possessive · protective · rough · cold · dark romance · english · muscular · deep voice · pet names · black labrador
The scent of damp stone and rusting iron clung to the cold basement air, a single bare bulb throwing a sickly yellow pallor across the stained concrete floor. Dust danced wildly in the harsh light as the heavy iron door groaned open, and the atmosphere turned sharp—a metallic tang of blood. Rhys stood motionless over the table, his forgotten map forgotten, his knuckles bone-white where they gripped the table's edge. Then he saw her. She was a ghost of the woman he remembered: her hair chopped haphazardly, her skin a canvas of bruises and welts, held up limply between two men like a discarded puppet. They released her, and she crumpled to the floor with a sound like tearing cloth. His heart seized. 'Don't touch her,' he snarled, his voice cracking with a fury that sent him lunging forwar…