Crave (Harlequin Teen)

those for?” I murmured, keeping my voice calm as I nodded at the tools in the guard’s hands.
    “They are your test.” His French accent was so thick I could barely understand him. Then he pressed the scalpel to Tristan’s neck.
    Should I trust the council’s promise not to kill Tristan? I searched the emotions in the other room but didn’t sense any deception.
    Holding my breath and praying I was making the right decision, I took two steps back from Tristan, closed my eyes and tried to calm my crazed thoughts.
    Tristan’s breathing changed, quickened and grew shallow. He was waking up. I glanced down at him. A bead of blood now welled from a nick below his jawline then trickled down his neck. Metal rang out against the cement floor. The guard had dropped the scalpel. I turned in time to see him backing out of the room, his hand over his mouth and nose as he tucked the now empty syringe into his inner jacket pocket one-handed. He wasn’t even going to stop long enough to pick up the scalpel? Or was it that he wouldn’t be able to endure the smell of the blood on the blade?
    Lovely. So even the council’s own vampire guards couldn’t withstand the smell of Clann blood for long. And yet the council expected me to pass this test?
    Maybe not. Maybe they wanted me to fail.
    Well, they were about to be disappointed. I could handle this. After all, hadn’t I sat in a restaurant with Dad and a full cup of blood right in front of me without a problem?
    Then the scent of Tristan’s powerful blood wafted toward me from both his neck and the scalpel. Oh, so that’s why the guard had left the scalpel…to make the test twice as hard. It was working, too. Tristan’s blood smelled so much better than regular human blood. Better than anything I’d ever smelled, really.
    My mouth watered, and I took a step toward him before I even had time to think.
    “Savannah!” he slurred, sounding drunk. He fought to raise his head as he squinted at me. They must be keeping some drugs in his system so he wouldn’t be able to use magic and escape. “Oh, man, they grabbed you, too. Are you okay?”
    I opened my mouth to reply, but no words came out.
    He smelled so good, even better than I’d remembered.
    “Sav? You look a little strange.”
    “You smell great.” My feet were shuffling me right over to him. Was that a bad thing? It seemed only natural at the moment.
    His sleepy, little-boy smile contrasted with the blondish-brown stubble on his cheeks and around his mouth. I wanted to run my hands over it.
    “Uh, okay, thanks. Now are you going to free me or what?” He flopped his hands to indicate the handcuffs.
    Mmm, yes, I should free him. I could use that scalpel to pick the locks. Then he could get up and wrap his arms around me, and I could stand on tiptoe and lick the blood…
    Blood? Oh, yuck. Whoa. Wait. What was I doing this close to him? Only a foot remained between us!
    I stumbled backward until my hands found the cinder-block wall. I slid down the wall until my butt met the equally cold cement floor. But he wasn’t safe enough yet. I could still crawl over to him. I pressed my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my shaking limbs.
    Oh, crap. I was dangerous to him. This wasn’t a dream or a nightmare. This was really me fighting my fully-awake self against the urge to drink Tristan’s blood. And I didn’t just want to drink a little. I wanted to drain him dry, to take every bit of his energy into me so I could keep him with me forever.
    “Did they brainwash you or something?” he muttered, the words coming out more smoothly now. The drugs must be wearing off.
    “No. I’m being tested.”
    “With what, the urge to free me?”
    “It’s okay. All I have to do is sit here and stay calm. Once the test is over, I’m sure they’ll take you home. No one wants another war between the species.”
    “Species? What are you talking about? What species?”
    “Ours. Yours and mine.”
    He stared at me. “You’re making zero sense. Is this about last night?”
    “A little, yes. Remember the watchers? They’re with this…group. You could call them all one big family.” A family of monsters. And I was one of them.
    My feet slid forward as if they had a mind of their own. I dragged them back up against me.
    “Vampires,” he whispered.
    I nodded and focused on trying not to breathe through my nose. But the room was small and the scent of his blood was rapidly filling the tiny space.
    Whimpering, I