Page 60 of Blood Day: Part Two

And what if he doesn’t?The other half of my mind demanded as I made my way out of my building, my eyes automatically searching for Cedric.What if he’s done with me? What if this is what he intended all along?

Then why didn’t I hear that in his thoughts?I wondered.If this was his intent, then surely I would have picked up on it.

Except, maybe I wouldn’t have.

He was so much more experienced than me. An expert at deception and mind manipulation. He could have hidden his true plans for me.

Did I fall into his spell unwittingly?My throat went dry.Did he merely want to play with his new toy? Amuse himself and then break me?

How many times had he said he wanted to watch me wilt? Had that been aloud or in his mind? All of it blended together now, leaving me unsure.

But I recalled several times where he’d thought about how I was a flower he intended to destroy.

Maybe… maybe this really was my end.

I swallowed thickly as I approached the gates, the other prospects ones I recognized. But Emine wasn’t among them.

I went to stand beside Six. His knuckles brushed mine, but he didn’t otherwise acknowledge me. I felt a sense of relief to be next to someone I somewhat knew. He seemed to radiate that same sense of calm.

A lycan appeared at the gate with a clipboard in his hand.

“Step through the gate as I say your name,” he announced gruffly.

He didn’t pause for any questions, just started calling forward prospects by number.

“Prospect Twenty-Two.”

“Prospect One Hundred Thirteen.”

“Prospect One Hundred Nineteen.”

“Prospect One Hundred Thirty-Two.”

“Prospect One Hundred Fifty-Seven.”

My heart sank when he skipped Emine’s number. Of course, I’d expected it since she wasn’t here.

He continued calling out numbers, each prospect stepping forward to go through the gate as he spoke.

Six brushed my knuckles again as his name echoed through the night.

Then I followed him as the lycan called my number next.Not my name,I thought.I’m Lily. Cedric’s Lily.

Except he still hadn’t shown up.

Nor did he appear after I sat down on the bus.

And he remained entirely absent as the engine started, too.

There were roughly a hundred of us on the vehicle, a number I calculated after sitting down. I’d needed something to keep my mind busy.

Six was beside me, our seat numbers thirteen and fourteen.

He sat next to a blacked-out window, hiding the view of the university walls.

I was in the aisle.

A lycan boarded our bus last, his gaze scanning the rows. “Silence guarantees I let you live. Noise guarantees that you’ll die. Understood?”