But most of the food wasn’t just to curb hunger—it all had a purpose—that was the problem.
Everything on the low table in their guest suite seemed to have been chosen byDr.Verityxfor some damn medical reason or other.Therewere stamina cakes, protein-rich grains, mineral nectar forCassie, and a warm amber tonic thatLipshillhad explained would improve “seminal output” inKindredmales.
Ravik had almost thrown his cup across the room when he heard that.
He had not done it becauseCassiehad been watching him with a little frown that seemed to say, “behave!”and becauseSevhad lifted his own cup and drunk the tonic without complaint.
Of courseSevhad—the male would probably drink poison if some medical chart suggested it might helpCassie.Infact, he had basically done exactly that when he injected himself with the cure back in the bunker.
As if you wouldn’t do the same in a heartbeat,whispered a little voice in his head.Lookat what you’re already doing—sharing her in bed withSev, mixing your seed with his in her pussy, letting him touch you both last night when he put your cock in her pussy…
Ravik didn’t want to think about any of that.
He didn’t want to think about the bite either, or the waySev’sfangs had felt in his throat.Heespeciallydidn’t want to think about the way the cure had rushed into him with a blast of pleasure so sharp and deep that his body had lost control right there in the grass withCassandrawatching.
So instead, he ate the strange golden cakes and drank the drink and pretended he didn’t notice the silence between himself andSevstretching across the suite like a suffocating blanket that kept them both from breathing.
Cassandra sat curled in the center of the huge nest-bed, wrapped in the red silk robe and nibbling at some pale green fruit that smelled sweet and floral.Shelooked better than she had whenSevcarried her back from the lab, but she was clearly tired.Hercheeks were flushed, her hair was mussed, and her breasts were visibly fuller under the robe, which madeRavik’shands curl into fists around his plate.
Not because he was angry with her—gods, no.Becausehe wanted to touch her.Hewanted to hold her, to ease the ache in her body, to put his mouth on her breasts again and drink down the nectar that had flowed when he andSevhad sucked her together.Hewanted to gather her close and tell her she had been brave on that strange table with that weird little living stim-thing inside her and all those feathered lab assistants pretending not to pay attention while she came in front of everyone.
He wanted to tell her she was beautiful…ee wanted to tell her she was his.
But shewasn’tjust his, was she?
The thought twisted in his gut.
Sev was sitting on the other side of the bed, close toCassandrabut not touchingRavik.Hisbroken oculars had been replaced with a thin temporary visor that made his pale blue eyes look sharper and more distant than usual.Hewas eating with that distracted expression he got when his mind was somewhere else, probably inDr.Verityx’slab, worrying over viral markers and nectar stability and whatever-the-hell else was involved in making the vaccine.
Or maybe he was thinking about the things the three of them had done together…maybe he was remembering sharingCassiebetween them the wayRavikwas, even though he was trying not to…
Cassoe glanced from one to the other and sighed.
“You know,” she said, pointing a piece of green fruit at both of them, “Thisfood is weird enough without the two of you adding a side dish of awkward male silence to it.”
Sev’s mouth twitched.
Ravik only grunted.
Which made her raise an eyebrow at him.
“Excellent conversation,Ravik.Veryemotionally revealing.”
“I’m eating,” he growled.
“You’re brooding,” she accused.
“I can do both.”
“Yes,I’mnoticing.”Hervoice was dry but her eyes were worried.
Sev looked down at his plate, butRavikcould see he was trying not to smile at the exchange.Thatannoyed him—it also made something inside his chest loosen for half a second, because for all the anger and shame between them, they still knew howCassiesounded when she was trying to make a strange situation bearable.
She had done it onVisslickPrimein the bunker and she was doing it now.
She was an amazing, beautiful woman—aMatureElite—the kind of female he’d never dreamed he could ever have a chance with.
She was also hurting.Ravikcould smell it under the strange foods and the flowery mineral drink.Itwasn’t physical pain he smelled exactly—though he knew her breasts still ached.Itwas the need again.Therewas a warm, sweet restlessness in her scent that made his shaft hard all over again.
