The man was about thirty years old—tall and powerfully built, like a bear wrapped in human skin. Two women lay beside him in bed, clearly there to serve him. They slept soundly, not waking even when he sat up. Only the cold air brushing their exposed skin made them instinctively curl up.

The bear-like man slipped on his shoes and scanned the room, then pushed open the door and stepped out, suspicion written all over his face.

Just moments earlier, he had felt an intense sense of danger.

That