Page 105 of Just One Bite
He’s right. I should be focused on the game everyone here is apparently playing. But I’m still lingering on his words. My palms sweat as I grip the book close to my chest. The nagging question floats to my lips.
“Whose mother died first? His or mine?”
I know the answer. The knot of it grows in my throat. If we’re linked, one of us must be the trigger for the other.
“Yours,” he says before disappearing and leaving me in the study. “My condolences.”
I’m the thorn in Parker’s side. The thing that took and continues to take from him.
I’m left with the weight of it when I make my way back to my room. I linger, with the half-turned knob of my door, and lay my head on the wood. My head is full of the life Parker could’ve had if he wasn’t linked to me—loved in his mother’s arms, a father who was present … another girl, someone better. Someone who could share in the bond with him.
A pack full of people who love him.
It’s not fair. Everything that’s happened to Parker is my fault.
I’m such a coward.
I let go of the knob and knock on Parker’s door while the picture burns a hole in my pocket. He opens it and lets me in without a single word.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Parker
Olivia’s feet dangle in the flowers as she swings.
I place a hand on her forehead, and she stops. “You’re burning up.”
“Something is coming.” She frowns, staring out the window where the storm clouds gather.
I don’t think I’ve ever been in so much pain in my life. This doesn’t even compare to getting my shit rocked on the daily and my skin torn open for afternoon fun. No. This is infinitely worse.
Once I scented her, it was like a bomb went off. I’ve never smelled anything so fucking good. She’s always smelled that way, but I wasn’t able to sense it. But now I can’t think about anything else.
It’s sweet torture to have her scent linger on all my clothes. It’s knives in the heart, a sick aching in my stomach, and yearning that has me stealing little pieces of her clothes and stuffing them in my gym bag to smell after practice like a creep. But I can’t tell her any of that, or I’ll add to her mounting pressure.
I have some weird ominous dream, and she sneaks out again in the early morning. That’s my cue to get on the ice and subject myself to someone’s ice blade in my thigh. It took no effort to take me down on the ice, and as I look up to the blinding lights, I contemplate never getting up again and letting the Zamboni bring sweet death. That or bleed out on the ice. Both sound good.
Zant helps me off the ice and tries to give me his form of a pep talk, then tells me about council bullshit. He doesn’t understand how my biology won’t let me focus on anything that isn’t Olivia right now. Aster and Barrett have been oddly quiet since our talk in the woods, and that’s probably because the bomb that’s blown up the entire interweb says Olivia and I are linked mates. Who knows what they’re plotting now?
I should care. I do care.
But I care a little more about what the hell Olivia is doing right now.
Eating a scone in the library? Taking a stroll on the lawn? Lying in bed thinking about me?
I need to see her. It’s not stalking if it’s friendly, right? Just a quick glance to see she’s okay, then I’ll be good to go about my day of agony.
Okay, maybe it’s creepy either way, but I get a free pass to check on her once a day.
I don’t find her in Noxx House, but it’s a great way to trace her steps for the day. She’s easy to track, solely because we’re linked mates and her scent is so strong.
That term in my head is still taking some adjustment. Along with the fact that I remember all the dreams I missed out on. It’s like a whole lifetime worth of memories dumped in my lap all at once. Even more than before, Olivia is everywhere.
I track her scent to the dance studio, not that I needed to track her to know that’s where she went this morning, but she isn’t there anymore, and it’s nearly noon. Next, I follow the scent into the castle. It’s a little all over the place in the lobby, but I follow it to the left and up the stairs to a hallway I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a class in. There are so many people muddying up her perfect scent.
There’s a dark-haired girl in Noxx House purple standing in the common area. The sun from the arched windows lights up her hair. It’s the wrong shade of brown, and this girl is taller, but why does she smell like Olivia?
I stand over her, leaning in to sniff her hair. It's so strong. I'm entranced by it, as I stumble forward into this random chick, and catch myself with my hands on her shoulders.
