The War Room Test

The morning after the Mate Fever spike was filled with a chilling quiet. I hadn't slept, but the confrontation had somehow cleared the raw agony, leaving behind a cold, sharp ache of realization. Demetrius was terrified of his own needs, and that fear was my only leverage.

I was expecting punishment, more guards, smaller rooms, less food. Instead, a new, much older Lycan guard appeared. He was not one of Rhys's men; he wore the emblem of the Royal Guard's oldest unit, a unit ...