For a long moment, there was only the sound of their ragged breathing, their bodies pressed close, sweat mingling on their skin. Gavriel didn’t move, still inside her, still clutching her as though she belonged to him.

Althea, flushed and weak, lay beneath him with her eyes half-closed, her heart pounding.

She wanted to tell herself it was only lust, only hunger, nothing more. But the way he held her—firm yet almost tender—made it harder and harder to believe it.

Althea lay there, ...