Page 89 of Blood Day

I’d planned tonight perfectly, ensuring I captured the prize I desired and, for once, taking advantage of my right to claim a prospect.

It happened often at the Blood Universities. No one cared. It was viewed as a benefit to being stuck in these godforsaken areas and devoting our time to training human slaves.

But none of the prospects had ever appealed to me before. Not until Lily.

Except she still didn’t react, her body seeming to go cold beneath my touch.

Frowning, I pulled back to examine her.

“I know you’re awake,” I told her. “I know you can hear me.”

Her eyes opened then, the color of her irises so dull that I nearly flinched. She resembled death, her spirit utterly broken. “I don’t want to play anymore.” The words were barely audible, her throat so thoroughly abused from her screams and my hands that she couldn’t speak.

“Hmm. Well, that’s too bad, little flower, because I came back here to play with you.” I bit my wrist and pressed it to her mouth. “Drink.”

There weren’t cameras out here.

And my night vision told me no one was close enough to see or hear our conversation.

It wasn’t necessarily safe, but we didn’t have a choice.

Lily clenched her jaw, refusing my blood.

So I pinched her chin with my opposite hand and forced her lips to part.

Her nostrils flared.

“Drink or I’m going to suffocate you,” I warned. I wouldn’t actually do it. But I would find a way to force her to swallow.

Her pale eyes flashed, the first sign of life returning to her features.

Then she bit my wrist.

Hard.

I smiled. “Is that your version of a punishment?” I released her jaw to run my knuckles across her cheek. “Because I consider biting to be foreplay, sweetling.”

She growled, her hands flying up off the ground as she tried to scratch me or slap me orsomething. It wasn’t a thought-out attack; it was desperate and a little sad.

However, I allowed her one slap.

Then I caught her wrists and pulled them together against her chest to hold them with one palm.

Her expression turned feral as she tried to fight again.

I cupped her cheek and kissed her, grateful to see her spirit once more.

Then I pulled back when she tried to bite me again, and instead pressed my wrist to her mouth once more.

She bit down, only seeming to belatedly realize that was exactly what I wanted.

She tried to rotate her head to dislodge my wrist, but I followed her with ease before applying some pressure to hold her in place. “Swallow and I’ll let you go.”

Blue fire licked through her irises, overcoming the green.

It was a gorgeous sight watching her come back to life. This time, I would give her the roots she needed to stay alive.

She swallowed, all the while staring me down and hating me with her gaze.