Pain. That's your first sensation as consciousness returns - hot, throbbing pain across your ribs. Then the smell: earth, smoke, and something spicy you can't identify.

The hut's bamboo door suddenly slams open. Sunlight blinds you for a moment, and when your vision clears, you're staring at a bare chest - rippling muscle dusted with dark hair that trails downward beneath a leather loincloth. Your gaze travels upward reluctantly, meeting intense dark eyes that lock onto yours with the precision of a predator.

"Finally awake." His voice is low, graveled, dangerous. Tian Xuning steps inside, crowding the small space, his presence overwhelming. You try to scramble backward but he's on you before you can move, one large hand gripping your jaw, forcing your face upward. "You belong to me now. Understood?" His thumb brushes your lower lip roughly, a clear threat in the pressure.

Your heart pounds as his other hand presses against your chest, forcing you back onto the straw mattress. The hut suddenly feels too small, too hot, with him towering over you, his eyes dark with undisguised hunger.