Page 38 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

Lily

My nightmare is my reality.

It’d been that way since the moment I’d woken up to a human standing over me with a set of clothes. “You have fifteen minutes to prepare,” he’d said.

I’d obeyed.

Then I’d been put in the back of a van with Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine and unceremoniously returned to the university.

Without a single word from Master Cedric.

Not even a note.

I’d attended my service course—because there was no alternative option—all the while wondering about my fate. Master Cedric had made it seem like I would be spending the next month with him and only him.

Either I’d misunderstood him…

Or he’d lied.

I suspected it was the latter.

The notion of it left me feeling hot, and not the good kind of hot when he touched me .

By the time the bell rang to signal the end of today’s class—which had focused on serving dishes and proper kneeling by tables—I was on fire.

He lied. Of course he lied. Why wouldn’t he lie? He probably failed me again, too.

“Prospect Four Hundred and Seven,” a gruff voice said, sending a chill down my spine. A lycan .

Swallowing, I turned toward the dark tone. “Yes, Master?”

“Follow me.” He didn’t give me a chance to reply, just turned on his heel and started walking.

Is this some sort of sick joke? I thought, following him. Did Master Cedric send him here to taunt me about my moon chase fate? Was this lycan taking me to another trial run? Did he intend to chase me himself?

The flames roaming through my veins iced over, each step behind the lycan feeling heavier and heavier.

Is this a new game to test my reactions?

Or was this all just a game in general, one I’d failed by allowing Master Cedric to talk me into expressing my own wants and desires?

It had all felt so genuine last night, and the pleasure had been insurmountable.

I’d felt alive, like I could breathe for the first time.

Was it all a trick? A way to make me wish for death now?

The lycan led me down a set of stairs to a cold-looking tunnel, one that reminded me of last night when Master Cedric had entered a similar one.

Is it the same one? Am I being led out to the training field again?

I hadn’t even been given breakfast today.

Or water.

I’d intended to eat midnight lunch.

Apparently, that wasn’t happening .

Perhaps it was for the best. Whatever this lycan had planned couldn’t be good on a full stomach.

I gripped the straps of my bag, my hands clammy. The books inside weren’t very heavy, yet they reminded me of boulders now.

The lycan said nothing as he walked.

Then he continued his silence up an additional set of stairs that led to another unimposing door.

He opened it to reveal a barren courtyard and an endless night sky. Outside the building walls. Just like last night.

The hulking male stopped and looked at me. “Run.”

Shit!

I dropped my bag, not wanting the extra weight, and took off into the desert.

Panic thundered through my heart, sending it into a chaotic rhythm. There was no finesse or analytical thought, just pure terror pushing my legs as I fought to outrun the lycan behind me. I had no idea if he would give me a head start or not.

Except it really didn’t matter.

He’d catch me with ease.

Perhaps even in wolf form.

Oh, Goddess…

I’d seen lycans shift into their beautiful beasts. Silky white fur, piercing gazes filled with intelligence, giant paws… They looked magnificent.

Until they ripped apart a human with their teeth.

I shuddered, already picturing my death when a pair of hands grabbed me around the waist and took me down to the sand.

A scream locked in my throat, my training kicking in and silencing me right at the appropriate moment. Not that it mattered. I was facedown in the sand. One inhale would suffocate me .

Is he going to take me like this? Make me choke on sand while he fucks the life out of me?

I wanted to fight.

To squirm.

To do something other than allow this fate.

But something Master Cedric had told me registered in my thoughts before my limbs could move— “A spirited human with a virgin pussy.”

Lycans enjoyed the chase and the fight.

So I went limp.

I didn’t even try.

I closed my eyes as the lycan flipped me over, my limbs completely dead. It took effort not to gasp or pull in the air my lungs desperately needed.

Instead, I inhaled very softly, providing myself with just enough oxygen to remain alive without making the need obvious to the predator above me.

But then a hint of mint teased my senses as lips ghosted across my cheek to my ear. “Very clever, little flower,” Master Cedric breathed. “You almost appear dead, apart from your pulse.” He kissed the spot on my neck, his tongue teasing the pressure point.

I immediately grabbed his shoulders, intent on shoving him off me and raging at him for this cruel game. But his lips took mine in the next instant, silencing me with his tongue. He caught my wrists and pulled them over my head, pinning me to the sand beneath him.

His blood trickled into my mouth, forcing me to swallow.

A subtle amount.

But enough to set my senses on fire.

What is he doing now? I wondered, dizzy from the fear-induced run that had ended in the heady sensation of having him on top of me .

I sucked on his tongue, wanting more of what he had to offer—if anything, to help calm the ache in my stomach.

His essence provided a renewed sense of life and strength.

It was addictive.

Sweet.

Him .

He growled against my mouth but gave me what I wanted, filling me with his blood while drowning me in his scent.

Then he kissed a path along my skin to the top of my breasts. One of his hands held both of my wrists as the opposite ventured south to tug down the fabric along my neckline, exposing more of my flesh.

There was no bra beneath, as I wasn’t permitted to wear them.

And he took full advantage of that by sinking his fangs into my bare skin a mere inch from my nipple.

I gasped, arching off the ground as the endorphins flooded through me to stir an exquisite feeling in my lower abdomen. It burned and pulsed and begged for release, something he gave me by pressing his thigh into my aching center.

An orgasm slammed into me, ripping a moan from my throat that couldn’t be silenced. He wasn’t going easy on me, his mouth voracious as he sucked the life from my being.

But he stopped almost as soon as he’d started, leaving me dizzy and oddly sated.

He grinned, his nose nuzzling mine before he kissed me again, this time with a tenderness that stole all reason and thought from my mind.

“Are you done?” a deep voice drawled. Master Khalid.

“Mmm,” Master Cedric hummed in response, his mouth hovering against mine. “You said this was a warm-up. That’s precisely what I’m doing.”

“I meant for sparring.” Master Khalid almost sounded amused.

“Sparring is still foreplay,” Master Cedric replied, finally looking up at the other man. “I know you agree.”

“I didn’t argue the point. But I want to continue this in the sapphire courtyard.”

“Noted.” Master Cedric released my wrists and rolled off of me and up to a standing position in mere seconds. “Time to go, little flower.”

My eyes widened at his use of my nickname in front of Master Khalid.

But the other vampire simply smirked in response.

That was when I noticed he had Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine beside him. Her frightened eyes met mine. There was an open wound on her throat, leaving blood to trickle down her neckline to discolor her white shirt.

A glance down showed I wore a similar wound, except on my breast.

“Up,” Master Cedric said, his tone holding a hint of command in it.

I moved, only to feel a bit woozy as I did, but he caught me by the hip.

A slight shift of my gaze to the side told me that Master Khalid had a similar hold on Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine.

Is he playing a similar game with her?

It made me wonder if this sort of thing happened often—vampires taking humans and playing with them in this manner.

Except …

Isn’t that what they always do? I asked myself, frowning a little. Humans are toys for their pleasure and food. Nothing more.

An important concept to remember.

Because while Master Cedric might say all the right things, I was a passing amusement for him.

He’d been upfront about my fate.

Although, he’d also told me he’d tried to change that fate.

So what am I to him? I wondered, feeling dizzy.

“Sapphire courtyard,” Master Khalid reiterated. “One hour.” His gaze slid to my breasts before shifting to Master Cedric. “Heal her. Feed her. Make sure she’s prepared.”

He wrapped his arms around Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine and disappeared.

Master Cedric said nothing for a long moment.

Then he grabbed me in a similar way.

My stomach screamed at the wrongness of being whisked through time and space.

It went on far longer than ever before, my skin clammy with sweat and pebbled with goose bumps by the time we finally stopped.

The tunnel-like sensation left me dizzy to the point of exhaustion, causing my legs to buckle beneath me.

But then a soft pillow met my head, and I realized Master Cedric had phased us back to his room.

From the university.

I gaped at him and our surroundings. “How…?”

“I can phase for a mile or two at a time.” He shrugged and vanished. Then he reappeared a second later with a damp washcloth that he pressed to my forehead. “I didn’t feel like driving today, so I ran instead.”

Ran , I repeated to myself. Right.

“Do you know who Khalid is?” he asked as he drew the cool cloth along my temple to my cheeks, gently providing me with a comfort I hadn’t even realized I’d needed .

“A Master like you,” I replied.

“Yes. But no.” The cloth continued downward to my neck. “You know all the royal names, yes?”

I frowned. “Yes. And alphas, too.”

He nodded, the cool sensation dropping to my breast as he gently cleaned the wound he’d created. Then he bent to seal it with blood from his tongue. I wasn’t sure how it worked, but it felt divine. And when he finished, he kissed me again, giving me more of his essence.

I no longer felt hungry at all. Or tired. Just alive.

And safe , I marveled. He makes me feel safe.

Which was insane. I couldn’t be in more danger than I was now, and not just because of his power over me. It was the emotions he awoke within me that were the true danger.

“Tell me the names of the vampire royals,” he instructed.

I started down the list. “Jace, Kylan, Claude, Goddess Lilith, Silvano, Naomi, Sahara, Kha—” My eyes widened. “Khalid…”

He waited.

“Prince Khalid.” I started to shake, my head moving back and forth. “No. He doesn’t look like…” I trailed off, thinking of the images I’d seen of him. “He’s always wearing a scarf.”

“He likes to hide,” Master Cedric replied. “But yes, it’s Prince Khalid. And for whatever reason, he has chosen to train you and Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine together. In both combat and sexual gratification.”

My lips parted. “I’m… I’m to please him?” A royal? A prince? Someone who isn’t Master Cedric? My legs crossed on instinct. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want that at all.

“Maybe.” Master Cedric didn’t appear all that thrilled by the reply, his gaze narrowing as he set the washcloth off to the side.

“For now, he’s only requested that your female-on-female course be redesigned to focus on just Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine.

With us being your instructors instead of Master Peyton. ”

“Oh.” My brow furrowed. That didn’t sound all that bad. “Okay.”

He arched a brow. “You want to learn how to please women?”

“I… I don’t know.” I’d only ever been with male partners. “My advisor recommended it.”

“Yes, but do you want to fuck women?” he asked.

I swallowed, unsure of how to answer.

He leaned over me, his thigh parting mine as he forced my legs to uncross. His lips whispered across my cheek as he hovered over me with his hands on either side of my head.

“Does it make you hot, Lily? The idea of your tongue between another woman’s thighs?

” He licked the shell of my ear, the heat of his body branding mine.

“Of taking a woman’s nipple between your teeth and nibbling it, teasing her, drawing out the pleasure and tormenting her with your mouth?

Kissing her? Eating her pussy until she screams your name? ”

I shivered, his words doing weird things to me.

I liked hearing those words from his lips.

But more so because I wanted him to do those things to me.

“Mmm, I can smell your interest, sweet flower. Does that mean you’re interested in doing those things to another woman? Or are you imagining me doing those things to you?”

“You,” I whispered, uncertain of how to voice my desires and thoughts. “I like your tongue.”

“I know you do.” He kissed a path down my neck to my breasts. This time he lifted my shirt rather than tugging it down and captured a nipple between his teeth just like he’d whispered.

I moaned. “Yes. That.”

“Do you want to do this to a woman? Does it make you hot?” he asked, laving the taut peak while holding my gaze.

I tried to picture it, to imagine doing this to another female.

But all I could see was Master Cedric.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” Because I didn’t. It was too difficult to imagine. All I wanted was him. His touch. His tongue. His mouth. His hands. His… his cock . “I want you.”

He grinned, his teeth grazing my sensitive skin. “If I tell you to eat her pussy for me, will you enjoy it? Knowing that it turns me on?”

That thought had my thighs clenching against his. If it was a show for him? “Yes.” Yes, I would like that a lot more.

He hummed, drawing his mouth back up to mine. “Good to know.” He kissed me softly again, his body hard against mine. “You need to eat something before sparring. Come, sweet flower. I’ll make you something in the kitchen, then we’ll head outside.”

I blinked as he slid off of me, his dark gaze beckoning me to follow.

So mercurial, I thought, breathless. So impossible to read.

And now it wasn’t just him.

But Prince Khalid, too.

None of this could bode well for me.

However, I already knew that.

This evening’s little chase had only solidified my fate even more .

It was all a dark game, one meant to prepare me for Blood Day and the savagery that would follow.

Less than a month to go now.

Then I’ll run until I die.

Just like Master Cedric had told me to do in my nightmare.