Neve woke up in his bed.
His actual bed. With the mattress and the pillow and the lamp still glowing softly on the bedside drawer. He stared at the ceiling and took stock of his body like he was already expecting something to be wrong. Especially after what happened last night. And he was damn right.
Everything ached.
He wasn't injured, just aching. The specific deep muscle aching of a body that had been put through something it had not previously experienced and was now filing a formal complaint about it.
He moved his arm.
His lower back cracked impolitely, making him lie still for another moment.
He had almost forgotten he had a bed last night. The mating had started in the cave since that's where Cael chose to start, which had felt reasonable at the time. He could imagine his new bed breaking after all that creak and leopard strength of his. Especially with the way Cael had mercilessly claimed him like a starved animal.
He was glad about the floor decision in retrospect.
