Page 98 of Red Ruin

It craves more.

I inhale his collarbone, enjoying the greedy sweep of his silks and the heat of his wings.

Remy growls a reality check.

That, and Vhex’s bare shaft grinds my stomach.

I’m willing to have battlefield sex. Cafeteria-floor-linoleum sex is where I draw my line.

Especially when hundreds of nosy soldiers are already peeking through the double doors, watching how I deal with the nightmare dukes.

I tense from my toes.

The more they gas me up, the harder they’ll kick me down when I lose my spot.

“Wait outside if you want to fight.” After checking them head-to-toe and confirming that they’re stable enough, I pull back my silks. “If you’re coming in, then make yourself some magic pants and behave.”

Leaving them to decide, I walk into the mess hall. It’s a generic cafeteria with long, wood tables, decorated by a charred and roughly Remy-shaped hole that tears through the floor and ceiling tiles.

Compared to who knows what else Vhex and Remy have bulldozed, a little basement access shaft is practically a bonus feature for the base.

Sentinels carry their dinner trays around the hole, not paying it any attention as they find their seats.

They do pay attention tome.

Cherise waves from the front of the hall. She sits with a mixed group of Guides and Sentinels, next to the conspicuously empty head table.

I guess the commander’s seat is reserved.

As I walk between rows, a hundred soul-silks sweep across my path.

Every one is three-quarters of a soulmate.

I tense so hard that my jaw clicks.

With so many super-compatible Sentinels so eager to say hello, my power fights my hold. My fingertips buzz and start to leak a little glow.

My instincts scream.

Soothe them all, all at once, right now.

I stumble, overwhelmed.

Vhex and Remy pop out of nowhere to catch my arms.

Remy’s coolness settles on my left.

Vhex’s fire heats my right.

I sigh. “Thanks.”

An intense, wordless squabble rages in the ripples of their power, but the space between them is weirdly quiet.

They’re so strong and all-encompassing that they block me from sensing the energies of weaker Sentinels.

Being split in half isn’t so bad.

With their chaotic assist, I shake off the grip of my verymis-guided Guide instincts.

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