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)
“I’ll do it.” His voice was so low it barely registered in her brain.
“I mean, I’m the one who’s going to be a real-life hucow, you know!” she went on, her sorrow turning to rage. She swiped at her eyes. “They’re going to hook me up to a freaking milking machine but oh, no—you’re the injured party because you and Severin rubbed pee-pees together one time and you might have to do it again! You can’t even—”
“I said, I’ll fucking do it!” Ravik raised his voice to a roar and it finally broke through to her.
She stopped talking abruptly and stared at him.
“What?” she asked at last, afraid she hadn’t heard him right.
He frowned at her, his golden eyes blazing.
“I’ll do it. I’ll go with you to Cherubin Three. I’ll even share you with Sev if you need me to. Hell, I’ll suck his cock or let him suck mine, if that’s what it takes to cure you. Because I care about you—because you’re my mate. At least in here.” He pounded himself on the chest.
Cassie’s mouth went dry.
“Ravik, I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t fucking say anything, because I’m not done yet.” He pointed a finger at her through the glass. “Because after that—after the vaccine is made and everybody’s cured—the three of us are going our separate ways.”
Severin looked troubled.
“Ravik—” he began but the Beast Kindred held up a hand to stop him.
“No—I don’t to hear it. I don’t want to hear another fucking word about it. Don’t try to talk to me or I might change my mind.”
He got off the stool and stalked away, his broad shoulders tight with anger.
Cassie stared after him, not sure of what to say. She looked at Severin, who had a stunned and stricken look on his face.
“Do you think he really means it?” she asked softly.
The Blood Kindred shook his head.
“I don’t know. But I’ve never known him to change his mind once he makes a major decision.” He sighed and ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Cassie felt like her heart might burst and she wanted more than ever to get through the barrier and hug him. Not for her own comfort this time, but for his. The big Blood Kindred just looked so beaten down and defeated—he looked like a man who had just lost his best friend. Which he probably had, she thought sadly.
“I’m so sorry, Severin,” she said softly, putting a hand on the glass. “I never meant to come between you two.”
“You didn’t.” He looked away, towards the direction Ravik had taken. “You brought us together. That’s the problem.”
52
RAVIK
Ravik stalked away from the clear barrier before he said something he couldn’t take back.
Not that he hadn’t already said plenty—too much, probably. More than enough to put that wounded look in Cassie’s eyes and that stunned, hollow expression on Sev’s face. But if he stayed there another second—if he kept looking at Cassandra with tears on her cheeks and Sev sitting beside him like a male who had just taken a blade to the chest and was pretending it didn’t hurt— Ravik knew he was going to break.
So he left…or tried to, anyway because there wasn’t anywhere to go.
That was the problem with quarantine. The room on his side of the barrier was large enough to move around in, but not large enough to escape anything that mattered. It had a sleeping platform, a fresher, a small sitting area, and a nutrition dispenser stocked with plenty of food cubes.
On the other side of the transparent wall, Cassandra had almost the same setup, except she had no Sev and no Ravik—no one to hold her when the need got bad.
That thought made his chest ache so he pushed it away.
No. He wasn’t thinking about that.
Ravik paced instead, because pacing was better than punching the wall and getting sedated by the medical team. He could feel the security sensors following him as he moved. Probably monitoring heart rate, adrenaline, aggression levels, viral markers, and whatever else Commander Sylvan and his people were tracking. Fine—let them watch. Let them see he was in his right mind now.
Physically, anyway.
His body was cured—the milky fog was gone from his vision. His thoughts were his own again—sharp and clear and ugly. That was the problem.
When he was half-lost to the Hunger Virus, everything had been simpler. Cassie was his mate. Sev was his best friend. Cassie needed both and Sev belonged close. There had been no shame in it then—no old rules dragging chains of shame through his head—no voice from his childhood growling that Beast Kindred did not share mates.
Now the voice was back…and so were the memories.
Ravik stopped pacing and gripped the edge of the small metal table bolted to the floor. His knuckles went white as he gripped it. He could still hear Cassie’s voice cracking when she asked if he would do this for her. Could still see her crying behind the barrier, one small hand pressed to her heart as she told him the need was tearing her apart.