Page 21 of Marked as Their Mate
Then she took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and dumped thekareth pearlsinto the broth.
“Okay,” she said firmly, stirring them with one of the long rods.“Supperfirst.Existentialcrisis later.”
She was going to push her worries to the back of her mind and concentrate on the task at hand.Itseemed like a sensible plan…at least, it was the only one she had at the moment andCassiewas determined to stick with it.
12
SEVERIN
The latest anti-viral serum wasn’t working.
Sev stared at the sample he’d mixed withRavik’sblood last night in dismay.Whenhe’d looked at it under the scope that morning, it had shown definite promise—which was why he’d injected his best friend with a healthy dose of it.
But now, the sample showed a definite regression.TheHungerVirushad taken over, hollowing out the cells to make tiny new virus factories that were pumping out replicates of themselves at an alarming rate.
Any scientist in his right mind looking at this sample would conclude that the subject who had been injected with this particular strain of the anti-viral agentSevwas working on had received no benefit from it at all.
And yet,Ravikwas a thousand times better than he had been just that morning.Hewas talking again and even though he thought the curvy little human was his mate, at least he was thinking and reasoning once more.Hiseyes weren’t filmy anymore either—it seemed like he was on the road to recovery.
But how?
How, when the anti-viral clearly wasn’t working?
“Maybe it’s a combination of the oneIgave him today and the one he had yesterday,”Sevmuttered to himself.
Quickly, he made a new sample slide, injecting a tiny amount of theBeastKindred’sblood and adding a drop of both the latest batch of anti-viral and the batch before it.Hemade sure it was mixed well, then looked at it under the electron microscope.
At first it seemed to be working—just like it had appeared to work that morning.ButasSevwatched, the blood was slowly overtaken by theHungerVirus.Beforehe could even begin to make notes about it, the entire sample was overrun.
Sev rose from his semi-crouched position, reached under his oculars—which he wore mostly for work—and rubbed his eyes.Whatin all theSevenHellswas going on?HowcouldRavikbe getting better if the anti-viral wasn’t working?What?—?
“Ahhhh!”
His frustrated musings were interrupted by a feminine scream coming from down the corridor andSev’shead jerked around.
“Cassandra!”he muttered and a wave of wholly unexpected possessive protectiveness rushed through him.HadtheInfectedgot in somehow?Wasshe in danger?Whateverit was, he had to get to her!
Leaving the lab at a run, he hurried down the metal hallway to find out what was wrong…and to kill anyone or anything who dared to threaten the curvy little human.
13
SEVERIN
Sev reached the kitchen expecting blood, violence, or death.
What he found instead wasCassandrabacked up against the counter with a long stirring rod clutched in both hands like a weapon, her eyes wide and her lush body still wrapped in that absurdly inadequate red silk nightgown.Thethin fabric clung to her curves and barely reached the tops of her luscious, thick thighs, which would have been distracting enough under ordinary circumstances.
But ordinary circumstances did not includeRavikstanding stark naked in the kitchen doorway, dripping bathwater all over the floor.
For a moment,Severincould only stare in dismay.
His best friend was enormous at the best of times—seven feet and more of muscle, scars, andBeastKindredintensity.Nakedand wet, with his long black hair slicked back from his face and water running in rivulets down his broad chest, he looked even bigger…somehow more primitive…moredangerous.Hisgolden eyes had gone cloudy again, the pale film creeping over the irises like frost spreading over glass.
Severin’s heart sank and he sent up a hasty prayer to theGoddess.
Oh no—not again, please.Pleasedon’t let him be regressing!
“Ravik?”he said carefully, taking a step into the room.“Whatare you doing here?”
