Page 25 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

My lips parted. “Moon chase…” The words were barely audible, but his responding nod told me he’d heard them just fine.

“Yes. Tonight’s exercise is about testing your merit for a moon chase. And do you know what lycans love?” His thumb stroked my wrist, the touch deceptively tender.

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t even manage to swallow. I was too busy processing the concept of tonight’s test.

For the first time, I didn’t want to pass.

I didn’t know much about the moon chase, but I knew enough about the requirements—run until caught. Then die.

It was a game for the lycans, a way to play with their prey .

Vampires were given walking blood slaves. Lycans were given prey to hunt.

“They like a fight,” Master Cedric continued when I didn’t reply. “They adore prey that doesn’t submit. And sexually skilled prey is even better. Because the harder a human works, the more aroused a lycan becomes.”

He pressed his groin into the apex between my thighs, allowing me to feel his own interest.

It branded me even through our clothes, eliciting a whimper from my lips.

He tsked. “You’re exactly the kind of prey a lycan will take as a temporary pet. A human to indulge his needs until the next moon chase. If you’re lucky, you’ll die quickly in his care. If you’re unlucky, he’ll use you until your spirit is broken and then send you to a breeding camp.”

Tears threatened my eyes at the brutal future he’d just described.

That fate was worse than a harem. Worse than the service industry. Worse than anything else imaginable in this world.

“Continuing the fighting courses after I failed you only proves you have spirit. And your sexual aptitude marks are quite impressive, too. Now you’re among the last of the humans to scream during this exercise. What do you think all that means, little flower?”

I stopped breathing, the realization strangling me from the inside out.

I’d been training all this time for the moon chase. Not to be a Vigil. Not to join a harem. But to become a temporary human pet to a lycan.

Ice drizzled through my veins.

And the world around me began to sway.

“A spirited human with a virgin pussy,” Master Cedric drawled, his words doing nothing to thaw my frigid interior. His tongue clicked at me, the sound reminding me of a ticking time bomb.

I couldn’t believe I’d wanted to run toward him, that I’d been craving his touch all these months.

He was a monster.

A monster who was clearly enjoying my torment now.

Because he was chuckling at my response.

Except the sound didn’t come off as amused. It was too harsh for that.

“You know, I don’t typically enjoy this annual event, little flower. I usually just track down a random human and break a bone to make the prospect scream. But I’m rather enjoying drawing this out with you.”

Of course he was enjoying this. He always enjoyed torturing me.

Was that why he’d taken me to his palace? To give me a day of hope to hang over my head for months in glorious agony?

His lips whispered across mine, his desire still pressing intimately against me.

But my body didn’t respond the way it would have mere moments ago.

I was too cold now, too… too infuriated … to indulge in it. Because he’d taken everything away—ripped away the false beliefs from my soul and used that residual hope to pierce my heart.

I felt shredded.

Dead.

Yet furious at the same time.

His tongue traced my lip, a hum of approval coming from him. “Now you get it,” he murmured. “Now you see your purpose.”

Hatred unfurled inside my being, shooting sparks of warmth through my veins as his tongue slid into my mouth.

I bit down on instinct, wanting him to feel even a fraction of the pain he’d caused.

His blood trickled into my throat, but I didn’t swallow. I spat it back at him instead as I began to squirm beneath him.

I didn’t want to be pinned down. I didn’t want another moment of this torment. I wanted to kill him.

He’d set me up in the worst way.

And he was enjoying my inevitable misery now.

“I hate you,” I seethed, my words low and hoarse from what felt like hours of being unable to swallow. But I ignored all that now. I no longer had anything left to lose. If the moon chase was my fate, why bother trying to please anyone anymore?

I preferred death to becoming a lycan’s pet.

I preferred death to allowing Master Cedric another moment of amusement at my expense.

I preferred death to all of this bullshit.

So I fought him in earnest, bucking my hips and trying with all my might to dislodge him.

His palm claimed my throat, giving it a squeeze.

I dared him to do it by lifting my head off the ground and moving into his death grip. Then I thrashed my arms and legs, uncaring of my training. Uncaring of anything other than ending all this now.

His mouth claimed mine again.

So I bit his lip.

His blood taunted my tongue.

But I didn’t want it. I used the remaining saliva in my mouth to dislodge it against his face.

He growled.

And I growled back .

Because what the hell did I have to lose? He’d just subjected me to a lifetime of agony.

Fuck. That.

His palm squeezed. “ Enough .”

“Fuck you,” I mouthed back at him, fully aware that using those words was forbidden for humankind. But enough lycans and vampires used them in my presence for me to know what they meant.

“Lily,” he snapped.

“Not my name,” I reminded him on a wheeze, my lungs crying out from a lack of oxygen.

But still I didn’t care.

I fought.

He held me down with ease, his stronger form dominating mine.

It was futile.

However, I couldn’t seem to stop. I wanted to murder him. He’d done this to me. He’d set me up. And for what? Some sick satisfaction in watching me wither and die?

“Stop,” he commanded.

I ignored him.

He’d lost his ability to control me when he’d decided to reveal his true intentions. All of this had been meant to groom me for the moon chase.

I wanted to scream. But his grip prevented the sound from escaping.

Right. Because he wanted me to finally pass a test— this test. The humans who didn’t break quickly would be rated highly.

I almost laughed at the insanity of the situation. All I had wanted for months was another chance to please him and prove my worth.

Well, I’d gotten my wish.

Because I was more than excelling at this challenge .

A tear escaped my eye, the treacherous droplet revealing just how broken I felt by this revelation.

One month until Blood Day.

One month until the Magistrate sealed my fate.

One month until the real chase began.

And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Nothing I could do to save myself.

I closed my eyes, the fight leaving my limbs as my lungs wept with the need to breathe.

But even as Master Cedric released my throat, I fought the urge to inhale.

Because I no longer wanted to survive.

Not with the moon chase being my fate.

I’d played all my cards wrong.

And now all I had left was a losing hand.

“Lily,” Master Cedric whispered.

I continued to ignore him.

There was no one here by that name.

Just Prospect Four Hundred and Seven.

Destined for the moon chase.

Maybe I would be lucky, like he’d said. Maybe the lycans would kill me quickly. But when had my life ever been about luck?

Master Cedric’s palm returned to my cheek. “Oh, sweet flower.” His forehead met mine. “Don’t wilt.”

I nearly grunted. But that sound required air, and I refused to allow it for that purpose alone.

He’d wanted to destroy me.

And he’d won.

All I could do now was accept the inevitable.

I finally let myself breathe.

And then I screamed.

Ending the game once and for all.