Forever.
Dr.Verityx’sfeathers shifted as he looked between them.“Basedon your samples and your dependence markers,Isuspect theTriunebond is already attempting to form.Thisfinal treatment may only complete what your bodies have begun.”
Ravik laughed once, harsh and humorless.
“My body isn’t fucking participating in this.It’stoo fucking far.”
“Ravik,”Cassiesaid 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.Shelooked 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.“Iwon’t ask you to do this if you can’t.Butplease think about it before you say no.YouandSeverinbelong together—Ican see that.AndIlove you both.Wouldit 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.Butshe was giving him a choice and saying she loved him—loved them both.
That hurt because what she was asking was forbidden.Whycouldn’t she fucking understand that,Ravikwondered.
Sev stood slowly.
“There may be another method,” he said, though his voice was strained.“Dr.VerityxandIcan review the data again.Perhapsan essence extraction could be stabilized outside the body if we?—”
“No,”Dr.Verityxsaid, and for once his chirping voice was entirely serious.“Iam sorry,CommanderSeverin.Wetested that pathway with your previous sample.Youressence degrades too quickly outside a living exchange.Thevaccine requires peakTriuneoutput, 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.“Notfor science.Notfor the vaccine.Notfor anything.”
The words hitRavikhard.Hewanted to throw them back inSev’sface.Wantedto say his consent hadn’t mattered at the tower, thatSevhad taken what he wanted, that he had usedRaviklike a female and called it a cure.
But the lie stuck in his throat because he remembered now.Heremembered the fog rolling over his eyes.Heremembered tellingSevto do it before he hurtCassie—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.Andit would mean forever—a lifetime of being mated to anther male and sharing a mate with him.Oncehe went down this path, there was no going back.
That was the terrifying part.
Ravik looked atCassieagain.Herhands 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.TheVisskoushad 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 atSev.
His best friend stood on the other side of the bed, pale and still, the temporary visor hiding nothing.Ravikcould read him too easily.Hesaw hope…fear…guilt…love, though neither of them was ready to call it that out loud.Sevwould do it ifRavikagreed.Hewould biteCassandra, biteRavik, bind the vaccine, and probably break his own heart doing it ifRavikwalked away afterward.
AndRavikwouldwalk away—he had to.
Except if theyBonded, he wasn’t sure he could.
“I’ll give you anything else,” he said hoarsely.“Myseed.Myblood.Myprotection.Mylife ifIhave to.Butnotthat.”
Cassie’s lips parted.
