Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Severin was determined to find out.
He moved to the next slide, Ravik’s blood after first exposure to Cassandra. the difference between this sample and the first fascinated him.
The viral load in the second sample wasn’t gone—not even close. But the filaments had loosened from some of the neural marker proteins. The cells appeared less hollowed, less actively commandeered. The viral replication rate had dropped by almost thirty-eight percent during the first hour after Cassandra’s arrival.
The antiviral Severin had injected him with hadn’t done that—Cassandra’s scent had. Or something in it had.
He switched to Ravik’s sample from after tasting Cassandra’s honey and receiving pleasure from her the night before. The decline was sharper here—much sharper. Viral replication had dropped nearly sixty-three percent in the immediate post-contact sample. The protein filaments were not merely loosened—they were partially denatured, their grasp on the neural markers weakened as though some competing signal had forced them to release.
Severin frowned and adjusted the focus.
There were elevated levels of Beast Kindred bonding hormone markers in Ravik’s plasma. Of course, that was expected after arousal and climax. But the unusual part was how those hormone markers had interacted with the viral proteins. Rather than feeding the Hunger response, they appeared to have overwhelmed it.
Mate-recognition had overridden predatory appetite—which meant Cassandra wasn’t merely soothing Ravik—she was giving his body a stronger command than the virus.
Instead of eat, hunt, bite and infect the cycle had been changed to protect, cherish, pleasure, and bond.
Severin sat back slowly, his injured hand forgotten.
“Gods,” he murmured.
He made notes quickly, using his left hand because the right still hurt too much for precision work. His script was less tidy than usual, but he didn’t care.
Then he turned to Cassandra’s blood.
The first sample had been taken after she arrived in the bunker but before intimate contact. He placed it under the scope and waited for the analyzer to map the viral markers.
The Hunger Virus was present—that much he already knew. It had entered through the bite wound on her arm, infiltrated her blood, and begun searching for a host pathway. In a Visskous subject, by this point there would have been massive viral replication, mucosal colonization, and early blood-sign around the mouth. In a Kindred subject, there would have been a slower neural creep and heightened aggression.
In Cassandra, there was neither.
The viral particles were there, but they seemed confused. That was not a scientific term, but damn it, that was what they looked like. They adhered briefly to one cellular pathway, then released. They attempted to bind to hormone receptors, then failed. They clustered around her endocrine markers without successfully invading them.
Her blood was full of motion.
Estrogen fluctuations…progesterone collapse…cortisol spike from trauma. He also saw adrenaline residue, human inflammatory response, and an unusual increase in heat-shock proteins—likely related to her hot flashes. And all these were intermittent immune surges that did not follow a stable pattern.
It was a nightmare to model and a nightmare for the virus too, apparently.
In a nutshell, Cassandra’s body kept changing the lock before the Hunger could find the key.
Severin felt a reluctant smile tug at one corner of his mouth—she would enjoy that explanation, he thought. Or perhaps she would roll her eyes and say something about her “messed up endocrine system” finally being useful for something besides making her sweat through the sheets every night.
He moved to the saliva sample—it was interesting to say the least.
Cassandra’s saliva contained mild anti-viral activity—enough to explain why kissing Ravik’s burns might have improved him slightly beyond the burn ointment itself. But the reaction was weak unless combined with Ravik’s infected blood after arousal.
Then he moved to the honey sample…the result was nothing less than dramatic.
Severin leaned closer, every part of him going still as he studied the slide.
Cassandra’s vaginal secretions—her honey, as Kindred males called it—were rich with mucosal antibodies, endocrine metabolites, and pheromonal compounds he had no human equivalent for in his database. Some of those compounds were likely produced by her body’s arousal response, but some were stranger than that. They appeared to have been altered by contact with Ravik’s pheromonal signature.
When he mixed a microscopic amount of her honey with infected Ravik blood, the viral proteins immediately retreated from the neural markers.
They didn’t die—they left, as though they’d been repelled.
Severin’s pulse quickened as he considered the implications. He added the same amount to a Visskous infected sample.
There was a reaction, but it wasn’t nearly as dramatic. The virus slowed, but it did not withdraw. In fact, after several minutes, it began to adapt, wrapping around the compound and attempting to metabolize it.
“Damn it,” Severin muttered, running his unhurt hand through his hair.
So Cassandra’s honey was potent against Ravik’s infection but less effective against Visskous infection. That made sense if the active effect was tied to mate-recognition and Kindred bonding pathways. Ravik’s body recognized her as a mate. The Visskous samples did not.