Rachael POV
I woke slowly, awareness seeping back into me fast. My body was pressed tightly against something solid and unmoving. An arm was locked around my waist like a barrier, pinning me down. For one terrifying second, I thought I was trapped again, the walls of the cellar closing in.
Then I breathed in.
Eryx.
His scent wrapped around me, pine, rain, and metallic tang of dried blood. It grounded me instantly. My heart skipped, then steadied slowly. I was still in his arms. He was holding me too tightly, almost possessively, as if his subconscious was guarding a prize it couldn't afford to lose. Relief flooded through me so fast it left my limbs weak.
I tried to move, just a little, testing whether I could sit up. I couldn’t. His grip tightened instinctively. Even in sleep, he ref
