Semua Bab THE LAST SHIFT: A Werewolf without a Wolf : Bab 91 - Bab 95

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