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That was the real fear. The real thing that held her back from accepting bonding with him. Fear of sex, considering that prior to Lukas, any real-life experience with things of a sexual nature involved abuse, was something she could eventually move past. But he could kill her when she shared her blood with him, and she was helpless to prevent that. That was what she couldn’t get past, and the reality was there was much more to the bonding than she realized.

She took a breath and looked into Lukas’s sea-glass eyes, whispering, “And now this? Having to drink blood too… I’m not a Vasirian, Lukas. I don’t want to drink someone’s blood.”

Lukas dropped onto his bed and hung his head. “I would never do anything that would put you at risk of dying. I will be able to stop.”

Blaire sighed.

“As far as everything else? I’d be gentle with you, but I won’t force you into this. I’d never force you to be with me, and I certainly wouldn’t force you to have sex with me.”

“I know… Can we just drop the subject? We need to go anyway.” Blaire sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on her socks before slipping on a pair of sneakers.

Lukas cursed under his breath and ran a hand over his face as he stood, grabbing his leather jacket. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”

35

VASIRIAN BUSINESS

Everyone was waiting outside when they reached the office. Riley rushed to Blaire and wrapped her in a tight hug before pulling back and grabbing her arm, holding it up.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit shook up, but Lukas has been with me the entire time.” Blaire shrugged and rolled up the sleeve of her hoodie, showing the faded bruise from before, but no major damage this time.

Aiden frowned at her arm and shook his head. “The professor said to wait inside, so we should head in.”

Once inside, Blaire sat on one of the leather chairs and started eating the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit she picked up from the canteen as Riley plopped down on the chair next to her.

Blaire looked around at everyone and wrinkled her brow. “Where’s Lukas?”

“He’s having breakfast.” Riley pointed back to the door, where Lukas leaned against the wall. Blaire could see his lower legs, but the shadows of the room obscured his upper body.

Kai cleared his throat. “I assume he’s trying to be discreet about it, for your sake.”

Blaire looked down. Likely because of this morning. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll just take getting used to,” Aiden said with a shrug. He didn’t know what had gone down with them this morning. He didn’t know she told Lukas of her fears about the blood.

Moments later, the door opened, and the professor stepped inside carrying a large, well-worn tome. She walked around the desk and dropped it with a thud before leaning over the desk, inspecting Blaire’s face as she sat drinking her juice.

“You look much better compared to the last time,” she said with a satisfied nod.

“Yeah, Lukas stopped them before anything could happen.”

“Something happened. I wasn’t fast enough. It wasn’t enough,” Lukas grumbled.

Blaire looked back as Lukas stepped forward from the shadows, having thrown out the empty packet, looking every bit the predator. She swallowed hard as anticipation shivered through her. Anticipation for what she didn’t know, but the mystery was thrilling.

She shook her head, chasing away the wayward thoughts, and frowned. “There’s no way you could have predicted they would have been there in the night.”

Lukas gritted out between clenched teeth, “I could have been in the bed. I should have been. I should have sensed something was wrong. I did last time before I even came into the room.”

The professor folded her arms and then reached up to tap her chin. “The last time, Blaire was nearly dead, so it isn’t a surprise you would have sensed her from a distance like that. That said, the Order probably used up the sample they took from before, which is odd considering how much I suspect they took the first time.”

Lukas dragged a hand through his hair. “What the hell can we do? Because if this shit continues, Blaire is going to die.”

Aiden crossed his arms as he leaned against a bookcase. “She may not survive the next attempt.”

“I completely agree,” the professor said with a nod.