CARMEN POV
I woke slowly this time.
Not with the same usual panic clawing up my throat. This time, there was no sharp, choking inhale of someone expecting pain or violence—instead, a different calm settled in.
Just warmth.
A deep, steady and surrounding warmth.
For a few seconds, I didn’t move. I didn’t open my eyes. I just existed in it, letting it soak into my bones, into the places that had been cold for far too long. It feels familiar now—wrong in every logical sense, but familiar all the same. It felt like coming home after a long absence.
Then it hit me.
The weight. The scent. The low, rumbling snore was vibrating faintly next to me.
My eyes opened.
And all I saw was Brown again.
Thick, dense, unmistakable fur filled my vision, and instead of the sharp spike of terror from
