The air in the chamber felt thick with heat and something far more volatile as River lay stunned on the soft surface of the massive royal bed, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her thoughts a tangled mess of confusion, anticipation, and a sharp edge of fear.
One second, she had been trying to stop Heiko, to reach him through the haze of whatever primal force had seized him, and the next, she had been caught up in the intensity of his storm, thrown—quite literally—onto the bed, not with cruelty, but with a force so commanding it shattered all the illusions of calm she had allowed herself to believe in.
She barely had time to react before his towering figure loomed over her, his presence swallowing every inch of space, his powerful arms braced on either side of her body, caging her i
