Chapter 15 #3
The strange thing was, as soon as he breathed her in, she felt the tension in his body ease. His hands loosened at her waist. His chest brushed her back and the low, restless growl in his throat faded into a sound almost like a sigh.
Severin saw it too—she knew he did because his expression changed, sharpening with that intense scientific focus.
But he didn’t say anything, which was smart.
Because if he said the words “scent sample” right now, Cassie might shove him off the bed.
Not that she actually could, since the bed filled the entire room but still…
“Let’s get settled,” he said instead. “We need to find a good, er, position.”
The bed was so large that it should have been easy to find a place that didn’t feel intimate, but somehow the opposite was true—maybe because the warm bedding gave under her knees and the amber lights made everything feel soft and secret.
Or maybe because the walls were literally carved with alien mating scenes which she was trying very hard not to look at.
Cassie crawled toward the center because there was nowhere else to go, feeling ridiculous and exposed despite the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. She was certain she was flashing her behind at both of them since she didn’t have any panties on, but neither warrior said anything.
Ravik followed immediately, staying so close behind her that his hand brushed her hip every time she moved.
Severin followed more slowly, looking as dignified as a six-foot-six Blood Kindred could look while crawling across a giant Visskous sex bed—which was to say, more dignified than anyone had a right to look, Cassie thought.
Ravik, on the other hand, had no dignity whatsoever. He simply dropped onto his side of the bed—the left side—and reached for her.
“Cassie sleeps here,” he rumbled.
“Cassie has not agreed to a location yet,” she corrected him.
He patted the space in front of him.
“Here. Here is good. Here is warm and safe for Cassie.”
She looked at Severin who looked at Ravik, then back at her.
“I think he’ll rest best if he can hold you from behind,” he said apologetically. “That way he can breathe your scent without restricting your movement too much.”
“Restricting my movement at all is not really a phrase I want to hear when I’m about to go to bed,” Cassie pointed out.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
The look in Severin’s pale blue eyes was sincere and his apology that actually sounded like an apology—not like a man saying words so she would shut up like Mitch and Sskarth so often had. Cassie couldn’t help liking that.
She sighed.
“Fine. But if he starts anything—”
“I’ll stop him,” Severin said at once.
“And if you start anything?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
His eyebrows rose in response.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. And my eyes are up here.” She pointed to her face.
Severin’s gaze—which had drifted down to her breasts, probably because they were jiggling with every movement of the mattress under the three of them—rose quickly to her face. A faint flush touched his high cheekbones.
“I will not start anything, Cassandra,” he said, frowning. “You have my word as a warrior and a male of honor.”
“Well, thank you.” Cassie nodded but a part of her was imagining what it would be like if he did start something.
He wasn’t as big as Ravik—who was practically a mountain—but he was still head and shoulders taller than her.
Also, she’d heard from friends aboard the Mother Ship about the ecstasy of a Blood Kindred bite and his fangs looked awfully long and sharp right now.
What would it be like to have him bite her and inject his essence—which she’d heard caused instant orgasms?
Stop it, Cassie—stop thinking like that, she scolded herself. What’s wrong with you anyway? I thought your sex drive was dead?
Well, she’d thought it was dead—or at least that it had gone into a coma. But being between the two big Kindred and smelling their warm, spicy scent seemed to be reviving it in a big way.
Ravik patted the bed again.
“Cassie,” he rumbled. “Come sleep.”
“All right, all right. I’m coming—keep your pants on. I mean that literally, by the way,” she added.
She lay down carefully, keeping the blanket clutched around her as best she could.
The bed was warm beneath her—not just soft, but actively warm, like the mattress was heated from below.
It should have felt strange, but instead it felt wonderful against her exhausted body.
Every muscle she owned seemed to give a sigh of relief at the same time.
Then Ravik moved in behind her.
Cassie tensed but there was no way to prepare for being held by someone so large. His body curved around hers like a wall of heat—one massive arm sliding carefully over her waist.
To the big Beast Kindred’s credit, he did not put his hand under her nightgown. He didn’t touch her breasts or her thighs or anywhere he shouldn’t have. He just gathered her close, gentle despite his size, and buried his face in her hair with a deep, shuddering breath.
Cassie was stiff at first—of course she was—she barely knew this male.
He was half-infected, half-feral, and entirely convinced she belonged to him.
She should have been terrified—she should have been plotting how to get away from him.
She should have been thinking about locked doors and escape routes and how long she could survive outside if this all went bad.
Instead, all she could think was that he was warm—so incredibly, deliciously warm.
Warm in a way Sskarth never was. Warm in a way Mitch hadn’t been either, since her first husband had hated to cuddle.
Ravik, however, didn’t seem to mind cuddling at all.
He drew her closer and his heat sank into her back and shoulders, into her chilled arms and aching muscles.
His breath moved softly against her hair and the heavy weight of his arm over her waist didn’t frighten her, for some reason.
She should have felt held down—instead she felt… comforted.
But there was something missing. No—someone, she realized. Severin.
“Come here.” She patted the space in front of her, the same way Ravik had when he was trying to get her to lie down with him. “Come closer. I mean, in case something, uh, happens,” she added, feeling unexpectedly shy.
The Blood Kindred scooted closer until he was lying beside her, facing her. He had taken off his glasses and his eyes were piercing blue as he studied her face—studiously keeping his eyes above her neck, she noticed.
“Is this all right?” he asked quietly.
To Cassie’s surprise, the answer was ‘Yes.’ She wouldn’t have expected to feel comfortable sleeping half-naked between two men she’d met only that afternoon. Being bracketed by the two huge, muscular male bodies should have felt like a trap.
Instead, it felt more like…shelter.
Which was dangerous, because if life had taught her anything lately it was that she couldn’t depend on a man for shelter and safety and comfort.
You’d better not get used to this, whispered a little voice in her head. You need to be strong, Cassie. You could still wind up back out in the Dead Zone if you’re not careful or if you go full-Infected.
But she didn’t want to think about those things—not now when she felt so comfortable…so strangely right between the two big Kindred warriors.
“Yes, this is fine,” she told Severin. “Now we can all relax.”
Ravik’s arm tightened slightly and she felt him shift behind her.
“Cassie is safe,” he rumbled and his deep voice seemed to vibrate through her.
She swallowed hard.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Maybe.”
Severin said nothing, but his gaze lingered on her face in a way that made her feel shy for some reason.
“Um, just so you know, I’m in perimenopause so I can’t promise I won’t have a hot flash tonight,” she said to him, just to make conversation. “I might get you both all sweaty.”
A slight smile touched the corner of Severin’s mouth.
“If I were a cruder male I might say that I wouldn’t mind getting ‘all sweaty’ with you,” he murmured.
Cassie felt her cheeks go pink and wondered if he could see her blushing in the dim amber light of the Visskous mating chamber.
“Yeah, well you’d better keep that kind of thing to yourself,” she said, but her words lacked sharpness.
“I only said I would say it if I was a crude kind of male—which I try not to be,” Severin said. “And you’ll have to forgive me for staring at your breasts earlier. They’re very full and ripe and it’s been a long time since Ravik and I have been around such a beautiful woman.”
His words, spoken in that soft, deep voice and the way his blue eyes were half-lidded as he looked at her seemed to do something to Cassie. Once again she felt desired—by both of them—at least if the Beast Kindred’s rigid shaft pressing against her ass was anything to go by.
But she felt strangely safe too—no one was trying anything—they were both keeping their hands to themselves. And as for the way Ravik’s cock was pressing against her behind, well, that was just a natural reaction to being close.
“I forgive you for looking,” she said and arched her back, trying to get more comfortable—or so she told herself.
But to be honest, she was very aware that lying on her side this way pushed her breasts together and the tiny nighty she was wearing showed a lot of cleavage.
She could feel her nipples—which were still extremely tight—pressing against the red silk fabric.
Severin’s blue eyes flicked downward and then back up to her face as a low groan rose in his throat.
“Please stop that—you’re tempting me to look again and it’s incredibly hard not to when you’re so gorgeous.”
His words surprised her and made her heart flutter.
Cassie felt an unfamiliar heat building between her legs.
When was the last time a man had looked at her like this?
Sskarth didn’t count—he’d considered her more of an exotic oddity than a true beauty and Mitch hadn’t even noticed her at all until she left him and he couldn’t understand why.
“Can you see in this light? I mean, without your glasses on?” she asked curiously.
He nodded.
“I’m not blind to beauty, Cassandra,” he murmured.
“Well, thank you. But my first husband, Mitch, always said I was too big to be beautiful,” she remarked.
“He was a fool. You’re a Mature Elite—the Goddess has blessed you with extra curves.” His eyes were hungry now.
“Mature Elite,” Ravik echoed, his rumbling voice vibrating her body. “Cassie is beautiful.”
“Which is why I’m having such a hard time taking my eyes off you,” Severin admitted.
“Well…” She shifted again. “I mean, I guess if you just look and don’t touch…”
Severin’s eyes widened.
“You’re giving me permission to look?”
“You can both look—as long as you don’t touch.”
Cassie didn’t know what had gotten into her—maybe it was the unfamiliar feeling of being desired or maybe it was the combination of their scents that filled her senses or maybe it was feeling warm and safe in the big bed between them.
Whatever it was, she decided to act on her instinct. She turned over so that she was lying on her back instead of her side.
At once, Ravik was looking at her with a confused frown on his face.
“Is Cassie all right?” he rumbled.
“I’m fine, big guy,” she assured him. Reaching up, she cupped one scratchy cheek in her palm and looked into his eyes. “I’m going to let you look at me—both of you,” she told him. “But you can’t touch. Do you understand?”
His eyes widened but he nodded slowly.
“Don’t touch Cassie. Only look.”
“That’s right.” She nodded.
Then, taking a deep breath, she raised her nighty, pulling it up above her breasts to give both of the big warriors a good look at her naked body.