Page 149 of Just One Bite
It’s all swirling in my head. Every single dream we shared is there. We shared pain, tears, and highs and lows in our dreams, and we never knew.
No wonder he couldn’t stop staring the day after he marked me. How do you go back after knowing someone has been with you, caring for you every day since you were children?
“You remember the dreams?” His voice cracks.
I nod, and tears prick at my eyes.
“You let me cry in your arms too,” he says.
The early morning gets away from us. I can’t stop touching him. He can’t stop touching me. When we try, we end up connected again.
Once the light takes over the treehouse completely, Parker ushers us through grounds and back to the resort. Zant and my sister are waiting. I ask Eva if I worried her, and she reminds me there are cameras. There’s footage of all of it. Me stripping to my underwear and running through the trees. Parker fighting Garrik. And the moment Parker hoists me over his shoulder and takes me to the treehouse out of sight. Eva assures me I didn’t make a fool of myself, though I look like a wreck covered in dirt and blood running around in the rain with nothing but my underwear on. The whole resort is abuzz with the news of the newly mated couples, and many of them are opting to stay for a few more days.
Tara practically tackles me in a hug and introduces me to her new mate, a tall man with golden brown skin named Austin. Parker seems to like him, and it brings me relief she found a good one. She asks us to stay at least one more night so we can have dinner, and I politely decline.
I’m desperate to get back to some sense of normalcy.
We take a private boat back with Zant and my sister, then sneak back into Noxx House. I don’t check the forums and only check my phone to call my father to tell him I won’t be coming home, and then my sister.
I remember her voice pitching on the phone.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?!”
“I wanted you to enjoy your trip. You deserved to go.”
“Well, don’t do it again. If I had known this was happening, I would have helped. At the very least, I wouldn’t have functioned as extortion bait. I’m serious. This whole stoic, I handle this on my own crap doesn’t work for me.”
“Trust me. I’ve learned.”
She must have been eating because there was crunching followed by a muffled change in her voice.
“There are so many things we need to talk about when I get back. I can’t believe you and Parker have been sharing dreams since you were children. And you’re mated now. I’ll need details on that, and not your normal vague, keep it to yourself type ones. You just casually have the best love story ever written in the history of Vviveren? I’m so jealous it hurts. They’re going to write books about this.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’ll talk about it when you get back.”
Emma’s booked on the first train in the morning from the city, along with Gavin who I’ll need to personally thank for putting her in a hotel and showing her the city.
We don’t leave Parker's bed all day. We deserve just one day—Parker and me, our blissful window, and the snacks stashed in his dresser. Aster and Barrett and their schemes are the furthest things from my mind as he traces circles on my skin and I throw popcorn into his mouth from the end of the bed. Who cares if they’re angry? Who cares what they’ll try tomorrow or the next day? Parker and I are solid. We can handle it. The bond between us isn’t fragile.
It’s late when I get a text from Mrs. Vix asking me to meet her to discuss moving forward in the program.
“I have to go to the studio and talk to the director, let her know I can dance,” I say, pulling on my school uniform. I’ve got clean ballet clothes in my backpack in case. “She wants to see me in person.”
I stop to look in the tiny mirror Parker has placed beside his door. The mark on my neck has changed. Once dark but now a light-blue crescent of teeth signifying the sealed bond.
“Let me go with you.”
I smile, biting my lip. “Don’t you have anything to attend to while I’m gone? Moon festival ringing a bell? Maybe you could practice. Gather your team. Talk to your coach.”
“Ugh. Quit reminding me to be responsible. You’re the only thing I want to think about today.”
I lean in to kiss him. “Then you can have a little time to miss me.”
“Tell me everything while you’re away,”Parker says in my head.
I snicker, pulling my hands through my hair to tame it before I disappear into the hall. There’s a secret way through the back of Noxx House, and I take a detour through the trees to avoid any eyes. Tomorrow, we deal with the press and the news. Today, I only need to ensure I get to keep my role as Giselle.
“Let me know if someone bothers you. I’ll come save you,”Parker says.
