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)
“We need to get you to the lab.”
Cassie gave a short laugh that sounded more like a sob.
“There it is. I knew the lab was coming.”
“I need to check your blood,” he said. “And the bite site. If the viral pathway is intensifying—”
“Don’t say ‘viral pathway’ to me right now, okay?” she interrupted. “I don’t need to hear that right now—I’m about an inch away from a full meltdown.”
Severin stopped immediately, holding up his hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture.
“All right, I won’t say it. Forgive me.”
But somehow his apology made her feel even worse. She had expected him to keep pushing—to explain, to lecture, to go full scientist on her until she either screamed or gave in. Instead, he simply stopped because she asked him to.
Damn him.
Damn both of them, really.
Why did they have to be so big and handsome and careful? Why did they have to smell like exactly what her body wanted? Why did Ravik have to look at her like she was precious, even now, with her arm glowing and her hormones—or the virus, or whatever the hell this was—turning her into some kind of alien medical disaster? Why did Severin have to look at her like he was terrified and fascinated and determined to save her all at once?
Cassie pressed a hand to her forehead.
“I thought I could ignore it,” she said. “This…what’s happening inside me, I mean.”
Neither male spoke—they were both just looking at her, listening intently.
“I thought if I just…kept busy, it would go away,” Cassie went on. “I cooked. I cleaned. I took three showers like some kind of overheated lunatic. I told myself it was perimenopause or stress or maybe just the fact that I haven’t had decent sex in years and suddenly I’m trapped with two Kindred warriors who seem to think I’m the hottest thing in the galaxy.”
“You are,” Ravik said at once.
Cassie almost wanted to laugh, but she was afraid she might start crying instead.
“Not the point, big guy,” she told him.
“Still true,” he rumbled.
Severin’s mouth twitched, but only for a second.
“Cassandra,” he said gently, “what exactly have you been feeling?”
Cassie looked away.
Heat crawled up her throat and into her cheeks. It was humiliating—there was no other word for it. She was a grown woman—a mother, an ex-wife—a current wife if you counted Sskarth—though she didn’t, since he was a cheating asshole. She had lived through divorce and alien marriage and perimenopause and being thrown out to die. She ought to be able to say what was happening in her own body.
But saying it to these two males, with her nipples tight under the stupid red nighty and her thighs still trembling from the way the bite wound had pulsed, felt almost impossible.
“I feel…needy,” she said at last, hating how small the word sounded. It didn’t begin to describe the aching void that was growing inside her.
Ravik inhaled sharply and Severin’s gaze darkened, but his voice remained steady.
“In what way?”
Cassie glared at him.
“Don’t be a jerk—you know what way.”
He gave her a level look.
“I need you to say it.”
“Why? So you can write it down in your notes?” she snapped.
“No.” He shook his head. “Because if the virus is affecting your judgment, I need to know how strongly. And because I will not guess at what you want—especially if it’s what I think it is.”
His answer was infuriatingly honorable and Cassie found she couldn’t be mad at him anymore. She swallowed hard.
“I feel like I need to be touched,” she said, the words coming out stiffly. “Like I need…contact. Heat. Both of you close. And I keep thinking about…” She stopped and shook her head. “No. I can’t.”
“You can,” Severin said softly.
Ravik’s voice came from behind her, low and rough.
“Cassie safe with us.”
Her eyes stung unexpectedly.
She hated this—hated how much she wanted to believe him. Hated how badly she wanted to step back into Ravik’s arms and let Severin touch her from the front. Hated that part of her body was already leaning toward them, already aching for more.
She couldn’t be dependent on them—hadn’t her time with both Sskarth and Mitch taught her that men weren’t to be trusted? She needed to be self-sufficient and yet this damn virus was undermining her self-control and ruining her independence at every turn.
“I keep thinking about sex,” she whispered. “Not just normal sex. I keep imagining both of you. In the bed…in the lab. Touching me…watching me. Filling me.” Her face flamed. “And I know that’s too much information, but there it is. It’s like my brain is stuck on a dirty loop and my body won’t calm down.”
Ravik’s breathing deepened but this time he didn’t say anything.
Severin looked as though he was carved from ice, but Cassie could see the strain in him—the tight line of his jaw, the way his fangs had lengthened, and how one hand had curled into a fist at his side.