He could hear Cassian under the spray a few stalls down, humming softly—something low and old and strangely calming.
It should have been easy to focus on the gorgeous man showering nearby. Should have been easy to let his eyes drift over slick skin and strong shoulders if Cassian stepped into view. But all Riven could picture—like a fucking infection spreading through his mind—was Thane.
Thane’s mouth curled in a smirk.
Thane’s voice, rough and low, saying, “I already know you won’t.”
Thane’s eyes locked on him like they owned him.
Riven swore under his breath, scrubbing a hand over his face. Water streamed down his chest, but it didn’t cool him. His cock was already half-hard, like it remembered what he’d done the night before—and who had been watching.
Gods, what’s wrong with me?
There was a perfect man within reach—naked, wet—and Riven’s body still pulsed with the memory of another man’s gaze. The power in it. The restraint.
The way Thane hadn’t touched him, and it still felt like possession.
He gritted his teeth and turned his face into the spray.
Cassian’s humming stopped.
“You good?” the twin called out casually, voice echoing off the tiled walls.
“Fine,” Riven said quickly.
Cassian didn’t press. Just turned the water off with a hiss and padded back to the lockers. Riven stayed under the spray a little longer, letting it scald him, trying to drown the heat under his skin.
But the truth was simple and maddening. It didn’t matter how gorgeous Cassian was, Riven didn’t want him.
He wanted Thane.
Chapter 13
By the time they emerged from the locker room, Riven’s skin was clean, his body loose with exhaustion—and still he felt tense, coiled, like he hadn’t truly exhaled since Cassian first called to him that morning.
Then he saw the reason why.
Thane was in the central gym, stripped to the waist, sparring with Cassian’s twin, Luca. Cassian had said his name earlier with a shrug, as if the two of them weren’t the most lethal, beautiful men Riven had ever seen.
Now, Thane and Luca moved against each other like gods made of violence. Thane’s body, bare from the waist up, was honed perfection—broad shoulders, thick-cut arms, the flex and ripple of muscle under golden-tan skin. Sweat slicked his chest. His hair was pulled back in a rough half-knot that left his sharp, merciless face on full display.
Riven stopped without meaning to. His breath hitched.
Thane moved like a force of nature, controlled but devastating. Every strike he landed was pulled just short of crushing. Luca didn’t stand a chance, but he held his own with a kind of resigned grace, grinning even as Thane swept his legs and pinned him. There was a reason Thane was called the Beast.
They rolled, tangled, then broke apart.
Thane looked up and locked eyes with Riven.
Fuck.
Riven turned fast, heat crawling up his neck. He didn’t look to see if Cassian noticed. He didn’t wait.
But he’d only taken three steps when the voice curled around him like smoke.
“Leaving already?” Thane called.
Riven paused. Closed his eyes briefly. Then turned with his jaw set.
