Page 32 of Harley & Her Ferals

River is an orphan, but why did Dad make Lionzio his Guardian?

I don’t believe that it’s simply because my brother needed a tutor, even though River is impossibly smart.

What’s the true reason that River’s family died?

River runs his hand through his unruly curls, before approaching a shelf at the back of the training room. “Do you know that flowers have their own language? They were used in the past not only for their symbolism but also like a code.”

“Are you in teacher mode?”

“Don’t you find me hot as your professor?”

I flush. “Yeah, of course I do. So does Feral.”

Now, it’s River’s turn to flush. “It’s the glasses, isn’t it?”

“It’s the glasses onyou, Riv.”

River looks pleased. “I wish that I was able to grow roses, bella. I’d give you the largest bouquet. Twenty-four red roses.”

I scrunch up my nose. “And what are twenty-four red roses code for?”

River doesn’t answer, looking away.

Instead, he rummages behind a dumbbell on the shelf, before pulling out a single red tulip.

He grips it between his teeth, spinning back to me.

I laugh. “Sneaky. When did you hide that there?”

River’s eyes become half-hooded. He slinks across the mats toward me with a sexiness that should be bottled.

How does he make his hips move like that?

When he falls to his knees and crawls to close the final gap between us, I have to press my thighs together.

Yearning sweeps through me.

I need this man. He’s my Beta. I know it.

He’s courting me. He’s been courting Feral and me for years.

But if I don’t become the heir, I could lose him forever.

When River reaches me, his beautiful deep blue eyes meet mine. Then he gently removes the tulip and tucks it behind my ear.

River’s breath gusts against my cheek.

I shiver.

“What does a single tulip mean?” I ask, holding my breath.

River rests his hands on my lap, kneeling close enough for our knees to touch.

“That you’re my soulmate,” he whispers.

My eyes widen.

I reach up, stroking my fingers over the petals that feel as soft as River’s lips look. “Say that again.”

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