Then he stormed from the room, the door thudding behind him.
The tether dragged him toward the woman in the bed while clan law bound him to the one carrying the heir.
He resented both demands.
* * *
Minutes later, Rhen returned to the guest suite with rain dampening his coat and the herbs clenched in one fist.
The moment he stepped inside, the heat struck him—thick, oppressive, soaked in blood and sweat, edged with the sharp sting of fear.
Her scent had changed.
It curled around him like smoke, raw and unfiltered, making something predatory inside him snarl.
The woman writhed beneath the sheets, limbs tangled in the fabric, her moans hoarse and broken. Each sound tightened the tether by another fraction. He felt the pain in his bones now—her fear, her fever, her body fighting to survive the transition.
His eyes cut to Leena.
She sat at the edge of the bed, one hand beneath her belly and the other pressing a cool cloth to the woman’s forehead. Her expression remained steady despite the heat.
Her gaze moved to the herbs in his hand.
“You found them.”
“She’s burning.”
“I know. The fever is peaking. This is the worst of it.”
Rhen crossed to the washstand several feet from the bed and dropped the herbs beside the basin.
Leena held out a shallow stone bowl.
“Crush the valerian and lavender into this. I’ll steep them and use the infusion to cool the spasms.”
He took the bowl and began grinding the root and leaves with brutal, methodical precision.
Her scent continued to pull at his instincts. His fangs pressed against his gums beneath the pressure.
It was not simply blood.
It was hers, threaded with fever and terror, made impossible to ignore by the tether between them.
The room felt too small.
The air too thick.
Every breath became a battle against the instinct to reinforce the tether, bite her again, and flood her with enough blood to drown out everything except him.
The stone bowl creaked beneath his grip.
Leena’s question cut cleanly through the pressure.
“Rhen, do you need to feed?”
He did not look at her.
“How is that supposed to help her?”
