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)
Her face paled, but she nodded firmly.
“All right—just tell me what you need me to do—let me help.”
“Hold his head in your lap and distract him,” Severin ordered. “Get him to look to the right so I can get to the left side of his neck—I need to inject my essence directly into his jugular.”
“All right.” She cradled the Beast Kindred’s head in her lap and stroked his hair soothingly. “It’s all right, big guy,” she crooned. “Everything is going to be all right in just a minute.”
Severin was grateful that her scent still seemed to be working on Ravik but he was aware that could change at any minute. If the huge Beast Kindred went full Infected, neither of them was going to be safe.
He waited until his best friend was looking off to the side, (Cassie was pointing and talking to him. “Look! Look over there!”) and then lay down beside him. He looked for the pulse of the big blue vein in the side of his best friend’s neck and wished they could have done this another way. Testing the cure out in the open, exposed and unprotected, was a bad way to do it. But there was no choice now.
Severin had never bitten another male before and he was worried that his fangs wouldn’t be sharp enough. Normally, a Blood Kindred’s fangs only got sharp enough to bite when he met a woman he was very attracted to and wanted to Bond with. They’d been sharp every time he was near Cassandra but would they be sharp enough to pierce his best friend’s throat?
And for that matter, would the cure in his essence heal Ravik? Essence was only meant to cure a mate and though he and his best friend were incredibly close, they had never had any kind of romantic or sexual relationship.
All these questions ran through his head as he scooted closer to the Beast Kindred and opened his mouth. He could feel the cure throbbing through his body and he sent up a brief prayer,
Please, Goddess—let this work! Let my fangs pierce his flesh and let the cure work on him!
Then, because there was nothing else he could do, he sank his fangs deep into his friend’s neck.
45
CASSIE
“Look over there—I thought I saw a squirrel!” Cassie said, talking in a sing-song voice that seemed to distract the big Beast Kindred. She was hoping that no new zombie herds arrived while the three of them were down on the ground. And she also hoped that the cure worked. Because if Ravik went full-Infected and came for her and Severin, she knew for sure there was no way she could outrun him.
Even now his big body was thrumming with tension. His golden eyes had gone fully milk-white and he was starting to bare his teeth and sniff the air. Oh God, if he decided she was food—
And that was when Severin finally sank his fangs into the other male’s throat.
“Ahhh!” Ravik roared and his huge frame began to shake violently. His hips bucked up in a back-arching thrust until nothing but his head and his heels were still grounded.
Cassie had never seen anything like it and yet Severin held on, his fangs still buried in his friend’s throat. She tried to help by pushing down on Ravik’s broad shoulders, but it was like pushing against a boulder—he was simply too huge and strong for her to do anything but hold on and hope he didn’t go completely crazy.
She was worried that his roaring would call more Infected to them, but she couldn’t leave her guys. So she stayed where she was, anxiously watching Ravik’s face. His eyes were squeezed closed and his hips continued to pump as his long fingers gripped the ground and tore out handfuls of grass.
At last, just as she was certain the Beast Kindred was going to shake himself apart, Severin withdrew his fangs and sat up, panting. He stared down at Ravik, his blue eyes dark with concern.
“What’s wrong with him?” Cassie asked as Severin reached out to touch his friend’s forehead, as though checking for a fever. “I mean, why did he scream and roar and…and thrust like that?”
“He was having an orgasm—an extremely intense one, I’m afraid,” Severin said. His high cheekbones were red and Cassie remembered how Ravik had said that Severin asking to bite him was like asking to suck his cock. It occurred to her that the Blood Kindred had just done something to his friend that would probably have gotten him punched in any other circumstances.
Looking down at Ravik—who had quieted now that Severin was no longer pumping him full of essence—she saw a dark stain at the crotch of his trousers.
Remembering how much he came, she wasn’t surprised though she was sure it must be uncomfortable. But now wasn’t the time to worry about stained pants.