Page 25 of Just One Bite

Chapter Nineteen

Parker

“I’m scared,” she says. Her bare feet swirl in dirt as the wooden swing she’s on creaks. We’re in our secret place. A place among the trees where the forest floor is covered in moon nightingales. I never need to look for her because I know where to find her.

“Why?” I take the spot next to her.

“I’m scared of everything.”

I place my hand on hers. “I’ll protect you.”

A light knock wakes me, assaulting me with chills and a splitting headache. It’s not worse than the hollow sadness lingering in my chest. It’s a loss when I wake up, and I don’t know why. Like when I wake up, it’s dragging me from somewhere else I’d rather be.

“Parker?” There’s a hard knock at the door. “It’s Olivia.”

“Come in.” My attempt to sit up results in the room spinning, so I lay my head back on my pillow.

Seeing her walk through my door almost cures me. Because even in the dim light, I see she’s got half her hair pinned and she’s opted for one of the shorter uniform skirts.

I have the most breathtaking fake girlfriend.

“Are you all right? ”

Internally, I’m giddy she sounds worried, but on the outside, I’m on death’s door. I don’t think Olivia thinks much of anyone outside her circle, so the fact she’s here means I’m in her head.

“What are you doing here?”

She drops her school bag and moves to the hearth to bring in some light, almost tripping on a pile of clothes on the floor. The fire light leaves us in a soft-yellow haze, and she flips on my bedside lamp.

I grab her forearm to bring her to sit, and her skin is cool against mine. I want her in my bed.

“Are you sick?”

“A little. There's a full moon today.”

“Don’t werewolves get supercharged then?

“They do. But hybrids without blood get weak. Gavin usually brings me some blood from the infirmary after his classes, then I’ll feel better by tonight.”

Not all hybrids need blood, so we aren’t required to sign up for The Donor Program, but sometimes, that makes getting blood harder when you need it.

It’s easier to get blood when you’re younger because you’re only allowed to drink from blood bags until you enter The Donor Program, but because I don’t need blood that often, I don’t think it’s worth it. Now I have to rely on private sources.

“I was looking for you. I didn’t see you at breakfast.”

I laugh at the serious dent in her forehead, then reach up to poke her there. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

“What can I do? Can I get you medicine? Blood?”

“Medicine won’t help. And they won’t give you any blood at the infirmary. They don’t just hand out blood, especially to humans. Gavin’s preapproved because of his dad.”

“So you just lay here all day, and skip class?”

“Usually. And nobody misses me when I do.” I grip my pillow tighter to my chest.

“I’m heading to Potions, and I … wanted to … bring you a muffin.”

I smell the mountain high plate of food on my nightstand. It’s more than a muffin.

I grin. “A muffin? Are you saying you missed me?”

This beautiful woman smuggled a plate out of the dining hall to bring to me, and even cuter, she’s lying about it.

“We live across the hall from each other. I don’t have time to miss you. But … are you really not coming to class?”

Why does it feel like she wants me there … that she needs me there? Something about that gets the blood pounding in my head, which sends the ache in my skull down my spine.

Her eyes sparkle in the dim light of the hearth. It looks different in each one as it mixes it with the different colors.

I lean back on the pillow. “I want to, trust me. But I’m too exhausted. My head is killing me.”

“They don’t have a better way to get blood for hybrids?”

“Hybrids don’t need to be in The Donor Program. There’s no use in me joining when I don't need blood that often. I just get by.”

“What if you take my blood?”

I blink a few times and lift my head. “Did you just offer to let me bite you?”

“Yes. People in The Donor Program give blood all the time. I’ve seen it.”

I fully sit up and run my hands through my hair until the world stops wobbling.

I’ve never had someone offer their blood to me before.

Not even my previous girlfriends. Most of them were in The Donor Program, and there are strict rules and appointments in the program.

They donate, so often they can’t spare any blood.

They also take special supplements to aid in increased blood cell production.

It’s a normal thing to see someone drinking from their source.

Not suggestive, really, unless it’s a couple making out in the bathroom and tapping a neck vein.

Mostly, it’s a simple wrist bite. Some opt to donate through blood bags only.

“I’ve never drank from a human before,” I admit.

“Do you have that Quik-Recover? I still have some variations I want to practice, and we need to be in class in thirty minutes.”

“I do, but …” I stare into her eyes. “Just like that? You’re not even scared?”

“I gave more than enough blood to Darien, and that was without my consent. Giving you some to carry out your day isn’t any different.”

“Yeah, but there are rules. Regulations.”

“I didn’t think you of all people would care about rules.”

“I don’t, but I’ve been drinking from blood bags all my life. I don’t know what to expect. ”

“Are you saying no?”

She’s set and doesn’t look the least bit nervous.

Now my beautiful fake girlfriend is offering me her blood?

Is she a dream? It’s almost like she’s been crafted for me, then found her way into my bed.

The smell of her blood is engrained in my mind, and remembering our time in the maze has me focusing on the pumping of her blood just below the surface.

Her heart is fluttering, and her scent has me licking my teeth.

“No. Take off your shoes,” I say.

I draw her toward me.

“My shoes?”

“Yeah, I don’t like shoes on my bed.”

“It’s not like I’ll be rolling around in your bed.”

I laugh. “You might.”

She undoes the straps on her heeled sandals, and I stare at her legs between her skirt and her socks. Once she moves to sit next to me, she calmly places her wrist in my lap.

“Don’t take too much.”

She does trust me. I swear the pain in my skull dissipates a little. I lift her wrist to my lips and savor the pulse there. “I won’t hurt you. Tell me to stop if it’s too much.”

Her heart hammers, and she shakes her head. Something charged moves through the air. The little switch in my brain has me forgetting all about the ache in my body.

There’s only Olivia and her sweet blood, ready for me to take.

A flash of euphoria zings through my veins when my teeth enter her skin. Her blood is hot on my tongue, and a soft whimper escapes her throat. I almost stop, thinking I’ve hurt her, till the fingers of her other hand grip my thigh and the smell of her arousal hits me. Fuck.

Heat spreads through me. Her heat. Her blood. And I drink deeper. The taste is indescribable. It’s better than anything I could have imagined fresh blood tasting like. And it’s even better because it’s Olivia’s blood.

I don’t realize I’m hauling her into my lap till she’s there. Skin on skin.

She’s willingly giving herself. The thought draws a groan from my throat, and she leans into me, her breaths slowing.

This blood is mine. I won’t let anyone else taste her like this again. Her muscles loosen while mine get stronger. She’s emptying herself for me, allowing me to take all I need. I have to protect her.

I lap at the wound on her wrist with my tongue. Savoring. Tasting. Her cheeks are flushed while she watches me. This turns her on like it does me.

Oh, this girl. My girl.

She gasps when I grab her by the waist and seat her so she’s straddling me. My hips dig into hers, and her eyes widen. She can feel how hard I am.

Threading my fingers in her hair, I bring her neck to my teeth and sink into her again.

A strangled whimper leaves her throat as I drink, satisfaction thrumming through my brain.

This is the best fucking day of my life.

It’s more than the taste. It’s her on my tongue.

It’s her wanting me. It’s Olivia on top of me.

“Parker.” My name comes out of her mouth more like a moan, and her hips buck into me.

I lean back. “I know, baby. But just a little more, okay?”

She nods desperately, and her warm blood floods my mouth one last time before I retreat and lick her neck.

“Feel okay?”

Her heart is hammering, but her breath is slow. All the ache in my body is gone, like it never existed. We keep doing this, falling back into this natural rhythm, and something about it feels so good.

“I feel … really good,” she whispers. It’s an admission to more. My length throbs.

Those glossy eyes confirm it. She wants me.

“You like this,” I say.

Her breaths are uneven, and our noses almost touch while I take in a long drag of her scent and nearly shake from the rolling need lingering there.

“I can smell how much you want me.” I brush the hair from her neck, waiting to see if she protests, but there’s nothing but another needy swell of her chest as I kiss and lick at the skin just below her ear.

She adjusts her hips to get more friction, and I help, moving my hand to her lower back and pressing.

“Have you ever been touched like this before?”

My lips move to her jaw, and I’m hyperaware of how intimate this is and how this is supposed to be fake. But there’s nothing fake about the way I want her.

“I’ve only been bitten once before. ”

“You know that’s not what I mean … I can feel how much you want me. How your heart picks up when I press into you.”

Her heart responds in a pleasing flicker, and I take a long sniff of her hair.

“You smell like you need me.”

She gasps when my cock throbs between her thighs, followed by a soft groan.

“When I did this before, it wasn’t like this … All of this is different.”

For me too. There’s no thinking of other girls with Olivia on top of me. I’ve never had anything that compares to what’s happening here.