Page 7 of Just One Bite

Chapter Four

Parker

The hairs on my arms rise and my muscles tighten with the need to chase her. The wolf inside me begs me to follow her as she disappears along the path. I crane my neck, ready to run, but a high-pitched whine stills me. A few seconds later, I hear a cry for help.

I’m following the sound before my brain registers the movement, and I step into the brush.

Seconds later, a man barrels into me with dirt and blood smeared in his hair and on his face.

He’s in all black, so he has to be a new student.

His scent is heavy in a way I instantly identify him as a Were. Weres have stronger, richer scents.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s someone. He’s—”

“Hello, Parker.” Cane steps through the maze. His green and yellow eyes glow as he leans against a tree. His suit is pristine. I can smell the curiosity from others watching just out of sight. “I was just greeting …”

“Finn,” Finn says, wiping his cheek.

“You know how it is for first-years. Just seeing who might be interested in my pack. Finn says the lone wolf life is for him. Pity. I know you know what that’s like.”

A growl rips through my teeth, and Cane deadpans while straightening the blazer of his uniform.

I’ve lost count of the years I’ve had to know this asshole and that stupid cropped haircut he’s had since we were kids.

He looks just like his father, who I’ve met and can confirm is also a jackass.

Cane's entire family is known for their white hair and green and yellow eye coloring.

His attention lingers on my hand, and his nostrils flare.

He can smell her.

The thought snaps my rigid muscles into play. I need to find her. Now.

“You were looking for her,” I say. His jaw tenses, but his mouth stays tightly shut.

Of course. Cane has connections on campus.

He’d known she was coming. There’s no way she knows the danger she’s in.

With eyes like that, the werewolves have likely already made plans for her, and they won’t leave her alone.

It shouldn’t be my problem, but it is. Because if she needs help, there aren’t many people here who will.

I say nothing to Cane before leaving. He knows my threats by now. It’s implied, and he’s not a fighter.

“You’re fine, Finn. Fuck Cane.”

“What about school?” he says as we walk back toward the path.

“If he does anything, tell me and I'll handle it.”

“Is everyone here like that?”

“No, not everyone.”

When we walk into the light, his eyes widen upon me shedding my mask. “You’re Parker Owens.”

I smile. “Yep.”

He opens his mouth, and I suspect a string of pleasantries and compliments, but I don’t have time.

I pat him on the back. “See you around.”

Moving to track her scent, I smell my fingers where her sweetness lingers and let it marinate till my head is full of elation.

There’s no safe place for anyone who smells like that, but especially not at a place like Doxlothia where the most prestigious families send their vampire and werewolf sons and daughters.

Blood like that is valuable. And anything of value here can be exploited.

Throughout history, sweeter blood is sought after by vampires and werewolves alike.

Now in modern day, you need to be careful till you’re in The Donor Program.

Surely, she and her sisters are in The Donor Program, and I’m worried for nothing.

Still, I need to check—werewolves are natural protectors of humans.

My heart is pounding so hard, nausea takes over when I smell blood.

Why am I so worried? There are no chances of murder at Doxlothia.

The smell of blood is normal here. She’ll be fine.

But the thought of anyone touching her is enough to make my skin tingle like I’m going to shift.

It would be faster. My tracking skills are better in that form, but the loss of clothes during a school event could be a problem.

The sweet scent of blood gets stronger. Fresh.

I find her in the clearing, stumbling forward, and jet toward her. She buries her head into my chest when her legs give out. With one arm, I hold her up.

“It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you.”

For some reason, she believes me, and she leans into me so long I think she’s smelling me.

“Let me look at you.”

She blinks a few times as I move the hair from her face. Touching her is like being electrocuted. There’s a bite on her neck with smeared blood. Vampires have so much practice biting humans they don’t typically leave blood trails. She must’ve run.

“My … sisters … I have to …”

I don’t like how cold she is.

“Don’t worry. I’ll fix you up.” I hoist her over my shoulder and head toward the entrance of the maze. It’s not much farther if I run.

The Central Lawn is buzzing with activity and students, but no one pays us any attention as I move so she can sit on the grass. The glow from the lawn lanterns highlight the gold and lilac in her eyes. She’s beautiful.

Surveying her again, I smell her to see if I can figure out who did this.

I have a guess, but it can wait.

“My sisters,” she says, with more strength this time.

“I didn’t see them, and I don’t smell more blood, so I think they made it out.” If Zant chased them out, they’ll be fine. He is likely showing them around. He can be an ass, but he’d never hurt them. “They’re safe with Zant.”

She grumbles as I hold her upright.

“You’re not going to like this.” I lift her chin, and she doesn’t flinch when I move my lips to her neck to lick the bite mark clean. I tune strictly into my inner wolf, holding my breath. Thinking about her blood and how good it tastes is the last thing I need to do while trying to heal her .

She groans again and shrinks away from me, but her fingers stay wrapped around my forearm.

“I know it’s gross. But it’s a Were thing. It closes your wound. Someone just took a lot of blood from you, but you’ll be okay.” Needing to warm her, I draw her to me, and a faint whimper leaps from her throat, as her fingers curl into my forearm. “I’ll get you some Quik-Recover.”

The fact she’s been attacked is proof she isn't a donor. Donor Program rules are strict, and there are laws on harming anyone in the program. I’m not in the program because hybrid blood is the least sought after.

But as an over six-foot male, I don’t need to worry about people jumping out of the bushes to bite me.

I grab my bag from the utility lockers, and in less than a minute, I’m next to her again.

I shake the little carton in front of her face before I punch the straw through.

She takes it with one hand and reaches for me with the other.

Happy to be her support, I scoot in closer so she doesn’t need to work so hard to stay upright.

Quik-Recover is an emergency aid for when someone sucks the life out of you.

She’ll likely still need a transfusion though.

“It’s safe. It will help.” I move the straw to her lips. As she drinks, the color springs into her cheeks and all that anxious energy making my skin itch dissipates.

“Why am I so cold?” she asks.

“Have you never gotten bitten before? Never donated?”

She shakes her head. That explains a lot.

“It’s normal. Here.” I put my arm around her.

The chill of the night doesn’t help. I bring her hands closer to my stomach so she can warm them, and her fingers trail along my abs and work up my chest. Though her skin is cold, everywhere she touches me burns. It’s oddly exhilarating. Head in the game, Parker.

“Still feel dizzy?”

She nods and leans into me, so I let her rest on me.

“It takes a few minutes to work.”

She struggles to keep her head up, so I hold onto her face, rubbing her cheek with my thumb.

There’s something so natural about having her in my arms. The world around us fades away as I tend to her.

I don’t think about any of the stares or the fact that orientation has started—I just enjoy her presence.

“It will be okay. Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you. ”

The words pour from me without warning. They’re true, sure, but do I really need to tell this random girl that out loud ? I need to get a grip. She might be finding this creepy while not being able to move as she’s cradled by some guy in the grass.

I’m about to loosen my grip on her, but she lets out a lengthy breath and leans into me with one arm wrapping around my torso.

Her heartbeat, once rapid, is slowing. It’s the only cue I needed to stay holding her close.

She lays her head against my chest, and I lick the sweetness of her blood lingering on my lips.

I can’t help but think of the asshole who sank their teeth into her, and the thought sends my brain to places that involve me starting fights. Bad idea.

“We’ll sit here for a few minutes, and then we’ll go to the nurses' station.”

“And your name is …?”

“Parker Owens. Sorry, I got a little carried away back there.”

“I’m Olivia Osborne.” Her voice is soft, but her eyebrows are drawn together like she’s studying me. The more she recovers, the more her hold loosens. Olivia.

“I have to find my sisters.”

“They made it out of the maze. I’m sure—Ow!”

Something hard whacks me in the head from behind, and the edges of my vision blur.

“Stay away from my sister!”

With the large branch inches from my face, I snatch it out of the air.

“Ow?” I say, still confused on how I let some little blonde human clock me so hard in the head.

“Eva. He’s fine.” Olivia finally pulls away from me as the Quik-Recover works its magic. It has actual magical properties. I briefly remember the lesson I had on it in my early years of school, something about temporarily accelerating the production of blood cells.

“Please don’t press charges.” Evangeline’s eyes widen.

I throw the branch, rubbing the back of my head, and it lands with a hollow thud.

“It’s fine.”

“Ah!” Then the shorter blonde leaps from the trees also holding a large branch like a baseball bat.

“Emma, he’s fine! He helped,” Evangeline says. Our brief interaction in the maze starts to come back. I wasn’t really paying attention to anyone but Olivia .

“Are you sure? He looks sketchy.” Emma drops her weapon and hauls Olivia from my grasp. “Are you okay?”

Evangeline clutches her chest in horror, her breath spreading up.

“I’m fine,” Olivia says.

“She needs blood. I was going to take her to the nurses' station.”

The three of them look up at me as I stand and brush the dirt off my pants. Unfortunately, I’m still shirtless, so I’m giving off douchebag energy. Their fearful eyes turn into careful surveillance. They definitely aren’t buying it.

“We can take her,” Evangeline says, cleaning up her sister with a cloth from her jacket.

I don’t love that thought. Three helpless humans dragging their sweet scent—that is now out in the open and drying into the fabric of Olivia’s sweater—all across campus.

“Why don’t we all go? I can carry her. It will get her there faster.”

“I guess we don’t exactly know where it is. We’re new here,” Emma says.

She says it as if the fact they aren’t in their house colors yet isn’t a dead giveaway.

“I can see that. Where are you from?”

“The woods.”

“In general, the woods?”

“Groveshire,” Olivia says.

“Mom moved us there after we were born,” Emma chimes in, and Olivia shakes her head.

“Oh, I’ve never heard of it.”

“Most people haven’t,” Evangeline says. She’s watching me the closest, and I’m happy they have at least a sliver of self-preservation. I bend to help Olivia off the ground, surveying her one more time. No open cuts allowed.

“Are you a medic or something?” Evangeline says.

“No, it’s standard, especially for pack members to have medical supplies on them.”

“So you’re a werewolf,” Emma says.

“I’m a hybrid. Vampire and werewolf. You do know that’s a thing, right?”

“Of course we do.”

Now they’re all giving me some form of a glare. Emma rolls her eyes, Evangeline’s eyes squint like I’ve just insulted her, and Olivia is giving me that endearing shove it up your ass expression.

“Doxlothia isn’t generally dangerous. It’s safer to be part of The Donor Program, for sure. There are still people here that will take a bite out of you if you’re not careful.”

I wrap my arm around Olivia to lift her over my shoulder but stop when Darien moves into our circle.

“Oh, I see you’ve caught my leftovers. But oh, two new little rabbits have come into play.”

A growl leaps from my throat. I knew it was him.

Darien smells like money. He only wears expensive cologne, and because he’s on the council with Zant, I’ve unfortunately memorized the smell of it.

That and the smell of his hair gel. They’re under a magnifying glass and always have to look their best. Zant says he hates it, but I think that’s bullshit.

Darien stops a few feet away—he knows better than to piss me off.

“Fuck off. You can’t claim them. They are not part of The Donor Program.”

“Oh, I know. And that’s what makes it fun. Free game.”

I grit my teeth. “Do they look like free game to you?”

The girls huddle around Olivia, and I’m in front, blocking them from Darien. The edge of my vision blurs and my hands tremble. I love the feeling of my inner wolf just below the surface, and I’d love to let it out.

But I also know better than to get into a fist fight with a member of the council.

Darien’s smile fades as I step closer. Protection on behalf of others is a gray area.

“I expected nothing less from Parker Owens. Say, I hear you're going for the open council spot this year,” Darien says with a taunting smile.

“Who told you that?”

As I say it, Zant saunters in, putting himself between Darien and me.

“Really?”

“Come on, gentlemen. Not in front of the new students. It makes us look bad,” Zant says.

“Stay away from them,” I say to Darien.

“You’re going to have a tough semester ahead if you’re keen on protecting these three … without the help of the majority council.”

“Worry about yourself,” I say through gritted teeth .

Darien chuckles to himself and disappears through the crowd gathering for orientation.

“Sorry about that.” I turn to the girls. “Don’t worry about him. Here, let me get you to the nurses’ station.”

I go to hoist Olivia over my shoulder.

“Wait!” Evangeline sheds her cardigan and ties it around Olivia’s waist.

I motion for Zant to follow me so I can give him an earful for spinning yarns about me to the council. Olivia’s breasts are pressed into my shoulder, and the sweet scent of her blood floods my senses.

Oh, fuck. I’m in trouble.