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

Chapter 21

twenty-one

AVERY

We texted Stella before going to bed naked, glittery, and so exhausted we were practically boneless.

She woke us up by knocking loudly on the door.

Talon’s gaze was drowsy but serious when it met mine. “Ready, Ave?”

“As ready as I can be,” I murmured back.

A glance at my phone told me it was the middle of the day. We’d had plenty of time to sleep in, despite our late-night party. We’d just made the foolish decision to spend a few extra hours awake, screwing.

We threw on some clothes before we met Stella at the door. It took me aback a little to see Evan there beside her, but the mate marks on their throats were even more of a surprise.

When Talon pulled both of them in for a hug, with me squashed in the middle, I congratulated them too.

They’d moved quickly, but my sisters had proven that there was still lots of time to get to know someone after you mated with them. Especially if you knew you were fated.

“He knows everything,” Stella said, meeting her brother’s eyes over my head. She and Evan were near the same height, and they were striking together. Both tall, strong, and gorgeous, with his arm wrapped possessively around her waist and his hand splayed over her stomach.

She had a bare strip of skin on display, showing off her toned abdomen.

“I want him with us,” she added.

Talon studied Evan for a minute.

He knew a fair amount about the guy, after a long conversation with Porter during the party.

When he agreed, it didn’t surprise me.

Kai stepped out of my old room, with Clementine peeking past him.

“What’s all the pounding about?” she asked.

They both looked like they had just been asleep, too.

“We’ve been waiting around for a few hours,” Stella explained. “This is long overdue, so I’m ready to get it over with.”

Clem smiled. “Give us a minute to change.”

Stella nodded, looking back to us as Kai and Clem disappeared back into their room. “What’s the plan, and how sure are you that it’s going to work?”

We explained it to her quickly, and hope blossomed in her eyes. “Wow. What if we can really kill him?”

“You’ll finally be free,” Talon said.

Tears flooded her eyes, and she wiped them away quickly. “We’ll probably stay with the wolves for a few years. The pack is still healing after everything with Curtis.”

“You should,” he agreed. “You need some space from all of this.”

“More than I realized,” she admitted.

He pulled her in for another hug, and she hugged him back fiercely.

Evan and I gave them space.

We couldn’t understand the intensity of the emotions the siblings shared about the situation. Evan’s had been similar, but Kim was nowhere near as bad as Sylvester. And with the wolves, the situation hadn’t been dragged out the way it was for the dragons.

Kai and Clementine emerged a few minutes later, and we were all quiet as we made our way down to the prison.

“What comes next if this doesn’t work?” Clem wondered.

“We try again in another month or two, after I’ve had more time to scramble his brain with my magic again,” I said, trying to sound more upbeat than I felt.

The last thing Talon and Stella needed was for yet another plan to fail.

“As long as we get another vacation out of it,” Clem said with a wink.

I gave her a quick smile.

Kai tucked her closer to his chest, lowering his lips to her ear and murmuring something I couldn’t hear clearly.

It felt like the longest walk of my life, but eventually, we made it down to the prison.

Clem and Kai peered into the other cells while we passed, just like I had the first time I was down there. They would realize pretty fast that all of them were empty. The only one that wasn’t, was Sylvester’s.

The tension around us grew thicker as we approached the cell. Kai, Clementine, and Porter all took turns looking inside.

“Wow, that’s a lot of scales,” Clem remarked.

My lips curved upward.

She had no idea.

“Ready?” Clem asked, looking at me.

I nodded.

Talon tensed, but didn’t disagree.

“Give us a minute to take down the shields,” Stella said. I felt her magic and Talon’s both flood the room as they undid the protections they’d placed. There had been more of them since my near-death experience, but that didn’t matter.

When they gave us the nod, Clementine and I both stepped up to the cell’s barred window.

Sylvester’s attention snapped to us immediately, now that he could see through it for the first time.

“Hi again,” I said, giving him a small smile.

He crossed the room quickly, reaching for the bars. We stepped back as he shoved his scaled hands through, trying to touch us.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, smiling in a way that made me shiver. “And you brought a friend?”

“A sister, actually.” I pushed my magic into the air, and his eyes shuttered as it washed over him.

His entire body shuddered when I increased it.

None of the men must’ve responded to it—thank you, mate bonds—because Talon didn’t snarl at anyone for once.

“Come closer so we can get a better look at you,” Clementine purred, and I could feel the magic she wove into the air around us.

He slammed his face into the bars, and we both flinched.

His scaled nose jutted through them, and his eyes were dilated.

That was a good sign.

“Your scales are so gorgeous.” Clem acted as if she was reaching toward him. Her hand collided with a forcefield, courtesy of one of the dragons around us.

She pouted her lips, easing up on her magic. “I want to feel them, but the dragons won’t let us in unless you shift.”

His lips twisted in a snarl. “I can’t.”

“Please?”

“I can’t,” he repeated, his voice a little more desperate.

“Please?” she said again, and finally laced her voice with power once more.

I saw in his eyes as his willpower cracked just a little.

“They’ll kill me,” he said.

“You’re too fast for that. They haven’t managed it yet. Why would they be able to do it now?”

His expression relaxed with the question, satisfaction relaxing his shoulders. “I am fast. And strong.”

“So strong,” Clem reached toward him again, pressing her palm to the forcefield.

I could practically feel the tension of the dragons behind us.

If he shifted back just for a moment, we would have him. With the intensity of the dragons’ magic, Talon and Stella could take him out in a heartbeat.

“It took them so long to catch you,” she purred. “You’re smart, too.”

“Brilliant,” he corrected, lips stretching in a grin.

“Strong, fast, and brilliant. The perfect combination,” Clem teased.

He laughed.

I heard Stella grit out a curse. And while I felt bad that the conversation had to have been bringing back memories for her, this was the only way our magic could work.

“Shift for me,” Clem said with a smile. She nudged me, and I increased the flow of my magic. “Prove how fast and strong you are.”

His grin widened.

In an instant, his scales vanished. They left behind a lanky, pale man with light brown hair and thick muscles.

He was attractive, and I knew it had worked in his favor. Protected him. Helped him. Kept suspicion off of him.

As fast as he shifted, the dragons moved.

The forcefield vanished, and magic cut sharply through the air. Talon and Stella didn’t need weapons. Not with magic like theirs.

His head fell clean off his shoulders.

My eyes widened in horror, my stomach churning as it dropped.

Talon had me in his arms and pressed against his chest before a sickening noise followed. Bile rose in my throat anyway.

The cell door opened, and I turned to watch as Stella stormed inside. Her fists were clenched, and her power was so thick in the air that breathing grew difficult.

She crouched over him, staring down at his body for a minute.

And another.

Before she finally straightened and walked back to Evan. When she reached him, she laced her fingers through his, and walked away without glancing back.

When I looked at Clementine, I found her face pale and her expression grim.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and she nodded.

Finally, it was over.