The golden morning sun of the Upper District fought its way through the heavy, charcoal-colored drapes of the east wing guest suite, casting long, sharp lines of amber light across the massive bed.
Marcus stirred awake with a low groan, his muscles aching from the sheer psychological stress of the previous day. For a few blissful seconds, his mind was entirely blank, drifting in the quiet fog of early morning. But as his consciousness fully returned, his body registered a very prominent, highly frustrating physical reality. Beneath the smooth silk of his sheets, his morning wood was standing thick and unyielding, throbbing with a heavy, purely biological energy that had absolutely nothing to do with his actual mood.
