Page 42 of Blood Day: Part One

Heat radiated from his palm, claiming my skin with little hot fibers that stroked my nerve endings.

It was intense. Amazing. The most intimate touch of my life.

Which made no sense.

I’d been naked and stroked all over my body.

But that hand felt brand new. Like I was being caressed for the first time.

And the heat at my back resembled the desert sun, just without the squelching dehydration that came with it. Instead, it left me feeling rejuvenated by fire.

His thumb moved again, the slight caress making me shiver all the way to my core. It was sohotand intense and overwhelming andnew.

“Mmm, you’re awake.”

Was his voice always this melodic? Or is this new?

“How do you feel, little flower?”

So deep and powerful,I thought, squirming a little.

Which was precisely the wrong thing to do. Because one clench of my thighs had me jolting back against him. A moan escaped my lips in response, my entire body erupting in flames.

“That good, hmm?” He chuckled, the vibration causing my nipples to stiffen painfully beneath my shirt.

“What’s happening to me?” I asked, my voice breathier than I’d expected.

“I believe you’re aroused,” he whispered, his palm gliding upward to stroke the underside of my breast.

I arched back into him, reacting to his touch and seeking more. “Everything is so potent,” I marveled, the room spinning with vibrant color as my skin prickled from his heat. “I… I feel…alive.”

“Because you are, little flower.” He kissed the back of my head, his hand skimming upward to cup my breast. “You’re feeling the effects of my blood.”

That sentence should have given me pause and forced me to consider my situation, but his thumb brushed my nipple in the next instant, causing my mind to fracture beneath a wave of intense sensation.

“So sensitive,” he murmured, his touch sending a hum of electricity through my limbs.

My legs tensed in response, and that fire within grew. “Master Cedric,” I breathed, uncertain of what I wanted him to do or why I was even saying his name. But I felt like I was going to explode, and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

“Just ‘Cedric’ will do.” His lips were at my ear. “Formalities are for school, not for my bedroom.”

I couldn’t fathom a reply, not with his hand on my breast and his touch circling my stiff peak.

He pinched it between his finger and thumb, eliciting a guttural sound from my throat. Every part of me trembled, my insides turning to molten lava in reaction to his touch.

No one had ever made me feel like this.

Not that my experience was vast. I’d only taken one and a half courses, and the focus had been more on pleasing the males than anything else.

That was probably why Six kept losing. His mouth on my body did nothing for me.

But Master Cedric’s hand absolutely did.

“You’re trembling.” His words were quiet against my ear, his lips warm and soft. He swept his thumb across my sensitive tip again, then slid his palm back to my abdomen. “Everything feels more intense and powerful for you right now, doesn’t it? You can’t even remember the pain from your arm at all anymore, can you?”

My reply was unintelligible because I seemed to have forgotten how to speak.

His hand was still moving.