Page 82 of Blood Day: Part Two

I hate the superior beings.

I hate this world.

I hate everything.

But most of all, I hated the frigid claws scraping along my insides. The gnawing sensation reminded me of death, almost as though my body had already deteriorated into that of a corpse.

I’m not dead yet,I reminded myself.I can survive this.

Which just led me back to the circular discussion of what that actually meant.Survive to do what? Live in agony? Become a lycan’s breeding slave?

He might come for me,a dying part of me whispered.

I ignored that hopeful voice, the one that had led to my current torment. It was the part of me that had learned how to love, how tolive.But my reality no longer had room for that dream.

My reality was a nightmare.

Heavy boots punctuated that realization, the sound echoing down the corridor as they moved closer and closer.Please keep going. Please ignore me. Please don’t—

A key snicked in the lock of my cell, causing the hairs along my arms to dance. There was no feigning sleep. No hiding my body’s reaction from the approaching monster.

I opened my eyes, determined to face my fate head-on, but the lycan ignored me entirely, instead dropping Willow’s broken form on the ground.

No care. No compassion. No concern.

Just a grunt as he left her and slammed the door behind him.

I blinked at her still form.Shit. I didn’t think; I acted, rolling off the bed and joining her on the ground to check her pulse.

Steady.

She’s breathing, too.

The swelling along her jaw suggested that she’d been hit there at least once. I checked her head and found a bump, which explained what might have knocked her out.

Other than that, she had a few scratches and blood under her nails—she must have fought back—and a few bruises forming around her hips.Handprints, I recognized with a shudder.From a lycan rut…

I didn’t want to finish that thought.

Instead, I focused on making her more comfortable.

I rolled a towel for her to use as a pillow, doing my best not to move her neck too much in case the hit had done something to her spinal column. But she just appeared to be unconscious from the bump on her head.

Rather than return to my bed, I sat on the floor beside her. Something about it felt right, like I could offer her comfort while she recovered.

A ridiculous notion.

Perhaps it was actually me who needed the comfort.

I drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my shins.

The cement beneath me resembled ice through my thin gown, making me glance at Willow again. She was naked, her gown having been stripped off of her.

My lips twisted.She’s going to freeze like this.

I reached behind me to grab my thin blanket and draped it over her, then pulled the one from her bed to do the same.

And resumed my position with my arms encircling my legs.