The Serpent King's Unwilling Human Mate

Fallon set the rough wooden dipper down on the stone beside her. She leaned back against the soft animal skins, her eyes drifting to the man sitting across the fire.

Justice was poking the embers with a thick bone, his profile illuminated by the flickering orange light. The fire danced in his mismatched eyes. The silver eye looked like frozen metal. The red eye looked like a drop of blood.

Fallon shivered. The system knowledge was clear. Eyes like that belonged to a reptile. A cold-blooded predator.

She remembered the giant snake tail crushing the beast. The scales. The strength.

She subconsciously shrank back, her body pressing deeper into the furs, putting as much distance between them as possible.

Justice's hand paused on the bone. He didn't turn around, but his back muscles bunched up under his skin. He had heard the rustle of her clothes against the stone wall. He had sensed her retreat.

He thought she was afraid of him. Afraid of the monster he was.

He slowly turned his head. His eyes were dark, shadowed with a pain he tried to hide behind a mask of cold indifference.

"You do not need to fear," he said, his voice flat and distant. "I will not touch you."

Fallon blinked, confused.

Justice stood up, his towering frame casting a long shadow over her. "I am used to living alone. Other shifters think my temper is bad."

He avoided the word 'cold-blooded'. He avoided the truth. He just stood there, looking down at her, waiting for her to run.

Fallon looked at his tight jaw, his clenched fists. She realized something. He wasn't threatening her. He was defending himself. He was insecure.

This giant, terrifying man was afraid she would reject him.

The realization was so absurd, so human, that it cut through her fear. She felt a strange pang of sympathy.

She cleared her throat, forcing her voice to sound light. "I'm not afraid of you. I'm just cold."

Justice's eyes narrowed slightly, searching her face for the lie. He didn't find it.

He turned and walked to the back of the cave. He returned a moment later, carrying an armful of thick, white, fluffy furs. He didn't hand them directly to her, clearly still wary of crossing that invisible boundary between them. Instead, he placed them gently on the stone floor beside her, nudging the soft pile with his foot in her direction before quickly retreating a step.

"Cover yourself," he grunted, pointing a thick finger toward the cave entrance. "...Cold. Coming."

Fallon ran her fingers over the fur. It was incredibly soft, like cashmere. "Wind season? Is that like winter?"

Justice frowned. "Winter? It is the season of raging winds and ice."

He walked over to the cave entrance and looked out at the dark sky. His voice grew heavy. "Many weak females and cubs do not survive the wind season. If the food stores are not enough, even strong males freeze in the wild."

Fallon's heart clenched. She looked at herself, wrapped in warm, luxurious furs, and then at Justice, who was standing by the opening in nothing but a short skirt, letting the cold wind hit his bare chest.

A sense of crisis hit her hard. She couldn't just sit here. She had to do something.

She looked at his broad back, her eyes hardening with determination. "We have to do something. We can't just sit here and wait to die."