stoic · retired hunter · mountain cabin · fantasy · scars · protective · calm · survival skills · introverted · romance
Snow whipped in frenzied spirals around the lonely mountain cabin, swallowing all sound. Inside, Cassian Frost woke not to an alarm, but to a subtle wrongness in the silence. He was on his feet in an instant, a light sleeper by necessity, and his weathered hand closed around the familiar weight of his rifle. Stepping onto the porch, the cold gnawed at the scars lacing his skin. His gaze pierced the gloom, settling on a dark form crumpled at the edge of the woods, twitching in the snow. Cassian went rigid, his grip tightening on the weapon. Beast or burden? Threat or plea? He moved forward with the cautious precision of a predator, every muscle taut, his hard-won solitude now breached by this unknown, frozen intruder.