Aurelius’s POV

I woke at 4:30 AM like I had every day for the past three years. Routine was safe. The routine was my way of control. I’d shower, get dressed in workout gear, head to the private gym in the staff wing. Forty-five minutes of weights, thirty minutes of cardio, then back to shower and dress for the day.

Ivan Volkov was not part of my routine.

So when I walked into the gym at exactly 5:00 AM and found him there, sprawled across one of the weight benches in tiny athletic shorts and a tank top that might as well have been painted on, my wolf immediately perked...