Lahat ng Kabanata ng Feral Hearts Book 1: Awakening the Feral: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

The scent hit again.Stronger this time.My wolf reacted immediately.Not fear.Something colder.Pure loathing.A disgustful recognition for the scents I hadn't smelled in so long.I turned slowly, scanning the crowded dance floor while pretending to keep moving with the music. The club lights flashed overhead, casting the room in waves of violet and blue. Hundreds of bodies moved around me. Humans laughing. Dancing. Drinking. But beneath the heavy fog of perfume and alcohol...There it was.Wolf.Three distinct scents.And I knew them way too well.My stomach dropped. They stood near the far side of the bar, partially hidden by the shifting crowd. Watching me. For a moment I hoped I was wrong. That the music and lights were just messing with my senses. Then the tallest one lifted his drink slightly in my direction.And smiled.Caleb Mercer.The air left my lungs.Memories hit all at once — sharp, unwelcome. Training yard dirt in my mouth. Laughter echoing around me. Hands shoving m

The cold night air should have helped.It should have shocked my system, cleared my head, grounded me back into my body.It didn't.If anything, it made everything worse.The moment Caleb dragged me out of the club and into the alley, the shift in temperature only seemed to sharpen how wrong everything felt. My skin prickled, my limbs heavy and uncooperative, like I was moving through something thicker than air. Each step was clumsy, delayed, my boots scraping against pavement I couldn't quite feel beneath me.My wolf was there—somewhere—but distant. Muffled. Like it had been shoved behind a thousand walls I couldn't break through.Panic curled low and cold in my chest."Walk," Caleb ordered from beside me, his grip tight around my arm, fingers digging in just enough to keep me upright without drawing attention.I tried to jerk away. My body barely responded.Something was very, very wrong."Wha—did—you—" My voice slurred, the words sticking together uselessly on my tongue.Caleb didn

My arms ached in a dull, gnawing rhythm that synced with the throb at the back of my skull. I had tried to calm my wolf, tried to force myself to slow my panicked breaths, but the drug still lingered in my system, clinging stubbornly to my nerves. He was restless, low growls vibrating inside me, claws scraping the edges of my consciousness.I hated being this weak.I hated the helplessness.And yet, as the minutes stretched into hours, a different feeling began to crawl over me beneath the panic and the drugged haze. Something familiar. Something I hadn't let myself admit in a long time.I missed them.Not just the safety of a pack. Not just the warmth of being with people who understood the chaos inside me.I missed Nightshade Pack.I missed Aaron, with his dark, calm eyes that always somehow saw right through me. That quiet authority he carried like it was part of his skin, part of his being, part of the way he moved. Even when he was irritated, even when he snapped at me, he ground

The first thing I noticed was the water.Not the sound of it—but the smell.Clean.Soap. Steam. Something floral and expensive that didn't belong anywhere near this place.It cut through the mildew and rot that had been baked into my lungs since they dragged me here, sharp enough to make my nose sting. My wolf stirred uneasily, coiling beneath my ribs like a spring. Clean meant something. Clean meant preparation. And preparation meant—"Get him up."My body tensed before I fully registered the voice.Tyla.Her tone was flat, bored, as if this were just another Tuesday. As if I were just another chore. Hands grabbed me—rough, but careful. The first thing that felt wrong. They didn't slam me to the floor. Didn't jerk my arms hard enough to dislocate anything. Just... lifted. Like I was something fragile, something that needed to stay intact.My stomach turned."I can walk," I rasped, though my voice came out hoarse and thin.Derek snorted somewhere behind me. "No, you can't."He wasn't

The building I was transported to smelled faintly of polished wood and smoke, a sharp contrast to the lingering floral scent still clinging to my skin from the bath. Every step I took was measured, careful, though I had no control over how my body just kept betraying me, allowing itself to be herded like a fucking sheep. My wolf thrashed beneath my ribs, pressing and pacing, snarling at the drugged haze that dulled my limbs. I wanted to roar, to lunge, to vanish, but I could barely stand to walk straight. My legs felt like lead, my arms like iron chains.Derek and Tyla flanked me, steadying me with hands that were firm but not cruel like they used to be. Each motion was calculated—controlled—forcing me to stand tall even as my stomach twisted with nausea and rage. I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, trying to shrink, trying to make myself disappear, but even that tiny hope of invisibility was stripped away when the double wooden doors ahead swung open.The room beyond looked like a par