Page 25 of Just One Bite
“Oh, fuck this. He did this on purpose. He must have had the same idea I did,” Zant says.
What was his plan? To get her alone? To mark her? I have to do something. She’s got the crystals, but it might not be enough.
“I have to stop this.”
Barrett has his arms around Olivia, leading her to start the Solexxa obstacle course. Our eyes meet in the crowd, and the panic in her gaze seers into me as he steers her away.
“I think I’m going to kill him.”
“Come on. Let’s follow them!” Emma runs into me, grabbing and ushering me toward the obstacle course. “I’m a little competitive. Fair warning.”
“Me too.” Though, I don’t really give a shit about the house round table when Barrett instructs Olivia to put her arm around his waist while they wait for their legs to be tied together.
I turn to Zant. “Can you watch Evangeline? Make sure Aster doesn’t have any rogue plans?”
“On it.”
Emma and I are close enough behind Olivia and Barrett that I can still see her. There are various obstacles to move around, and you must do it tied to your partner. Most of it is out on the lawn, but up ahead, the teams disappear through the trees, laughing and falling into each other. We tag team it in minutes and the course zigzags into the trees, where a neon string leads us along.
Emma is way shorter than me, so we’re uneven when we walk forward through the obstacle course into the forest. There is axe throwing, but I sneak Emma past so we can skip it. We’re slow moving because I don’t want to hurt her, but I need to find Olivia. Once we’re in the trees, I lose sight of her, and adrenaline pushes my muscles to work faster. Barrett is trying to get her alone.
“I don’t see her,” Emma says.
I scent her fear to the west, and it sends the itch of my skin into overdrive, so I snap the rope on our ankles.
“What are you going to do?” Emma asks.
I briefly mull over what I’ll do if I find him with his teeth in her skin while she cries in pain. Nope. Not going to happen. The need to shift draws through me from my heels to my scalp.Not yet.
“I’ll challenge him.”
Because in the end, none of the confusing feelings I have for Olivia matter. She’s mine to protect either way, and if they’re going to try to hurt her, I’m going to fuck them up.
Chapter Nine
Olivia
I think Doxlothia is trying to kill me.
Barrett is taking me farther into the forest, where the tree branches prick at my skin. The scrapes burn, and he’s moving us so fast the blisters on my feet from ballet rub relentlessly. I haven’t seen another student in minutes, and their laughter is growing farther away by the second. I dodge branches while Barrett barrels us forward. My ankle aches with each step. I have no choice but to hold onto his waist, or I risk slipping.
“I know about your arrangement with Owens.”
“There’s no arrangement.”
“Talk only when I ask you a question.”
Oh, so that’s how this is going to be.I wince at the pain from the rope rubbing against my skin.
“I know the arrangement between you and Owens is fake. Am I wrong?”
Barrett isn’t messing around, and I doubt he wants to know the type of cologne Parker wears. His eyes are the same emerald as his blazer, and he keeps them fixed forward like there’s a destination he has in mind.
“You’re wrong.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Don’t ask me stupid questions.”
