KAEL

The heat broke on the fifth day.

Sera was asleep in the tangle of sheets, her hair fanned across the pillow, her body curled toward the warm spot where I'd been lying. I sat on the edge of the bed and watched the morning light crawl across the cabin floor and felt more awake than I'd been in three years.

Not rested. My body was wrecked — we both were, days of relentless physical intensity leaving us bruised and tender and pleasantly devastated. But awake in a way that had nothing to do ...