“I don’t think that’s exactly it,” she said, though even as she spoke, her body throbbed again in a way that made the words feel like a lie.“Imean, yes, probably, but it feelsdifferentnow.LikebeforeIneeded to come so badlyIcouldn’t think straight.Nowit’s more like…”Shetrailed off, deeply wishing she could disappear under the heated coppery sheets and never come out again.
“Like what?”Severinurged softly.“Comeon, sweetheart—we can’t help if you don’t tell us what you need.”
She opened one eye and glared up at him.
“You know,I’mgettingreallytired of having to describe every humiliating thing my body does and every embarrassing thing it needs.”
“I know,” he said, and he actually sounded sorry.“ButIcan’t help you ifIdon’t understand.”
Cassie sighed.Damnhim and his calm voice and his gentle hands and his big blue eyes that somehow made this feel like a medical crisis and foreplay at the same time.
ButSeverinwas nothing if not patient.Hejust waited until at as she couldn’t stand it and had to speak.
She swallowed hard.
“It feels likeIneed…”Shestopped and tried again.“Itfeels like my body wants whatRavikgave me earlier,” she finished in a rush, her cheeks getting hot as she spoke.
Ravik went very still andSeverininhaled slowly behind her.
“Seed,” he said.“You’recraving male seed.Ithought you might.”
Cassie covered her face with both hands.
“I cannotbelievethis is my life.”
But it was.Shewas infected with a zombie virus that was making her need to drink man milkshake, as her girlfriends at college used to call it.Cassiecould feel the thirst making her throat feel dry as a desert and she knew instinctively that water wasn’t going to quench it.
The bite wound on her arm pulsed again—hotter this time—as if confirming the diagnosis.
Severin shifted carefully, and she felt him reach for her arm.
“MayI?”he asked again.
She nodded from behind her hands and let him pull one away from her face so he could examine it.
Once more, he turned her arm toward the amber light and studied the wound.Histhumb brushed the edge of the glowing skin—not the puncture marks themselves, just beside them—andCassie’sbody jerked.Thesensation went straight through her body, hot and electric, making her thighs press together as a jolt of pleasure ran through her.
“Sorry,” he said at once.
“It didn’t hurt,” she muttered.“It…God, it feltgood.”
“Hmm…”Hesounded thoughtful.“Theglow is responding to arousal again, but not in the same pattern as before.Thepleasure of coming whileRaviktasted you reduced the inflammatory response, but the viral markers may now be seeking the next biological component.”
Cassie lowered her hands and looked back at him over her shoulder.
“Are you saying whatIthink you’re saying?”
His expression was strained, but honest.
“I think your body may be demanding male seed because it recognizes the proteins and mating factors as part of the anti-viral response.Ravik’sseed lowered your viral load earlier.Butthat was only oneKindredstrain.”
She stared at him.
“So now it wantsboth?”
Severin’s jaw tightened.
“Possibly.”
