“Infected?”he heardSeverinask.
The woman shifted from foot to foot and tugged at the arm of her short, silky robe, which barely came down to mid-thigh.Shehad gorgeous thick thighs and a juicy behind,Raviknoticed—he had always loved a woman with a big ass.
The thought surprised him because in the past few months, he hadn’t thought about women at all.Asthe gray fog crept over his brain and the white film covered his eyes, he thought less and less about anything.Butnow, standing so close to the human woman and breathing in her sweet, unique scent, he could feel the fog lifting and his interest in women and life in general coming back.
What was happening to him?
He had no answers and before he could make sense of the situation, he heardSeverinsay,
“All right,Ravik,I’mopening the door.Bringher in to the decontamination suite.”
Then the steel door slid open and he was pushing the little female inside.MaybeSeverinwould know what was happening to him—he hoped so because he had no hope of figuring it out himself.
4
SEVERIN
Severin waited at the door of the decontamination suite, which was the very first room in the underground bunker where he andRavikhad been staying for these past five months.Theidea being that if someone was found to be infected, they could be cast back out intoDeadZoneimmediately.
There were some who might say he should have castRavikout.
Severin knew it was true.AsaBloodKindred, he was cold and logical—he knew that he should have locked the door against the bigBeastKindredthe minute he got scratched by one of theInfected.
ButRavikwas his best friend as well as his long-time partner.They’dbeen to too many worlds together on too many missions to count and both of them had saved each other’s lives many times over.Besides,Severinwas aXeno-virologist and if anyone could beat theHungerVirus, he could—or so he told himself.
So he keptRavikwith him.Evenwhen the bigBeastKindredwanted to go out and die, he talked him out of it.
“I’m going to turn and whenIdo,I’llkill you,”Ravikhad said dully, eyeing the ugly scratch on his broad chest where anInfectedhad gotten him during a supply run.“Letme go out now,Sev.It’sbetter that way—at least one of us will live.”
“BeastKindredare strong healers and the virus takes months to incubate—that’s how it was able to spread so fast,”Severinhad argued.“Everyoneon this benighted planet was infected before they even knew they had it.Giveme time to work on an antidote—I’msureIcan crack this thing!”
He’d spoken with more confidence than he felt—theHungerVirusmoved and mutated with startling speed.Itwas constantly making more variations of itself to fight the various antidotes he developed in the lab.ButSevrefused to give up.Everyday he worked from early morning to far into the night, trying new combinations.Hewas close to a cure—he couldfeelit.Butthere seemed to be something missing—some ingredient he didn’t have, though the bunker had a fully stocked lab, since it had been a science retreat before it had become their refuge of last resort.
At any rate, he’d been able to slow down the progression of the virus, but not stop it completely.Whichwas why, little by little, day by day, he had to watch his best friend slowly lose himself to theHunger.
Every day he asked himself if this was the day thatRavikwould attack—the day he ought to send the bigBeastKindredout of the bunker for supplies or spare parts and not let him come back in.Severinwas muscular—though at six-foot-six, he was considered short for aKindredmale—butRavikwas seven-foot-one and outweighed him by a hundred pounds of pure muscle.IftheHungervirus took over his brain completely and he went berserk and attacked,Sevprobably wouldn’t stand a chance against him.
Still, every day whenRavikcame to the bunker door,Sevlet him back in.Hejust couldn’t bear to leave his best friend out in theDeadZoneto slowly go mad.Heknew it was dangerous—suicidal even—but he couldn’t bring himself to lock the bigBeastKindredout.
And now he’d brought back a captive.Notone of theVisskous, who were native to this benighted planet but a human woman—aMatureElite—one theGoddesshad blessed with the wisdom of maturity as well as full curves.Also, he was speaking again—just a few words, true—but it had been months since he’d uttered anything but grunts and growls.
Sev was cautiously elated—maybe the latest batch of anti-viral he’d injected his friend with had worked.Butwhat about the woman he had brought home with him?Sheclaimed not to be infected, but could he trust her word?Also, what was a human woman doing here onVisslickPrime, light years fromEarth?
Severin didn’t know but he was determined to find out.
5
CASSIE
A cool rush of air swirled aroundCassieas the thick steel door slid open.Sheshivered and her nipples went painfully hard behind the flimsy red silk nighty.Shewasn’t sure who she was going to see when she stepped into the bunker—would it be anotherBeastKindred?Ormaybe a human man?Andmore importantly, would they let her stay?
Not if they find out you’ve been bitten,whispered a little voice in her head.Surreptitiously, she tugged at the sleeve of her robe again, wishing it was longer.Therewas some blood on the sleeve, which had dried by now, but luckily it didn’t show against the red silk except as a slightly darker patch, which was—she tried to convince herself—totally unnoticeable.
It’ll be fine,she told herself.Juststay cool and stick to your story—theVisskousput you out and you ran into the big guy before anything happened.
The big guy—who she’d heard the other man call “Ravik” was pushing her forward into a bare room that seemed to be made of entirely of stainless steel—floor, walls, and ceilings—with a few floor-to-ceiling plastic drapes.
A few instruments lay on a nearby stainless steel table—one of them being a syringe with a long, sharp needle and the other a piece of equipment that appeared to be some kind of microscope.Thescope was bolted to the table, which was, in turn, bolted to the floor.Shewondered why, but before she could say anything, the long plastic drapes parted and anotherKindredwarrior, this one wearing a white lab coat, entered the room.
