Page 221 of Blood Day

More like a nightmare,I thought back at him as I struggled to breathe again.

I’m your nightmare,he countered.And I’m your dream, too.

I almost argued that it wasn’t possible to be both, but I was too busy seeing stars again to formulate the response. He was destroying me in a manner I couldn’t define, breaking down every wall of self-doubt and anti-hope he could find, and proving that we were here.

Fucking on the floor.

In a lycan compound.

Cedric…I shook as I tried to grab him, my body weak from the destruction he’d unleashed upon me, my mind fracturing beneath his ministrations coupled with the last few days—weeks?—of insanity.I… I…

Feel me,he whispered, his thumb stroking my throat as his essence touched my tongue.Taste me, Lily. Know me.Trustme.

I swallowed, my veins burning from the darkness he’d unleashed upon me, only to calm as his movements slowed, his hips marrying mine in a mating dance that left me breathless and weeping all over again.

We’re running out of time,he told me.Come back to me, little flower. Believe in me again. Trust me to save us. Please, Lily. I need your faith. Just one more time.

His lips whispered against mine, mouthing the words as he spoke them into my mind.

I’ll take you away from here, place you somewhere no one can touch you. I’ll turn you. I’ll do whatever you need. Just believe in melong enough to free us from this compound. I need your faith and desire to survive.

More of his blood slid down my throat, healing me all over again, reviving my sense of being.Survive, I marveled, the word one I’d pondered endlessly all my life. A word I used to take to heart. A word I’d stopped believing in at some point.

I’d lost my will to survive. There hadn’t been a reason to live, a purpose to guide me…

But Cedric was reminding me how to feel, showing me with his strength and vampiric kiss that there was so much more in this world to experience.

Except I’ll be alone, won’t I?I thought, searching Cedric’s mind for answers.You’ll have to cut me off again…I could sense it in his foresight, see the intention to remove our connection to keep me safe.I don’t want to live like that.

Then we’ll find another way,he vowed.I’ll turn you. I’ll give you the strength you need to survive. I’ll do whatever you want. Just trust me, Lily. Give me your faith so I can free you from this hell. Please.

His kiss turned desperate, his hips grinding against mine as emotion poured into me through our bond. I gasped, needing to breathe for an entirely different reason, but all I inhaled was more of Cedric and his minty fragrance. His blood. Hisprowess.

It suffocated me entirely, coercing me into listening to him, believing in him,livingwith him.

His pace increased again, his body tight and hard against me, coaxing me over the edge into an avalanche of sensation that possessed every inch of my being.

And in the next breath, he was gone, his growl one that had the hairs along my arms standing on end as he stood in front of me in a tense position.

I gaped at his backside, panting and sprawled out on the floor with his warm essence pooling between my legs.

“Look at her and I’ll kill you,” he said, his voice low and filled with lethal promise.

I grabbed the remnants of my dress, feeling exposed, but it was useless. The fabric was ripped and soiled, not just from Cedric’s hands but also from my adventure through the vents.

“This isn’t what we planned,” a gruff voice replied.

“Neither was that pack of wolves patrolling our meeting place,” Cedric returned, his thoughts telling me who stood in the doorway.

A lycan named Viper.

He was the one whom Cedric had hired to grab me, only he’d disappeared when the plan had gone sideways.

“No, I suppose not,” Viper agreed. “So your solution was to grab your girl and fuck her in the morgues?”

“Typical Cedric,” a cultured voice murmured, causing my veins to ice over and Cedric to stiffen. “Although, I suppose if it was my little mirage, I would feel similarly.”

Cedric took a step back, his hand falling to his side—which was when I realized he had been aiming a gun at the lycan.