Page 91 of Forging Bonds: Part One

The room falls silent for a moment.

“It was hard watching you and not being able to help,” Ransom says.

Raiden nods in agreement, “It really was. Some of us coped better than others.”

His gaze drifts around the room, and for the first time since I walked in here, I allow my gaze to do the same.

My eyes widen at the utter destruction, “Whoa, what the hell happened in here?”

All eyes turn to look at River. He crosses his arms over his chest, his gaze watching me closely for my reaction, and for the first time, I get the sense that he is worried about how I’m going to react.

“I didn’t do very well at watching you be in trouble and not being able to do anything,” he admits, his voice far more controlled than it usually is.

I make Betty and Asael disappear and then move toward River with a smile, pulling at my lips as I hug him tightly. As soon as my arms wrap around him, he relaxes and pulls me tightly against himself.

“There’s nothing that you could do that would change my opinion of you or make me like you any less,” I tell him honestly.

He squeezes me tighter before he lifts my chin so that he can look into my eyes, “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I reply simply.

His lips crash against mine in a heated kiss, and all thoughts fly from my mind. He lifts me up, my legs wrapping around him as a rumble builds in his chest. I can’t help myself, and I bite down on his lip, seeing how far I can push him. The rumble becomes louder as his lips pull into a smirk. His hand moves into my hair, and using his grip there, he pulls my head back, a shiver of heat ripples through. There’s only one situation where I like to be manhandled, and it’s this one. His glowing fox-like eyes study me closely, and an inferno burns in them when he sees my reaction.

“Fuck,” he mutters, his lips trailing down my jaw and neck.

My nails dig into his shoulders, before my hands move into his hair, I tug, making him nip my neck in retaliation.

The sound that I let out is absolutely nothing like I have made before, at least not by only kissing, and there’s an echo of groans around the room that makes me remember that we are not as alone as we have been behaving like we are. River’s lips meet mine again though and all thought leaves me.

After a moment, we’re interrupted.

“River,” Raiden says, his voice strained. There is no denying the heat that’s in it.

River reluctantly pulls away, kissing me softly one more time.

I unwrap my legs, and my feet hit the floor as I pout,I can’t help it. Under no circumstances did I want to stop.

“You’ve got to stop looking at him like that,” Reed mutters.

Turning to face them all and realizing that they look just as turned on as I am, I bite my lip, “Why?”

“Because it’s making us all want to strip you naked,” Ransom replies honestly.

“No one is stopping you,” I reply. I’m aware that I’m playing with fire, but I really don’t give a shit. At this point, the only thing that is holding me back is because it could kill me.

“Neith,” Griff warns.

“None of us would forgive ourselves if something happened to you, and at the moment, it’s not safe,” Doc says, it sounds like he’s trying to remind himself of that more than he’s trying to remind me.

I sigh and step away from River, so I’m not tempted to jump him again, “I know you’re all right. I just hate that you are.”

“Trust me, we do too,” Van says as he pulls me closer.

“Should River come to dinner if he reacted like this when Kylen was an asshole?” I ask changing the subject because otherwise, I’m going to decide that it’s worth the risk and fuck them anyway. My magic is pretty close to the surface. I’m sure it would be fine.

“That’s actually something that we hadn’t thought about. We were too focused on you,” Griff admits as he looks at River with concern.

River shrugs, “I’ll tear his throat out as soon as I lay eyes on him.”

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