Her small hand reaches between us, trailing her fingers slowly along the length of my shaft. A growl tears from my throat before I can stop it. She goes still in my arms.
I sense the moment awareness floods back into her, her body going rigid in my arms.
"Oh—" The sound barely leaves her lips, but I catch it.
She’s not sleeping anymore.
8
CINNAMON
Lumi-
I wake up to the horrifying realization that something very large is pressed against me. No, not pressed, wrapped around me. There’s a solid, unmovable weight against my back, and something hard nudging the base of my spine.
The scent hits me next, cinnamon—like the man from my dream. Oh my god, the faceless figure from my dream.Thegrinding…
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.
Behind me, his breath hitches, and his whole body tenses in response to mine.
Slowly—so slowly—I turn my head.
Holy shit.
There is a literal antlered, fur-trimmed, God lying behind me, and he’s staring at me like a deer in headlights (Is that insensitive? Because of the whole antler thing?Probably.)
“Uh, hi?” I manage.
His throat works like he’s swallowing a boulder.
“Hello,” he rasps. His voice is low enough to send a shiver through me.
Oh no…he’s hot.
Monster.He’samonster,Lumi.Focus.
I attempt to move and instantly regret it. The movement drags me along his length more than anything else. He hisses through clenched teeth, or rather…clenched fangs?Something throbs against my lower back, and I nearly let out a scream.
“Sorry!” I squeak.
My gaze flicks to the massive antlers crowning his head. A long waterfall of luminous white hair pours down his back from underneath them. Something glints at the top when he tilts his head.
The humor of this situation fades as quickly as it came. I blink hard, eyes stinging with tears I’m desperately trying to hold back. That can’t be Anna’s locket hanging from the thing that saved me.
It’s not possible. But I’d know that locket anywhere.
Andrik
Her scent is all over me, making it nearly impossible to concentrate. I’m so hard I could split the ice outside. Every part of me is screaming to pull her back against my chest, where I know she's safe.
“You—” I start, then clear my throat. “You were dreaming.”
I keep my voice as careful as I can. The last thing I want is for her to be ashamed about the best moment of my life.
“Oh yeah. I was dreaming about calculus,” she mumbles.
I have to hide my smirk. She sure moves a lot for a mathematician.
