{AURORA'S POV}
Pain.
All I felt was pain.
Slow and insistent, as if someone had pressed a burning coal to the inside of my skull and refused to lift their hand. My limbs answered in fits of protest when I tried to move; every muscle screamed like I'd run until my body forgot how to stop.
The world returned to me in small, stubborn pieces. First, the faint smell of damp earth. Then the smoke-sour edge of burning wood. I could hear insects buzzing somewhere in the distance, their droning chorus oddly loud in the quiet. I tasted metal in the back of my mouth and a dryness that made my throat hurt.
When my eyes finally opened, the first thing I registered was softness. Fur, warm and thick, tucked around me. I was lying on a bed of pelts, the kind hunters use when they camp, but the fur offered little comfort against the ache.
But then I realized something.
I was naked and the cold hit me in a rush so fast I shot upright, grabbing the fur and holding it to my chest like a shield.
