Sole Survivors: Crux Survivors, Book 2 Read online

  Keera closed her eyes when she heard retching noises. She opened them when she heard more noise and watched Tripp drop his blanket and rush into the darkness after him.

  “What would we put it in?” Chase asked. “The liquor?”

  MacKenzie, still squatting in front of Dorian, stared at the dark spot where the two youngest had disappeared. Keera saw true compassion fill the woman’s hard features and that went a long way toward easing the difficulty she was having trusting her. MacKenzie moved to the side and sat, cross-legged, next to the trio before she turned to Chase. “Most of them drink straight from bottles they’ve found and they’ve found a lot. It’s what they look for on raids. They do make a sort of homemade hooch, but that stuff is so rank only a few brave it. One of the guys died from alcohol poisoning a few months back. Our best bet would be what we saw one carrying earlier.”

  “The milk.” Ross nodded. “But would they be able to taste it?” He looked at Keera.

  “I don’t know.” Keera shrugged. “I’ve never tasted it. And do all of them drink milk?” She shuddered. “I didn’t even like it as a kid.”

  Chase spoke up. “Doesn’t matter. Even if we can cut the number down by half, we have a fairer fight.”

  The silence lasted longer this time. Keera put her hand on Chase’s leg as she pushed herself closer into his side. He tightened his arm around her and leaned down to put his mouth by her ear. “Could you live with doing this?” he whispered. The blanket they shared cocooned them.

  She looked up at him, knowing the bleak horror boiling inside her would show in her eyes. They were drying out from her holding them so wide open in the frigid air for so long. She didn’t answer. Just stared back.

  He kissed her softly.

  Keera closed her eyes, took the offer of comfort. She shook her head then turned back to the group. “I don’t know if any of us will be able to live with this if we go through it.”

  Ross stared into the woods where the two youngest men had disappeared. Worry creased his brows. “When I first met Cadmar, he had been slipping something into a younger boy’s food to make him sick so the raiders who had them wouldn’t mess with the little one. I can’t remember what he called it, but maybe we could find it.”

  “It was Bowman’s Root,” Cadmar said quietly as he came back to stand where he’d been sitting before. “I got lucky finding it before and had stored it in their truck. I used it at first to make them sick when I needed a brea—” he broke off, glanced up at Tripp who stood silently beside him. He sort of closed in on himself then, shoulders hunching, arms hugging his waist.

  Keera watched Tripp, taking in his concern as he lifted his hand to touch Cadmar’s back. The boy flinched and Tripp quickly dropped his hand, frowning.

  “Um.” Cadmar scrunched his eyes closed. “It doesn’t really grow naturally around here. We were pretty far north when I found it. I knew about it from my mother.” He took a deep breath.

  Keera felt like her heart was breaking as she watched the trembling teenager and she felt the empathy coming from the others around her. Tripp picked up the blanket he’d been sharing with Cadmar and draped it over the younger boy’s shoulders.

  “What about crotalaria?” Cadmar asked. “I remember my dad talking about that one around here.”

  Dorian shook his head. “I don’t know much about it. The seeds are poisonous, but it would kill too.”

  “And it could take days,” Keera added. “I only know what I heard as a kid from horse owners who had their animals die. Some lived, but not long before they had liver failure.”

  MacKenzie suddenly growled and stood up, her tall, muscled form clenching in agitation. “We know where to find the jessamine. Even I think I know what she’s talking about and there’s a wild patch of it not too far from here. We’re not sure it will kill them all, but we’re pretty sure it will make them sick so they can’t fight.” She tightened her hands into fists. “I do have friends in there who would help, ones I’m sure have done everything they can to keep some of the disgusting ones off that child. But I want to get those people out.” She turned to Cadmar. “You do realize your family can’t stay. Not all the raiders are there and word has spread now. About it being a base camp with food.”

  “I know. I knew that already.” Cadmar lifted his head. “So let’s do it. What do we need to do.”

  Dorian stayed silent a long time before he finally started speaking. The whole time he told them about gathering the flowers and roots, the emotion on his face mirrored what Keera felt in her heart. Devastation.

  She wasn’t sure she could go through with this.

  Chapter Twelve

  Chase decided to stop trying to hide what he had building with Keera. Emotions were too high, too hot and the sickness he felt over what they were about to do was eating him alive. He knew it was for her as well, so when Ross offered to take first watch that night after they’d ground up the jessamine, then Tripp offered to stay up with him, Chase pulled his brother aside.

  “Tripp, Keera and I—”

  “Shh.” Tripp lightly punched his arm. “I know.”

  “I’m going to invite her to stay in the back with me tonight. She’s really upset.”

  Tripp looked over to where Keera still sat, staring toward the moon, her arms wrapped around her knees. “She is. I am too, but I really think I’ll be okay with killing the raiders. Between Maggie and what Cad…” He trailed off, audibly swallowed. “I can’t imagine what he’s gone through with his time out there with them, and worrying about his family throughout. I’m angry, Chase. So angry, I can feel it burning in my chest, can taste it.”

  “I’m mad too. But no matter how furious we are about it, going through with this plan is going to change us.”

  “If we went in shooting, we’d be killing them.”

  “And they’d have a fair chance of fighting back. We’re not making it fair this way. But what we need to keep telling ourselves is that we are outnumbered, they are hurting innocent people and they aren’t making things fair for anyone. We need the element of surprise.” Chase squeezed his shoulder. “MacKenzie was right. We can’t risk them following anyone back. Can you see them showing up at Keera’s place when she’s alone?”

  Tripp turned fully to face Chase, crossed his arms. “You’re telling me we’re going to leave that woman alone?” He frowned. “Honestly?”

  Chase stared at Keera. “No. I’m hoping we all pull through this tomorrow and end up on that property in New Mexico.”

  “It sounds so great. Cadmar said it makes you feel safe—that it’s far up a mountain and they have a lot of cool things.” Tripp glanced back at Keera. “But her place is pretty nice too.”

  “She’d have to invite us, Tripp. But then, it’s not enough. Not for you. You need more people, a real chance to make a life. And besides, you have a best friend now. Think I’m going to keep you from him?”

  “I do, don’t I?”

  “I like all of them.” Chase could only hope they all pulled through this. He cupped his brother’s shoulder, squeezed, then walked toward Keera. She looked up at him.

  “Jenna went to get me a tent.” She offered him a sad smile.

  He held out his hand. “Please stay with me in the RV. Tripp’s keeping watch, then crashing in one of the tents with Cadmar.”

  She took his hand, let him pull her up. “You sure?”

  “I talked to him and everything. It’s okay, Keera.” He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked to the vehicle. They passed Ross, who was kissing Jenna goodnight before taking first watch. Chase stopped and touched Ross’s shoulder. “Knock on the back window when it’s time for my shift.”

  “Will do.” He turned, his arm around Jenna’s waist.

  “And Keera won’t need that tent.”

  Jenna just nodded.

  Keera walked up the steps ahead of him and Chase decided right then that he was going to do whatever he needed to have this woman going to bed with him for at least a lit
tle while longer.

  She turned, her face pale. “I’m really nervous about tomorrow. We don’t know that MacKenzie will get the plant into the milk, don’t know if they’ll drink it. We’ll still be fighting and anyone could get hurt. My father died of an infection, Chase. An infection.”

  “Dorian is supposed to be good at curing those.”

  “Yeah, but Dorian can’t save us from bullets. These raiders aren’t going to take any chances—they’re going to shoot. They might even decide Cadmar’s family isn’t worth saving and just kill them.” She shivered.

  “Why don’t you change and get in the bed? I’ll grab an extra blanket.”

  “I won’t need another blanket with you there. I’ve noticed you have a furnace for a body.” She grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him toward the back. “Remember what I said I wanted to do last night?”

  He nodded, heart in his throat as all the blood in his body rushed to his groin.

  She pushed him inside and flipped on the light.

  Chase reached out and flipped it back off. “Our shadows will show through the curtains.”

  “Then leave it off. I don’t want you focusing on anything but my mouth.”

  “Shit, Keera. You keep saying things like that and I won’t last more than a minute.”

  “Then we’ll wait a little while and do it again.” She lowered her hands and the nearly foreign sensation of someone else’s touch on his cock stole every coherent thought from his head. “I want to do this.” She knelt, looked up at him as she opened his jeans. “Hopefully it’s not—what did you call it before—awkward and awful.”

  “Yeah, that’s not possible.” Not with the way he felt.

  She held him in her hand then leaned forward to lick the tip. She flattened her tongue and slid it down his length.

  A hoarse cry shot out of his mouth and she stopped, looked up at him. “Do that again,” he urged, mimicking her words from inside the bomb shelter.

  Instead, she took him fully into her mouth. Wet heat engulfed him and the back of Chase’s head hit the wall. Then he hurriedly looked back down because he wanted to see every second of this. It was too dark. He wanted that light.

  But he wasn’t about to move to turn it on.

  She pulled him deep into her mouth, rubbing her tongue against him, and sucked as she wrapped her fist around the base. She started a rhythm that kept him from even keeping his eyes open, so all he could do was lean back and focus everything on the pleasure of her warm, wet mouth on his cock.

  And it was nothing like the one time someone had done this to him.

  She pulled off and her breath was warm on fast-cooling flesh. “Awkward? Awful?”

  “Fuck no, Keera. Please don’t stop.”

  He actually felt her lips stretch into a grin against him before she opened up and let him slide back into that heat. He groaned, pulled the hair thing out of her black curls so he could feel the silky tresses on his fingers.

  She tugged his pants further down, ran her palms over his thighs, stroked his balls, explored behind them with her fingers. Chase bit his tongue, sure his body was going to come unglued. His release raced through him hard and fast and he didn’t want this to end yet. He growled, reached down and pulled her up to his mouth, spearing his tongue inside her, tasting himself.

  Keera kissed him back, her hands running up under his shirt. “I wasn’t done,” she said against his lips.

  “I know. You can do that again. Anytime you want, in fact.”

  Her low laugh was sexy against his lips.

  “I just want inside you, want to see your body in the moonlight.”

  “Okay,” she breathed, pulling back. She shrugged out of her clothes and crawled onto the bed. She started to lie back, then shook her head and chuckled. “It’s too cold. I have to get under the covers. Are you going to open the curtains for the moonlight?”

  He thought of his Tripp and Casmar out there, then he thought of Keera bathed in moonlight. “Yeah, I am, but not a lot. An obvious open window might be too much temptation for some.” He tugged off his shirt, kicked off his pants, then cursed when he caught his toe on one of the cloth bags full of items from Keera’s house. They filled up most of the available floor space in the tiny room.

  “Just jump over them.” She held up one side of the covers.

  His knee hit the mattress, he scooted under the blanket, then lowered his body until it barely brushed hers. She gasped, knees opening to make room for him.

  Chase had to close his eyes, grind his teeth because he was so close to losing it. She felt so soft against him, so warm. He wanted to kick the covers off, to see all of her bathed in moonlight, but it was nice cradled on top of her with her legs clenched against his outer thighs.

  He wanted more, so he pulled back and put his mouth on her neck, kissed down her collarbone, tasting the sweetness of her skin, breathing in her warm, female-scented air under the covers. When his lips closed over her nipple, she gasped and opened her legs more. He groaned, sucked her into his mouth while running his hand down her waist. Her smooth skin felt so good against his palm, he couldn’t stop stroking that curve of her hip.

  She moved against him, making small gasping noises that flushed his skin with heat.

  “Please,” she whispered, clutching his shoulders. “I want you.”

  She slid her legs around him so tightly he couldn’t stop himself from sliding into the wet heat of her body. It was easier this time. She was wetter. The slow glide of perfection made him clench his jaw tighter.

  Keera let out a long, low moan, tightened her legs again.

  He sucked her lower lip into his mouth, ran his tongue over it, then groaned when she pushed her tongue into his mouth and dug her fingernails into his back. She moved against him, with him, her breaths mimicking the harsh effort of his.

  He’d never felt more connected to anyone in his life.

  She opened her mouth wider for more, rubbed her body hard against him and it was her turn to lose it. He felt her orgasm in the spasms of her body around his cock, in the hard clutch of her fingers…in the way she tilted her head back and groaned. He couldn’t resist her exposed neck and he latched onto her as his own release fought free.

  He held her tight to him, spilled into her body and hoped this wouldn’t be the last time.

  “Well,” she finally said as she pushed hair out of her eyes, then re-wrapped her arms around his neck. Her breath was warm on his throat. “You may have only spent a few weeks with a girlfriend eighteen years ago, but you built enough experience in that short time to rock my world.”

  He found himself tongue-tied…wanted to do more than rock her world. He wanted to be a permanent part of it. Chase kept his eyes closed, loving the feel of her soft body underneath him, loving the way her thighs still cradled him close. He lifted off her so he could roll to his side. She followed, draping over him, her breasts soft against his ribs.

  “Have you thought about moving to New Mexico?” he asked softly.

  She didn’t answer right away, but she didn’t tighten up or move from him. Instead, she ran her fingers through the hair on his chest.

  When she stayed silent, he tightened his arm around her. “I know it would be hard to leave your home.”

  “You and Tripp left yours.”

  He thought of the small house with his sister’s grave in the back. “It wasn’t the safe haven you and your father built, but it was hard to leave. I was down for some time after being shot. Tripp had to dig his sister’s grave. He’d wanted to put her by our mother in the cemetery—she’d died in the first wave of the Crux, so she ended up there.”

  “Why didn’t he?” She flattened her palm on his chest.

  “He was too scared to leave me that long. Though I recently found out he’d gone out one night hoping for revenge against the raiders who’d shot at us. At least he was smart enough to realize he was outnumbered. But digging a grave alone takes time.”

  “He probably wanted her cl
ose too.” She shuddered, then shuffled even closer to him, raising her thigh over his legs. “I can’t imagine what he must have felt doing that. It nearly killed me to bury my father, but to bury a twin...”

  Chase closed his eyes at the grief that seemed to never ease, then forced himself to focus on how nice it felt to have her naked skin all along his side, how her breath felt brushing over his chest. Every now and then, she ran her fingers over his chest. He sucked in a breath when she brushed his nipple.

  “Chase?”

  “Yeah,” he breathed, turning to rest his lips against her forehead. Her hair still smelled of that honeysuckle shampoo he’d spent an embarrassing amount of time smelling in her shower.

  “What do you think about New Mexico?”

  It took everything he had not to clench his muscles with her question. But he held still and waited a few heartbeats before answering. He gave her the truth. “I think it sounds a little like utopia. Tripp is already attached to Cadmar and I like the others quite a bit. I like the safety in numbers, the remoteness of it. Then, there’s electricity, gardens, Dorian’s medical knowledge.”

  “People,” she whispered. Keera took a deep breath and pulled her head back so she could look up at him. It was too dark to see more than a faint reflection of moonlight off his face. “What do you think is happening between us? Do you think it’s just sex?”

  “You mean two lonely people just using each other for comfort?”

  She nodded.

  He tightened his fingers on her side. “It’s more than that for me.”

  “But we haven’t known each other that long.”

  “I’m not sure that makes a difference. Not in how I feel at this moment. How I’ve felt since we first talked.”

  “But we’ve just sort of jumped into bed together.” She rolled onto her back.

  He slid his arm up until it was under her neck, but he wasn’t sure what to say. They had. The attraction, which seemed to hit her as hard as it had him, made him feel blind with need. But maybe it wasn’t as strong for her. Not like he’d thought.

  She sat up, turned to face him, placing her palm on his chest again. “I like you, Chase. A lot.” She let her hair slide forward until he couldn’t see her face. “Oh hell. Social skills be damned. I think I’m falling for you pretty damned hard. The thought of watching you drive off with the others rips me to shreds.”