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)
But Cassandra was still glaring at him so he didn’t have time to analyze it.
“What kind of samples?” she repeated.
“Blood first,” he said. “Then another saliva sample. Possibly sweat. And…” He stopped.
“And?” she demanded.
“And if your symptoms intensify, I may need a fresh honey sample,” Severin admitted. There—he had known she wouldn’t like that.
As if to prove his point, her face went scarlet again.
“Of course you need more ‘honey’ samples. Why am I not surprised?”
“I know this is uncomfortable,” Severin said in a low voice.
“Oh, do you?” she demanded. “Because from where I’m standing, it sounds like my zombie virus decided to turn me into a horny science project, and now you need to swab my lady bits to see if alien warrior cum is saving my life.”
Severin opened his mouth and closed it again. Then, very reluctantly, he said, “That is…not entirely inaccurate.”
Ravik made a low rumbling sound that sounded suspiciously like amusement and Cassandra pointed at him without looking.
“Do not laugh.”
“Ravik is not laughing,” he protested.
“You absolutely are laughing,” she snapped.
“Only on the inside,” Ravik said mildly.
Severin stared at his friend and Cassandra turned her head and stared too. Had the Beast Kindred made a joke?
Then, despite the fear in her eyes and the flush in her cheeks, the curvy little human burst out laughing.
The sound filled the narrow lab like a ray of sunlight and for one brief, impossible second, Severin forgot the virus, forgot the tests—even forgot the danger. He forgot everything except Cassandra laughing with Ravik’s arms around her and the knowledge that he would do whatever it took to keep that sound in the world.
Then the hologram flickered behind him, casting green light over her face and the laughter faded.
Cassandra looked at the twisting pathway again.
“So what happens now?” she asked quietly.
Severin wished he had a definitive answer for her, but they were still very much on unproven and experimental ground.
“We find out how much of your symptemology is the virus,” he said, “And how much is your body fighting back.”
She looked at him, then at Ravik, then down at herself as though she no longer quite trusted the signals coming from her own body.
“What if my body wants something…embarrassing?”
“You never need to feel embarrassed around us,” Severin said softly. “Ravik and I will give you anything you need…anything you want. And there’s no judgment in science—only hypotheses and results.”
His words seemed to reassure her—at least a little.
“Well…all right.” She nodded. “I guess that will work, for now, anyway.”
And with that, he had to be content.
But as he watched her lean against Ravik for comfort, he realized the data was becoming clear. In Cassandra, the virus was creating sexual need. Ravik’s seed might help it and Severin’s own essence might as well but that had to be her choice.
In the meantime, all he could do was keep looking for a cure so the three of them could get out of here and go back to the Mother Ship.
33
CASSIE
Cassie tried desperately to ignore the need that was growing inside her. All day long she ignored it. She ignored it while she was cooking and cleaning and eating with the guys. She ignored it when she took a second shower and then a third, in an attempt to cool down and ease the heat that was growing inside her. She even ignored the looks that Severin and Ravik—who seemed to be more and more himself—exchanged and the way they sniffed the air when she got near either of them.
They can tell, whispered the traitorous little voice in her head. They know what you’re feeling…what you need. They can smell it on you—the heat…the desire.
Well even if that was true, she wasn’t about to tell on herself and admit what she was so desperately craving. She wasn’t going to go through another humiliating experience like she had earlier today when she’d been impaled on Ravik’s cock and hadn’t been able to stop herself from grinding on him.
Maybe if I ignore it, it’ll just go away, she told herself desperately. But she wondered if maybe the others who had been bitten or scratched by an Infected had been telling themselves the same thing. Because it was the Hunger Virus doing this to her—making her feel so needy. Only instead of living flesh, she craved male contact and male seed.
Which seemed like an absolutely ridiculous situation to find herself in, but her whole life had been turned upside down recently, so she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that the virus that was turning everyone else into zombies was turning her into a nymphomaniac instead.
She ignored her body as long as she could but it all came to a head that evening. It was right after a supper of thigian stew and both males here helping her clean up because, despite their size and strength, Kindred were much more domestic and helpful with chores than human men.