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“You just threatened to let me bleed to death,” he said. I snatched his arm, my hand wrapping around corded muscle, his skin hot beneath my cool palms. I pressed the handkerchief to the cut hard enough for him to hiss out a curse. “You like to deal me pain, don’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “You deserve it.”

He frowned at me but didn’t say anything. Our gazes locked for a moment, unspoken questions flying between us, hostility and annoyance filling the air. Then he tugged his arm away, the handkerchief along with it. He pressed it to his own arm and said, “Speaking of evolution, I thought you Primals were above bloodlust?”

“We are,” I spat.

His lips thinned before twitching up at the corner. “Then why are you staring at me as if I’m the last meal you’ll ever have, and why the hells is desire oozing from your pores? I would’ve been able to scent that from outside.”

My cheeks burned. “I think you need to get your nose checked.”

I turned to walk away, and his chair scraped against the floor. “I think you need to admit you have to occasionally give in to innate desires just as we do. You’re known as bloodsuckers for a reason.”

“Yes,” I said, whirling on him. “And there’s a reason why many of us don’t drink directly from the source, except for on rare occasions.”

“Rare occasions such as?”

“Sex.”

His eyes widened and I shrugged, but then a smirk played on his lips. “Sex? What do you⁠—”

“Enough questions, lycan.” I cleared my throat and headed to my cupboard to grab a wound dressing kit. It wasn’t often I needed it, but they were provided to each staff and faculty member in case of emergencies. I set it atop my desk and pulled out bandages, marching back over to Sylvan. I pulled the handkerchief from his arm. The blood flow had slowed down, but it still oozed. Saliva pooled in my mouth again. Dammit, why was I so thirsty?

“So, you’re telling me … if you drink from another being, you automatically want to have sex with them?”

I let out a forceful sigh. “It’s more complicated than that, but I don’t expect a lycan to understand.” I started to wind the bandage around his arm. “And we’re not here to discuss the habits of vampires. I have your blood and venom, and you have access to the library. I will be keeping you under surveillance, though, so don’t think you’re getting free run of the place.”

“I didn’t think I was.”

I tucked the end of the bandage to secure it, and he lowered his arm, tugging his sleeve down. His amber eyes found mine, and I could see the effort it took for him to say two simple words: “Thank you.”

14

SAY MY NAME

SYLVAN

The hungry look in Aura’s eyes haunted me until I stepped into the massive university library. I’d expected grand, but I hadn’t expected this grand. High ceilings of black wood complemented dark shelves packed to capacity with books. Aura gestured as if to say have your fill, but when I was a few paces from her, my ears pricked up at her soft footfalls behind me.

I moved between a row of shelves within the section listed as History. Walking along that row, I read the different titles, following the alphabetical order until I arrived at L. “Are you just going to follow me?” I asked her.

“Obviously,” she responded.

I didn’t spare her a glance, but her heart was no longer hammering. Gone was any lingering fear or bloodlust. Now there was just curiosity. I was good at deciphering scents, but something about her heightened the ability more. Not being able to figure out why left me unsettled. Perhaps it was because she was a vampire? But I’d met other vampires before, and they hadn’t stood out to me the way Aura did.

Each occult had a distinct scent profile. Spellcasters smelled like humans, but with the sharp scent of magic. Lycans were a familial scent that called to me, and vampires had one that repelled me. Aura’s both repelled and called to me. In fact, she didn’t smell like any other kind I’d encountered.

It was certainly her beauty clouding my judgment. Or the way she challenged my view of vampires.

“Don’t you have better things to do? Like classes? I’ve never heard of a vampire teaching during the day.”

“Daylight rings do exist,” she said.

“I’m aware of that.” My finger traced the spine of a book on lycan history. I withdrew it from the shelf and thumbed through it before moving to another one, yanking it from the shelf—Lycans and Bloodwoves.

“One at a time,” said Aura.

I stared at her. “You can’t be serious. I have to return to Sublune Creek, and⁠—”