Eryx POV
Dawn came too quickly.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, every muscle tense and every of my sense alert. I hadn’t slept. Not even for a moment. Sleep hadn’t dared touch me, not when my mate lay beside me, pregnant with my child and not when a human slept under the same roof as us.
My instincts had been split all night, pulled in opposite directions. One part of me was consumed by the constant, aching need to keep Rachael close, to ensure her safety, to feel her breathing and know she was still here. Alive. Mine. The other part never stopped listening for danger, never stopped measuring the human’s presence in the cabin, never fully trusting that we were not being watche and judged.
It left me raw. And on edge.
I turned my head slowly and looked at Rachael. She was curled on
