Page 38 of Just One Bite

Chapter Thirty

Parker

“You found me.” Her words feather my neck.

Olivia is my mate.

I can’t think of anything else.

Nothing else matters.

“Is there no way you can stay in your room today? Say you’re sick?” I ask, seconds before she goes for the door.

Her sisters have just left, and I’ve got my last moment with her alone.

“Why?”

“Because …”

The thought of another male looking at you will send me into a blind rage, and I will hurt people. It’s all I can do not to shake. My skin is crawling with an itch that is not going away. I could run for hours. I need to shift. Just to take the edge off.

“You smell so different. And I … I’m having a hard time thinking about anyone else being around you right now. Especially when I know you’re being targeted.”

I want to say it. I need to tell her, but not right now. I have to go talk to Gavin and Zant, and figure out what the hell happened last night. I've already missed practice this morning, and Coach has called me ten times .

Plus, she doesn’t remember. I was hoping she would remember something. Any of the dreams. Did she have the same dreams I did? The ones where we met on the swing surrounded by the flowers?

When I woke up, I remembered them all. Every dream I’ve ever had about her came rushing back into my brain like they had always been there. Only, the girl in them is fully visible now and I awoke with her lying in my arms.

I’ve been looking for Olivia my whole life and didn’t realize it.

She’s the girl from under the ice.

The girl on the swing.

I know her. I’ve missed her. I’ve yearned for her and met her in my dreams every single night, then felt the loss each morning in her absence.

“Does it hurt?” Her face falls. “You seem in pain.”

“No … it’s … just taking an adjustment.”

Who am I kidding? She won’t stay locked in her room. I can’t hide her away forever. There is no going back to the way things were before.

But the bond is too fresh, and the thought of any of those assholes seeing her today makes my entire body itch. I lied. It does fucking hurt. She could get hurt. She wants casual and for things to stay the same, but they’re always going to be different now.

I don’t know how to say it. It’s like I’m running a fever, and I’m hyperaware of the steps in the hallway near my door. My thoughts are moving so fast I can barely catch them.

Why doesn’t she remember? I’m so fucked. I’m going to take out the first guy who looks her way in Noxx House and kill him. She’ll freak out. I’ll freak out. It’s going to be a total shitshow.

“Okay,” she says.

“You will?” I try not to sound too excited.

“I don’t want to, but … if it helps you, I can take one day off. Just one. I have schoolwork I can work on. Plus, I’m tired after last night.”

“Do you need anything right now? Feel sick? Hungry?”

“I’ll have my sisters bring me some food from the dining hall. Don’t worry.”

I sigh in relief and tug her to my chest. She has my mark on her, and I sense it when our skin touches.

Like a magnet clicking together, it’s a perfect fit.

I have to pull away after a few seconds.

Touching her is going to make me shift. My wolf recognizes her.

It’s agonizing. It’s euphoric. It’s terrifying .

“Are you okay? You’re still acting strange,” she asks.

“Yeah. I’ll be okay.” After I do what I’m about to do. “You’re the one I’m worried about.”

“For being drugged, I feel fine.”

I smooth down the wiry bits of her hair.

“Tonight, though … I want to take you somewhere.”

“Where?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Okay … my smell won’t … hurt you?”

“It’s the opposite, actually.”

She grips at my blazer and tilts her chin up to kiss me. Oh?

Her smell is alive now. It tells me she wants comfort. She’s worried. Curious. Calm. I swear I black out for a second when our lips touch. She shudders when my tongue enters her mouth, and I chase out all that want building inside her.

She draws back, licking her bottom lip. Can she sense it too? Is she in denial?

“Tonight.” I assure her.

She’s got a finger pressed to her bottom lip like I’ve shocked her.

I only hope it will help her remember.

The morning was a clusterfuck from beginning to end, and as I lie in wait in the bushes, breathing in the calm of being in my shifted form, I replay the talk I had after summoning an emergency meeting with the two people I trust the most.

Gavin and Zant have stayed acquaintances despite my best efforts, but they both agreed to meet me at the edge of the Lost Lake Woods.

Gavin and Zant stared at me. Not saying a word.

“You’re telling me … you’re linked mates? You’re sure?” Gavin looked the most surprised.

“Do you know of any other way I’ve been dreaming of her my entire life?”

He reminded me of how there hasn’t been talk of a linked mated pair for more than a century and they’re all full-blooded Weres. Like I needed the reminder .

“I know that, but it’s true. And now everything fucking sucks. My skin is on fire. I’m so worried about her I can’t think of anything else—”

“Parker.”

“I’ve felt like I’m going to shift from the moment I woke up.”

“Parker. Your alpha blood is awakening.”

“What? No, I haven’t accepted.”

“I don’t know if you have a choice. Look at your hands. You … smell different. Marking Olivia was what you’re meant to do. She’s your catalyst. Your body is changing to protect her.”

My fingers sharpened to claws.

“Fuck!”

“ Did you tell her ?” Zant asked, way too amused by my apparent suffering. I expected nothing less.

“No.”

Their eyes widened in a what-the-fuck expression.

“I wasn’t sure! I don’t exactly have luck with my own Were instincts. I’m going to tell her tonight … bring her somewhere special.”

“ You being linked mates is going to change everything ,” Gavin said.

“I know. That’s why I needed to talk to you and ask you both to ensure I don’t do anything stupid when I confront Aster and Barrett.”

“ You can’t just go up to them accusing them of drugging someone ,” Gavin said.

“ He’s right. You need evidence ,” Zant said.

I couldn’t confront them in public. Fine.

No one said anything about ambushing them on their run.

The only time they’re together and not surrounded by their packs, and I know that because Zant complained about them being late to council meetings when they ran too long.

The woods are supposed to be off-limits to students, but asshole Weres who have money can do just about anything they want, and a forbidden wood all to themselves is mighty tempting.

I have to admit, I enjoy it too.

They don’t see me stalking them. I’ve tracked them for miles, and they haven’t stopped to look around once. That’s because they’re never the prey. Bunch of assholes at the top of the food chain with no one to challenge them.

The words from Olivia’s text set my blood ablaze. Rabbit.

Now they’re going to see how it feels to be hunted.

Barrett’s the bigger Were with black and silver hair. He’s my first target. Aster’s warm reddish fur makes him easy game and doesn’t camouflage well, but he’s faster than Barrett, so he’s a few yards ahead.

I charge through the trees, the dirt flying in a haze. In seconds, I’m feet away, and a howl rips through Barrett’s throat as I tackle him to the ground and my teeth rip into his shoulder. He’s big, but he’s slow when he reaches up to swipe me with a claw.

Aster’s close. Three. Two. One.

I dodge his ambush from the back and pin him to the ground with my claws in his neck.

I want to rip into him. Make him bleed.

Aster wiggles free in a flurry of dirt, yelping, and they circle me.

“ Owens ,” Barrett snarls inside my head. It’s faint. I have to concentrate really hard to hear it.

Packmates can communicate in each other’s minds with ease when in wolf form, but enemies take a little effort. We’ll have to keep the sentences short.

“Surprised to see me on your date?”

They both snarl. I prefer communicating in wolf form. It’s easier. Natural. No games.

“ Let me guess, you're here about a girl ,” Aster says.

Barrett snaps his teeth. “Rabbit.”

A switch flips, and a deep rumbling growl rips through my teeth as I take a step forward. It’s like I’m in control of every muscle. Ready to fight if they give me the chance.

They shrink back, then reposition, holding their ground.

I’m not afraid.

I can take both of them now. It would be a difficult, bloody fight, but I’m more than willing to take that challenge.

Olivia’s face flickers to the front of my mind, and the shiny thread of our bond flickers, reminding me I’m here for a reason.

“ Took a tumble on the forums last I heard ,” Barrett says.

He’s talking about the photo. The one someone took of her while she stumbled around seconds after she was drugged. Emma showed us while they were all piled in my room.

This was their plan. For her to make a fool of herself at the party. Get marked by someone else under the guise of her drinking too much .

The image is seared in my brain. Olivia falling into someone in a blurry shuffle.

“I’d choose your next words carefully.”

“Maybe she should be careful how much she drinks. She’ll embarrass you.”

It’s like my skin is peeling off my body. It’s physically painful not to act on the instinct running through me.

But I need proof. I need something.

“So it was you.”

They’re still circling.

“ Prove it ,” Barrett says.

“ You wanted to play ,” Aster says.

Olivia was right. This is about me. They’re playing this game with real people as their pawns. My people.

They don’t know yet that she’s my linked mate. That I marked her.

What will they do when they know? It just makes her a bigger target for them.

“Maybe you should keep a closer eye on her.”

I lunge. Teeth bared and claws out. I’m going for his throat but get his face. A long, deep gash sprays dark red across the dirt. My teeth stay at his neck, and an intense growl shakes my whole body.

“Stay the fuck away from her.”

They are denying it. It doesn’t absolve them. I know it was them. I’ll have to find my proof another way.

Their growls are accompanied by a deafening howl. Their packs will answer and be here in minutes.

That’s a fight I wouldn’t win.

“ See you at the podium. Might want to cover that up ,” I say.

That gash won’t heal easily, but it sends the right message. I’m finally starting to feel it. It has always been in my blood, but now it is singing to me.

Maybe I do want to be an Alpha. Bad news for them.