Third Person POV
The training grounds, usually a place of rhythmic violence and disciplined grunts, had fallen into a tomb-like silence. The only sound was the harsh, rattling breath leaving Elias's lungs as he lay sprawled in the dirt.
Knight was over him in a heartbeat, his face a mask of controlled panic.
He had seen Elias take wounds that would fell a forest giant without flinching, but this was different. This wasn't a physical blow; this was an internal collapse.
"Elias! Look at me!" Knight barked, his hands hovering over the Alpha's shoulders.
Elias's eyes were rolled back, his fingers clawing uselessly at the dry earth. He looked like a man being electrocuted from the inside out.
His skin was clammy, and a strange, rhythmic pulsing was visible in the veins of his neck—thick, dark, and erratic.
"Kael! Forget the mistress!" Knight roared, his voice cracking the paralysis that had seized the surrounding warriors. "Get back here! Help me lift him!"
