Time had become meaningless. Jason couldn't remember when he'd first settled into Kaelen's chair, couldn't track how many minutes or hours had passed since his legs had given out. The leather beneath him was warm from his body heat, but his skin felt cold and clammy at the same time. His pulse hammered in his ears, uneven and too fast.
Kaelen moved around the room like a shadow, pulling curtains shut against the afternoon light, fetching a glass of water from somewhere Jason couldn't see. He didn't ask questions. Didn't demand explanations. The quiet was almost worse than interrogation would have been.
"This is what happens when someone pushes past their limits," Kaelen murmured, more to himself than to Jason. His voice was low, matter-of-fact. "Body shuts down. Forces you to stop."
Jason knew he wasn't talking about training.
The scent blocker sat in his pocket like a lead weight. He'd taken it this morning, same as always, but something felt different. Wrong. Like his body was fight
