Kael POV

The scar would not stop burning.

It throbbed through my chest like molten chains, each heartbeat dragging me closer to madness. My wolf paced inside me, snarling, howling, starving.

I could not sleep. I could not eat. Every scent in the fortress turned to blood on my tongue. Wolves walked by, and I imagined their throats in my teeth.

I was Alpha. I was mate-bonded. I was bound by oath.

But I was also breaking.

And I could feel Ardyn watching me, flames coiled tight in her palms, ...