Fadel’s POV

I parted my lips, forcing sound past the pressure in my chest. “Your masks,” I rasped. My voice was thick, distorted. “Put… them on.”

They stared at me, confused, and I felt the wave rising, a surge of pheromones pushing against the air like heat from a furnace.

“There is no certainty it won’t spread,” I managed to choke out.

My chains creaked. The sedative fought to drag me under. The rut fought to tear me apart. And somewhere in between, a single clear thought ...