Elias's POV

I don't know how long we stayed in that room.

Time stopped meaning anything. There was just the heat. The pain. Ronan's voice. His scent. His hands on my face, my arms, keeping me grounded.

He never touched me the way my body was screaming for. Never gave in to what the heat was demanding. Just stayed close. Talked me through the worst of it.

"Breathe," he kept saying. "Just breathe. I'm here."

Eventually the worst passed. Not gone. But manageable. Enough that I could think ...