Final Chapter – The End

I could barely breathe. My hands were trembling, clutching Isla to my chest as the creatures lunged at us from every shadowed corner. The forest around us was a blur of teeth, claws, and glowing eyes—but none of it mattered. None of it mattered except one thing: Cruz.

“He’s alive,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone. “He has to be.”

Blade’s grip on my arm was iron, steadying me. “Focus, Nova. Don’t let them separate you. Don’t let them—”

Before he could finish, a piercing roar split the night, sending every creature staggered backward. I stumbled, almost dropping Isla, but the roar was familiar, impossible to forget: Cruz.

My chest heaved. “Cruz!”

And then he was there. Bloodied, bruised, but alive. His knife flashed through the shadows, precise, lethal. Every strike sent creatures stumbling, falling, but they kept coming.

“I told you I wouldn’t leave you,” he growled, eyes locking on mine, fierce and stormy, and in that instant, everything else—the fear, the danger, the glowing