Page 75 of Just One Bite
“She’d be proud, I think.” Just as proud as when I brought her mud pies.
It’s really sunny, so I have to shield my eyes. Sunny days remind me of her, and we used to sit outside all day long when I was a kid, but now is a bad time to think about it.
“What are your plans for your path into leadership? Do you have any thoughts on starting your own pack or continuing your mother’s work?” Autumn, from the university newspaper, is holding a recorder to my mouth.
The flash blinds me, and I open my mouth to speak, but my throat is dry.
My mother was a Doxlothia legacy and a mate advocate. She’s the reason for at least twenty percent of the laws we have around protecting mated couples, and she did a lot of casework too. Matchmaking. That was her favorite part. Working with real people.
“That’s enough questions for today. We will present a full list of initiatives by Monday morning,” Zant says, wrapping an arm around me and moving me to a quiet place on the Central Lawn.
“You did great,” he says.
My relief is short-lived.
“We’re going to be late to team practice.”
I’ve already gone for the day, but I have energy left to burn. I roll my shoulders to loosen the stress knot gathering there. I can’t be late to practice. The team needs me to be one hundred percent. Things have only slightly improved in our practices, and any absence from me is sure to set us back.
“We’ll make it. Stop stressing.”
“Easy for you to say. I’ve got a lot of things in my brain right now, and this council stuff is just adding weight.”
“You mean Olivia.”
“Yeah, she’s part of it.”
“You’re so fucked.” Zant chuckles.
“You’re supposed to be my encourager.”
“I encourage you to stop messing around and ask Olivia to be your girlfriend for real before she decides she’s done and wants someone else to hold her at night.”
I didn’t tell him, he just knew as soon as I walked up. Olivia was in my bed again last night. Zant grinned as soon as he saw me and raised his eyebrows. It was her smell. Sleeping in the same bed saturates me with her scent. The onlydownside is her scent lingers in my sheets after and makes me miss her. It’s a habit for us that’s working its way into a well-worn path.
“She barely wants me to, let alone some other guy.”
“Really? You don’t see her wanting to fuck her dance partner or, I don’t know, any of the other monster dicks in this place? You’re not the only one strong enough to protect her.”
“Okay, now you’re actually making me mad.” I breathe through my flared nostrils and try to get that image out of my head. I can’t think of it without my skin itching.
“That’s the point. I worry for you. If Olivia goes rogue on your plan, I’m afraid you mightactuallykill someone at this point, and I hate to tell you this, but my dad won’t let me be seen visiting you in prison. He loves you, but it’s bad for my image.”
“Comforting.”
“I’m serious. You like her. You don’t want anyone else touching her. You need to ask her for real.”
He’s right. I just hate it when he’s right. Zant loves thinking he’s helping me by telling me obvious things out loud. I do want to ask her, but there’s this nagging little voice reminding me she might say no. And that reminds me that there might be a day when she won’t want to sleep in my bed. Then all of this will be for nothing, and I’ll, what? Find a different mate so I can stay in Gavin’s pack?
I’m the one who just had to make the point that this is casual.
“I am serious about her. I’m … fucking obsessed with her.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, brother.”
Aster brings a drove of photographers onto the lawn. His scowl and bored expression are nowhere to be seen. He finally matches his smiling face on the posters in the hall, fluffing his red hair, flirting, and laughing through his questions.
“Just the guy I wanted to see,” I say.
