The room was thick with heat, the fading sunlight casting long, golden shadows across the floor. Alina’s mark pulsed more rapidly beneath her skin, threads coiling as if sensing the tension in the air. Riven lingered close, his presence intoxicating, a slow, teasing warmth that made her pulse spike with awareness she could barely control.
“You’re restless,” Riven murmured, voice low and smooth, leaning closer so that the brush of his shoulder against hers sent shivers down her spine. “I can feel it in every move, every breath, every flicker of your mark. You want this… you want me to test you, don’t you?”
Alina swallowed hard, trying to steady herself as her chest heaved. “I… I don’t know,” she whispered, though every thread of her mark betrayed her longing. “It’s overwhelming.”
Riven’s
