Ara's POV
The first thing I noticed was warmth.
Not just any warmth— the kind that seeped deep into your bones, the kind that made you never want to move again. Then the scent hit me— mint and sage and something uniquely Damon— and I remembered exactly where I was.
Nestled against his bare chest, my cheek pressed to his skin, rising and falling with each steady breath he took.
I lifted my head slowly, careful not to wake him. Morning light filtered through the curtains, painting golden stripes across his torso. My gaze traced the hard planes of his chest, the perfect ridges of his abdomen, the faint scars from yesterday's wounds already fading thanks to his lycan healing.
The goddess had taken her time to create every cell of his.
My eyes traveled upward— over the strong co
