Page 89 of Just One Bite
“Thanks.”
I check my phone again and type:
Who is this?
There’s no answer for a few minutes, so I continue sipping on my water. There’s nothing I can detect on anyone’s faces nearby. No one is paying me the slightest bit of attention. Most of the men have shifted away from me, and there is nothing but groups of women with wide smiles and laughter near. Probably Parker’s doing.
Unknown number:You look beautiful tonight, Rabbit.
A feeling unease nestles itself in my stomach like a loose screw rattling around in a metal machine. Rabbits are easy prey. Someone has to be watching me.
I sip nervously and watch the crowd. This has to be Aster or Barrett. Oneof them has my number and is trying to threaten me. I don’t see them. Only Darien laughing with someone in the corner. He must have snuck in when I wasn’t paying attention. I guess rules don't apply to the council.
“Your heart is beating like a scared rabbit.”His words echo in my mind.
Warmth creeps under my skin. I check again.
Unknown number:Things are about to get really interesting for you.
I try to stand, but my body is heavy. I tug at my dress to bring air to my skin where sweat is forming. Every second that ticks by, the sickness grows.
I blink once.
Then another. It’s slow. Unsettling.
My vision blurs into a shadowy haze.
Knees shaking, I force myself onto my feet. The water bottle falls from my hand and spills over my shoes, seeping into my socks. I’m at the mercy of it. Watching. Unable to move. My limbs feel like I’m underwater, and when I step, I fall into the wall, knocking into a group. There’s talk. Laughter. Flashing of lights.
My senses are fleeting. There’s only a vague sense of what’s going on lingering in my mind, like half my brain has been turned off.
I open my mouth to tell them I need help. There’s something wrong. Terribly wrong.
A shrill ring cuts the air, and I’m being moved. Fast. I’m outside alone before the others, far enough from the door I can clutch onto a tree. The windows are flashing with a bright light while the crowd funnels outdoors in a panic. Whoever moved me is gone. Or was it me and I don’t remember moving?
The air should bring coolness to my skin, but I’m burning. My skin is on fire, and my heart is pounding hard against my ribs.
I scramble for my phone.
A drumming fills my skull, and white-hot heat courses through my limbs. I stumble, dropping my phone into the dirt.
I’m almost too scared to think of the words.
Someone drugged me.
A gnawing desire curdles in my stomach and runs between my legs. My entire body throbs with a need I’ve never felt before. I grip the tree again while it washes over me from head to toe. I need it to end.
It’s blinding.
It burns.
But I need something to make the desire stop. I need so much I can’t think.
My normal processing is gone. There’s just desire and the need to satiate it. I put one foot in front of the other and kick off my shoes when they make me wobble on the path.
I know exactly where I should go.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
