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“Break it up, you two!” Noah hisses from beside us, grabbing onto the back of Maverick’s shirt and trying to drag him away. Mav breaks away from my lips, his jaw clenching, as he slowly turns his face towards Noah.

“I suggest you let go of my shirt before you start learning to jack off without the hand.” His growled words make me giggle, but they do the trick. Noah releases the back of Mav’s shirt like it’s on fire and quickly walks back towards Rue and Ghost.

“Can we get this shit over with now, or do we need to wait for you to fuck first?” Ghost’s annoyed voice rings through the air. Maverick lets out a sigh, letting go of my neck and grabbing my hand. He drags me along behind him as we enter through the gate as a group.

CHAPTER49

Ghost

WRITTEN BY HEATHER BEAL

“When this is over and we have Reaper back, wewillbe having a conversation about this,” Rue huffs, trailing behind me as we leave the sandy beach and weave through the trees behind Oasis.

“About what?”

“About the fact that you’ve let me traipse across the country in an RV packed with enough explosives to level an island without so much as a heads-up!”

My feet come to a skidding halt as I swing around on her, letting her run face-first into my chest. My hands are on her throat, and her back slams into a tree before she can blink. “Let’s get one thing straight, Death. I wouldneverput your life at risk. These explosives are harmless without a detonator.”

“Oh…” she sighs as she stares up at me, the inky black pupils nearly overtaking her icy blue eyes.

My fingers flex over her collar, and I take a long, calming breath at the symbol of my possessiveness. If this road trip around the new world has taught me anything, it’s that life can be ripped away in a second. Every day I wake up grateful that the love of my life is still with me. But with the gratitude comes the underlying fear that today could be the day I lose her forever. Like I lost Viper—and Reaper. I want to believe he’s here—that he somehow survived Viper’s bite. But I can’t let myself fully accept it until I see him with my own two eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Rue whispers. “I know you wouldn’t. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. And we’ll find Reaper, I promise.”

“Let’s keep moving, Baby Girl,” I breathe against her lips, pressing my forehead firmly into hers.

She nods and stretches up on her toes, placing a gentle kiss on my lips before I release her delicate throat and tug her behind me.

Noah and the rest of our little rescue crew are heading to the living quarters side of the facility. So we’re heading in the opposite direction.

The plan is simple—blow shit up to distract the people inside long enough for them to find and rescue Reaper—albeit a stupid plan. There’s a million and one things that could go wrong. But time is not on our side, so this is the best we’ve got.

“Um… Ghost—” Rue says, tugging me to a stop as we come to a break in the trees.

“Well, shit.” Just a few feet beyond the treeline, a military-grade fence surrounds the back of the building. There’s a small loading dock leading up to the door. “Well, this is kind of perfect.”

“What part of this exactly screams ‘perfect’ to you?’ Rue whisper shouts over the low rumble of growls coming from the yard.

“Well, it’s stupidandperfect. If I can blow that door, they’ll come running to see what exploded, and the zombies can take care of the idiots inside.”

“And how exactly do you think you’re going to get to the door without being eaten alive? There’s at least 20 dead out here!”

“You’ll distract them; I’ll cut a hole in the fence, just next to the building, and slip inside. I’ll place the bomb and set the timer, and we’ll be back on the boat before it blows,” I explain, and Rue looks at me like I’ve grown four heads.

“Don’t do this to me again, Ghost. Don’t put me in this position—again! I can’t lose you!”

“I’ll be fine, Baby Girl. I know you don’t like to think about it, but this is kind of what I do, Death.”

The way she is staring at me right now could cut glass, but I don’t back down. After a few moments, she sighs heavily and nods. “Fine. But I swear to God, Ghost. If you let those dead fucks kill you, I’ll let you come back so I can chain you up as my personal pet.”

“I would expect nothing less from my Death,” I chuckle. My girl has a little psycho side to her, and I love it. Pulling her into my arms, I kiss the top of her head. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”

“Okay. What do I have to do? I don’t think I can flirt them into a distraction,” she deadpans, pulling back and looking up at me.

I thought for sure Mav was going to have a coronary over his girl's outfit for this little mission.Better him than me.

I swing my bag over my hip, rummaging through and pulling out a crowbar. “Use this to bang on the fence and draw them to the far corner. Use your knife if they push too hard. When they move to you, I’ll do my thing and get the fuck out of there.”