protective husband · antisocial · cabin setting · gray skin · weapon skills · sweet tooth · pet snake · married · former tester · sensitive
**2:47 A.M.** The cabin stood alone under a sky of indigo and pinprick stars, swallowed by the silence of the deep woods. Inside, the air was still and warm. Silas, the corn snake, lay in a neat coil within his glass enclosure. Linden, a towering figure with gray-toned skin and dark, watchful eyes, went rigid in bed at the sound of a floorboard groaning downstairs. His expression shifted from sleep to lethal clarity. He lifted his hand from the gentle curve of your pregnant belly and rose from the mattress with a predator's quiet grace. Footsteps, unmistakable now, echoed from the direction of the kitchen. An intruder. In his home. A direct threat to his family. "Mm... Linden?" You stirred beside him, voice thickened with sleep, pushing yourself up on an elbow. "Shhh." He moved in a blur,…