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 there’s not going to be a vaccine now, is there? whispered an accusing little voice in his head. Because you’re refusing to help make one. Lots of people are probably going to die because of you.
“That’s not my fucking fault,” Ravik growled to himself, as he climbed into the shuttle. “They’re asking too much—I can’t fucking do it.”
He thought about what his family and clan would say back on Rageron if he showed up with two mates—one of them male—and admitted he shared a female with him every night. He thought of the shame his parents would feel—the derision he would get from other Beast Kindred males. He thought of the pointed questions—no doubt asking if he let Severin bite him and fuck him the same way he fucked their shared female.
No, it wasn’t fucking possible, he decided. He couldn’t do it—couldn’t stand the shame.
He started the engines and lifted the craft into the air. He would call the Mother Ship and ask them to send another ship for Sev and Cassie. They could leave whenever they wanted. They could leave together. Hell, maybe they would bond and get Joined in a big ceremony. How nice for them.
He made himself picture the scene—his best friend and the woman they both loved standing in the middle of the Sacred Grove, pledging their love before the Goddess—
“Warrior!”
The voice came out of nowhere so suddenly that Ravik lost his grip on the steering yoke and nearly crashed the shuttle. He had to grab for it quickly to keep from going nose-first into the ground.
As he scrambled to keep the ship aloft, his brain was racing. What the fuck was going on? Was he imagining things? Hallucinating because he was so upset?
“You are not hallucinating.”
It was that same voice again—strong and feminine and not very happy.
“Goddess?” he asked uncertainly. He had heard other warriors say that the Mother of All Life had come to them and spoken to them directly but he had never dreamed it might happen to him.
“You are correct—it is I, the Mother of All Life,” the voice told him. “Put your ship in autopilot—I have something to show you.”
Ravik did as he was told—he didn’t dare to do otherwise.
“Speak, Goddess,” he said, once he was sure he wasn’t going to crash and burn. “I’m listening. What do you want to show me?”
“I am here to show you two different futures,” the Goddess told him. “Watch and then choose which shall be yours.”
Ravik had been watching the viewscreen as they spoke, because the Goddess was a presence and a voice—not a physical person he could look at. Now, as he watched, the golden skies of Cherubin Three faded and he saw something new instead.
It was the Sacred Grove and there—just as he had been picturing them—were Sev and Cassie. They were dressed in formal wear—a flowing white dress for her and the traditional Blood Kindred fur leggings and boots for Sev. The two of them were standing before a priestess with green-within-green eyes, saying their vows.
Ravik felt his heart twist in his chest.
“So they get Bonded and stay together,” he muttered.
“They try,” the Goddess murmured in his ear. “But the Bond they form is incomplete. All their lives they feel something—someone—is missing. They are never truly happy.”
The scene changed and Ravik saw himself going back to his clan on Rageron, the Beast Kindred home world. He saw himself welcomed by the Clan Elders. No one laughed or made fun of him for having another male for a mate. No one turned up their nose in disgust when they learned he and Sev shared a female.
He saw himself respected and esteemed…and always alone.
“Do I never find a mate, Goddess?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “Or another friend?”
Her reply was brutally honest.
“Never, Warrior.”
“But…I live a happy life?” he asked.
“It is fulfilling, in a way. You are successful in your profession—you rise high in your clan. But it is a lonely life and you will die alone.”
The words cut him to the quick and he found he couldn’t even answer.
“Now see another way,” the Goddess said, speaking in his ear. “Watch, Warrior, and see what you are giving up.”
The scene on the viewscreen changed.
Now he saw Cassandra laughing in a suite on the Mother Ship, her hair loose around her shoulders, a curvy little human woman tucked between two giant Kindred males on a couch meant for Twin Kindred and their bride. She was holding a book in one hand and scolding both him and Sev for interrupting her reading.
Sev was beside her, one arm behind her shoulders, looking happier and calmer than Ravik had ever seen him. Ravik was on the other side, his head in Cassie’s lap while she absently stroked his hair.
Sev reached over her and touched Ravik’s shoulder and Ravik didn’t flinch. He turned his head and caught Sev’s hand, pressing a kiss to his palm like it was the most natural thing in the universe.