Page 59 of Just One Bite

Chapter Forty-Eight

Olivia

“Parker, touch me.” The words come out in a panic as the warmth spreads through my blood with each pump of my heart. He’s on top of me before I can blink, running his hands over my body.

I scratch at the mark, and it’s burning and itching out of control.

“It’s so hot.” I dig my fingernails into the skin of my neck, and Parker grabs my wrist.

He peppers kisses over my neck, then licks me, and it’s like ice on my inflamed skin. “I’ll fix it.”

It’s the only thing that soothes the burning ache covering me from head to toe.

“Please.” I don’t know what I’m pleading for, for more of his touch? More of the coolness on my hot skin? Or for him to get inside me, to lose himself completely in this sensation that’s growing out of control.

“It’s okay .” His chest heaves with each breath, like he’s struggling to hold back, but his touch is barely there, a cooling caress with his cheek against mine. “I’m going to need you to focus on me, baby. Don’t focus on anything else.”

That’s increasingly hard to do when wave after wave of heat rolls through me.

I look at my hands, thinking surely there is evidence of burning or welts.

But there’s nothing. I catch a glimpse of us in the mirror in the corner of the loft, me, starry-eyed with flushed cheeks while Parker kisses me lower and lower.

My stomach. My inner thigh. The gash on his chest is nearly healed, but the dried blood is a mess covering his muscles.

“Focus,” he demands before kissing below my stomach, and my hips buck into him. Everywhere his lips meet my skin, the coolness of it jolts throughout my entire body. I grasp for him, digging my fingers into his shoulders, and a moan escapes my lips.

This is more intense than the potion.

I’m shaking from the euphoria of his touch. Everything is amplified. He needs to touch me more, to never stop. It’s agony not to have him inside me.

He tears into the sheets, holding my hips and pinning me as he takes me with his mouth.

The euphoria of it hits me so fast I might pass out.

My head throbs with each pulsing beat, but Parker’s fingers digging into my hips ground me.

Then it’s impossible to think of anything other than what his tongue is doing.

He’s devouring me. With a firm grip on my thighs, he holds me despite my squirming.

The pleasure is so intense. Every stroke of his tongue has me gasping.

I don’t think pleasure exists like this outside of magic.

I groan when his teeth enter my thigh. I’m already on the edge, and him drinking is enough for me to spill over. The release floods my senses like ice water. I thrash, but he holds me, placing his mouth at my center, anchoring me.

There’s brief relief from the heat, and I look into his darkened eyes, blood dripping from his chin as he licks my thigh to heal it.

As soon as it’s over, my body flushes with heat again, and I need it to end.

“It’s so much,” I say, breathless. “I’m still hot.”

He kisses me, and his lips taste of me. “I know. But focus, baby. It’s almost done.”

His lips meet my chest with cool, thoughtful kisses, then his tongue runs over my nipples. It’s like ice. Any added pleasure is an overload. So good it almost hurts.

He spins me, pinning my hips to the bed. When he releases me for a second to adjust, my skin itches.

“Parker, please.” I reach for him.

Then his hands are on my hips and running up my back. “Relax, baby. I got it.”

He slides into me, and we gasp at the sudden jolt.

It’s the magic. The bond is solidifying with each thrust of his hips.

I bury my face into the blankets, the sounds he’s driving from me getting louder.

The bond is merging us. Tearing out the old Olivia to make room for the new, and I’m ready for it. To be the other half of a whole.

“You’re doing so good.” Parker calms me. “Take a little more of me. Just a little more.”

My legs shake as he goes deeper, and I’m so full I cry out.

He starts soft, then he pounds into me harder and harder till I can’t think. I just need him. I’ll die if he stops. The pressure building in my core is unbearable, but my blood races as it climbs. I want him to finish. I think he’s almost there, but then he pulls out.

“What are you doing?” I say.

“I want to look at you.”

I’m malleable putty in his hands as he flips me, lifts my leg, then slides into me in one fluid motion. This is different. I feel how much he wants me. How good every single thrust inside me feels for him. How he’s so close to coming but grasping at the sheets to stop himself.

I feel the bond. What Parker felt but I couldn’t.

I gasp.

He stops. “This still okay?”

“I feel … what you feel.”

A wide grin spreads across his face, like that’s the best news he’s heard all day. “Yeah?”

He goes deeper, and now I know he’s right where he wants to be. How the wet heat for him is perfect, and the pressure of me fluttering around him is inching him closer to release. He’s so eager to please—

Our pleasure is one harmonious rhythm that bursts simultaneously. Instead of warmth, it’s coolness spreading through my abdomen, and as I ride out the end of my release, Parker holds me tight to him till all the heat and itchiness vanish.

I still want to be close to him long after the effects fade. I cling to him, unwilling to lose the connection.

The sound of rain and thunder come back as we lie panting in bed.

Naked and dirty, I turn to crawl on top of Parker’s chest, but he stops me.

“Please don’t get up yet.”

His lips run over my cheek. Rough fingers move through my hair, and he touches me like he’s trying to memorize the shape of my lips and nose.

It’s done. We’re mated. And it is different, but not in any way I thought it would. This was my choice. It doesn’t change the way I love Parker; it only deepens our connection.

He is the man from my dreams.

And the boy who pulled me from the water when I was a child. He’s always loved me.

“You’re my mate,” I say, running my hands in his still-damp hair.

He looks as tired as I feel. The rain hitting the top of the treehouse settles around us and it’s like we’re the only two people left in Vviveren.

“Are you okay?” Parker’s voice enters my head.

I suck in a breath. The books only said it was a possibility. Not all linked mates can talk telepathically. I didn’t think we—

“Did you just?”

“Yeah. It’s okay. I promise.” He comforts me with a hand on my cheek. His eyebrows draw together. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m okay.” I try back, and his eyebrows lift with the smile on his face. “ I’m thinking you love me. It was never just the bond.”

He smiles. “Never just that. Just you. Always you.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“How I need to marry you immediately. Do you think you’ll want to take my last name?”

I laugh, placing his hand on my cheek. “We can enjoy this first.”

“Oh, I’m enjoying. I plan on enjoying you over and over again.” He kisses me on the cheek. “Once you’re healed and rested.”

“So what happens now?” I say, looking around the room of a luxury treehouse we’re definitely not permitted to be in. “Do you think they’ll kick us out of here?”

I didn’t care at the time, but thinking of someone walking in to find Parker and me naked and covered in dirt would be mortifying, especially if the paparazzi are involved.

I guess I have to look at my life through that lense from here on out. I’m no longer just Olivia Osborne, the ballerina. I’m Olivia Osborne, the ballerina and the first human linked mate in Vviveren.

It’s a heavy title, but with Parker, it’s not as daunting. Maybe it’s something I can be good at. No. I know I can. Just like I know I can play Giselle, my dream role.

“No. I will likely have to pay for the door and the ruined sheets though.”

“What about Barrett and Aster? What if they’re … angry?”

He’s still inspecting me, rubbing his cheek against mine and his nose down my jaw.

“There’s no one in Vviveren that will take you from me. Let them be angry. We’re linked for forever now. I’m going to take you to the city. I’ll need to build a pack. The moon festival is almost here, and your ballet is coming up soon. It’s all up from here, baby.”

“You make it sound like it’s all going to fall into place now.”

“It will. This is like … like a childhood dream come true. That’s how long I’ve wanted you.”

“It’s like that for me too.”

“Oh, keep doing that.” He kisses me with a wide smile.

Parker and I bonded, and my entire life will be different. I’m still going to get into the IBCE, but Parker will be there. He’ll get into the pro league, and I’ll be there too. I’ve found my mate and I never have to part from him.

All the dreams of destruction and storms were warning us of The Hunt, but now the threat has passed, and I feel free.

The thunder continues with the barrage of lightning, but I’ve never felt safer.

Parker pulls me onto a pillow with him. “All of this is pretty rough on your body. I want to heal you.”

I smile and wrap my arms around his torso.

“I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere.”