Page 31 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

Lily

I stared at Master Cedric’s back, indulging in the undisturbed view of his flawless form.

He was gorgeous.

Tall. Athletically lean. Broad shoulders. Tapered waist. Sculpted backside. Long, muscular legs.

An enforcer .

I understood that term in the lycan sense. But what did it mean for a vampire?

He certainly looked lethal. However, that was rather standard for his kind.

Yet he’d taken on a rather unimposing position against the wall.

For me .

My head spun with all his comments and actions. I hadn’t expected him to really answer my questions, but he had. And with more information than I’d ever anticipated.

He’d been gone this whole time.

He’d tried to help me.

He doesn’t want me to go to the moon chase or a harem .

“Did you give me the water?” I asked, the curiosity one that tumbled from my lips before I could stop it.

He’d already said our previous game was over.

But I’d been so overwhelmed by all his responses that I hadn’t thought of this question until now.

Until I’d realized how wrongly I’d understood this situation. Because he’s been helping me in his own way. Not hurting me.

“Yes,” he replied without looking at me. “I couldn’t leave a note without risking your safety. So I left you nutrients instead.”

“What would your note have said?” I wondered aloud. “If you could have left one.”

“That you were my Lily and I would be back for you.” He uttered the words without hesitation, telling me he’d thought about it before I’d asked. Which meant it was true.

“You took away my name.”

“To protect you, yes.” He still didn’t turn around or look at me, his palms steady against the stone tile. “You can’t be Lily at the university. Only here where you’re alone with me.”

That’s why he reminded me not to scream the last time he bit me , I realized. He was protecting me.

The sudden understanding of his actions had me feeling dizzy. There was so much I hadn’t interpreted correctly. And now I had a thousand new questions regarding his intent.

But I couldn’t voice them.

I was still too busy processing everything else.

Master Cedric failed me to keep me from going to the moon chase or a harem.

Master Cedric gave me the water. He didn’t actually take away my name. He came back for me.

Everything spun around me, the water sounding distant to my ears. It was too much to process at once. Too much to accept. Too much hope.

Master Cedric caught me as my knees buckled, his arms coming around me as he lifted me into the air. “That’s not how this game is played, Lily,” he murmured, his eyes a pulsating darkness that only made me dizzier.

He moved to sit on the marble bench decorating one side of the shower, his strong body easily holding mine as he settled me onto his lap.

“Just breathe,” he whispered as my head fell against his shoulder. “Inhale and exhale and try to relax.”

His hypnotic tone washed over me, warming my insides. He pressed his lips to my head, his strength swathing me in a cocoon of protection.

The adrenaline and horror of the evening all seemed to be catching up to me. My body ached in a strange way. I wasn’t sore so much as exhausted. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally .

I’d been lost one minute and floored the next.

Master Cedric’s comments about the former world still circulated in the back of my mind.

Humans used to rule, I marveled. Lycans and vampires hid.

What a strange concept.

What would that world even be like?

I couldn’t picture it at all. It made no sense. Why would the superior beings hide?

Master Cedric kissed my temple, his palm rubbing my arm as he held me close. It was such a strange sensation to be held like this, especially by a being as powerful as him.

Vampires and lycans never exuded care or affection. Sensuality and hunger, yes. But nothing like this.

I struggled to correlate this version of Master Cedric to the one who used to lead my fighting courses. To the one who had failed me without remorse .

It was like his time away had changed him.

Yet he’d been just as hard on me earlier during the course exercise. So perhaps not. Perhaps I was just seeing a new layer of his personality.

He’d carried me after I’d been beaten in his class. He’d cured me, too.

Maybe it really was him after all.

Or maybe this was just another manipulation meant to break me.

I sighed, tired from all the thinking and processing of details. I just wanted to exist for a moment without too much thought. To escape to an oblivion where I could merely feel without worrying about anything else.

He’d offered me that escape in the form of a game.

“I want to play,” I whispered, my head rotating back to survey his stunning features. “I want to play your new game.”

Master Cedric’s thighs tensed beneath me as his lips curled. “All right.”

He didn’t immediately move, his dark gaze holding mine for a long moment. His irises gave nothing away, his expression unreadable apart from the small grin flirting with his mouth.

That slight smile made him even more handsome, almost cruelly so. His jawline and cheekbones were flawless and symmetrical, and his eyes were dusted with long black lashes.

So beautiful.

And he’d given me permission to touch him. To explore him. To bathe him like he had me.

I want that, I thought, my blood heating with the notion. I want to touch him.

My courses had prepared me for it .

But Six was nothing like Master Cedric—a fact that didn’t intimidate me so much as excite me.

I should be afraid.

I should be running away in search of a towel.

However, I couldn’t move. I wanted to play his game.

“Now you’re ready to play,” he whispered, lifting me off of him and setting me on my feet.

I nearly swayed, more from the loss of contact than my previous dizziness, but his hands caught my hips as he stood behind me. Then he slowly maneuvered me beneath the showerheads again.

“The sponge is there,” he said against my ear as he pointed at the item in question. “The soaps are here.” His hand moved to gesture at the bottles. “I’ll be right over there.” He indicated the wall he’d been against minutes ago. “The game ends when you leave the shower.”

He pressed a kiss to my temple and released me.

Then he stepped over to the marble slab and placed his palms against the wall once more.

I swallowed, my gaze running over his flawless physique to his muscular ass. I get to touch that.

My insides warmed at the thought, my hands already moving toward the sponge. It wasn’t like the ones I used in my service classes. This was soft and gauzy rather than tough and firm.

Master Cedric had gently created suds with this. No harsh or strenuous scrubbing, just tender, coaxing brushes against my skin.

I would do my best to mimic those movements.

I applied some soap, the minty fragrance reminding me of Master Cedric, and slowly made my way toward him.

He didn’t move, his body relaxed in this pose as he waited for me to touch him .

I considered where to start, every part of him calling to me at once.

His ass probably the most. So I would save that for last as a treat.

I knelt to begin on his ankles and calves. So firm , I marveled. Lightly dusted with hair, too.

The university required frequent shaving of lower limbs and other areas. At least for the females. Some males were required to trim as well. Although, the rules seemed to vary for men. I never paid much attention, my focus on my own requirements instead.

However, I rather liked Master Cedric’s legs. They were masculine and strong and led to sinful parts of him I longed to explore.

He’d failed me on my sexual performance. I understood now that he’d done it to steer me away from that path, but that didn’t dissuade my need to prove him wrong.

I’d studied hard over these last eight months, longing for an opportunity to prove myself to him. To show him I was worth a second chance.

It’d been my obsession.

And now I was on my knees behind him, gently creating soapsuds against his skin. His thighs flexed beneath my touch, his limbs seeming to tighten as I slipped my hands between his legs to soap up the front. I didn’t touch his groin, just his quads and back down to his knees and then his shins.

I didn’t stop until every inch of his legs was soapy. Then I stood. “Do you want to rinse off your lower half? Or should I continue?” I asked, my voice throatier than before.

“You’re in charge, Lily. Tell me your preference.”

I swallowed. “I… I think you should wash off while I ge t more soap.” I’d used most of it on his legs and needed more.

His palms lowered and he turned, his erection nudging my stomach. I bit back a yelp in response, my cheeks heating at the strong evidence of his desire.

He cupped my face with one hand and pressed a kiss to my lips. “You’re doing very well, little flower. Don’t run away now.”

My throat worked, my eyes widening a little. “I don’t want to run away.” It came out in a whisper, the words oddly choked.

“Good,” he replied, kissing me again. “I’m going to go rinse my thoroughly soaped-up legs.” He sounded amused, his dark eyes glittering.

I froze as he moved around me.

Then I turned as though he held me by a string, my focus going to his front and the evidence of his arousal. He’d been hard for most of our shower. I’d even felt his thickness beneath me when he’d held me on his lap. But it hadn’t registered until now that I could indulge in that part of him.

He said I was in charge.

And he was hard.

That meant I could please him—that I was already pleasing him. Maybe that was the point of the game.

He said the game would end when I left the shower.

But what if I made him come? Would the game end there?

“Soap, Lily,” he murmured without looking at me. He had his head tipped back beneath the water, his fingers combing through his damp, dark strands.

His abdomen rippled with the motion, his muscles beckoning me forward in a silent invitation to touch him .

I dropped the sponge, my fingers needing to be free for this experience.