Page 121 of Just One Bite
I have to find her.
This can’t be it. This can’t be the end.
She’s gone.Those are the first words to ring in my head when I wake up, and Oliviaisgone. Her bed is empty while the scent of her lingers on her pillows. The fire in the hearth has turned to ash, and the light from her window is blinding.
I can’t believe I didn’t hear her get up.
Something is wrong. There is weight in my chest. I grab my phone, and there’s nothing but the Rage group chat notifications waiting for me to sift through.
I ignore them and pop in my room to toss on some clothes, eager to find where she went in a hurry. My mind replays the night over and over again, but it’s hard to focus on anything other than the ache in my chest. The strange, unsettling electricity under my skin is getting worse. While pulling on my blazer, I realize it’s nervousness. I’m hardly ever nervous, not even before games. It has to be her.
My first guess is the ballet studio, but I don’t travel far before I see her standing in the Noxx House common room. It’s still early, but there’s a crowd chatting and moving about for the school day in a blur of purple. The hairs on my arms raise but I don’t see any danger.
“Parker.” Olivia’s eyes are red. She isn’t dressed for ballet.
“What’s wrong?”
Someone must have died. That’s the only thing that makes sense, the only reason I feel like I’m dying when her gaze settles on me.
She takes a deep breath and forces out the words. “I don’t want to be with you anymore.”
Oh.“What?”
“I want to break up.”
For a moment, I think my heart is breaking. But no. This is all her. It’s agony. She tries to hide the trembling of her fingers in the hem of her skirt.
The crowd hears, and their mumbling whispers quiet.
“I don’t understand. What is this about?” I step forward and she moves back.
I’m replaying our night in an instant. My hands in her hair and all the things she said about love … and wanting this. Did I do something? I felt the connection. The ease in my senses as she fell asleep on my chest. There was no hint of worry or nervousness. We’d laid it all out. She was happy. She was going to accept the bond.
“Our relationship was fake.” Her lips barely move when she speaks. Her eyes are fixed past me. “It was all fake. Everything I said was a lie. You should pick a different mate. Because … I don’t want to be with you.”
My chest tightens and I swallow the lump gathering in my throat. This is my nightmare I tried to prevent. But something is off.
I look around the entirety of Noxx House. There are people everywhere. Some casually listen, and others stare. There’s a reason she’s doing this in public, and I want to know why. Things were fine a short number of hours ago. She’s obviously upset. I can’t even focus on the words she’s saying because she’s in so much pain, and she’s hiding it all under a stoic mask. Every beat of her heart sends an ache through my entire body.
“Are you even going to look at me while you break my heart?”
Her eyes flutter to me and water seconds before she says, “Goodbye, Parker.”
She barrels out the front door of Noxx House, and I stare at the spot she leaves long enough to hear the voices around me:
“Pathetic.”
“I knew they were faking.”
“Was the linked mate thing fake too?”
I don’t know what’s going on, but I will find out.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Olivia
“What’s coming?” he asks as we stare at the darkening sky.
