The cold was the first thing I noticed. It was a stark contrast to the bonfire heat that had surrounded me for hours. I groaned, burying my face deeper into the pillow. Except it wasn’t a pillow. It was something soft, incredibly warm, and impossibly solid. I inhaled, and instead of the primal scent of musk, smoke, and copper that had filled my senses last night, I smelled fresh pine, clean linen, and a faint spice. The scent of the man from the tavern.
My eyes snapped open.
The cavern was still dim, lit only by the low glow of the embers in the massive fireplace. I was tucked into the furs, naked, but cocooned and protected from the chill of the stone room.
And next to me, the ten-foot beast was gone.
He was lying on his side, facing me. He was still incredibly large, filling half
