Soft. Warm. Anchoring.
Everything shifted in that instant.
The beast inside him froze.
His entire being snapped away from the prey in his hand and onto her. His mate. His River.
Her scent rushed into his nose, into his lungs, into his soul.
Isabelle dropped to the ground like a discarded doll, gasping and coughing, hands clawing at her throat, chest heaving with desperate breaths. She looked up in terror, real terror now, and saw nothing but hatred and destruction in Heiko’s eyes.
He didn’t even growl. He didn’t shout.
He just said, voice low and saturated with alpha dominance, “Out. Now.”
There was no argument, no pride, no seduction left in Isabelle. She scrambled backward on hands and knees, her hair a mess, her face blotchy, throat red and raw. She didn’t even glance at River a
