The heavy obsidian double doors of King Kaelen’s private briefing room swung open with a muted thud as Commander Jax stepped inside. The air in the room was thick, heavy with the sharp, crackling tension of the King's restless Lycan aura. A single grand map of the northern hemisphere lay unrolled across a massive volcanic stone table, illuminated by the dim, flickering amber glow of iron torches mounted on the walls.
King Kaelen stood at the head of the table, his arms leaning heavily on the stone edge. He had not slept. His sharp, jaw-droppingly handsome features were tightly drawn, and his piercing, stormy charcoal-gray eyes snapped to Jax’s face the exact second the Commander crossed the threshold.
"What did they say, Jax?" Kaelen demanded, his voice a deep, gravelly baritone that vib
