Page 31 of A Trial By Blood

“That’s right, motherfuckers!” I choked out through tears and laughter.

We all hugged and cried and laughed.

Then we danced. We danced together like we never had before.

CHAPTER 10

Rose

I woke with a start and blinked up at the ceiling. It was morning, and for once, I hadn’t dreamed. There’d been nothing. No visit from Death. No nightmares. Nothing.

I didn’t get my hopes up, it was a respite. Death wasn’t going to just let it go—let me go. I forced the thought from my mind. I’d have to deal with that sooner or later, but I also had a task to complete. When I found out what it was, anyway.

I yawned and stretched. I’d been up late, studying spell books in the library. I had so much to catch up on. My stomach growled loudly—I also needed to feed.

I hadn’t done that yet, at least not while conscious. How would it taste? At the thought, my mouth watered. This was so freaking weird. I was thinking about drinking blood, and again, I wasn’t disgusted by the idea.

A shiver slid through me.

Not any old blood, Ronan’s blood.

This whole thing was kind of…no, not kind of, it was totally insane. I wasn’t only a witch; I was a blood-drinking, bat-shifting witch. And I had freaking wings that I didn’t know yet if they actually worked, like would I be able to fly? Or were they just there? Like some bizarre decoration? I didn’t know any other bat shifters to ask.

My hands rested on my stomach, and I let them slide up to my chest. Over my curves, curves I’d never had before. I’d never carried enough weight to have them. I moved my hands down over my hips to my thighs. My body felt foreign, but also right. This was how I was always meant to be.

My stomach rumbled again. The hunger yawning wider. I didn’t like the feeling. I’d lived with hunger for so long, and now that I knew what it was to be satisfied, the empty feeling in my belly was almost unbearable.

How would I even drink Ronan’s blood? Out of a cup? In a bowl with a spoon like soup?

What would it be like to drink from Ronan, from him, directly from his vein? I wished I could remember.

My body warmed at the thought, and there was a tingling along my gums. I tried to run my tongue along my top teeth—

Shit.

Mags said I had fangs. This was the first time I’d felt them. Hunger, thinking about feeding, and they’d slid from my gums. I ran my tongue over them again. They weren’t like Warrick’s or Draven’s, and they didn’t feel as if they were like Ronan’s either. They were long and extremely thin, the point at the end incredibly sharp.

There was a knock on the door downstairs, and I tilted my head as someone answered it. Else, I could tell by her limping gait.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but every bump and thump seemed to travel right to me—my hearing had grown stronger as well. A scent hit me, rich and dark and spicy. My mouth watered more, and I shoved the covers off, rushed across the room, and pulled the door open.

Luna stood there, her fist raised, ready to knock. It was the first time she’d come here since everything happened.

She looked up at me and her eyes widened. “Holy shit, Rose. Look at you. You’re beautiful.”

Her praise made my face heat, but I struggled to think of what to say, my attention immediately drawn to the bag she was carrying. The scent grew, and my stomach growled again, louder this time. My face got even hotter.

She grinned. “I brought this for you. I’ve kept it warm.” She held out the bag.

I looked down at it. “This is…it’s… This is Ronan’s blood?”

She nodded, her expression unreadable. “Unless you don’t need it? Is there someone else you’re planning to drink from?”

I recoiled before I knew I was going to do it. “No,” the word exploded from me. “I mean…no, I um, I don’t want to do that.”

Luna’s smile brightened, and she held the bag out to me. “Feed, Rose. You must be really hungry by now.”

I took it, then looked back up at her. “How? I haven’t done this yet. Every other time, I was unconscious.”