The male had always been stubborn—it had savedSeverin’slife more than once.
Now it might get him killed.
They reached the sealed maintenance door just as another impact echoed from the opposite side of the bunker.Thisone was followed by a shriek of stressed metal and a chorus of distant, hungry sounds that madeCassandrago very still.
“Is…is that them?”she whispered.
“Yes,”Severinsaid, because lying would insult her intelligence and waste time.“They’veeither breached the outer hatch or they’re damn close to doing so.”
“Then open the fucking door,”Ravikgrowled.
Severin entered the manual release code but nothing happened.
He tried again, then opened the panel and yanked on the emergency lever.Themechanism resisted for one heart-stopping second before it gave with a grinding clunk.Thedoor slid open just enough to reveal a narrow vertical shaft beyond, lit faintly by the gray-green glow of surface light filtering through the upper grate.
Cold air rushed in—it smelled like ashes and rain with the unmistakable tang of rotting things that still moved when they should have laid down and died months ago.
Cassandra gagged softly and put a hand over her nose and mouth.
Ravik stepped closer to her at once, one hand settling at her lower back.
“Breathe through your mouth, baby,” he murmured, and the gentleness in his voice madeSeverin’sanger twist into something more painful.
There he was—Ravikwas still in there.Themale who protected, comforted, fought, joked, and had stood betweenSeverinand death more times thanSeverincould count.Hewas still there, but theHungerwas waiting under his skin, andSeverinhad the cure burning behind his fangs whileRavikrefused to take it.
“You climb first,”SeverintoldCassandra, forcing his voice to be steady.“Ravikwill be directly behind you.I’llcome last and seal the hatch if the mechanism still works.”
Cassandra looked at the narrow ladder, then up into the dim shaft.
“I hate this.”
“I’m sorry,”Severinsaid.“Itcan’t be helped—this is the only way out.”
“I know it is.”Shesighed.“Anychance we can go back to the part where everyone was in bed and my biggest problem was having humiliating medical orgasms?”
Ravik made a choked sound behind her andSeverinwould have laughed if fear wasn’t sitting so heavily in his chest.
“Afraid not, sweetheart,” he said.
“Figures.”Cassandratucked the baton awkwardly into the beltSeverinhad given her to wear and gripped the ladder.“Fine.Zombieravine it is.”
And she started to climb.
Ravik waited until she was three rungs up, then followed so close behind her thatSeverinmight have told him to give her space if he hadn’t understood exactly why he was doing it.Ravik’sbody shielded her from below, his big hands ready in case she slipped.Evenfurious, confused, and resistant to taking the cure, he would not stop protecting her.
Severin climbed last, watching behind them as he went.
The shaft was narrow and cold and the metal ladder was slick with condensation.Abovethem,Cassandrabreathed hard but steadily, andRavikmurmured encouragement every few rungs.Beneaththem, from somewhere deep inside the bunker, a new sound rose…
Screeching.
Severin felt the short hairs stand up at the back of his neck and all along his arms.Thesound wasn’t caused by metal this time—it was made by mouths.
TheInfectedwere inside.
He looked down into the darkness below and saw nothing, but he could hear them.Shuffling…scraping…the wet, hungry clicking thatVisskousmouths made when the virus had taken them fully.Thesound crawled up the shaft like fingers along his spine and made him shudder.
“Hurry,” he called softly.
