Blue Moon: Blood Moon Trilogy #3 by A.D. Ryan

time of day. I may not know the exact hour, but I could use this as a rough estimate. Maybe I could hone the wolf; she’d always been pretty good at sensing the sunset on the day of the full moon. I bet I could use her to do the same any other day. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?
    “What do you want?” I spat at him, moving to the left as he moved to the right. He’d left the cage door open, and while I hadn’t planned to escape right now, the wolf couldn’t let the opportunity slip by.
    “I’ve come to escort you to the lab for a few tests,” he informed me. “To make sure you’ll transition successfully in the coming months.”
    “I told you I’m not interested. I’d rather die.”
    The smile that crossed his face sent a chill straight down my spine. “Well, that’s always a possibility with our little experiment, so you may very well get your wish.”
    I was a foot from the cage door, and while I tried to keep myself from bolting toward it, the wolf wasn’t missing out on the chance for freedom. She bolted, but I’d barely made it out of the cage before Bobby’s arm was wrapped around me from behind and I felt the pinch of the needle in my neck.
    He pressed his cold cheek to mine, his clammy lips grazing my skin as my body went limp in his arms. “Don’t worry, sis, I’ll have you back in your cell after we complete your little check-up.”
     

     
    “Brooke?”
    The voice I heard sounded far away, almost like I was hearing someone call for me while I was submerged in a pool of water. My brain felt foggy as I tried to focus on the voice, but every time I was called, the clearer the voice became.  It was Cordelia.
    Slowly, my eyes opened, and I groaned when I sat up, pressing the heel of my hand against my temple. It felt like a vice grip was tightening around my head, and I needed it to stop.
    “Cordelia?” I said, my voice raspy.
    She exhaled a breath of relief. “You’re okay. They brought me back to my cell and you were gone…then when they did carry you back in here, you were so out of it, and I could smell blood.”
    “Bl-blood?” I asked, confused and unable to wrap my head around it. I sniffed tentatively and picked up on what she had smelled. I raised my hands and inspected my arms. In the crook of my right elbow was a small red dot. Someone had drawn my blood. I inspected the rest of my body, not finding anything. Was that what Cordelia had smelled? The wound was so small…but the smell was…
    My stomach lurched as I caught another whiff of the dried blood on my skin and I ran for the corner of my cell and emptied the contents of my stomach. It was weird. The smell of blood had never done this to me before—especially my own. Hell, I’d managed to keep myself from throwing up whenever I caught the putrid scent of a vampire. The only explanation was that the sedative they used was making me nauseous.
    “Brooke?” I groaned in response. “Are you okay?”
    I spat and then held the back of my hand to my lips for a minute, feeling my stomach roll again. When I was sure I wasn’t going to get sick again, I slowly stood upright and turned around to find Cordelia looking at me, her eyes wide with concern.
    “I’m fine, sweetie.” I smiled, hoping it was convincing enough. “I think the drugs they gave me upset my stomach.” Her head tilted to the left, eyebrows knitting together. She was eyeing me in a way that worried me. “What?”
    Closing her eyes, she shook the expression off her face. “Nothing. I was just worried.” She paused for a moment. “Can you remember anything about where you were?”
    I tried to, but the last thing I recalled was Bobby’s cold face pressed against mine. “No.” I held out my arm and looked at my elbow again. “But I think they took me to the lab. They must have drawn blood for whatever testing they need to run for their stupid project.” My knees trembled, and I succumbed to the feeling, collapsing to the ground.
    I needed to