Chapter 37
CASSIE
Cassie sucked in a breath as the wound pulsed again.
At once, Severin’s arm tightened around her.
“What is it?” he asked in a low, worried voice.
She didn’t answer immediately because she was too busy staring down at her arm. The reddish-gold shimmer had returned beneath the skin—faint at first and then brighter, pulsing in a slow, hungry rhythm that seemed to echo between her thighs.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Ravik lifted his head from where he had been nuzzling her shoulder.
“Cassie?”
The second he said her name, the pulse grew stronger.
Heat rolled through her—not as sharp and frantic as before, but deep and insistent.
Her body, which had been relaxed and satisfied only moments ago, tightened all over again.
Her nipples went hard against Severin’s forearm and her pussy gave a helpless little clench that made her cheeks burn.
Severin saw it and seemed to know at once what was going on.
“Cassandra,” he murmured, “Is the need returning?”
She closed her eyes tightly and clenched her hands into fists.
“I really, really wanted the answer to that to be no,” she said, her voice coming out strained.
“But it isn’t?” he asked.
“No.” She exhaled shakily. “It’s better than before—not as awful. Not as…desperate. But it’s still there and I feel like…feel like it’s getting stronger.”
Ravik’s hand stroked over her hip, slow and soothing.
“Cassie needs more pleasure?” he rumbled.
“I don’t think that’s exactly it,” she said, though even as she spoke, her body throbbed again in a way that made the words feel like a lie.
“I mean, yes, probably, but it feels different now. Like before I needed to come so badly I couldn’t think straight.
Now it’s more like…” She trailed off, deeply wishing she could disappear under the heated coppery sheets and never come out again.
“Like what?” Severin urged softly. “Come on, sweetheart—we can’t help if you don’t tell us what you need.”
She opened one eye and glared up at him.
“You know, I’m getting really tired of having to describe every humiliating thing my body does and every embarrassing thing it needs.”
“I know,” he said, and he actually sounded sorry. “But I can’t help you if I don’t understand.”
Cassie sighed. Damn him and his calm voice and his gentle hands and his big blue eyes that somehow made this feel like a medical crisis and foreplay at the same time.
But Severin was nothing if not patient. He just waited until at as she couldn’t stand it and had to speak.
She swallowed hard.
“It feels like I need…” She stopped and tried again. “It feels like my body wants what Ravik gave me earlier,” she finished in a rush, her cheeks getting hot as she spoke.
Ravik went very still and Severin inhaled slowly behind her.
“Seed,” he said. “You’re craving male seed. I thought you might.”
Cassie covered her face with both hands.
“I cannot believe this is my life.”
But it was. She was infected with a zombie virus that was making her need to drink man milkshake, as her girlfriends at college used to call it. Cassie could feel the thirst making her throat feel dry as a desert and she knew instinctively that water wasn’t going to quench it.
The bite wound on her arm pulsed again—hotter this time—as if confirming the diagnosis.
Severin shifted carefully, and she felt him reach for her arm.
“May I?” he asked again.
She nodded from behind her hands and let him pull one away from her face so he could examine it.
Once more, he turned her arm toward the amber light and studied the wound.
His thumb brushed the edge of the glowing skin—not the puncture marks themselves, just beside them—and Cassie’s body jerked.
The sensation went straight through her body, hot and electric, making her thighs press together as a jolt of pleasure ran through her.
“Sorry,” he said at once.
“It didn’t hurt,” she muttered. “It…God, it felt good.”
“Hmm…” He sounded thoughtful. “The glow is responding to arousal again, but not in the same pattern as before. The pleasure of coming while Ravik tasted you reduced the inflammatory response, but the viral markers may now be seeking the next biological component.”
Cassie lowered her hands and looked back at him over her shoulder.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
His expression was strained, but honest.
“I think your body may be demanding male seed because it recognizes the proteins and mating factors as part of the anti-viral response. Ravik’s seed lowered your viral load earlier. But that was only one Kindred strain.”
She stared at him.
“So now it wants both?”
Severin’s jaw tightened.
“Possibly.”
Ravik gave a low growl.
“Cassie needs seed from both of us?”
“Don’t sound so excited,” she said, though the words came out weaker than she wanted.
Ravik’s hand tightened on her hip.
“Want to help Cassie.”
“I know.” Her voice softened despite herself. “I know you do, big guy.”
Severin’s body was rigid behind her—all that cool Blood Kindred control stretched nearly to breaking. Cassie could feel him trying to pull back inside himself, trying to become the scientist again instead of the aroused male with a rigid cock pressed along her spine.
“It doesn’t have to be now,” he said. “We could wait a while, if you feel uncomfortable.”
Cassie looked down at her arm. The pulse was growing brighter again—the reddish-gold glow flickering like banked coals under her skin. The ache inside her had deepened. It was no longer a scream but a steady drumbeat. Her body wasn’t panicking anymore—it was asking for what it needed.
No, she thought. It’s not asking—it’s demanding.
But as embarrassing as that was—as frightening as it was to know the virus had found this strange, intimate pathway inside her—at least Cassie could still think.
She could still choose. The need was there, but it wasn’t driving her insane or making her mindless.
It was pushing, yes, but she was still herself and she knew what she wanted… what she needed.
And what she needed were the two males on either side of her—both of them.
She turned carefully in Severin’s arms until she could look at him more fully. Ravik shifted behind her, giving her room but staying close, one big hand still resting on her hip as though he didn’t want to lose contact.
“Severin,” she said, “I know what I need.”
“Tell me.” He stroked her cheek. “I’ll give you anything you want, sweetheart.”
Cassie took a deep breath.
“I want you—both of you. I mean, I want to taste you both at the same time. But…I don’t know how you feel about that.”
His eyes went wide for a moment and he took a deep, surprised breath. There was a moment of silence and Cassie was sure she had asked for too much—pushed too far. She was about to take back her request when Severin finally started talking again.
“Scientifically, oral exposure would be the fastest way to introduce both sets of seminal proteins into your system without risking Bonding Sex,” he said, his voice coming out slightly hoarse.
“Your mucosal tissues are already reacting strongly to Ravik’s seed.
If your body is trying to combine Beast and Blood Kindred markers, then taking both of us at once may help. ”
His words were scientific but she could feel how much harder his cock had gotten and his scent was stronger too—was that some kind of pheromone thing that Kindred males did when they were aroused? She thought she remembered other women aboard the Mother Ship talking about “Bonding Scents.”
He’s into this, she thought and felt a rush of relief. So she hadn’t asked for too much. Still, she wanted to be sure.
“And non-scientifically?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
Severin’s fangs were fully descended now. He looked almost pained.
“Non-scientifically, I want your mouth on me so badly I can barely think,” he said in a low, strained voice.
Cassie felt a rush of need that nearly stole her breath.
Ravik rumbled behind her, but he didn’t sound angry—more like fiercely pleased.
“Sev tells the truth,” he rumbled.
“Yes, he does,” Cassie murmured. She looked at Ravik.
“And you?”
His golden eyes were heavy-lidded, his big body tense with need.
“Want to feel your mouth again,” he said. “Want to give Cassie what she needs. Want Sev with us.”
His last words made Severin go very still.
Cassie felt the same shock move through her. Ravik said it so simply, as though it made perfect sense. And in fact, it did. It felt right in a way she could neither explain or deny—the three of them belonged together.
Maybe that was the infection talking…but maybe it wasn’t.
Cassie didn’t know, and right then she didn’t have the strength to untangle it. All she knew was that her body was aching, the bite wound was glowing, both warriors were watching her with half-lidded eyes, and she didn’t want to keep pretending she didn’t need them.
“All right,” she said at last. “Let’s do this. Help me sit up.”
Severin shifted first, careful and controlled despite the hard ridge of his shaft still pressed against her.
Ravik helped too, his big hands gentle on her waist as they moved her into a kneeling position near the center of the enormous bed.
Cassie’s legs felt shaky, so Severin put a pillow under her knees without being asked.
The little gesture made her heart flutter.
Then both warriors knelt in front of her. God, they were beautiful, Cassie couldn’t help thinking.
Ravik was huge and dark and golden-eyed, his black hair loose around his broad shoulders, his muscular chest so broad and hard.
Severin was leaner but still enormous by human standards—pale and elegant and tense with hunger.
His white-blond hair fell over his forehead and his fangs gleamed under the amber light.
Both of them were still wearing trousers, but not for long.