She Needed The Heat

Gabbi's breath came out in ragged gasps as she huddled beneath the thick fur blanket, shivering uncontrollably despite the supposed warmth the covering was meant to offer.

Living in a home burrowed deep within the mountains, one might expect it to be stuffy, perhaps even sweltering, but the opposite was true. It was freezing—bone-chilling cold that gnawed at her skin and seemed to seep into her bones. Her body trembled violently, and despite the layers of fur draped over her, she couldn't stop the shivering.

Ever since that fateful encounter with the bird people and Azreal, she had not set eyes on him, not since kicking him out of his own room in a fit of anger and disgust. His revealing that the reason he had brought her here was to mate with her, to impregnate her with his "bird children"—had been the last straw.