Chapter 62 #2
He heard the worry in her voice and forced himself to stop. Not to calm down, because that was impossible, but at least stop growling at the owl doctor like he was an Infected crawling over the tower rail.
Dr. Verityx did not look offended. He only tapped his tablet and a small hologram appeared above it, showing streams of gold and red markers twisting together and then fraying apart.
“The next treatment must be more complete,” he said.
“Cassandra will need one more full dose of cream from both males, delivered through the lower mucosal pathways simultaneously. Vaginal and rectal absorption together will activate the reproductive-mammary pathway and the pelvic lymphatic network at the same time, which should push her nectar production to peak broad-spectrum output.”
Cassandra’s cheeks went bright red.
“Wait…both at the same time?” she squeaked.
“I’m afraid so.” Doctor Verityx nodded.
Sev closed his eyes for half a second, a look of despair flitting over his face before it went carefully blank.
Ravik just stared at the owl-like doctor.
“Both our shafts in her at once,” he said, his voice flat.
“Yes.” The doctor nodded as though it was no big deal.
“Sharing her,” he emphasized. “Giving her our seed at the same time.”
“Yes,” Dr. Verityx chirped, as though they were discussing the weather. “The positioning will be delicate, of course, but quite manageable with proper preparation and support. However, the simultaneous cream delivery is only one part of the process.”
Ravik felt his stomach drop.
“What the fuck? You mean there’s more?” he demanded.
The doctor nodded, his head swiveling in the weird bird-like way.
“At peak response, while both male markers are present and Cassandra’s glandular system is actively producing vaccine nectar, Commander Severin must bite Cassandra and deliver essence directly into her bloodstream. That should bind the carrier structure to her nectar production.”
Cassandra swallowed hard.
“So both of them in me at once and then Severin has to bite me?” she asked.
“Not just you,” Dr. Verityx said. “He must also inject his essence into Commander Ravik—after he bites you, of course.”
The room went silent—so silent that Ravik could hear his own heart pounding.
He could hear Cassandra’s breath catch and Sev’s cup settle against the table with a soft, almost careful click.
He could hear the hum of the suite sensors and the faint whisper of wind through the silver leaves outside the window.
He could also hear his own voice from earlier, sharp and angry, throwing words like weapons.
Hell, I’ll suck his cock or let him suck mine, if that’s what it takes to cure you.
He had meant it as fury—as proof of his commitment. As a line so extreme it showed how far he was willing to go for Cassie. He could do filthy things if science demanded them. He could close his eyes, grit his teeth, and endure the shame because Cassie needed him.
But this wasn’t just ordinary sharing they were talking about. Blood Kindred didn’t bite during sex unless they wanted to Bond the person they were biting to them for life.
This wasn’t just sex—this was Bonding Sex and it formed a permanent connection—a Soul Bond that could never be broken.
“No,” he said. “No, I’m not fucking doing that.”
Sev looked at him then and the pain in his face was worse than anger would have been.
“Ravik,” he said quietly.
“No.” Ravik stood up, because sitting still suddenly felt impossible.
“I already let this go too fucking far. I said I would help make the vaccine. I gave Cassie my seed. I shared her with you last night and again this morning. I let myself stand beside you, both of us sucking her breasts while she had that damn thing inside her, because she needed us and because the doctor said it was necessary. But this is different and you know it!”
Dr. Verityx tilted his head.
“Different because it may form a permanent bond? I know Kindred anatomy and physiology is wired in that direction.”
Ravik rounded on him.
“Don’t fucking say that like it’s a nothing but a lab result!” he growled.
“It is a lab result of sorts,” the doctor replied, unruffled. “But it is also an emotional and spiritual concern, which is why consent remains essential.”
Cassie put a hand to her throat and her eyes went wide.
“Would it really Bond the three of us together?” she asked softly. “I mean, if you both were in me and you bit me and Ravik?”
Sev’s face tightened.
“It might,” he said in a low voice. “I can’t rule it out.”
Ravik’s heart fisted in his chest.
There it was—the truth. Not hidden behind nectar or vaccines or viral pathways.
Not wrapped in Dr. Verityx’s cheerful chirping or Sev’s careful scientific explanations.
If they did this—if he and Sev both entered Cassie at the same time and Sev bit them both while she was producing the vaccine nectar—it might Bond them—all three of them—together.
Forever.
Dr. Verityx’s feathers shifted as he looked between them. “Based on your samples and your dependence markers, I suspect the Triune bond is already attempting to form. This final treatment may only complete what your bodies have begun.”
Ravik laughed once, harsh and humorless.
“My body isn’t fucking participating in this. It’s too fucking far.”
“Ravik,” Cassie said and the tone of her voice made him look at her.
She was sitting on the bed in the red silk robe, her eyes wide and wet, her hair loose around her shoulders. She looked tired and beautiful and so full of longing it made him ache.
Ravik could see hope in her eyes, could smell the need and the fear she was trying not to show.
“Ravik,” she said again. “I won’t ask you to do this if you can’t. But please think about it before you say no. You and Severin belong together—I can see that. And I love you both. Would it really be so bad to stay together forever, like we were in the bunker?”
Ravik felt like she was holding his heart in her soft little hand and squeezing.
If she had begged, if she had demanded, if she had said he owed her this because she was suffering and because the vaccine might save thousands, he could have refused easily. But she was giving him a choice and saying she loved him—loved them both.
That hurt because what she was asking was forbidden. Why couldn’t she fucking understand that, Ravik wondered.
Sev stood slowly.
“There may be another method,” he said, though his voice was strained. “Dr. Verityx and I can review the data again. Perhaps an essence extraction could be stabilized outside the body if we—”
“No,” Dr. Verityx said, and for once his chirping voice was entirely serious.
“I am sorry, Commander Severin. We tested that pathway with your previous sample. Your essence degrades too quickly outside a living exchange. The vaccine requires peak Triune output, simultaneous marker delivery, and direct essence binding.”
Ravik was beginning to hate the word “Triune.”
Sev looked at him, his blue eyes unreadable.
“I won’t bite you again without your consent,” he said flatly. “Not for science. Not for the vaccine. Not for anything.”
The words hit Ravik hard. He wanted to throw them back in Sev’s face. Wanted to say his consent hadn’t mattered at the tower, that Sev had taken what he wanted, that he had used Ravik like a female and called it a cure.
But the lie stuck in his throat because he remembered now. He remembered the fog rolling over his eyes. He remembered telling Sev to do it before he hurt Cassie—before he killed them both.
He remembered choosing the bite because the alternative was worse but this would be different—this would be a clear choice, made in a clear mind. And it would mean forever—a lifetime of being mated to anther male and sharing a mate with him. Once he went down this path, there was no going back.
That was the terrifying part.
Ravik looked at Cassie again. Her hands were clenched in the folds of her robe and her breasts were full beneath the silk, no doubt aching because of the medicine she had taken to save people who might never know her name.
The Visskous had thrown her out to die, and here she was, willing to let her body become the thing that saved them.
She deserved better than his cowardice.
But did she deserve to be trapped in a bond with a male who couldn’t even face what he wanted?
Ravik looked at Sev.
His best friend stood on the other side of the bed, pale and still, the temporary visor hiding nothing.
Ravik could read him too easily. He saw hope…
fear…guilt…love, though neither of them was ready to call it that out loud.
Sev would do it if Ravik agreed. He would bite Cassandra, bite Ravik, bind the vaccine, and probably break his own heart doing it if Ravik walked away afterward.
And Ravik would walk away—he had to.
Except if they Bonded, he wasn’t sure he could.
“I’ll give you anything else,” he said hoarsely. “My seed. My blood. My protection. My life if I have to. But not that.”
Cassie’s lips parted.
“Not your heart?” she whispered.
The question hit him like a blade between the ribs and Ravik couldn’t answer.
Because the truth was, she already had part of it and so did Sev.
Maybe they had for longer than he wanted to admit.
Maybe that was why this hurt so fucking much—because the bond wasn’t something they were trying to force on him.
It was something already alive inside him, pushing at every locked door he had built to keep it out.
He took a step back.
“I can’t,” he said. “I just fucking can’t.”
Cassandra’s face crumpled into grief before she managed to control it and Sev went very still.
Dr. Verityx made a soft, sorrowful chirping sound, but for once he did not offer any clinical explanation or scientific justification.
Good—Ravik couldn’t take any more fucking science.
“I said I’d help make the vaccine,” he growled, though his voice felt raw now. “I didn’t say I’d let Sev Bond with me.”
“No one is forcing you,” Sev said quietly.
“No,” Ravik said. “You’re all worse than forcing me. You’re making me fucking want it.”
The words were out before he could stop them and the room went deathly silent.
Ravik felt their eyes on him, searching…questioning.
He shook his head, furious with himself now. Furious and ashamed and suddenly desperate to get out of that room before he said anything else that would tell on him—tell the truth, that he wanted what was forbidden.
He had to leave before Cassie reached for him and Sev looked at him like there might still be a chance.
“No,” he said again, though he wasn’t sure who he was saying it to anymore. “I’m done.”
He turned and strode toward the door.
“Ravik!” Cassie cried and he heard her heart breaking in the sound of his name.
He stopped with his hand on the panel but didn’t turn around.
“Please,” she whispered. “Please, I love you—Severin loves you. Why can’t we all love each other?”
That nearly broke him but he told himself he couldn’t turn back.
“I’ll do anything else,” he said, his back still to them. “Anything but that.”
Then he opened the door and walked out before either of them could stop him.
The corridor outside was bright and green and full of soft bird-like voices and the distant hum of medical equipment.
It felt unreal after the warmth of the suite, after Cassie’s tears and Sev’s silence and the awful truth he had let slip.
You’re making me want it.
Ravik clenched his fists and kept walking.
He didn’t know where he was going—he only knew he had to get away before wanting became a choice he couldn’t take back…
A choice that would last forever.