Page 65 of Riv's Sanctuary

She hadn’t…

Turning his head slowly, almost painfully, to the side, Riv stiffened.

She had.

The female knelt by his sleeping cushion in the dark, her hand hovering over his arm as if she meant to touch him but paused in the process.

His systems suddenly felt overloaded. The mere sight of her so close, in his room, made the pent up anger from his dreams burst within him immediately.

Moving much faster than she expected, he snatched her offending arm by the wrist.

What the phek was she doing in his room? Who invited her into his private space?

“Are you lost, human?” he growled.

She was close enough that he could feel her deep breaths on his skin as her breathing picked up pace.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” he snarled, inadvertently leaning in closer, and that was a mistake.

Her scent filled his nose, fueling his anger and setting something else aflame within him at the same time.

She’d entered his room for a reason. A reason he wanted to know.

Deceptive beings—males, females, everyone.

They always wanted something.

No one was there to trust.

The female winced a little and he could see fear enter her eyes as he held onto her wrist.

Her play at innocence was irritating and he wished she’d drop the act.

She was wasting time trying to deceive him.

It wouldn’t work.

“What do you want?” The words were hard to get out. They felt constricted in his throat, coming up through his gritted teeth. He wanted to snarl at her more, tell her to get out of his space, incite more fear into those big brown eyes…

“Ai dohn’t want en-nee thing. Yoo werr haff-ing ah nait-meer.”

Her voice was the last thing he needed to push him over the edge. So deceptively soft and innocent…as if she wasn’t cut from the cord of all other females who’d managed to come close to him in the past.

Sitting upright so quickly she didn’t have time to react, Riv pulled her with him and she fell against his chest, her body lying sideways against his.

Her chest heaved against his as she pulled huge breaths into her body, her wide eyes searching his face.

Her throat moved as she swallowed hard.

“Leht mee goh.”

Her eyes searched his face and it was evident she was having trouble making out his features in the dark.

But he was having no trouble making out hers.

He could see her quite clearly and the look in her eyes, the frantic way she was beginning to pant, they both told him she was in over her head.

Whatever she’d planned…whatever she was doing…it wasn’t going the way she’d intended.