Page 92 of Just One Bite
“Adentium Colseum. It’s an ancient potion that doesn’t exist anymore. Or shouldn’t. It’s been scrubbed from most sources. It’s illegal to post the recipe on any website.”
“The one they used in the old mating rituals?”
My brain isn’t conjuring the source of that brief remembered information. Not while Olivia’s breath is by my neck. Just the remembrance of old stories I’dheard in my younger years of school.
“Yes. Well, that’s why it’s forbidden. The only way to stop it is to be marked.”
“Got it. Thanks. Fill you in with how it goes.”
“Parker—”
I drop my phone on the bed and steady Olivia with both hands. Someone drugged her so they could mark her, and still, she ended up in my arms. I’m angry. I’m relieved. I’m still so turned on by her but mostly just happy she’s safe with me and I can fix this.
“Don’t you want me?” I hate the sadness in her voice. She sniffles and her lip quivers.
“Oh, baby. I want you. But not like this … I know how shitty it feels.”
I haul her onto my bed and into my arms.
“But I want you … just you. I mean it. I want you to be my first.”
Her first?Fuck.Fuck.I squeeze her and keep my eyes on the door. The safest place for her on campus is in my arms. Even if someone smells her and comes for her, they won’t get her.
“And we will. But not right now.”
“But it … it means something to me. It does. You have to know that.” She sniffles.
I move the hair from her face, smoothing the lines in her forehead. “Okay, I hear you. It means something. It does for me too. That’s one reason out of a very long list that we can’t tonight.”
She groans and buries her head into my chest. I have to think of anything other than her smell. I imagine watching her dance. Something neutral and awe-striking. It’s enough to dislodge the surging in my brain that tells me to strip her. Keeping her safe tonight is the most important thing.
“I won’t hurt you,” I say, rubbing the warm skin of her cheek and kissing it.
“Parker … you smell … you smell like …”
Like an alpha.Like she needs me to fuck her, but I won’t. As a human, finding the words would be nearly impossible, I imagine.
“It’ssogood.”
“I’m going to fix this. I promise it won’t hurt.”
Her heartbeat is calmer now as I lay her down and move the hair from her neck.
This isn’t the way I wanted to mark her. This is far from how I wanted thenight to go, but I can give her relief and that’s all I want.
Her fingers grip tighter and tighter in my hair as she tugs me toward her for a kiss, so I kiss her cheek and stroke her hair before running my lips across her neck.
I let go of my vampire instinct and focus only on my inner wolf, and it’s ready. Already on edge, waiting for me to sink my teeth into her. I’m not thinking of the taste of her when her blood hits my tongue.
The bite jolts me like a live wire in my veins.
My world snaps in two.
Gavin prepared me about the bond of it, but as soon as I feel the tug, I know it’s different. Nothing like what he described.
Oh, fuck. Olivia is …
She starts to relax. Her tight muscles loosen and her breaths calm. Her eyes grow heavier and heavier.
