Life Blood: Cora's Choice #1 Read Free Page B

would die, you would still say yes.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, even as my body said, Anything, anything at all...
    He bent over me, and I tried not to breathe the scent of him.  He touched the drop of blood that had formed upon the needle’s exit.  I could hear his breathing now—irregular as mine had become.  With the tip of his forefinger, he scooped up the droplet.  Mesmerized, I watched as he lifted it to his mouth.  Holding my gaze, he parted his lips just enough for the blood to reach his tongue. 
    He shuddered, reaction seizing his frame, and suddenly, he seemed to grow larger, stronger. 
    “Go,” he ground out.  “Go now, before I damn my best intentions.”
    It was as if some invisible bonds that had been holding me to my chair had been broken.  I sprang up, snatched up my jacket, and fled, banging through the tall mahogany doors and not stopping until I jabbed the down button on the elevator.
    “Goodbye, Miss Shaw,” the secretary said unconcernedly from behind her desk.  “You can expect the results within a week.”
    The door slid open, and I stumbled into the elevator compartment, slapping at the ground floor button frantically until the doors finally, reluctantly closed.

C hapter Four
     
    T he elevator began to move, and I let out a breath of air I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
    What the hell had just happened?
    That man—Mr. Thorne—clearly he’s some kind of perv, I told myself.  He’s dosed me, roofied me or something. 
    How? I asked myself.  With the power of his hands?  Oh, God, that was what it had felt like.  I lifted my hands to my cheeks.  Even now they were flushed.  And he had felt it, too.  I knew what desire looked like, and that impossibly handsome man had desired… me .
    I stepped from the elevator back into the lobby.  The receptionist looked up and greeted me with another perfect smile.  “The car is waiting for you, Ms. Shaw.  You will be taken back to your vehicle.”
    I nodded to her and went outside.  The Bentley hummed at the curb, and the chauffeur opened the door at my approach.  Dumbly, I sat inside, and the car rolled away.
    My body ached, but it ached with a far different kind of pain than that which had become my constant companion in the last few months.  It was a part of me that I had thought had died, stolen by the sickness months ago.  Now all my nerves were awake and singing, and I had nothing to tell them because they only wanted one thing. 
    Him.  That man, Mr. Thorne.
    I hardly noticed when the chauffeur pulled up behind my battered Ford Focus in the parking garage.  I didn’t even think to ask him how he knew where I was parked or what my car looked like.  I was far beyond wondering about those kinds of things. 
    I managed to get to my feet, fumbling for my keys.  By the time I had opened the driver’s side door, the Bentley had purred out of sight.  I collapsed in the chill of the driver’s seat, my breath clouding the windows as I wondered if I had just imagined everything.  I pushed up my sleeve and started at the tiny needle prick there, and a shadow of sensation went through me again.
    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, leaning my head against the edge of the steering wheel.  My phone dug into my stomach, which reminded me— Lisette . 
    Abruptly, I opened my eyes and started the engine, the car coughing to life in the cold.
    What the hell was I going to tell Lisette?
    ***
    “I’m back!” I called as I stepped into our campus apartment.
    Lisette looked up instantly from her laptop.  “Hey, Cora’s here,” she said to the faces on the screen “Gotta go.”
    “Hi, Cora!” the faces chorused, waving with forced cheer.  “Bye, Cora!”  Hannah and Sarah hung up.
    Lisette opened her mouth—to scold me for my strange texts, no doubt—but taking a look at my face, she seemed to change her mind and treated me to a brittle smile instead. 
    “I grabbed some extra