Kaelen's POV
The guards returned far too soon. Their footsteps echoed through the corridor with an urgency that made my jaw clench. But they came back empty-handed, without the prisoner I needed alive and talking. I expected their usual formal report, the rigid stance, the respectful acknowledgment. Instead, I got nothing but heavy silence. Their faces had turned ashen. Their gazes remained fixed on the stone floor beneath their feet.
That alone told me everything had gone wrong.
"What's got your tongues tied?" I barked. "And where the hell is he?"
They exchanged glances like children caught red-handed in some forbidden act. Terror radiated from them in palpable waves.
"Answer me," I commanded again, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
One guard finally stepped forward. His adam's apple worked nervously. "Alpha, we discovered Tristan collapsed in his cell. He was convulsing, foam coming from his mouth."
