Chapter 25
CASSIE
Cassie told herself this was still about healing, but that was getting harder and harder to believe.
At first, it had been easy enough to pretend that she was simply applying burn ointment in a very unusual way.
Ravik had been hurt, frightened, and regressed almost back into that foggy, half-feral state he’d been in when he first rescued her from the Dead Zone.
He wouldn’t let her put the ointment on with her fingers and the only thing that seemed to calm him was her scent, her voice, and her touch.
So kissing his burns better had made a certain amount of sense.
Sort of.
But now she was kneeling between his spread thighs in Severin’s lab, with Ravik’s huge cock in her mouth and the Blood Kindred was watching her with hungry blue eyes and his fangs fully descended.
She wasn’t absolutely sure, but Cassie thought that was supposed to be a sexual response, since Blood Kindred only bit to cure or pleasure their mates.
Also, there was a definite bulge in Severin’s sleep trousers.
That made it a little harder to file what she was doing under “medical treatment.”
But Cassie didn’t want to stop.
She told herself that Ravik was hurt and she was helping him. His poor cock had been burned by one of those nasty exploding fikka beetles and the ointment needed to be applied directly to the injury.
Severin had said her lower lip would rub the burn more effectively if she took the broad head into her mouth, and that did sound logical—Severin was a scientist, after all. A Blood Kindred xeno-virologist, to be exact, which meant he knew things about medicine and viruses and alien biology.
He also knew exactly how to look at a woman until her nipples went tight and her pussy got wet as she sucked his best friend’s cock. Which was extremely inconvenient when she was trying to cast herself in the role of Florence Nightingale and not the role of a woman staring in a porno.
Cassie shifted on her knees, trying to ignore the slick heat gathering between her thighs.
She was still wearing that ridiculous little red silk nighty and nothing else—she really needed to get new clothes.
As it was, every time she moved, the fabric brushed her tight nipples and made them ache.
The lab was cool, but she was hot—hot in a way that had nothing to do with perimenopause and everything to do with the two males focused on her like she was the only one in the universe worth watching.
Especially Severin.
Ravik had his eyes half-closed, one big hand buried carefully in her hair as he groaned with every gentle suction of her mouth.
He wasn’t forcing her, though—he wasn’t pushing her head or thrusting between her lips.
He just sat there, massive and trembling, letting her do what she wanted while she held him in her hand and took as much of him as she could.
But Severin was watching everything…the way her lips stretched around Ravik…
the way her hand looked so small wrapped around his thick shaft.
The way her cheeks hollowed slightly when she sucked.
His pale blue eyes followed every movement and his gaze felt almost like a touch—cool and hot at the same time, clinical and starving all at once.
It made Cassie want to do even more.
The realization shocked her so much she almost pulled back.
What was she thinking? This wasn’t a performance. She wasn’t putting on a show. She was helping Ravik. Healing Ravik. Doing what needed to be done in order to get the ointment where it had to go and maybe, somehow, bring him further out of the virus-fog.
And yet…
And yet there was some secret part of her that liked knowing Severin was watching…
liked seeing his cool, scientific control slip.
Liked the way his elegant hand gripped the edge of the lab table so hard his knuckles went white.
And especially liked the way his voice had gone hoarse when he told her to keep going.
Maybe it was because Mitch had hardly ever looked at her except to complain about something.
Or maybe it was because Sskarth had looked at her like an exotic possession until he’d gotten bored—then like a “defective mammal” once her hot flashes started.
Maybe it was just because Cassie had spent so many years feeling invisible, unwanted, or too much—too curvy, too warm, too wet, too emotional, too old—and now two enormous Kindred warriors were looking at her like she was the answer to every hunger they had.
Whatever the reason, her inner exhibitionist had clearly chosen the worst possible time to wake up…or maybe the best time.
“Mate sucks so good,” Ravik groaned as she swirled her tongue carefully over the broad head of his shaft, paying special attention to the burned spot.
The minty ointment tingled against her lips and tongue, but underneath it she could taste him—warm, salty, masculine, and utterly addictive. His scent was stronger here, smoky and spicy and unmistakably male. It filled her head and made the ache between her thighs grow worse.
“Goddess,” Severin breathed from beside them. “Look at his eyes.”
Cassie pulled back just enough to look up at Ravik.
His golden eyes were clearer now—much clearer. The milky film had receded until it was only a faint haze around the edges of his irises. He was staring down at her with a look of hungry desire that made her heart flutter in her chest.
“Is…is it working, do you think?” she asked, her voice sounding breathless and strange even to her own ears. “Am I healing him? Not just here…” she nodded to the thick cock throbbing in her hands. “But there—in his head?” She nodded at the clearing golden eyes again.
“Yes.” Severin’s voice was hoarse. “Yes, it’s working. His neurological response is stabilizing again.”
“That sounds good.” She licked her lips and Ravik’s cock twitched in her hand. “Right?”
“It is good. Very good.” Severin took one step closer, his gaze fixed on Ravik’s shaft and her mouth with a focus that made Cassie’s cheeks heat. “But I think…Cassandra, I think you need to take him a little deeper.”
She looked up sharply.
“Excuse me?”
His eyes flicked to hers at once.
“Only if you’re comfortable doing so,” he said quickly. “You can stop at any time.”
“Well, thank you for that.” Cassie tried to sound sarcastic, but the words came out shakier than she wanted. “But why exactly do I need to take him deeper? For science?”
A faint flush touched Severin’s cheekbones.
“For science, yes.” His voice was strained, but he held her gaze.
“Also for healing. Look at him—his pupils are responsive again, his speech centers are reactivating, and the film over his eyes is nearly gone. Your scent brought him partway back, but your mouth seems to be doing something stronger. It might be the saliva contact, or the emotional association, or the pleasure response. Most likely all three.”
“The pleasure response?” Cassie repeated.
Severin nodded, clearly grateful to have something scientific to cling to.
“The Hunger Virus suppresses higher cognition by over-stimulating predatory appetite and blocking mate-recognition pathways. But Kindred bonding biology is extremely powerful. Pleasure—especially pleasure given by a female Ravik recognizes as his mate—may be flooding his system with counter-signals. Endorphins, oxytocin analogues, bonding hormones, Beast Kindred mating pheromones.” His eyes dropped briefly to Ravik’s shaft and then returned to Cassie’s face.
“The stronger his pleasure response, the more likely it is to push the virus back.”
Cassie stared at him.
“So you’re telling me that giving him a better blowjob might fight the zombie virus?”
Ravik made a low, hungry sound.
“Cassie’s mouth feels good on my cock,” he rumbled. “Good mouth heals Ravik.”
Cassie’s face went hot. Oh God, she couldn’t believe she was doing this…and yet, she didn’t want to stop.
Severin closed his eyes for a second, as though praying for patience or self-control or possibly both.
“That is not precisely how I would have phrased it,” he said at last. “But…yes. Possibly.”
“Of course.” Cassie let out a breathless little laugh. “Of course, that makes perfect sense.”
“You don’t have to continue,” Severin said, though his voice sounded like the words cost him something. “The choice is yours—always.”
Cassie looked up at Ravik again.
The big Beast Kindred was watching her with golden eyes that were clearer by the second.
His hand was still in her hair, but gentle—so gentle.
His chest rose and fell with deep, uneven breaths and his massive body seemed to be holding itself completely still for her.
As though every instinct in him wanted to move, to take, to thrust, to chase the pleasure she was giving him, but his honor—his Kindred nature—wouldn’t let him.
“Ravik?” she said softly. “Are you all right?”
He nodded slowly.
“Cassie makes Ravik…makes me feel better,” he said, his voice rough but clearer than before. “Please suck more. I won’t hurt you. I won’t push.”
The shift from third person to first made Severin draw in a sharp breath.
Cassie heard it and felt something warm uncurl in her chest—there he was.
Her big, half-lost Beast Kindred was coming back—she was bringing him back.
How could she possibly stop now? Besides, his precum—which had been flowing since she started sucking him—tasted a little like salted caramel, which was delicious.
“All right,” she whispered. “Then I’ll keep going. Just hold still and let me suck you.”
She bent her head again before she could lose her nerve, very aware that both males were watching her eagerly.
This time, she opened her mouth wider and took him deeper.
Not too far—because dear God, he was huge—but enough that she felt the broad head slide further over her tongue and toward the back of her mouth.
She had to breathe through her nose and relax her jaw, reminding herself that she was the one in control.