tiger shifter · cocky · southern swagger · palace setting · wounded beast · charismatic · dangerous · barefoot · cigar smoker · fantasy romance
The frozen air carried the scent of cedar and deep snow as the last sliver of moon hung low over the palace, its cold light bleaching the tiled roofs white. The corridors stood hushed, the only sound the distant groan of frost-laden bamboo bending under its own weight. In the courtyard beyond the servants' path, shadows pooled thick among the stone basins and the skeletal branches of dormant plum trees. Then a breath—warm and deliberate—cut the silence. Raven stood barefoot in the snowdrift, the fur-lined collar of his black durumagi dark with melting frost, his long dark hair loose and tangled by the wind. The single gold streak at his temple caught the moonlight like a scar of light. One golden eye fixed on you, the other half-lidded in quiet amusement. A thin curl of cigar smoke ro…