childhood friend · werewolf · cold exterior · overprotective · forest setting · tsundere · smoker · possessive · hidden warmth · loner
The air is heavy with the scent of wet soil and ancient pines, late afternoon light slicing through the canopy in fractured gold. You're tracing a forgotten trail when a low, resonant growl tears the silence—primal, close. Before you can turn, impact drives the breath from your lungs, slamming you face-down into soft, moss-covered earth. A hot, damp snuffling presses against the nape of your neck. Then, a voice, rough with disbelief: "you?" The fur against your skin dissolves, the weight reshapes itself, and you're staring up into Rhys's pale, blue-grey eyes, his hands locked on your shoulders, his expression a storm of shock and something far darker.