. Or trying to, at least.

Talon led me down a new hallway, and I frowned at him. “Where are we going?”

“It’s been a while since you went swimming. Thought I’d show you where you can swim here.”

Ohh.

Yes, please.

“I’ll need a swimsuit, unless your unreasonable possessiveness is going to allow me to swim in the nude,” I warned.

He pulled a bundle of fabric from his pocket and lifted it up, dangling the skimpiest bikini I’d brought off his fingertips. “I stopped in your room on my way down.”

“That is a very dangerous swimsuit, Tal.” I snagged the dark red fabric away from him and tucked it in the pocket of my borrowed hoodie.

“Dangerous how?”

“Clementine calls it my Vamp Killer swimsuit. When I wear it, the male vampires can’t look away. One of them almost drowned once, a few months back.”

Talon’s chest rumbled. “Fortunately for them, they aren’t here.”

“It might kill dragons, too.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’ve already warned them all to vacate the area.”

“I thought you weren’t the king.”

We stepped around a corner, and he chuckled. “You don’t have to be a king to have sway with the dragons. They know we have a siren here, and they know who your sisters are. They’re not going to push you.”

“You and Stella are doing that enough for all of them. I’ve never used my magic this much in my life.”

“Yet your eyes are brighter now than they were when I met you on that roof.”

“When we met, I thought you were just taking me to force me to mate with you,” I reminded him.

“There’s still time for that.”

I snorted, and he flashed me a grin.

We turned another corner, and my eyes widened when we stepped into a warm, humid room. There was a large, oval pool nearby. Off to the side of it, there was a small, round one the size of a normal hot tub.

More of them spread through the room around it. Some were much bigger than the oval, and some were smaller than the round one. A few even looked big enough for a dragon. The massive room was more than large enough to hold a few of them.

I kneeled beside the oval and dipped my fingers in the water. My eyes closed as the hot water rolled against my skin. “Are these hot springs?”

“Yes. The water comes right from the mountain. Our dragons widened some of the pools a long time ago, but they exist naturally.”

“When my magic mingles with this water, no one’s going to want to leave it.” I pulled his hoodie over my head.

“I’ll still kick them out for you.”

“Keep talking like that, and I might think you’re after my heart.” I gestured with my finger for him to turn around.

He reluctantly did so, giving me his back.

I changed into my bikini quickly, and peered over the edge of the oval pool.

It looked surprisingly deep.

I wasn’t sure if it connected to the rest of the pools—but I was about to find out.

While his back was still to me, I dove in, taking a deep breath of water. It didn’t make sense for our lungs to breathe it the way they did air, but that was siren magic for you.

Nothing was scientifically sound, but it worked. And that was what really mattered.

I swam quickly to the bottom of the pool and found the tunnel where it connected to the rest of them. I took a few of the branches just to see where they led—into the other pools in the room.

When I took the tunnel down into the mountain, I realized it branched off in more than a dozen different directions. It probably led to other hot springs, in other caves. Ones that may or may not be connected to the dragons’.

I itched to explore it, but figured I’d been gone long enough to scare Talon already.

So, I turned around and went back.

The moment I made the turn into the tunnel that connected to the oval pool, Talon’s scale-covered hands were on my waist, yanking me to his chest. He held me pinned to his body as he hauled me to the surface of the water and out of the pool.

I made a noise of surprise as he sat me down on the ledge, already growling at me as he shifted back. He’d mentioned that Sylvester couldn’t drown, but I hadn’t considered that Talon could stay underwater as long as I could.

“You scared the hell out of me. You can’t just fucking disappear,” he snarled, resting his hands on my knees. “The cave system is worse than a maze. I?—”

“Easy. I was careful, I just wanted to check it out.” I put my hands on top of his.

He growled at me again, water dripping from his hair. “Cave diving is notoriously dangerous. We’ve lost more than a handful of dragons to it over the centuries. I couldn’t fucking handle it if you disappeared beneath the water and didn’t come back.”

I studied him for a moment.

His eyes were dilated.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly.

I really had scared him.

And though his possessiveness wasn’t anywhere near logical, I knew how to help with that.

I patted the stone beside me. After a moment, he reluctantly climbed out of the water, taking a seat next to me. I slipped a leg over his thighs and sat down on his lap, wrapping my arms around him.

His body went still.

I pressed a kiss to his cheek, and he pulled me closer, lowering his nose to my hair and inhaling.

“Bet I don’t smell like anything,” I murmured.

“You smell like you.” He inhaled again. “And me.”

“Well, I have been wearing your clothes.”

His hand moved over my mostly bare back, and I closed my eyes.

The way he touched me was unlike anything else I had ever experienced. There just wasn’t anything like it. Definitely nothing better than it.

Maybe I still wanted him.

“We still haven’t fucked it out of our system,” I murmured.

He gave me a gravelly laugh. “You’re not going to fuck me out of your system.”

“Not if we never do the deed.”

“When you’ve had me inside you, you’ll just want more.”

“My experience says the opposite.”

Talon’s hand continued moving over my back, slow and steady. “Your experience has been with men who weren’t strong enough to handle your magic. I am.”

“You talk big, but I haven’t seen any proof of your claims.”

“The way you came on my fingers seems like proof to me. Have you ever reacted like that to anyone else?”

“Yes,” I said too quickly.

He chuckled. “Don’t lie to me, Avery.”

“Maybe I haven’t. That isn’t proof, though.”

“You want proof?”

“Yes.”

I wouldn’t back down.

I wanted him too badly.

The conversation had started as an attempt to show him I was fine, but it was more, now.

Bigger.

He tilted my head back, and kissed me.

I didn’t pull on his magic.

Not yet.

For the moment, I just wanted to be there. With him.

The kiss went deep fast, with his tongue meeting mine immediately. He pulled my body tighter to his, and I tugged his shirt over his head. He released me long enough to let me free him, and my hands smoothed over his thick, hard muscles.

He was perfect.

He recaptured my mouth, tugging the bow on the back of my bikini. When he realized it was double-knotted, his fingers struggled with the knot for a moment before he finally pulled it free.

The fabric slid upward while he worked on the one around my neck, and when he had that undone too, he tore the fabric out from between us.

He had me on my back on the stone floor a moment later. It was bumpy, but his mouth was on my breasts so fast that I didn’t care.

One of his hands slid down my abdomen, and found my swimsuit bottoms. My hips arched as he hooked his fingers in the crotch, and tugged them down. My bare ass met the stone, but his fingers were already on my core, working my clit slowly.

I couldn’t stop the cries that escaped me.

I didn’t even want to.

He brought me to the edge faster than he should’ve been able to—faster than I would’ve been able to—and bit down roughly on my nipple when I came.

I bucked and arched as the pleasure rolled through me, but he didn’t give me time to recover. He was on his abdomen, on the floor, too quickly.

He opened my legs with his hands, and had his mouth on my clit in a heartbeat.

His hands and tongue were insanely hot, dragging over my most sensitive parts smoothly.

I rocked.

Jerked.

Pulled his hair.

And finally, when he brought me back to the edge, I cried out in pleasure as I shattered again.

He unzipped his soaked pants and freed his cock, dragging it over my slickness before he met my gaze. He was positioned over me, holding himself up with a hand next to my head.

His eyes were dark, and hot.

I was still panting, trying to recover from my climax.

Every muscle he had seemed to be tense.

“You ready, A?”

“Fuck me already.”

His eyes flashed, and he filled me.

He didn’t take it slow.

And he didn’t pull back.

He thrust hard, and I gasped as the thickness of his cock stretched me in ways no one else ever had.

Talon’s mouth recaptured mine, and I knew what he wanted without hearing the words.

He wanted to prove that he could stay in control while he was inside me, something no one else had ever done.

And I wanted him to prove it, too.

So I pulled on his emotions, nearly losing control entirely with the intensity of what he was feeling.

Molten pleasure.

Burning need.

Carnal satisfaction.

Complete and utter possession.

He drove into me roughly, lifting my hands and pinning them above my head. When he released my mouth, his lips burned a trail down my throat.

He was still himself.

Still strong enough to break through the influence of my magic.

That alone made me want him more.

I cried out as he drove me back to the edge of my pleasure, his body still pinning mine down. Not because I was controlling him—because he wanted it. Wanted me . Even without my magic pushing him.

His fangs brushed my throat, in the same place he’d bitten me before. Only the first bite had scarred, but the second had felt just as good.

He kissed me there, and I pulled his head down, harder.

I wanted his teeth.

He chuckled roughly, dragging his tongue over the sensitive skin as he drove into me hard and deep, taking me closer and closer to the edge.

My body arched and rocked and jerked, my wrists still trapped in his grasp.

Talon was in control—and I fucking loved it.

He finally bit down, and I screamed as I fell apart.

He snarled against my shoulder as he flooded my channel with his release, freeing his teeth from my skin.

We panted together, and he lifted his forehead to rest on mine. His body was still draped over mine like a big, warm blanket. Even with my pleasure fading, I didn’t mind the lumpy stone beneath me.

“No cave diving alone,” he finally said, raising his head but not pulling out of me.

“Alright.”

Cave diving was the last thing I was thinking about.

There were words on the tip of my tongue. Important ones. But I didn’t say them.

Not immediately.

They would show weakness. Or at least, the possibility of weakness.

He finally released my wrists, lifting one of them to his mouth so he could kiss the pulse point there.

I watched him closely, taking in the moment.

The pure satisfaction in his eyes and on his face.

The way his erection was still hard inside me.

And I couldn’t hold the words back any longer.

“If you’re screwing anyone else, this can’t happen again,” I whispered.

The look in his eyes flared hotter. Darker. “You haven’t fucked me out of your system, then?”

“Not yet. We could keep trying, though.”

If he wasn’t sleeping with another woman.

If he was?

Well, I didn’t share.

“It’s been a long time since I was with anyone else, Ave. There’s just you.”

I knew caring about that was silly, but the words satisfied me anyway.

“And you want to do this again?” I asked.

He still hadn’t pulled out, which seemed like a pretty clear sign that he wasn’t interested in leaving immediately. But it was still a fair question.

“Obviously.” He grabbed me by the waist and rolled us both over. The motion knocked the breath out of me, but I couldn’t deny that I liked the feeling of being on top of him.

He didn’t have all the control anymore. He didn’t get to make all the decisions.

“And you want this to be… a regular thing?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I bit my bottom lip. “It would have to be casual. Like friends with benefits. I don’t do relationships.”

Not just because I hadn’t wanted the same man twice since Wendell.

Because I was trying to protect myself.

He slid one of his hands up the curve of my waist, then dragged his thumb lightly over my nipple. “Okay.”

“We would sleep in our own rooms,” I clarified. “Have our own lives. You’ll still have to take me back to the Manor when we find a way to kill Sylvester.”

“Alright.” He squeezed my breast lightly, then refocused on my nipple.

“We wouldn’t be dating ,” I added. “Just screwing, exclusively. Outside of the sex, we would still just be friends.”

“Mmhm.” He pinched my nipple, and I scowled down at him, even though it felt amazing.

“Talon.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not even listening to me.”

He lifted his gaze to mine. “We’re screwing exclusively. Friends with benefits. No living together. You’re going back to the Manor when Sylvester’s dead. Right?”

Maybe he was listening.

“Right. But you didn’t tell me what you think about any of it.”

“I think I’ll take anything you’re willing to give me, Ave. You make the rules. I’ll follow them. Mostly.”

My chest warmed. “Alright.”

“Now who’s not saying what they think?”

I smiled grudgingly. “I think I want you to take me back into the pool and fuck me again.”

He smirked. “Yes ma’am.”

Talon carried me back to the pool and gave me exactly what I wanted, until I was so exhausted I was basically boneless.