Page 65 of Mortal Blood
Sam blinked at me urgently and I understood without him having to tell me: spilled blood didn’t count against his debt, because of course not. Why would Astor care about blood that wasn’t feeding the students?
Burying every logical thought in my mind, and letting that primal voice, that hunger…no,thirst,take over, I lurched forward and clamped my mouth over Sam’s wound.
The first splash of the warm, rich liquid seeped into my mouth, and my eyes widened. It was like nothing I’d ever tasted before, nothing I’d everexperiencedbefore. I had been born for this—my whole existence had led up to this moment, and every part of my body hummed with need and satisfaction…and the desire for more.
My mouth tightened around his throat and I was vaguely aware of the human wincing as I drained more of the precious liquid from him, devouring it with desperate need and a burning hunger that could not be sated. Nothing existed but me and thismoment of utter bliss.
“I saidstop.”
Demir’s words thundered through my euphoria and I blinked hard, dragging myself from my feeding haze. It took me a second to register Sam swaying in my grip and I pulled my mouth away, staring at him in horror. He was barely conscious, drained of far too much blood to sate not even a need in me, just a want.
“Oh, my God, Sam…”
Demir tutted impatiently. “First you lose control, and then you address the human byname.” His mouth curved around a sneer. “You are in every way a disgrace. Get out of my sight. And get that human to a healer before it dies. I willnothave any more blood squandered.”
Swallowing hard—and immediately becoming aware of the blood still lingering in my mouth—I looped one arm around Sam’s shoulders and steered him forward. He staggered a few steps ahead like I’d shoved him rather than guided him, and my eyes widened. Strong. I was strong.
Sam’s legs went from under him.
Shit.
I lurched forward, scooping him up before he hit the ground, and he was featherlight in my arms. Fuck it. Faster to just carry him anyway. I hurried from the room ignoring the snide whispers and cruel giggles of the other students that followed me. Right now I didn’t really give a shit what they—or Demir—thought of me. I needed to get Sam some help before he…
Fuck.
I raced through the hallways, halfway between a jog anda sprint, some part of my mind aware that I could never normally move this quickly, or carry this much. I was maybe a little stronger than most humans, but this was something else entirely. And dammit, why was the med wing so far away? It was taking too long to get there! If I just took another drop of blood from him, I could run faster and—
Horror almost stopped me in my tracks. How could I even think that? Gritting my teeth, I pounded through the halls more quickly, and up the first flight of stairs without breaking my stride. My breath was burning in my throat by the time the familiar doors came into sight, and I burst through them.
“I need a healer!” I shouted, and whipped round as I caught movement in my periphery. Healer Marin.
He peered at me. “Ah, you’ve overfed. Nothing to worry about, the effects will fade in an hour or so.” He frowned. “Though you should probably put the human down, so it doesn’t trigger your instinct to feed again.”
“I’m here for the h—For Sam!”
The healer’s frown deepened. “I do not approve of having my work interrupted to treat a human, but very well, set him on a bed. I suppose I’ll have to inconvenience myself, seeing as the other healers are dealing with first year shifters right now. Quickly, I do have better things to be doing.”
He gestured to a bed on one side of the ward, and I put Sam on it, trying not to jolt him, but one look at his face told me he was too far out of it to register what I was doing.
“Will he—” I swallowed, and tasted blood again. I wanted to hate the taste of it after what it—whatI’ddone to Sam, but— “Will he be okay?”
“Hm? Oh yes, fine. He’ll likely need a blood transfusion, and I would prefer you were not here in your current…state.”
A hollow formed in my gut. He thought I was a risk when there was blood around. And he was right, wasn’t he? It didn’t take a genius to know it. Just look what I had done to Sam. I knew he’d been fed from recently and I’d still drained him to the point of almost killing him.
What the hell had I become?
Chapter Twenty-One
There was noway I was going back to Demir’s lesson after that. He’d set me up to almost kill one of the few people I cared about inside this place, and everyone else had been watching and laughing like the whole thing was some kind of twisted game. I didn’t trust myself to face them after that. It had absolutely nothing to do with not trusting myself to be around the humans in the den. That would be ridiculous. Feeding once, losing control once, didn’t make me dangerous. It didn’t mean I was going to hurt someone.
Again.
I just…I needed some air. Needed to get the delicious taste of blood out of my mouth and try to clear my head. I needed to think straight…but I didn’t want to.
Which was exactly why I needed to.
I hurried through the hallways, brushing past the occasional student I saw—classes hadn’t started for all the factions yet. No-one stopped me, and I tuned out the whispers that followed me as I went. So what that they were talking about me. What else was new? The sound of their hearts hammering like drums was new. The scent of hot blood filling my nostrils was new. And the hunger burning at the back of my throat.
