Feral Lust (Feral Souls Series - I) (18+) [Currently Editing]

thirty-two.

The shift back, for Elliot, was as exigent as he remembered. Each and every part of his body screamed in pain, an excruciating one. Going through that and trying to retain control over Karamat at the same time was gruesome. He despised it.

Aware of the eyes on him and the people huddling closer to mourn the lost, he focused on Celeste's voice that had become his anchor. She kept beckoning Elliot back in that soft voice of hers which he had never heard her use before, especially directed at him.

Once the bones had snapped back, and Elliot - in his human form - was standing stark naked in the middle of the hall, Callahan rushed to his friend with his cloak.

He tasted blood - metallic, salty, and bitter. It brought back a lot of memories, not happy ones at all, yet they were solely from the period after he had come to know of his reality. Sometimes he wondered that had he not been a wolf, would these things have come to pass?

He spat once, twice even thrice until some of the taste ebbed away.

Celeste was irritatingly mesmerized by how the muscles on him flexed even with the slightest of movements. She was equal parts grateful and disappointed when he covered himself but not before he noticed Celeste's struggle to avoid looking at his chest.

As if a switch had been turned off, her softness blinked out, leaving behind the difficult girl, once again, in its wake.

Walking away from Elliot and Callahan, Celeste sauntered over to the fallen. Their family members sniffled and sobbed for them, but Celeste had something more momentous to carry out than let herself be plunged into the sorrow which she was trying hard to seal off.

The last time when such an incident had taken place, a few nights prior to Celeste's abduction by Scott and Dante, her pack lacked a person qualified enough to extract the cause leading up to these shifts neither had they been left with any body parts of the ferals.

She saw the pack physician investigating the remnants from afar. When he caught Celeste's eye, she nodded him to come over.

"The feast, as you know, has been all but destroyed," Xavier announced at that moment, "however, the food will be served to you in your rooms - " the medic shook his head, stopping Xavier mid-sentence.

"Your Grace, I apologize for the interruption, but I do not deem it to be a good move to make the members ingest something that might have been the possible reason for turning our wolves feral. Until I have had a thorough look at these remains, I would reckon the pack to intake something that is packaged, brought over to the house from human stores."

Xavier nodded to the suggestion, asking how long it would take for him to run the tests.

The physician had a response that seemed to satisfy the Alpha. "It should only take a day for me to reach a conclusion after I have examined the traces."

"You heard the man. Please depart for your rooms to relax up to the time that I personally go to the stores to purchase the food," Xavier tried to smile at his pack, trying to calm their nerves. 'A leader cannot look weak no matter how concerned and scared he feels,' he thought to himself.

The members and even Celeste regarded their Alpha with respect. But then she remembered how Elliot was being shadowed by the vampires. If word got out apropos of the trip - she couldn't even let herself complete that thought. 'No, I can't let that happen.'

"Your grace," Celeste addressed. "Call me Xavier, you're family," he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. She could see how exhausted the Alpha was.

"I would propose that you do not make this trip. It might prove dangerous. Moreover, the attacker might be somewhere in the vicinity. Thus, it'll make all of us feel better if you remain here in the packhouse, safeguarded by the sentinels in case things go south."

Noticing hesitation in Xavier's eyes, Elliot decided to step in, "Celeste and I can go to the stores if you're worried, Dad. No more excuses now, you should retire to your rooms too."

Everybody, by then, had started to disperse, unconcerned about who brought the eatables so long as they got something safe to eat.

"How are you feeling son?" Greta looked Elliot over from head to toe.

"As good as ever before, mum, all thanks to my loving mate," the grin that he gave his mom melted all her worries.

As both their parents went to their rooms, Greta, with a surprisingly warm smile in Celeste's direction, Elliot instructed Callahan and Dominic to take samples for the doctor. He ordered the half-vampires to not touch the gore without him present and until the doctor was satisfied with what he needed.

They changed into more apt attires before departing to the store and made it back to the packhouse without any incident as Celeste had thought they would.

During the ride, to the stores and back, none of them had spoken anything. Ordering many dishes from various different food outlets for takeaway had not been a meagre task. The looks that people had given them, however, didn't waver Elliot's resolve to feed seventy or so wolves and around thirty half-vampires. He used the same excuse over again, "we are having a party, and neither of us can cook to save a life."

Besides, Elliot was paying for everything, so he already had an experience of how humans turned a blind eye to the weirdest of things if one only waved a bill in their direction.

At the packhouse, his joy knew no bounds when the pack ate without any mishappenings. The pack was scared and everyone, Elliot was sure, could sense the anxiety in the air.

Devouring his pizza, he was about to sleep when he heard a knock at the door. He knew even without opening who it was.

Jumping off the bed in only his lowers, he pulled open the door to a dishevelled Celeste. Her presence somehow comforted him, and he immediately felt more relaxed.

"I can't sleep," she whispered then looked over her shoulder, "Callahan should be here any minute."

On the mention that his mate had gone to Cal first, a spike of jealousy started to pierce through his heart, repeatedly. He raised an eyebrow, the corners of his lips turning up in a smirk as he said, "I am in no mood for a threesome, Celeste." Despite his mocking remark, distaste was painted on his expression.

Fuming, with her lips pursed, his mate went inside without sparing him another look, "we need to talk about what happened today."

Celeste didn't give him a chance to retaliate, interrupting him with a furious look, "and I don't want another snide comment from you."