Page 11 of Just One Bite

I have no idea who these people are, but they’re looking at me like I should know. Autumn scoots her phone to the middle of the table, and I glance while I chew:

Silver hair – Darien – vamp/plays well with all

Tall and grumpy – Barrett – Were/Rich

Scowling with red hair – Aster – Were/Very rich

I give a thankful nod, but it still doesn’t answer why they’re gathering in front of my sisters and me.

“Are you going to tell me what you want, or do I wait as you all stare at me all day?” I glare at Darien and throw my napkin on my plate. “You won’t get any more blood from me, if that’s why you’re here.”

“We wanted to invite you to our table,” Aster says. His voice is smooth and cold, and they’re blocking my view of the dining hall. Aster's hair is clean cut on the sides with straight, bright red hair brushing his forehead.

“We’re not interested.” I stand and motion for Eva and Emma to follow me before we’re blocked again.

I may not know much about Doxlothia or the social hierarchy, but I know this is bad. It’s bad to have piqued their interest. It’s bad to deny their request. And it’s bad to have the entire dining hall watching our conversation.

“We insist.” Barrett goes to put his arm around Eva’s shoulder, then I’m done with my civil approach and pull her next to me.

“Maybe we should …” Emma tugs at the hair resting on her collarbone.

“The council is very interested in you. We just want to talk,” Darien states, like that’s going to make me more likely to trust them.

“Not interested in you or them. Now stop blocking our way.”

I will likely regret the hard approach. I have no cards to play, yet I have to play anyway.

“Maybe I want something in return,” Barrett says. His sharp canine teeth peek out when he speaks.

“ We’ll discuss what we want … together.” Aster gives him a charged expression, an d I’m lost.

“I don’t know what you want with me and my sisters but—”

“You’re all lovely but … it’s something we want from you,” Aster corrects.

What could two Weres possibly want to ask me?

“There you are, beautiful.” Parker’s voice accompanies a large hulking arm around my shoulders. “Sorry, I had to run the team through some stuff.”

“Parker Owens. Pleasure.” Aster’s scowl doesn’t budge.

Something happens between them, then Aster and Barrett shrink away from him. They turn as if they want to face him head-on. Their spines straighten, and the attention is solely on Parker.

There’s that sensation again. The safety Parker brings, soothing me.

“Is it? Is there anything in particular you’re grilling my girlfriend about because we have somewhere to be.”

“Girlfriend?” they say at the same time I do. Darien smiles widely.

“You’re joking,” Barrett says.

“Olivia is mine . I’m taking her as my mate.” Parker’s eyes flicker to me, then back to them. “Tell your friends she and her sisters are protected by Gavin’s pack. Steer clear.”

We go to leave, and Aster’s voice echoes through the dining hall. “And you’d be willing to be challenged for her, then?"

I don’t understand what’s being implied.

“Time and place and I’m there.” Parker’s the only one without rigid shoulders and a hardened jaw. He grins. “I didn’t know you had that much time to practice shifting with all the time you spend learning daddy’s empire.”

Parker leads us away before they can protest, and the dining hall erupts in lively chatter and clambering glasses. He leads us to the Central Lawn, and I feel ten pounds lighter with the distance.

“What are you doing?”

“Trust me, you want them to think we’re dating. Aster and Barrett are the top of the pack food chain here. The thing they really want to talk to you about is you being their mate, and they aren’t the type to take a simple ‘no.’”

“Mate? Why? And why me?”

“Your eyes. Heterochromia signifies Were lineage, and its common among the strongest pack leaders in history. I’m guessing they didn’t teach you that in Groveshire. ”

My father didn’t exactly explain it like that. Parker keeps going when I don’t smile.

“If anything, they’ll take it as a symbol of good luck. That and your blood would be a great benefit to them. I tried to tell you. You and your sisters will be magnets to all the assholes in here.”

“But since you’re dating Olivia, it’s different?” Emma asks.

“We’re not dating,” I say.

“I’m in Gavin’s pack, and his pack is revered. They’ll leave you alone if they think I’m going to claim you as a mate.”

“Didn’t sound like that.”

“Aster can challenge me. He won’t win and he knows it.

” Parker smirks as he says it but steps closer to me.

“Think about this for a second. You’re not part of The Donor Program for some reason, and you and your sisters are walking around with some of the sweetest blood in this place.

Everyone in the council has eyes on you and your sisters right now.

You need protection, and Gavin won’t unless you’re connected to the pack in some way. This way, he’ll have to say yes.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“Other than seeing your pretty face more often? I have to have a mate, or I can’t be in Gavin’s pack. He’s been on my ass about it, and this way I can have at least a moment’s peace from worrying about being kicked out. This satisfies us both."

“I think we should listen to Parker,” Eva says. “Seems safer.”

Eva is too trusting.

“I agree. Plus, this sounds kind of fun. You two running around pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend.” Emma smiles at me. I regret mentioning the dream. In fact, I regret waking up this morning.

She would think me becoming some type of werewolf bride was a fun, exciting new development.

I sigh. “Parker—”

The tips of Parker’s ears pink, and he leans in. “Yes?”

Warmth trickles into my face as he bats his eyelashes at me.

“I appreciate you trying to help, but no. The last thing I need right now is to be dating the captain of the Rage team and drawing more attention to myself.”

All this is an annoying distraction, but there has to be some other way to remedy this and get protection for my sisters and me that doesn’t involve me having to be seen as someone else’s mate. Where would I find the time to fake date Parker?

This isn’t how I imagined my time at university. I imagined hours and hours spent in the ballet studio where no one bothered me. A place that was truly dedicated to ballet, and ballet alone.

“We’ll figure it out.” Meaning I will figure it out.

Emma is whispering to Eva again, and somehow, I know it’s about that stupid dream.

To my surprise, Parker’s carefree grin doesn’t falter. “Well, if you change your mind, I’m all yours. And you know where to find me.”

We exchange numbers, and I’m empty again when he leaves. A strange hollow sensation that I decide to blame on indigestion. I remind myself and my sisters that Parker is a stranger, and no amount of safety he brings is going to convince me to trust him that easily.

“She definitely likes him.” Emma is a loud whisperer.

News spreads like wildfire. By the time the campus clocktowers chime for noon and we arrive at the house round table, I’ve been asked about Parker three times. Twice while in the nearly silent library.

The first was when I was combing the stacks and a Stelliea girl, shorter than me, stopped me.

“You’re dating Parker Owens.” Her mouth was agape.

“No. We’re not dating. He was—”

When I tried to walk past her, she grabbed my shoulders. “Tell me. What cologne does he wear? Please."

I’m able to dodge her and find what I’m after: The Imperial Index of Protective Charms and Crystals .

I thought getting them might prove difficult, considering these types of crystal are listed as forbidden according to the Doxlothia handbook.

It turns out, getting access to forbidden items is not hard in Noxx House, but Solexxa was going to be my next guess.

A girl in my hall pointed me to a third-year student who was eager to sell to me, only because he’d already heard I was dating Parker, and apparently, Parker is loved by virtually everyone.

“You’re sure we won’t need to enter The Donor Program? I mean, either way, I’m scared, but I’m more scared of being attacked or ambushed in my hall when I get up to use the restroom at night or something,” Emma says.

Eva is biting her nails. “I don’t want to. Dad said it isn’t safe. Plus, he’d be so disappointed.”

Mom’s death was an accident. It was no one’s fault, but the result of a continual strain on her heart brought on by a previous illness and her participation in The Donor Program.

They didn’t catch it. She joined the program as soon as she turned of age because of her sweet blood and the fear that someday someone might use her blood for their advantage or worse.

She’d told me it was the best decision she’d ever made.

Dad says people like us shouldn’t be in the program because people get greedy when they taste good blood.

I can’t tell whether he’s right or if I want him to be wrong.

But the thought of me or any of my sisters being drained to near death is enough to make me want to avoid being forced into anything we’re not prepared for.

“No one has to do anything we don’t want to do.

” I drop a rectangular dusty-blue crystal in each of their hands.

“This is Veratala. I hear it stings like a bitch and prevents Weres from shifting for at least five minutes. And this one is Loxeth. It’s to be ingested only in emergencies.

It will make your blood smell repulsive and taste poisonous. But it will also make you sick.”

It’s a soft, pink petite stone. I double-check they both place them in their skirt pockets; Emma is notoriously forgetful.

“This won’t work,” Emma says.

“Any better ideas?”

“Yeah, the hot hybrid staring at you from across the lawn.”

I glance in the direction she’s looking and see the massive outline that is Parker Owens.

“You volunteering?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s only interested in you. He’s staring . Hard.”

I sigh. Ballet somewhere else would have been easier.

Quieter. Less hassle. I wouldn’t have minded the alone time or the separation from my family either.

But Doxlothia is the only way to the top.

The Doxlothia company is a small university-funded and managed company that is directly tied to the International Ballet Company of Excellence.

My mother had been in that company before leaving to settle down with my father.

When he stayed on as a professor at Doxlothia, she went on to join the IBCE.

Doxlothia is unique in how it’s tied to the most sought-after ballet company in the world.

Getting accepted to the company in Doxlothia means I’ll be guaranteed an apprenticeship in the International Ballet Company of Excellence, something I’ve been dreaming of all my life.

It’s what my mother did. It’s what I will do.

I just have to keep my head on straight. Especially around Parker.