Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 80431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“Val,” Zorion whispered.
“Hmm.”
Valor plucked a twig from a sweet shrub growing around the manufactured pond and dragged it over Zorion’s shoulder. He already smelled good and tasted as sweet as the plant, but he was unable to resist.
“What do you think about the other Ravens? The Browns and the Blacks.” Zorion shifted and eased his thigh up higher.
Valor moaned when the soft skin grazed over his cock. Although his orgasm had left him sated and more than satisfied, it still began to thicken.
“I don’t think about them.”
“Ren said they volunteered for this job… I wonder why the fuck anyone would do that.”
Valor sighed. “I have no idea.”
“I think they’ve gone rogue or something.” Zorion caressed Valor’s chest, placing gentle kisses around his nipples as if he couldn’t resist trying to make him feel good. “Maybe we should try to contact them. If they’ve risen up against the organization—”
“No,” Valor growled.
“Why not? We’re gonna need more than Jo’s help to take this place down.”
“Because they’ve probably been through phase three. What if they attack us? If they try to hurt you, I’ll kill them.”
Valor could feel Zorion’s smile.
“I’m not helpless, y’know. I can fight just as hard as you.”
“I know you can… I’ve seen it.” Valor tossed the flowers to the ground and pulled him tighter. “I don’t know why I’m so protective of you, Zorion. Maybe it’s the puma DNA. I know they’re fiercely territorial, more so than the females. Their species is monogamous, so my desire to keep you all to myself must be natural.”
Zorion lifted his head. “How do you know all this? Did you look it up?”
Valor blinked. How the hell did he know that?
“I um…shit. No, I didn’t look it up.” Valor frowned. “I don’t know why I know that. I just…do.”
Zorion gasped, his smile beautiful.
“You’re remembering knowledge Oakley had. Gotta be. This means not all of who we were is lost, Val.” Zorion touched his forehead to his and breathed. “Maybe my memories of you will come back too.”
Valor couldn’t stop himself from kissing Zorion right then and tasting the sweetness of his hope. He caressed Zorion’s back, peppering gentle kisses on his forehead until he heard his soft snores.
Valor stayed awake, his mind refusing to leave guard mode.
Chief Aiken Oakley
Valor
Valor’s eyes were closed, but he wasn’t asleep.
The careful footsteps at the far end of the hall made him tense until he recognized Jo’s soft tread.
Valor leaned in and whispered in Zorion’s ear, “Stay here, baby. I’ll be right back.”
“What is it?” Zorion answered sleepily.
“It’s Jo. Maybe she has an update.” He brushed a kiss against his temple. “Don’t move.”
“For fuck’s sake, stop treating me like a kid.”
Valor growled as he pulled himself from Zorion’s grip.
He closed the door behind him and moved in the shadows of the corridor until he reached his quarters.
Jo was dressed in loose pants and a fitted jacket in a dark shade of green that was almost black. The fabric was flexible and quiet for stealthy movement. Her midnight tabi boots were split at the toe to give her a solid grip and soundless steps. She moved like a ninja, crouching low with a small duffel across her back as she tiptoed around his terrace, whispering his name.
He caught the faint scent of metal…she was armed.
“Valor, come out, it’s me. Hurry. I don’t have time to—”
“When are you getting us out of here?”
He didn’t mean to sound so forceful or intimidating. And he certainly didn’t mean to scare her, but he was done waiting.
“Dammit,” she snapped, spinning in his direction. “Stop fuckin’ doing that.”
“Are you here with an update?”
“I’m here with instructions,” she said as she dropped the duffel off her shoulder. “We have to move tonight.”
Her voice was urgent but steady.
“The director left the facility and took a third of the guards with him. My sources tell me he’s after a physicist, a thermonuclear weapons expert.” She glanced up at him. “The Browns and the Blacks were sent out on so-called emergency missions that even their handlers weren’t detailed on. They were mobilized as a distraction. Which means two things: whatever the director is doing is off the books and your phase three is imminent.”
Shit.
“The director ordered the guards left to increase their rotation to every twenty minutes and to include your floor.”
If Jo hadn’t come now, the guards would’ve caught him in Zorion’s bed, in his arms.
Whatever plan Jo had come up with—Valor didn’t care how dangerous—he was following it because he’d be damned if he let anyone take what he felt for Zorion away from him…again.
“Here, you’re going to need this.”
She pulled out a sleek high-tech grappling hook with a reinforced retractable cable line.
Da fuck?
She revealed something else that made his pulse spike.
Jo unfolded a winged suit made of pitch-black cutting-edge material designed to be undetectable in the night sky.