Severin felt his resistance melting…mainly, he told himself, because whatRaviksaid was true.Shedidneed both of them.
He shifted closer untilCassandrawas nestled between them again.Shesighed in her sleep and turned toward him, one hand coming to rest against his bare chest as though she was reaching for him without knowing it.Thetouch sent a pulse through his altered blood so strong he had to close his eyes.
OhGoddess, if only we could hold her between us every night like this—forever!
ThenRavik’sarm settled over both of them, heavy and warm, binding them together in the dim amber light.
Severin lay very still withCassandra’shand over his heart,Ravik’sbreath slow and deep beyond her, and the secret burning quietly in his veins.
He should tell them but there was nothing to tell until morning, he told himself.Nocertainty…no result and no proof that he had either saved them or doomed them.Onlya theory, a prayer, and the strange golden pressure he felt gathering behind his fangs.
Cassandra murmured in her sleep and shifted closer andRavik’sarm tightened around them both.
Severin let himself rest his forehead briefly againstCassandra’shair and breathed in the scent of her—warm woman, honey, exhaustion, and the faint lingering glow of the cure her body had begun to make.
In the morning, he would test her blood and his own.Inthe morning, he would know whether he had become the carrier of the cure…or the next carrier of theHungerVirus.
Until then, he lay with the two people he was trying desperately not to love too much and finally drifted off to sleep.
41
RAVIK
Ravik was having the strangest dream.HeandSeverinhad gone to a planet full of lizard people to do science and surveillance—which wasn’t unusual.Butwhile they were there, the lizard people all went fucking crazy and started wanting to eat each other—and him andSevtoo.
Then the two of them had run to an underground bunker where there was nothing but shitty lizard people food to eat.Theirshuttle had been torn apart by theInfected—those bastards—and one of them scratchedRavikand he…he…what?
He couldn’t remember that part.Orat least, the dream didn’t show him.Itwas like a fog had drifted over his mind and nothing made sense anymore.
Then a beautiful woman came—aMatureElitesent by theGoddessherself.Ravikbrought her back to the bunker and the three of them were…were what?
The dream wouldn’t show him.Heonly had a feeling that the woman—Cassiewas her name—was incredibly important to both of them.Shewas…was…
His dream dissolved when someone elbowed him in the stomach.
“Oof!”Heopened his eyes and looked around.“Whatthe fuck?”he muttered.
“Sorry—you were snoring right in my ear,” a woman’s voice said.
Ravik looked down and realized it was the woman of his dreams—Cassie.TheMatureElitewas looking gorgeous with her tousled hair and sleepy eyes.
“Cassie?”Heshook his head.“Iwas just dreaming of you.”
“You were?That’snice.”Shelooked at him speculatively.“Youknow, you’re sounding a lot less like a caveman this morning.”
“A caveman?”Hefrowned.“What’sthat?”
“I believe the early humans who lived onEarthmany centuries ago stayed in caves,”Severinsaid, sitting up on the other side ofCassie.“Theyhad a primitive way of communicating—that’s whatCassandrais referencing.”
“I still don’t see how…”Ravikshook his head.“Hey, why are we all sleeping together in the same fuckin’ bed?”
Cassie’s eyebrows shot up.
“You mean…you don’t remember last night?Thetwo of you holding me between you?”
“Holding you between us?”
Ravik frowned and tried to think.Hehad some vague memories but there seemed to be a fog over them that he couldn’t lift.
