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)
“Exactly, because it is.” Dr. Verityx chirped. “Everything the three of you are going to do together in order to form this vaccine is in the name of science. Now please attend and I’ll tell you why…Commander Ravik’s cream contains Beast Kindred immune-aggression markers and altered anti-Hunger recognition proteins, especially now that he has survived both infection and cure. Commander Severin’s cream contains Blood Kindred healing precursors and carrier enzymes, though not as potent as his essence. Taken orally, both sets of markers prime your bloodstream and teach your immune system what to recognize.”
Cassie glanced at Severin.
“Is that why I felt better after…you know?”
“Yes,” Severin said quietly. “It would explain the immediate drop in your symptoms after you drank from both of us. Your bloodstream was being primed.”
Ravik shifted behind her, and Cassie didn’t have to look back to know he was uncomfortable. She wondered if he was remembering what had just happened between the three of them in the shuttle. Was he regretting it? Regretting letting her kneel between them as they pressed their shafts together so she could take both of them in her mouth at once?
The memory made her cheeks burn hotter and sent a little pulse of longing through her that she couldn’t deny. God, was she already wanting more?
No! she scolded herself. You just drank from both of them—you don’t need anymore right now. Stop thinking about sex and pay attention to the science, damn it!
Dr. Verityx, apparently unaware that he was making all three of them relive an incredibly intimate scene, tapped the display again. Now the pathway through the lower part of the holographic body lit up in green-gold.
“The second route is vaginal and cervical absorption,” he went on. “This is not merely another dose of the same material—it activates an entirely different immune and endocrine cascade. Since the Hunger Virus has embedded itself in your reproductive pathway, we must address that pathway directly.”
Cassie stared at the glowing diagram.
“So my mouth starts the vaccine and my pussy finishes it?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
There was a small, choked sound from Severin and Ravik muttered something that sounded like a prayer and a curse put together but Dr. Verityx didn’t seem at all bothered by her blunt words.
“In simplified terms, yes! Excellent comprehension,” he exclaimed.
Cassie nodded.
“Um, thank you. I made an A in biology in high school.”
“That’s perfect because what I’m showing you is, in fact, simply biology,” the doctor assured her. “Oral exposure primes the blood, while vaginal exposure activates the reproductive-endocrine pathway. Once both routes have received both male marker sets, the medication I will administer can redirect your anti-viral response into the mammary glands, where it will be expressed as vaccine nectar.”
Cassie looked at the milking table again…the nipple cups seemed to be looking back at her.
“And by expressed, you mean milked out of me,” she said flatly.
“Collected,” Dr. Verityx corrected gently. “Though I understand the human term ‘milked’ is not inaccurate.”
“Lovely,” Cassie muttered. “That makes me feel so much less like a farm animal.”
Ravik stepped closer to her, anger vibrating through his voice.
“Cassie is not an animal and shouldn’t be treated like one,” he growled.
Dr. Verityx turned his head toward him, blinking his big, owlish eyes calmly.
“No, of course not, Commander Ravik. She is an extraordinary woman whose body has found a way to turn viral corruption into immune medicine. Nothing about this process should be viewed as degrading. The nectar she produces may save both your Mother Ship and the remaining survivors on Visslick Prime. And any other world that might otherwise be exposed to the Hunger Virus, too.”
That shut Ravik up…it shut Cassie up too.
For a moment, the embarrassment of what was going to happen to her faded under the weight of what he had just said. She looked at the glowing model of her body and tried to see it the way Dr. Verityx did.
It wasn’t dirty or ridiculous or humiliating—her body was beautiful and strong, she told herself. It was fighting back against the evil Hunger Virus—making something powerful out of the cruel killer that had tried to destroy her.
Severin’s voice was softer when he spoke.
“What about the third route?”
Cassie’s stomach tightened.
Of course there was a third route.
Dr. Verityx nodded gravely, as though he had been waiting for Severin to ask. Another pathway lit on the hologram, lower and deeper, connecting to a web of gold lines in the pelvis and spine.
“The rectal mucosa and pelvic lymphatic network may also be required for full vaccine-grade stability,” he said. “We may not need that route immediately, but my models suggest that deeper pelvic absorption can strengthen the broad-spectrum response. The Hunger Virus mutates rapidly, and we need the nectar to recognize more than one narrow strain.”
Cassie stared at him.
“So you’re saying I might need their cream in all of my, er, orifices?”