All Chapters of THE LAST SHIFT: A Werewolf without a Wolf : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The power didn’t return by morning.The lights stayed dead. The consoles flickered with broken code. And somewhere beyond the walls of Hollow Base, the forest had gone quiet. It was so quiet that there were no birds, no wind, and no movement at all.Like the world itself was holding its breath.A weight pressed on my chest that I couldn’t explain, like the calm before a storm I hadn’t seen but already felt. Something was wrong; not outside, but inside me.I paced the main corridor with Kieran trailing beside me. My hands were clenched so tight my nails bit into my palms, but I barely noticed.My skin itched like it didn’t quite fit anymore. Like it remembered something I didn’t.“Kaia,” Kieran said gently, stepping in front of me. “You haven’t eaten, you haven’t rested. You know you can’t keep burning yourself out like this.”I stopped walking, but the pressure inside me didn’t stop. “If I slow down, I lose her.”“You don’t even know what she wants.”“She wants everything.”Kieran loo

The light wrapped around me like a second skin—cold, humming, alive.I couldn’t move; I couldn’t speak.The clone in the glass had been smiling a moment ago, her face identical to mine. Now, that smile vanished. Something shifted. A tiny twitch in her eyes, her fingers, and her shoulders—like her programming had hiccuped.And all I could feel was a pull.Like I was being peeled apart from the inside out.My memories…mine…were slipping. Not disappearing… just moving. Flowing like data through invisible threads. She was taking them. Bit by bit, my voice, my pain, my joy, my grief.She was copying me and replacing me.And then something strange happened.The moment she tried to take my fear… She froze.Her body jolted once, stiff like static, then locked. Her golden pupils flickered, and the fluid around her shimmered with violet light.And somewhere deep inside me, I heard something. A low growl. It wasn’t hers. It wasn’t Kieran’s. It was mine.Or rather… It was hers… the wolf.I gasped

We didn’t hear them coming.The monitors didn’t blink. The ground didn’t tremble. There was no alarm. No warning.But I felt them.The moment Subject One opened those cryo-chambers, the air inside Hollow Base shifted. The pressure changed—like the mountain itself had sucked in a breath and held it…waiting…watching…dreading.I stood by the central console with Tyra and Malek, my eyes locked on the blank screens. Nothing showed. No movement. No heat signals.But I knew they were out there.“They’re not using the grid,” Tyra whispered. “They’re walking in the blind zones.”“Meaning?” Kieran asked.“Meaning they know this place better than we do.”I didn't say anything because I knew she was right.They weren’t coming as invaders. They were coming as former residents.People who once belonged to the early experiments; people who were forgotten, discarded, and buried.Now... awake.And following the one they called Subject One.Kieran stood behind me, arms crossed. “How many?”Malek answer

She looked like a dream I didn’t know I’d been carrying.Not perfect, not soft, not warm, but real, alive.Nora, Subject Eleven, stood like a ghost made of steel and memory, dressed in a long black coat, her hair tangled and wind-swept. Her face was sharper than mine, her eyes darker. But I recognized her.And somehow, my heart did too.We stared at each other across the divide of years, experiments, and all the pain no file had ever documented.She stepped forward.But I didn’t move because I couldn’t.Every nerve in my body screamed to run, to charge, to speak, but my legs had turned to stone.“My daughter,” she said again, softly this time. “You’ve grown into your name.”Kieran moved beside me, blade half drawn. I felt him watching her, waiting for a sign of danger.She gave none.The Rejected stood behind her like statues, silent and glowing with faint light, eyes focused on me. Not hostile or welcoming eyes. They were just waiting.Then Subject One stepped into view: calm and cal

He hadn’t blinked in hours.Subject 13 sat in the corner of the medbay, legs tucked beneath him, back straight, watching silently.As if he didn’t trust stillness.Like he didn’t trust anything.I knew that feeling.I’d lived it.Tyra stood just outside the sealed medbay door, arms folded. Her voice came through the comm softly but tight with tension.“He hasn’t shifted. No pulse anomalies. No violent spikes.”“That doesn’t mean he’s harmless,” Malek added.Kieran was silent beside me.I watched the boy.No older than twelve, maybe younger. Pale-skinned. Hollows beneath his eyes. A scar across the base of his neck, clean and deliberate, just like mine.And then there were his eyes.Golden.Too golden.Not just light-catching, but lit from within.Just like mine when I lost control.Just like Echo’s before she broke free.He was like me, but smaller, unstable, and completely alone.I stepped into the room again, this time without gloves or gear.The boy didn’t move.He only looked up s