SEBASTAIN’S POV
My eyes snapped open, a cacophony of sounds flooding my senses—footsteps clattering down tiled halls, voices overlapping in a chaotic symphony, the sharp beep of machines piercing the air. Maximus surged awake, his ears pricked, his growl low in my chest. I lay on a stiff hospital bed, the sterile scent of antiseptic stinging my nose, the dim glow of fluorescent lights buzzing above. My super hearing amplified every sound: a nurse’s hushed gossip—“Dr. Gail’s sleeping with the new intern”—a doctor’s grim murmur—“I’m sorry, we lost him”—and the squeak of a gurney rolling past.
My heart pounded, my breath shallow. A hospital. The worst place for a werewolf like me. One blood test, one slip, and they’d know I wasn’t human. Werewolf hunters prowled Novella, their vendetta aga
