Chapter 61 The Release
ZARA’S POV
Pain woke me before consciousness did.
Not the sharp kind.
Not the merciful kind.This pain hummed.
Painstaking pain!
It crawled beneath my skin like something alive, snapping through my veins in timed pulses, forcing my muscles to seize, my teeth to grind, my lungs to forget how to work properly
I screamed.
The sound echoed... metal walls, stone floor, low ceiling. The echo came back wrong, distorted, like the room enjoyed hearing it.
Chains bit into my wrists and ankles. Cold. Heavy. Reinforced. Whatever alloy they were made of, my wolves recoiled from it instinctively.
"Containment," They growled.
My head rolled forward. My hair clung to my face, damp with sweat. The air smelled wrong.
Wolfsbane.
No.... Something different...
But still smelt like wolfsbane...
Thick. Heavy.
It flooded the room through unseen vents, saturating my lungs, coating my tongue with bitterness.
I waited for the weakness.It didn’t come.
Instead, my chest burned hotter.
“…Interesting,” a voice said from somewhere in the dark.
Another electric pulse slammed through my body without warning. My back arched violently against the restraints, a broken sound tearing from my throat.
They laughed. Not one voice. Several. Guards.Other prisoners.Where was this place?
I could hear them now... shifting, murmuring, amused.
“She’s still breathing.”
“Thought wolfsbane was supposed to drop them faster.”
“Guess she’s not normal.”
"No..." My wolves whispered.
"We are not."
There was a low deadly chuckle in my tone.
A slow, deliberate clicking sound followed. Boots. Measured steps.
Dr. Voss didn’t need to announce herself.
“Monitor her vitals,” she said calmly. “Increase voltage by twelve percent.”
“No...” I gasped.
"Please don't..."
The current surged.
White exploded behind my eyes.
I felt it rip through my nerves, yank at my spine, dig into my skull like claws scraping bone. My vision fractured... Memories bleeding in where reality should have been.
The study. Kai’s hands. Dr. Voss smiling.
Then...
The dungeon again.
What had happened in the past few hours....
My body slumped when the current stopped, chest heaving violently.
“Remarkable tolerance,” Voss murmured.
“Her nervous system is adapting.”
“Should we reset her?” a guard asked.
“No.”
A pause.
“Let’s try something else.”
The lights flickered.
A low-frequency hum filled the room, vibrating through my bones, into my head. Images flashed behind my eyes without permission.
Kai.Pinned.Bleeding.Screaming my name.
“No,” I whispered.
Someone laughed nearby.
“You hear that?” a prisoner snickered.
“She reacts to that one.”
Voss tilted her head.
“Of course she does.”
The hum intensified.
A voice....Kai’s voice...flooded my mind.
"Zara… help me."
My breath hitched violently.
“You should have listened,” the voice said.
“You should have let me give you to her.”
I screamed.
“That’s not him!” I cried.
“Oh?” Voss said softly.
“Then imagine what we will do to him.”
The words were deliberate.
Calculated.
“Or maybe,” one of the guards added, grinning.
“We’ll let the boys have you first. Devourers are supposed to enjoy that, right?”
Something inside me snapped.
Not loudly. Not explosively. Just veryyyy clean.
The growl that left my throat wasn’t human.
The room trembled.
Chains rattled violently as my wolves surged forward, furious, offended, ancient.
They dare.
Another electric blast hit me.
This time, I didn’t scream.
I laughed. Low. Broken.Wrong.
The wolfsbane scent thickened, choking the air....but still, still, it didn’t weaken me.
Instead, the chains began to glow.
Cracks spiderwebbed through the restraints.
“What...” someone started.
The chains exploded outward.Metal screamed. Stone shattered.
My wolves didn’t wait for permission.
They took control.
The first guard didn’t even have time to scream.
The second one tried.
The prisoners who had laughed didn’t get the chance.
The room became chaos....screams, bodies, impact, blood painting stone. I moved on instinct, precision, and fury guiding every strike.
No mercy. No hesitation. Dr. Voss didn’t shout. She didn’t panic.
She pressed two fingers to her temple.
“Release her,” she said calmly into the comm.
“Immediately.”
The remaining guards obeyed without question.
The doors opened.The alarms stopped.
Just like that.
I stood in the wreckage, chest rising and falling, blood splattered across my skin that wasn’t mine.
Then..... Silence.
I didn’t remember leaving the dungeons.
Only that when my vision cleared…
I was in my room.
Clean. Dressed.Seated on my bed.
As if nothing had happened.
Luna stood near the window, arms crossed tightly.
Rex leaned against the wall, jaw clenched.
Mira hovered near the desk, tablet glowing in her hands.
And Kai.....
Kai sat on the edge of the bed beside me, eyes locked on my face like he was afraid I’d disappear if he blinked.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
I nodded.Too calmly.
“I’m fine.”
Luna shook her head slowly.
“No, you’re not.”
I looked at her.
She stepped forward.
“Zara,” she said carefully.
"There’s something you need to know.”
The room felt smaller.
“Heavy.”
“You’re not the only version of yourself,” Luna continued.
“And Kai..."
Her gaze flicked to him.
“He’s not the only one who’s loved you.”
My wolves stirred. Interested. Dangerous.
I tilted my head slightly, eyes narrowing.
This must all be some kind of sick joke...
Ever since I turned into my wolves... Ever since I could transform... I've not had peace for more than a day....
A lot of things just seem to be happening, and it's happening so quickly that my head can't place it.
I want to breathe.... I felt suffocated...
"So what exactly are you trying to say?" I asked.
"We've all been experiencing gaps in our memories." Mira said.
"One moment we could be in the room... The next somewhere else."
"I don't understand you..." I said.
"That's the thing.... We don't understand anything." Kai said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Mira tapped on a wall, and her digital computer systems appeared. She scrolled through a lot of folders till her hand settled on one.
"This.... This right here proves that this academy is doing something to us."
As if recognition just touched me. I gave a wicked smile, the devourer slowly coming out to play....
“How do you plan on stopping me?” I asked quietly.
And no one answered.