The Faltered Bond | Book #1 [Werewolf]

Chapter 25 | Prisoner

AVA R.

-*-

At first, I don't sense much of anything.

I'm not even sure I'm awake—if this is consciousness at all. Everything feels distant, muffled, like I've been cut off from my own body. There's no pain, no warmth... no feeling.

Just a void.

Then—a buzzing.

Faint at first, like a whisper at the edge of awareness. A numb, tingling sensation follows, crawling beneath my skin, spreading slowly. It feels as if my entire body has fallen into a deep sleep I can't quite wake from.

Just... static. Unsettling. Inescapable.

I simply exist in this space-adrift, weightless, unfeeling.

Time loses meaning. Seconds, minutes, hours... I couldn't say. Everything feels suspended, like the universe itself is holding its breath, waiting for something to break.

And then-

I fall.

No-I'm yanked downward, pulled by some invisible force that tears me from the stillness in a single, jarring instant.

A voice, sharp and commanding, rages into my ear.

"Wake up!"

My body jolts violently as ice-cold water crashes over me.

Suddenly-I'm awake.

A sharp gasp rips from my chest, lungs clawing for air as the freezing liquid seeps down my face and soaks into my skin. I shiver, startled and breathless, my senses reeling from the shock.

Everything is a blur. Shapes swim before my eyes, and for a moment, I can't tell where I am-only that I'm soaked, freezing, and very much alive.

I blink rapidly, the fog in my mind slowly beginning to lift.

Then the pain hits-a sharp throb in my temple that pulses with every heartbeat. I gasp, my chest tightening as my heart pounds faster, so fast it feels like it might explode.

That's when I hear it.

Laughter.

At first, it's faint. Muffled. I almost think I imagined it. But then it grows-louder, clearer.

They rise into something darker, echoing through my head like they're bouncing off the inside of my skull, mocking and unfamiliar.

I lift my head, vision still blurry, shapes swimming in and out of focus. It's hard to make out details, but I can see them—silhouettes. A circle of them, surrounding me. Tall, short, broad, slight-varying in shape and size, watching in silence.

One figure stands closest. I flinch as a hand taps my cheek—light, almost gentle—as if coaxing me awake.

"There she is."

My blood turns to ice. The man smiles, his head gently nodding as he cocks his head. "G'morning sunshine!"

His smile widens slowly as he speaks, satisfaction curling the edges of his lips. Behind him, laughter rises in waves from the small gathering-low chuckles swelling into something louder, sharper, more menacing.

Their amusement echoes around me, and dread pools deep in my stomach. I try to stand, panic surging through me when my arms pull sharply against resistance. My wrists are bound, tied tightly to what feels like a wooden pole behind my back, the rope biting painfully into my skin.