Page 22 of The Devil Takes
But it didn’t answer why he’d done it.
“But, why bite me at all?”
Haden’s fingers paused as he mulled over his words. I watched the way his lips pressed together, chasing his eyes inside the shadows of his mask, though in this light they were nearly impossible to see. Just fathomless dark depths. “Truthfully, I did not remember the significance.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“You’re an alpha. How could you not remember what a bond bite is?” God, either this guy was dumb or he thought I was.
Maybe he was right, because he started stroking again and I ate that shit up right away, practically purring.
“I am many things,” Haden explained softly. His fingers never ventured. Only petted away, lighting up little fires in their wake as he traced along my temple, toying with the soft brunet flop of bangs I religiously gelled out of my face. “I have not been an alpha for a very long time.”
“I don’t get it.” I glared at him. How could he not be an alpha if he had literally dicked me into the dirt? It didn’t make sense. “How can you not be an alpha?” I pointedly stared at his crotch for a moment, then glared up at him in defiance. I was sure he could remember the knot he’d popped when he’d been railing me. A knot. The thing most people chased, in one way or another, all their lives.
Some of us in different ways than others.
I knew I should’ve been born with one, whereas Tommy enjoyed his in the rubber variety. Not that I’d ever wanted to know that about my friend, but he was an over-sharer just like I was an under-sharer.
I shook Tommy out of my thoughts, distracted again as Haden’s fingers trailed back down to my cheekbone once again. That simple touch shouldn’t feel so damn good. Or so fucking sensitive. My toes curled as a shudder tore through my body unbidden.
“A man can only be so many things at once before some start deteriorating, like a village full of buildings where there is only one caretaker. Eventually, no matter what he does, their foundations begin to crumble,” Haden murmured in the space between us. His scent was faint but I chased it, my nostrils flaring as a soft throaty chuckle left his lips the moment he noticed what I was doing.
“I don’t know if I buy any of that,” I grunted. “Seems like a lot of pretty words to explain a shitty thing you did.”
“You do not need to ‘buy it’ for it to be the truth.”
Haden’s words were fading.
The room was too.
Gray bled around the edges as fog echoed through the corners of my mind.
“It appears as though your time is up, little one,” Haden echoed.
“I’m not little.” The words were out before I could stop them and then suddenly everything went white.
* * *
Sunlight blinded me the moment I opened my eyes, and I was stuck floundering after the puzzle pieces of my dream as I glared up at the stain on our dorm ceiling and tried to calm my heart rate.
When I’d been confused as a kid, I’d decided my thoughts felt like spaghetti. All wiggly and slippery, tangled together in clumps. It had been a long time since I’d felt that way. Since I’d felt the need to summon an imaginary fork and start spooling them all together. Confused, aroused, twist, twist. Till everything was lumped together, even if it wasn’t organized.
Somehow it didn’t help, though I’m not sure why I was surprised by that.
So instead, I did the only thing I knew how. I sprung into action.
With my backpack slung over my shoulder, still wearing my pajama sweats, I dodged Tommy’s muffled “mmm?” from his side of the room and slipped out into the hallway. I’d stumbled home after the graveyard drained, accepting Tommy’s apologies, though I knew it wouldn’t be the last time he pushed me further than I was ready to go.
The walk across campus was a quiet one at this hour. Most classes didn’t start till nine at the earliest on Fridays, so the only place I could really go at…I checked my flip phone…7:45 in the morning was the library on campus.
Yay.
That was sarcasm.
The cool wind whipped my cheeks as I dodged cracks in the sidewalk, superstitious, despite the fact my mother had been dead since I was twelve and as much as I loved my dad, I wasn’t sure if I’d regret a crack breaking his back.
The library was surprisingly busy considering the time. Students crammed in corners, their stuffed backpacks like toy chihuahuas sitting loyally at their feet. I wandered my way past them toward the computers at the back of the massive space. They were ancient and yellowed with age, but they always served their purpose. I’d been saving up for a laptop with my measly earnings from the greenhouse I worked at part-time, but it wouldn’t be enough for what felt like a hundred years.
