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)
Sev rose from his semi-crouched position, reached under his oculars—which he wore mostly for work—and rubbed his eyes. What in all the Seven Hells was going on? How could Ravik be getting better if the anti-viral wasn’t working? What—?
“Ahhhh!”
His frustrated musings were interrupted by a feminine scream coming from down the corridor and Sev’s head jerked around.
“Cassandra!” he muttered and a wave of wholly unexpected possessive protectiveness rushed through him. Had the Infected got in somehow? Was she in danger? Whatever it was, he had to get to her!
Leaving the lab at a run, he hurried down the metal hallway to find out what was wrong…and to kill anyone or anything who dared to threaten the curvy little human.
13
SEVERIN
Sev reached the kitchen expecting blood, violence, or death.
What he found instead was Cassandra backed up against the counter with a long stirring rod clutched in both hands like a weapon, her eyes wide and her lush body still wrapped in that absurdly inadequate red silk nightgown. The thin fabric clung to her curves and barely reached the tops of her luscious, thick thighs, which would have been distracting enough under ordinary circumstances.
But ordinary circumstances did not include Ravik standing stark naked in the kitchen doorway, dripping bathwater all over the floor.
For a moment, Severin could only stare in dismay.
His best friend was enormous at the best of times—seven feet and more of muscle, scars, and Beast Kindred intensity. Naked and wet, with his long black hair slicked back from his face and water running in rivulets down his broad chest, he looked even bigger…somehow more primitive…more dangerous. His golden eyes had gone cloudy again, the pale film creeping over the irises like frost spreading over glass.
Severin’s heart sank and he sent up a hasty prayer to the Goddess.
Oh no—not again, please. Please don’t let him be regressing!
“Ravik?” he said carefully, taking a step into the room. “What are you doing here?”
The big Beast Kindred turned his head slowly, as though Sev’s voice had reached him from a great distance. His hands were hanging at his sides, fingers curled slightly—not quite claws but close. His chest rose and fell with deep, slow breaths and his nostrils flared as though he was trying to catch a scent he couldn’t quite reach.
“Mate,” he rumbled at last.
Cassandra made a strangled sound.
“He keeps saying that,” she said, her voice pitched higher than usual. “And believe me, I appreciate the compliment or the delusion or whatever it is, but I was just trying to cook supper and then he appeared in the doorway completely naked like some kind of giant wet caveman!”
“Mate good,” Ravik said, nodding as though this explained everything. “Mate make food. Ravik help Mate.”
Cassandra stared up at him.
“That’s very thoughtful of you,” she said carefully. “But most people who help with dinner wear pants.”
Ravik looked down at himself, then back at her, apparently unconcerned.
“Ravik wet,” he said.
“Believe me, I noticed,” Cassandra said, nodding.
Despite the seriousness of the situation—despite the fact that his latest anti-viral had failed and Ravik was clearly regressing again—Severin felt a sudden, unwilling burst of amusement.
He swallowed it down at once. Now was not the time to be amused. Ravik’s speech had deteriorated from full sentences to broken phrases in the space of less than an hour. The white film was returning to his eyes and his body language had changed from protective and purposeful to confused and instinct-driven.
The Hunger Virus was still there…waiting…clawing its way back.
“Ravik,” Severin said, keeping his tone calm and even. “You were supposed to remain in the bathing room.”
“Missed Mate smell,” Ravik said, his gaze sliding back to Cassandra. His voice was lower now, rougher. “Good smell. Need Mate.”
Cassandra’s expression changed—irritation giving way to alarm.
“Need me how?” she demanded. “Because I am really not in the mood to be needed in any more weird alien ways today. I have been thrown out of a city, bitten by a zombie lizard, kidnapped by a huge Beast Kindred, stripped, scrubbed, tested, and told my blood is doing something ‘fascinating,’ which is not a word you want a scientist to use about any part of your body.”
Severin barely heard the last part of her little speech because his brain had grabbed onto his best friend’s words and wouldn’t let go.
“Missed Mate smell. Need Mate.”
Slowly, his mind began putting the pieces together, each one clicking into place with increasing precision. Ravik had been lost for months—mute, fogged, and slipping further and further into the viral haze no matter what anti-viral cocktail Severin injected into his bloodstream. Then he had gone out into the Dead Zone and returned with Cassandra over his shoulder.
And he had spoken. Not much at first—just a few words. “Woman.” “Human.” “Mate.”
But after he’d held Cassandra—after he’d pressed his face to her hair and inhaled her scent—he had spoken more. He had understood more. His eyes had cleared and his cognition had improved so dramatically Severin had assumed—hoped—that the latest serum was finally working.