CARMEN
I wasn’t frozen, and I actually didn’t feel like I was trapped.
My body went still, because nothing about this moment felt threatening or dangerous.
If anything, it felt like the opposite.
And wasn’t it sad that the safest I’d felt in years was in the arms of a dang bear?
A broken laugh slipped quietly from my lips, more breath than sound.
“That’s just pathetic, Carmen,” I whispered without any real bite.
I felt no shame. It was just a simple truth.
My fingers tightened slightly in his fur again, and I let my eyes drift shut for a moment, letting myself be washed in this moment. The steady rise and fall of his breathing. The quiet rumble in his chest. The way his body curved around mine was like a shield.
Like I was something worth protecting. Like I was something worth kee
