Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
“I am?” she asked.
“Yes.” Sev took a slow breath, forcing the clinical urgency back where it belonged…behind discipline…behind restraint. “Forgive me. I am not used to miracles arriving in red silk,” he told her. “I didn’t know it before but I believe you are the reason that Ravik is getting better.”
Cassandra’s eyes opened wide in surprise.
“You think that? Really?”
“Yes.” He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “I was looking at my samples in the lab just now and the antiviral I gave to Ravik isn’t working at all—it does hardly anything to stop the spread of the Hunger Virus. So logically, it must be you—most like your scent—that is bringing Ravik back from the brink.”
For one long moment she just stared at him. Then she looked down at herself—at the wet nightgown clinging to her full breasts and hips— and made a helpless little gesture.
“Well, this miracle would like a robe. Or a blanket. Or maybe a flamethrower to keep away naked Beast Kindred and overly enthusiastic scientists.”
Ravik growled softly.
“No flamethrower near Mate. That would burn Mate—bad!” he exclaimed.
“I wasn’t going to use it on myself,” Cassandra muttered.
Sev found, to his own surprise, that he wanted to smile—he didn’t, but the desire was definitely there. The situation really was ridiculous—the two of them had been naked and wet for quite long enough.
“I’ll get you a blanket,” he said. “And some clothes for Ravik.”
“While you’re gone, is he going to keep holding me?” Cassandra asked. Her dropped her voice slightly. “He’s, er, getting hard,” she murmured and nodded down to where the big Beast Kindred’s pelvis was pressed against her belly. No doubt his cock was rubbing against the soft silk of her nightgown and causing a reaction, Sev thought, feeling embarrassed for his friend.
Ravik’s arms tightened slightly around her.
“Ravik keeps Mate warm,” he rumbled.
“Yes, I gathered that.” She looked up at him. “But maybe Ravik could keep Mate warm without squeezing Mate quite so tightly?”
At once, Ravik loosened his hold.
“Sorry,” he rumbled, looking abashed.
The word was low and rough and painfully familiar. Ravik used to apologize like that after battle injuries when Sev had to stitch him up—as though being wounded and bleeding all over the place was somehow an inconvenience to everyone else.
Sev’s throat tightened—he had thought he might never hear that version of his friend again.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” he said, because his voice was not entirely steady and he refused to let either of them hear it.
He went quickly to the supply room and pulled down a thick thermal blanket from one of the shelves, then grabbed the loose black trousers Ravik always slept in. But as he worked, his mind was racing—darting from hypothesis to hypothesis like a starved creature in search of food.
Cassandra’s scent restored cognitive function.
Cassandra’s blood carried the virus but did not allow replication.
Ravik, a Beast Kindred, responded to scent above almost any other stimulus.
The Hunger Virus attacked bonding pathways.
Was Cassandra’s scent activating Ravik’s mating instincts strongly enough to override the viral command structure? Was the word “mate” simply Ravik’s infected brain assigning meaning to the stimulus that stabilized him? Or was there a deeper biological recognition occurring—a true mate-response distorted by infection?
And why in the Seven Hells did Severin’s own fangs ache every time he got too close to her?
He did not like that question, so he chose to ignore it. He would think more about the problem later, he promised himself. In the meantime, he needed to defuse the situation in the Food Prep area.
When he returned to the kitchen, Ravik was still holding Cassandra, though he had turned slightly so his massive body blocked any possible threat from the doorway. Cassandra had given up struggling and was standing in the circle of his arms with an expression of long-suffering resignation on her face.
“Good news,” she said as Sev entered. “No one has been bitten, mauled, ravished, or turned into a zombie while you were gone.”
“I’m relieved,” Sev said dryly. He had to admit, her sense of humor was growing on him.
“You should be—around here, that counts as a productive five minutes,” she snapped, but there was no anger in her voice.
Sev handed her the blanket first and was pleased when Ravik allowed her to step back just enough to wrap it around herself, though he watched the process with intense concern, as though she might vanish if he blinked.
Then Severin handed him the sleep trousers.
“Put them on,” he ordered. His friend needed to cover up—maybe it was because he’d been pressed against the curvy little human, but his shaft was standing at attention in a painfully obvious way.
Ravik glanced at Cassandra as though looking for confirmation.
She pointed at the trousers firmly.
“Pants. Now.”
Ravik took them.
“Yes, Mate,” he rumbled obediently and Sev watched in disbelief as his enormous, half-infected, frequently stubborn Beast Kindred partner obeyed her instantly.