Chapter 43 #2
Heat flickered under her skin, low and dangerous, and Cassie tried desperately to ignore it.
Her body, which apparently had no sense of timing whatsoever, continued to react to being trapped between the two big Kindred.
Her nipples tightened and her pussy gave a soft, treacherous throb.
The bite wound brightened beneath the sleeve of Severin’s uniform shirt, which she was still wearing as a kind of jacket over her red nighty.
It showed a faint reddish-gold glow that she tried desperately to hide against her side.
Cassie was equal parts horny, irritated, and despairing.
Great—just great. She was having another horny zombie flare while actual zombies were standing above them. Because of course she was. That was just the way her life was going lately.
The Infected above them clicked again and made snuffling sounds, as though it was sniffing for prey.
Ravik went utterly still and Severin’s hand stayed over Cassie’s mouth, but his other hand found her glowing arm and covered the wound with his palm.
The moment he touched her there, heat rolled through her so sharply she almost whimpered.
But the glow dimmed under his hand, as though his altered essence-scent was calming the reaction even through skin.
As he touched her, she felt the aching need that had been building slowly begin to ease—like a fire dimming to embers. Cassie felt immediate relief…followed by another surge of fear as the Infected shifted overhead, scraping claws against stone.
But she knew with absolute certainty that the two Kindred with her wouldn’t let her come to harm if they could help it. She felt completely surrounded by their big, warm bodies which was incredibly comforting.
After what felt like an eternity, the pack of lizard zombies moved on, the huge Infected that had been sniffing so near them bringing up the rear.
No one moved until the clicking faded into the mist. But at last, when it was clear they weren’t coming back, Severin lowered his hand from her mouth.
Cassie drew in a shaky breath.
“I hate this planet,” she whispered.
“Agreed,” Severin said quietly.
Ravik looked down at her arm, his expression dark.
“Your arm was glowing.”
“Yes, thank you, I noticed.”
“Did it hurt?” he wanted to know.
“No.” She swallowed. “It was…I was having the opposite problem.”
Ravik’s eyes flared.
“I thought you smelled hot, baby. Couldn’t figure out why when there was a herd of fuckin’ zombies coming our way.”
“Well it wasn’t the zombies turning me on, if that’s what you’re implying,” Cassie snapped. “It’s the damn Hunger Virus. It makes me crave sex and seed instead of living flesh, but I guess you don’t remember that.”
Ravik shook his head.
“No, I don’t. But when we get somewhere safe I expect the two of you to fill me in on everything that’s been happening and what the fuck we’ve been doing together.”
Cassie exchanged a look with Severin, whose jaw tightened.
“We don’t have time for this right now,” he said tightly. “Fear and proximity may be triggering the viral pathway in your body again, Cassandra. We need to keep moving before it worsens.”
Cassie raked a hand through her hair.
“You know, I miss when my body only betrayed me with hot flashes.”
“I’m sure those were inconvenient as well,” Severin said.
“They were. But none of them tried to get me eaten by zombies because I was glowing like a sexy infected flashlight.”
Ravik barked a laugh and Severin’s mouth twitched despite everything.
It helped lighten the mood…a little, anyway.
They moved on again, faster this time. The communications tower was closer now, though still much too far for Cassie’s liking.
It rose from a shelf of dark stone beyond the ravine, its base surrounded by broken fencing and shattered Visskous equipment.
A long access ladder ran up one side, leading toward a platform with dangling cables and a dish-shaped transmitter that looked partially intact.
Cassie stared at it.
“Please tell me we don’t have to climb that.”
“We have to climb that,” Severin said.
“I said please,” Cassie said plaintively.
He shrugged.
“I heard you. But I cannot change reality for you, as much as I wish I could.”
Ravik grunted.
“I’ll climb first.”
“No,” Severin said at once. “You’re too large. The ladder may not hold your weight if the structural supports are compromised.”
Ravik gave him an incredulous look.
“Are you saying I’m too heavy?”
“I am saying the tower is damaged and you weigh considerably more than Cassandra.”
Both males turned to look at her.
Cassie immediately shook her head.
“Oh no. No, no, no. I do not like where you’re going with this.”
“You’re the lightest,” Severin said carefully.
“I am also the only one who’s not a big, scary Kindred warrior,” she pointed out.
“You wouldn’t have to fight,” he said. “Just climb to the first platform and attach the signal relay. I can talk you through it from below.”
Ravik growled.
“No. Cassie doesn’t climb alone.”
“She has to if the ladder won’t hold both of us,” Severin said.
“She is not going up there with Infected nearby.”
Cassie looked from one male to the other and felt annoyance spark through her fear.
“I’m standing right here, you know.”
Both of them stopped talking and looked at her.
“Thank you.”
She looked up at the tower and swallowed hard. The climb looked awful and the platform looked worse. The whole thing looked like something from a nightmare about falling.
“I don’t want to climb that thing. Just so we’re clear. But if I’m the only one light enough to do it, then I’ll climb it,” she said.
Ravik’s face went thunderous.
“No. I don’t like putting you at risk!”
Cassie planted a hand on her hip.
“Don’t say ‘no’ me. Someone has to go up there and send a message or we’re never getting off this stupid planet!”
“Cassie—” he began.
“No. I mean it.” Her voice shook, but she kept going. “I am not luggage. I am not bait. And I’m damn sure not your fragile little human package to carry around while you two argue over who gets to protect me the hardest. If climbing that horrible tower gets us off this planet, then I’m climbing.”
Severin gave her a look of approval and Ravik’s face showed reluctant admiration.
“Tough little thing, aren’t you, baby?” he rumbled.
Cassie lifted her chin.
“I have to be. Look at where we are.”
“We get you to the ladder,” he said, nodding. “Sev and I will stay below. If anything comes near you, I’ll kill it.” He patted the blaster in his belt.
“That sounds fair,” Cassie said, though nothing about this whole desperate journey felt remotely fair at all.
They crossed the last stretch of ravine in a crouched run. Severin led, pulse pistol in one hand and the med-kit bouncing against his side. Cassie followed, gripping the charge baton, while Ravik stayed behind her with his shock blade drawn.
The open ground made her skin prickle. There were too many shadows between the broken equipment and too many places for something to hide and jump out at them.
Then something did.
An Infected lunged from behind a collapsed support beam, moving so fast Cassie barely saw it before it was on her. Its mouth opened impossibly wide, teeth slick and black, and a scream tore out of her throat as it sprang straight for her glowing arm.
Ravik hit it like a thunderbolt.
He slammed into the creature and drove it into the ground with enough force to crack stone. The shock blade flashed once, twice, and the Infected shrieked, clawing at his arms. Cassandra stumbled backward, nearly falling, but Severin caught her around the waist and hauled her behind him.
“Stay back!” he barked.
Ravik fought like a wild animal—all coiled muscle and deadly fury.
For a few seconds, all Cassie could see was muscle and blade and snapping teeth.
Ravik’s body blocked the Infected from her completely, his broad shoulders hunched, his growls tearing through the mist. He drove the blade into the creature’s throat and pinned it down, but another Infected burst from the shadows behind him.
“Ravik!” Cassie screamed.
He turned too late.
The second creature hit his side, claws raking across his ribs as its mouth snapped for his shoulder. Ravik roared and grabbed it by the throat, but not before Cassie saw its teeth sink into the meat of his upper arm.
The world seemed to stop and time slowed to a crawl.
“Nooo!” Severin shouted, reaching for his friend.
Ravik ripped the Infected away and crushed its skull against the stone. The first one was still twitching, so he brought the shock blade down again and again until it stopped moving. Then he stood there, chest heaving, black blood spattered across his bare skin, while the mist curled around him.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Cassie stared at his arm in horror—the bite was deep. Too deep.
Dark blood welled from the punctures, and beneath Ravik’s skin, a milky white sheen began spreading through the veins around the wound.
Severin went pale.
“Ravik,” he said, reaching out to his friend. “Oh Goddess…”
The Beast Kindred looked at him and Cassie saw that his golden eyes were already beginning to cloud.
She felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no.”
Ravik looked down at the bite, then at Severin. For the first time since she had met him, something like real fear crossed the big Beast Kindred’s face.
“Fuck,” he growled, looking down at himself and the blood streaming from his arm. His gaze moved to Cassie. “Get back,” he said hoarsely.
She shook her head, tears already stinging her eyes.
“Ravik—”
“I said, fucking get back!” His voice dipped into a growl, and the white haze spread farther across his eyes. His hand tightened around the shock blade, knuckles white. “If I turn, I’ll kill you.”
Severin stepped forward, one hand still outstretched to his friend.
“No,” he said. “You won’t.”
Ravik laughed once, harsh and broken.
“You wanted a reason to bite me, Sev?” His breathing was getting rougher now, his shoulders bunching as though something inside him was trying to claw its way out. “Well, here it fucking is.” He pointed to his eyes, which were changing from gold to milky white.
Cassie looked from one male to the other, her heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe. Was the big Beast Kindred finally going to take the cure?
Apparently so—Severin’s fangs were already out.
Ravik’s eyes flickered from gold to white and back to gold while his massive body trembled with the effort of holding himself still.
He looked at Cassie one more time, and for a moment she saw him clearly—the male who had carried her out of the Dead Zone, who had held her at night so gently, who had risked his life to protect her.
Then the fog rolled over his eyes again and she knew he was losing himself.
“Do it,” he growled at Severin. “Bite me before I hurt her—bite me before I kill you both.”