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)
Still, he didn’t have much choice.
“Fine,” he said at last. “But if that ladder shifts, I’m grabbing her.”
“Please do,” Cassie said. “I’m not proud—I’d rather be grabbed than fall.”
Sev glanced at her.
“Are you certain you can climb?”
“No,” she said. “But I’m going to anyway, because the zombie parade is getting closer and I really don’t want to be the featured snack.”
Ravik looked toward the herd again. They were closer and moving a hell of a lot faster than he liked.
The Infected didn’t run like sane beings. They lurched and crawled and sprinted in uneven bursts—some on two legs, some on all fours, and some dragging broken limbs while still somehow keeping pace. Their white eyes gleamed through the mist and their lipless mouths hung open, clicking and hissing as they scented the air.
They were coming straight for Cassie, he thought—or maybe for all of them. Ravik could smell blood—his own, Sev’s, and Cassie’s faint sweetness under the fear. He could also smell something else in the air now—something sharp and golden coming from Sev. The cure, maybe. It was in Sev’s blood and essence, and it had changed his scent enough that Ravik couldn’t stop noticing it.
He fucking hated noticing it but what he hated even worse was that some part of him wanted to move closer and breathe it in.
“Move,” he ordered, pushing the intrusive thoughts out of his head.
Sev went first, reaching the base of the ladder in a quick crouching run. He tested the first rungs, then climbed with the efficient speed of someone who had spent too many years escaping bad situations—which they both had. Ravik watched him go, noting the slight stiffness in his shoulders and the way he favored one side where Ravik had hit him.
More guilt twisted in his gut and he shoved it down.
No time for that.
Cassie went next. She tucked the charge baton into the belt Sev had given her and grabbed the ladder with both hands. Ravik stayed directly behind her, close enough that if she slipped, she would fall against him and not hit the ground.
She climbed slower than Sev, but she was climbing, all the same.
“Good girl,” he heard Sev call softly from above. “Come on, you can make it.”
Cassie muttered something Ravik couldn’t hear, but from her tone it was probably sarcastic.
Despite himself, he felt one corner of his mouth tugging up into a smile. One good thing he remembered from his time in the fog was being absolutely certain the curvy Mature Elite was his mate. He had loved her instantly—and he wanted her still.
The only problem was, he was pretty sure that Sev felt the same.
He put one hand on the ladder and glanced back over his shoulder. The first wave of Infected had reached the broken fencing. They were snarling now, the wet clicking sounds becoming louder and more frantic as they saw prey above them. One of them hurled itself against the fence and tore through a gap, slicing its chest open on jagged metal without even noticing.
“Hurry,” he growled.
“I am hurrying,” Cassie snapped from above him. “My legs are shorter than yours and I recently got hit in the head by a pair of battling alpha idiots.”
Ravik flinched.
She must have heard the change in his breathing because her voice softened slightly.
“I’m sorry. That was mean.”
“No,” he said, watching the first Infected break fully through the fence. “It was true.”
There was a pause above him.
Then she said,
“Just don’t do it again.”
“I won’t,” Ravik promised and he meant it. Goddess help him, he meant it more than he knew how to say. Whatever had happened between him and Sev, fists weren’t the answer.
The first Infected reached the base of the tower just as Cassie made it to the platform. Sev grabbed her wrist and hauled her up the last few feet, then pulled her onto the metal grate beside him.
Ravik stayed on the ladder and swung his shock blade one-handed as the creature leapt for his boot. The blade took it across the mouth and black blood sprayed over the ladder as the thing dropped, shrieking. Another came behind it, and Ravik kicked it in the face hard enough to snap its head back. He climbed one rung higher, then another, keeping his body between the Infected below and Cassie above.
“Ravik!” Sev shouted. “Get up here!”
“Working on it,” Ravik growled.
The ladder shook as three Infected threw themselves against the base. The whole tower groaned—metal vibrating under his hands. Cassie cried out above him, and the sound cut through him like a blade as his protective instincts surged.
She’s my mate—I have to protect her!
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t true—she felt like his mate. And the fact that she felt like Sev’s mate too—which was deeply confusing— didn’t diminish Ravik’s need to keep her safe.
He climbed faster.