I didn’t turn off the bedside lamp, in case I needed to get up urgently, and I stayed a moment staring at the wall in silence. That bed had never smelled like a man before. I had bought it new when I moved to Wyoming two years ago. I hadn’t realized how much I missed that kind of essence until that moment. I snuggled into the pillow, far too comfortable and warm to fear anything. Somehow, Alexander’s imprint in my bed helped me rest. I had a strange dream, but considering what had happened over the last few days, it wasn’t that strange. It was a silly dream born of the situation, because otherwise I would never have seen myself in the kitchen with a huge white tiger, almost without stripes on its fur, hissing venomously at me from the back door; and a black panther with the fur on its

