Cold Surrender

The Dark Season #3

by Adrian Blue

Lost in a deadly blizzard, experienced hiker Emily Parker stumbles upon a mysterious cave and its even more mysterious inhabitant - a creature who radiates dangerous allure and raw, primal power. When he offers her shelter from the storm, there's only one her complete surrender.

As the howling wind rages outside, Emily finds herself drawn into a world of forbidden desire, where the line between fear and passion blurs with every heated touch. Brun may be more beast than man, but his gentle possession awakens needs Emily never knew she had.

What begins as a desperate bargain for survival becomes something far more consuming, leaving Emily to question whether she'll ever want to return to the human world at all. But in the depths of his mountain lair, she'll discover that some surrenders change you forever.

See Front Matter for Content Warnings

Genres: Monsters, Paranormal, Erotica, Fantasy, Romance, Smut, Novella

39 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 18, 2025

Reviews

[ChasxSabri💗🫧 · Rating 4 out of 5]

…..anyways

[Mysti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delicious little piece of fun. If I'm going to get lost in a blizzard, I definitely want to land in his cave!!! There's no kissing involved, but there's a lot of licking and some "it's not going to fit!" penetration!!! I'll def read this author again.

[Ciara Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cover! And this story!

Omg loved this short spicy story! But I didn’t want it to end there. I so wanted to see her go back and get more spicy scenes! Oh well, at least I can reread to my hearts content. Loved the setting for this story, lost in a deadly blizzard! 5 stars and 5 hot chili peppers!!

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet.

I'm obsessed with paranormal romance. Your stories are sexy and the characters fit well together. Warning to other readers: do not read this story away from home. Trust me, you'll need to be in a comfortable, private place.

[Katie O’Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

“You have two choices. . .the storm or me.”

🥵🔥

[Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a shifter book, straight up talking 🐻, who offers her warmth during the blizzard that takes place during her hike. She definitely was kept warm…

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok 😆 this one is just so damn ridiculous that I had to give it 4 stars.
Brun really was like give up the kewchie or go die in the blizzard 🤣🤣 like wtf?!
This series is so unhinged and unserious... I'm having a time tbh 😎

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

when a hiking trip goes terrible … wrong?
3.5 ⭐️’s
4 🌶️’s

"You have two choices, little one," he said. "The storm, or me.” -🐻

an intense snow storm hits hard and fast and our FMC, Emily, stumbles upon a massive bear creature that turns both protector and pleaser. i enjoyed this little spicy bite of monster smut & just wish it was a bit longer. i’m definitely going to take a look at the others in this series.

[Mary Wixom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

I liked this story. It was nice that the "monster" was kind. More human than some humans. I wish there had been more to the story. All of these books are basically short stories. You can read them in a couple hours. This one and the rabbit one felt like they warranted more to me. I would have liked a real book sized piece that went into a relationship that was formed between the characters beyond the physical. I would like to see how that relationship would blossom, as in both stories the characters seemed capable of developing a friendship. It would be interesting to see what a more lengthy timeframe would make out of their interactions. How, beyond the obvious, would they spend their time? I hope the author will consider it. I think these characters deserve more.

[M (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

i just know girl’s survival instincts were firing off all the alarms, pressing the red button, black button, blue button, all the buttons, everything! having to choose between dying in a snowstorm or a… man bear. solid choice tho. i, too, would choose the bear :)

acceptable use of “it won’t fit” btw. also girl had 30 thousand org@sms. where is this cave… just so i can avoid it when i go hiking 😬 would be a tragedy to get lost and find Brun 👀

questions 👆:
he said it wouldn’t fit but then he bottoms out later on? 🥴🤔
he said the process for him to finish was lengthy but it didn’t take long at all?? lol

i’ll admit that i would definitely read a bonus scene of her going back to the cave.
i was VERY entertained. vibes at 2am are always great, everything is funnier and better overall imo lol so that helped! will definitely be checking out the other novellas in this series!

My eyes widened. “That won’t fit,” I blurted, pointing.
The glance he gave me was amused. “Not completely, no.”
His eyes dropped to my pussy. “But let’s see how accommodating you can be.”
ME:

LOL
alright… goodbye

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The next, err, adventure we're on is when hiker Emily gets separated from her hiking group during a blizzard. She's lost, cold, and probably won't last much longer given that her clothes are wet. Then she stumbles over (or into, I guess) a cave and suddenly there's a slight possibility her imminent death isn't on the horizon.

Except...the cave isn't exactly uninhabited. In fact, there's a massive, bear-like creature living in it who offers Emily a deal: He'll keep her warm, if she keeps him warm. Metaphorically. I mean, the dude's pumping off heat like a furnace. He doesn't actually need the warmth her puny human body generates. Anyway. He'll help her if she agrees to spend some quality time in his furs.

Given that she's not entirely repulsed by the idea of sexy times with the creature, Emily agrees to the bargain. AND BRUN SHOWS HER A VERY GOOD TIME. You know, good enough that Emily's mentally rearranging her life so she can head back out to that cave as soon as possible.

An unexpected blizzard, a cave of delights, a creature who is pretty gentlemanly (all things considered), and a lady who doesn't mind IN THE LEAST cuddling up to her furry companion. GOOD TIMES!

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

[spicy_book_nook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughts / Synopsis : Brun was exactly what a homer lost in the snowy wilderness needs

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot / Storyline 👩🏻‍💻: 📑📑📑
Heat / Burn (slow / fast): 🐢🐇🐇🐇🐇
Darkness: 🖤
Red Flags: 🚩
Kinks: 🫦🫦🫦
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Range of Emotions: 🫣😳🤭🙂
Ending: 👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻 {HEA}
POV: 👩🏻{single}

⚠️⚠️⚠️spoilers - whole story***
Emily gets lost on a hike. Weather turns bad suddenly and a blizzard hits. She finds a cave. A bear occupies this cave - he just so happens to be a human / bear hybrid. He can talk. Brun basically tells Emily, it’s him or the storm.
They get it on and she reluctantly leaves, telling herself she’ll be making arrangements to come back soon.

[Merry One Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story with more character

This is book three and it is the best one because of the communication between the characters. It’s an interesting short story about meeting and one intimate moment.

[nancy brune · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Big Teddy Bear

I would definitely like this one to be more. It just bearly gave enough of the story, the beginning, the middle, but not enough of the ending. I like monster romance for the most part, but I’m a female that loves her HEAs.

[Tori Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5⭐️

This one is better than the first two in this series. I do have some questions about the FMCs tho. What happens if they tell people about these big creatures f——ing them?? Do they get put in the pysch ward??

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well who doesn't love a cryptid

Too short of a story (should tell you the kinda feral creature I am lmao) but a delightful little short story either way. If you enjoy the cryptids and want just quick filthy HEA, this one's for you.

[Temeriel Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brun🔥🔥

This was my favorite story thus far of the Dark Season series. I can't wait to read the next book.

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold Surrender was surprisingly good.

I enjoyed the story, however, it ended too soon. The ending felt like a cliffhanger. It would have been so much better if the story continued until Emily arrived at the cave again or there should have been a part 2. I felt bad for Brun because he had no way of knowing that Emily would return. I would love for there to be a sequel or an epilogue. I wanted Emily to stay but as a cat mom myself, I can understand the need to get home. The glowworms were a nice touch.

I messaged the Author and asked if she would consider doing an epilogue. She said she might do it.

[Tatiana Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Need a book 2! This was amazing, Adrian you are amazing never forget that! You never miss, every book has been an emotional roller coaster!

[Aly · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Star - Did not like it.

[Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a lot better than the first two. The only bad thing is that the ending was rushed.

[Kami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spicy bear short story.

He’s a bear, she’s a lost hiker, it’s a short story with basically no plot but lots of cave spice!

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I’m ever lost in a storm I hope to stumble upon a cave like in this short story. Holy smutty bear.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dare I say her best work yet in this series….

Please don’t ask me about my mental state, you’re seeing the books I’m reading.

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10

This was actually kind of sweet

[The Dragon Den Book Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second favourite in the series. Worked well as it did for the second book, the only thing that didn't one hundred percent sell me was the talking bear.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars!

Whatta treat! This is a quick, fun and spicy read. This is the first story I've read by Adrian Blue and I cant wait to read more!

[RB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very steamy stuff. The writing is good.

[Ryu Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!

I enjoyed this story! It was different from the stories I normally read, and at first I thought I would not like it, but it was much better than I expected.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the triggers!

Least “dark” of the series.