“Get out!” he shouted, and she scrambled to her feet, running from the room as fast as her plump legs could carry her.

“Disobedience, you’ll find, is the one thing I cannot tolerate from my pets,” Cyrus said, turning to me with an apologetic shrug. “Please, allow me to introduce myself. I’m—”

“We’ve met before.”

He arched an exquisitely sculpted brow. “Have we?”

With lightning fast precision, he pinned me against his chest. My veins burned at the physical contact, and I held myself absolutely still, afraid that at any moment I would writhe against him shamelessly like a cat in heat. This was the blood tie Nathan had spoken of. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

Never in my life had I felt as if I were spiraling out of control the way I did at that moment, nor had I felt such absolute relief as I did with my sire’s arms around me. The loneliness of the past months vanished when he touched me, as though all I had needed to satiate the agitated emptiness in my soul was to be with him. He made me feel so strangely complete that I wondered if I would ever be truly happy again without him or if I’d miss my old life if I never left this room again.

Cyrus leaned his cheek against mine and sniffed me.

I heard the blood singing in my sire’s veins, compelling me not to struggle. I can’t say I would have wanted to escape even if I could.

“Oh, yes. I know you now.” His voice was a rich, awed whisper in my ear. “You’re even more beautiful than I’d remembered.”

He ran his hands up and down my arms. I trembled. My knees buckled and I sagged backward, relying on his strength to keep me up.

Now I knew why the Movement thought of the tie in such absolute terms. It was better than love, better than success. The blood tie was the culmination and fulfillment of all human desires. I couldn’t imagine how anyone would want to resist it.

“What’s your name?” Cyrus’s cold breath teased my ear as he spoke.

“Carrie,” I answered without hesitation.

“The cards suggested I had a surprise coming. I had no idea it would be so…exciting.” He pushed his pelvis against my backside, his cock stiff and straining through the robe. His fingertips brushed the back of my hand, and he laced his fingers with mine.

A dizzying buzz forced my eyes closed, and I was overwhelmed with the unpleasant sensation of rushing rapidly forward. I forced my eyes open, and my vision swam. When it cleared, the room was gone. Instead, I saw the E.R., and my own panicked expression. I was inside Cyrus’s mangled body as he lay on the gurney. I saw myself staring in abject horror at the patient before me.

I jerked my hand from his and found myself in my own body, in the present time.

“My very own angel of mercy.” I felt his tongue, surprisingly hot, against my neck. “You tasted so good.”