Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
But even worse than the shameful memory was the fact that his body was reacting to it even now. His cock stirred in his stained trousers, and Ravik nearly snarled aloud.
There were hundreds of Infected coming toward them, Cassie had just been hurt because he and Sev were both fucking idiots, and they were all probably going to die. And yet his shaft was hardening because his traitorous mind had decided to remember the way Cassie had sucked him and Sev at the same time.
Fuck. Something was definitely wrong with him.
Maybe the cure hadn’t worked after all, he thought desperately. Maybe the Hunger was still in him—twisting him into some kind of perverse version of himself. Because Beast Kindred didn’t share mates. Beast Kindred didn’t rub themselves against their best friend and like it. And as a Beast Kindred he shouldn’t have the memory of Sev’s hands and Cassie’s mouth and feel shame because it made him want more.
He could fight the Infected, Ravik told himself. He could fight Sev. He could fight the whole fucking planet if he had to. What he didn’t know how to fight was the memory of wanting them both.
“There’s nowhere to run,” Sev said, breaking into his thoughts.
Ravik forced his mind back to the battlefield.
Sev stood a few feet away, blood still drying at the corner of his mouth, his broken oculars gone, his pale blue eyes narrowed against the distance. Without the lenses, he looked strange. Younger, maybe—more exposed. Ravik didn’t like seeing him that way—which pissed him off because he was still furious with the male.
Cassie was standing between them with one hand pressed to the side of her head where she’d been clipped by the punch meant for Sev. Her face was pale, but her chin was lifted and she had that charge baton in a death grip like she was ready to take on the entire herd herself if she had to.
Guilt punched through Ravik harder than Sev’s fist had.
He had hurt her.
Not on purpose—never on purpose. But she had gotten between them because he had lost control, and now she was hurt and dizzy and still trying to stand upright because she was too stubborn to admit she needed help.
Ravik wanted to pick her up and carry her somewhere safe but there was nowhere safe to go. But they sure as hell couldn’t just stand here.
“We have to go up,” he said, looking at the communications tower.
The tower rose above them in a tangle of black metal and cracked crystalline supports, its upper platform half-hidden in mist. It looked old and damaged, but it was still standing. A ladder ran up one side, and above that was a maintenance platform with a broken shield screen and a relay dish angled toward the bruised sky.
Sev followed his gaze.
“The tower structure may not hold all three of us,” he objected. “And the ladder doesn’t look very strong, which is why we were originally going to send Cassandra up to send the signal.”
“It’ll hold,” Ravik growled.
“You don’t know that,” Sev said, frowning.
“I know the ground is about to be crawling with Infected if we let that herd reach us,” Ravik snapped. “Unless you have another miracle cure hidden in your trousers, we climb.”
Cassie made a choked sound that might have been a laugh, which was insane considering the circumstances. Ravik’s gaze cut to her and his heart fisted in his chest. She was trying to smile, but the effort made her wince.
That’s your fault, an accusing little voice whispered in his head.
Ravik pushed it away.
“Can you climb?” he asked her, hating how rough his voice sounded.
“I can climb,” she said at once.
“But you’re dizzy.”
“I’m less dizzy than I was.”
“That’s not good enough when you’re climbing up the side of a fucking tower,” Ravik growled, frowning.
Her mouth tightened.
“Don’t start with me, big guy. I am not in the mood. I can climb just fine and that’s that.”
The fact that she was still giving him attitude should have reassured him and it did—a little. But she was also swaying slightly, and Ravik didn’t like that one fucking bit.
Sev noticed too, of course.
“I’ll climb first and secure the platform,” he said. “Cassandra goes after me. Ravik, you follow her and keep anything from coming up behind us.”
Ravik wanted to argue. He wanted to say that he should go first with Cassie over his shoulder because he was the strongest and because his place was between Cassie and danger. But the truth was, Sev needed to reach the relay panel. He had the tech knowledge and the signal data he’d already sent in that long pulse to the Mother Ship that morning. If anyone could get the tower broadcasting again, it was Sev.
Which meant Ravik had to trust him. That had never been a problem in the past…but that was before he knew his best friend was sharing a mate with him and letting the two of them do…other things together while Ravik was out of his mind.