“Fine,” I snapped, grabbing the glass.
I could do this. Mind over matter. One little glass of blood wasn’t going to bring me down.I’d done much harder stuff than this in my life.
I only made it half-way through the glass before I choked, setting the glass down hard on the marble countertop. My mouth filled with salty saliva and my stomach began to cramp as I held myself still, praying this would pass.
It heaved. Nope, it wasn’t going to pass.
I lunged past Liam for the sink. EverythingI’d just downed came right back up, my stomach twisting and knotting as it forced the blood out.
Cool hands touched the sides of my face, lifting my hair away. Liam rubbed a soothing pattern on my back.
There were exclamations behind me over the sound of my throwing up.
“I didn’t know,” Nathan said, sounding horrified.“I’ve seen her drink before. I knew she was having trouble but not to this extent.”
“We’ll discuss this later,” Liam told him. His voice held an undercurrent of steel, an indication he wasn’t happy with his enforcer.
When my heaves had abated, but my stomach was still a twisting mass of pain, Liam handed me a wet napkin.
“You have got to be one of the most stubborn womenI’ve ever met,” he said. It did not sound like a compliment.
I wiped my mouth, then gratefully took the glass of water he gave me, swishing it around in my mouth before spitting it out.
A toothbrush with toothpaste already on it appeared in front of me. Seemed like he had thought of everything.
By the time I finished brushing my teeth, I was shaking, my muscles acting like they’d run a ten-mile race rather than just three feet to the sink.
I slid down, not even bothering to pretend I had strength.
“How did you know?” I asked, resting my hot cheek on the cool floor.
He crouched beside me, before sitting and gently drawing my head into his lap. I wasn’t in any shape to resist, his strokes along my hairline and neck lulling me into complacency.
“There are only a few reasons to lose as much weight as you have,” he said.
I shut my eyes. Of course.
“I’ve also been expecting it.”
I turned to look up at him. He gazed down at me, his face cruelly beautiful. In another time and place, I would have been happy to stare at him forever.
“There is a vital nutrient that is nearly impossible to get, except from a live donor,” he told me.“You made it longer than most, but this is inevitable. You’re fighting against biology. The odds aren’t in your favor.”
“The catalyst was your blood,” I told him.
He inclined his chin.“I suspect it was. You were able to exist on the bagged stuff as long as you did because you had no access to a master’s blood. It meant there was nothing keeping your transformation going. Tasting my blood and then Thomas’s jump-started the process again.”
“So, this is your fault,” I said, closing my eyes.
His touch hesitated.“In a way. You would have arrived at this point sooner or later, regardless.”
A particularly nasty cramp had me curling onto my side. Liam’s hands steadied me.
When it had passed, I panted and said,“I take it this means you’re going to make me drink from a human.”
“We’re past that point,” Liam responded.“You need a master’s blood now.”
Alarm distracted me momentarily from my pain. Not his.“I’ll try Nathan or Eric.”
