Page 52 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

“Most likely, yes,” he’d told me. “Your scores are among the highest in your prospect year. At a minimum, they’ll add you for dramatic purposes.”

I hadn’t understood what that’d meant, but his mind had alluded to the truth.

He’d worried I would be made an example of, someone hoping for more only to be given a dark fate meant to provoke tears and screams.

A few memories of previous Blood Day ceremonies had filtered through his thoughts, of candidates losing their heads and being destroyed on the stage for their inappropriate reactions. All of it meant as some sort of sick and twisted enjoyment for the superior beings observing the show.

I refused to be one of their amusements.

The engine roared to life around us, making my stomach knot.

Will Cedric even be able to sense me over a long distance? I wondered.

Then I frowned.

Wait, is that why I can’t hear him? Maybe he’d blocked me originally, then left, and now he couldn’t reach me. Is he already there? Waiting for me to arrive?

My heart fluttered at the prospect.

Yes, maybe that’s it.

“No talking,” one of the lycans snarled, his focus on another cage. “No sound whatsoever.”

Six leaned a little more into me.

I responded by accepting his weight and the comfort of his familiar presence.

Where is he heading? I wondered. What path have they chosen for him?

The engine grew louder as the plane began to move. I closed my eyes, the rumble twisting my insides into knots.

Knots that only pulled tighter as we picked up speed.

Faster. Faster. Faster.

Oh, Goddess… My eyes flew open as the air shifted around us, the sensation of being underwater clouding my ears and stealing my breath.

The lycan growled, the sound of a cage sliding open echoing through the plane.

A scream followed, causing my stomach to churn. Six grabbed my hand, squeezing it before releasing me, the movement quick and easily passed off as an accident .

Fortunately, the guards were too busy watching the events unfold in the other cage, their laughs echoing through the air as the lycan dragged one of the prospects forward.

I recognized the blonde female as a lower number but didn’t know her exact designation.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, her breaths coming in pants as the air continued to change around us.

Flying, I realized. We’re flying.

And she’d freaked out in response to the sensations.

Now the lycan was going to teach her a lesson.

One that would likely end in her blood splattering across the cages.

I forced my gaze away from her, my mind going to Cedric as the sounds of shredding began.

I miss you, I thought at him. I miss our little world. Our utopia. Even if I never see you again, I’ll always cherish our time together. Thank you for giving me the gift of life.

I just kept talking to him.

Thinking about him.

Dreaming about him.

Long after the screams died and the remains were cleared.

Even as we landed again several hours later.

All I did was think of Cedric. His dark eyes. His beautiful grin—which I’d only seen flashes of during our brief time together.

I would have liked to see you smile more, I told him. Maybe I still will .

But as we exited the plane, I still couldn’t hear him.

Nor did I see him or sense him on our way to our new destination.

Another bus, I told him. This one without a number.

But Six still sat beside me .

A short ride took us to another walled-off compound, this one surrounded by trees and what appeared to be green earth.

Grass , I realized, recognizing it from pictures.

But there was no time to explore or touch.

We were ushered off the bus and directly into a building.

Down a set of stairs.

Into a room lined with metal cabinets.

“Leave your robes here,” a vampire instructed, pointing at the row of lockers. “Then strip and line up there.” He gestured to a door at the back.

Six and I chose to share a locker, as it seemed most of them were already full.

We put our clothes and robes inside and joined the line.

The door led to a shower area, which was full of prospects, many of whom I’d never seen before. From the other universities , I realized.

No one spoke.

No one acknowledged the vampires and lycans observing from the periphery, either.

But I could feel their hungry gazes roaming over us with interest, waiting for someone to break a rule. Waiting for a reason to punish. Waiting for a chance to pounce .

I stepped beneath the freezing cold water and forced myself not to flinch. I miss your bathtub, Cedric, I thought. I miss your shower, too.

However, I stopped myself from thinking about it because the thought of Cedric in water brought back too many heated memories.

And the last thing I wanted to do was accidentally arouse myself while surrounded by these dark-minded creatures .

If they chose to fuck me, it would break my bond with Cedric.

Uprooting and killing my link to him.

My last petal of hope.

I swallowed.

Cedric… His name echoed within the vacant cavern of my mind. Please don’t leave me like this.

Yet as the night drew on, it became very clear that he had every intention of maintaining the wall between us. I tried to pick at it, to find some way through, but he was too strong. Too ancient. Too masterful.

The vampires led us to our quarters for the day—a large room filled with bunk beds. I was assigned to a top bed with Six beneath me.

Then the lights went out, painting the room in acute darkness.

“Sleep” was the only command.

I didn’t obey it. I doubted many of us did. Not with this foreign atmosphere and the very real threats lingering just outside the door.

When they came for us, it would be to march us to Blood Day.

The final ceremony that marked our graduation from hell and welcomed us into a lifetime of servitude.

Will I go to the moon chase? The harems? Do Khalid and Cedric have a plan?

I wanted to ask Emine. However, I hadn’t seen her in the showers or the locker area. I hadn’t seen her at all.

And I was beginning to wonder if she’d made it this far.

Or if something else had happened.

Something that had made Cedric cut me off for good.

I wish you would talk to me, I thought, drowsy from my lack of sleep and the long day of travel without food. They hadn’t bothered to give us dinner. And the only water we’d been provided was the icy spikes from the showerheads. I’d sipped from it sparingly, uncertain of the source.

Tomorrow is a new day.

A deadly one.

Will you be there, Cedric?

Or have you left me to walk this path alone?