Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE LAST SHIFT: A Werewolf without a Wolf : Kabanata 91 - Kabanata 100

The forest should have felt safe.I told myself that again and again, clinging to the words as if repetition could make them true. The Hollow was behind us. The Warden’s grip had shattered. The endless whispering voices were gone. But even in the open night air, even beneath stars sharp as glass, I could not silence the dread that coiled in my chest.The trees seemed alive with memory. Each groan of their trunks, each rustle of their branches carried the echo of collapsing stone. The air tasted faintly of smoke, and no matter how the wind shifted, it carried reminders of ash and ruin.Every sound set me on edge. A fox’s paws brushing the undergrowth made me flinch. The crack of a branch under our weight made my heart seize. My body had not yet learned we were free; it braced with every step, waiting for the cavern to fall again.Kieran walked beside me, his arm firm across my shoulders, guiding me forward. But even his touch betrayed the truth, I felt the tremor in his grip, the uneve

Kieran’s body was burning beneath my hands. Not with the steady warmth that used to comfort me, but with the ragged, uneven heat of a fever that threatened to consume him from the inside. His fire had given all it could, and now it clawed at him instead of healing.I pressed my palms against his shoulders, whispering useless words I hoped might tether him. “Stay with me, please. Don’t let go.”His eyes fluttered, gold flickering weakly in their depths. For one suspended moment, I thought they might close for good. Then his lips parted, cracked and dry, shaping a whisper that scraped like stone.“Kaia.” He called my name desperately enough to shatter me.The girl crawled from beneath the cloak, clutching its edge in one small fist. She pressed herself against my side, her wide eyes darting from Kieran’s face to the shadows beyond the clearing, as though she expected the wolves to return. Her voice quivered when she spoke.“Is he dying?”The words cut sharper than claws. I bit down hard

Kieran’s lips moved again, faint and broken, but no words came out. Just a sound, a breath, as if he was trapped behind a wall of heat. I held on tighter, afraid to let go in case that flicker faded.The girl was staring, her eyes wide and glassy. “You have to keep talking,” she whispered. “If it listens, then don’t stop.”Her voice was so steady for someone so small. Like she’d already seen too much of the world, too much of its cruelty.I swallowed hard, brushed the sweat from Kieran’s brow, and leaned close. “You’re still here,” I told him, even though I wasn’t sure if I was saying it for him or for myself. “You’re mine. Not theirs. Not the Hollow’s. Not the man with the silver hair. Just mine.”His chest rose and fell in stutters, his skin burning so hot that the damp cloth I’d placed against him was already dry. I pulled it away, soaked it again with water from the stream, and laid it back down. Steam curled up instantly, but this time I thought I saw his jaw twitch, his throat m

The river roared louder the further we walked. The sound was not soft anymore. It was angry, crashing against rocks. My arms ached under Kieran’s weight, but I didn’t loosen my grip. His body burned like firewood left too long in the flames. Still, I carried him.The girl walked close to me, holding her cloak tight. Her small steps were quick, but her eyes kept jumping to the trees. She was listening, just like I was. Every snap, every rustle made our hearts race.“We can’t stay here,” she said at last. Her voice shook, but she kept walking. “They’ll come again.”“I know.” My throat was dry, my words rough. “We keep moving downstream.”The water spilled faster now. I could see white foam between the rocks. The ground dipped lower, and the air grew cold. My knees wanted to give out, but I forced them to keep going.Kieran stirred in my arms. A sound came from his chest, half a breath, half a groan. His lips moved. I bent close, desperate to catch his voice.“Mine…” he whispered again.

The earth shook beneath us, dust spilling from the broken walls as fire rose higher, brighter, until it felt like the sky itself was burning. I clutched Kieran to my chest, his body arching in my arms, every breath a blaze. Heat burst from him in waves, searing my skin raw. My burns screamed, begging me to let go. But I held tighter.The girl cried out and stumbled back, her small hands thrown over her face. The flames lit her hair and cloak in red. She shielded her eyes, but I could still see the creatures through the fire.They did not attack. They bent low, their thin bodies folding in half as if bowing to him. Their cracked faces glowed, light spilling through the breaks in their skin. They weren’t snarling. They weren’t hunting. They were worshiping.“No,” I whispered, shaking my head, my voice rough and breaking. “Not yours…He’s not yours.”But they didn’t stop. They stayed kneeling, their long fingers digging into the dirt, hissing one long note together. It sounded like prayer