All Chapters of THE LAST SHIFT: A Werewolf without a Wolf : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

I caught him before he collapsed.Subject 13's body went limp in my arms. His head fell back, lips parted, but he wasn't breathing."Kieran!" I called.He dropped beside us, pressing two fingers to the boy's neck. "No pulse. He's gone.""No." I shook my head. "He's changing."The gold light in his eyes had vanished. Now they glowed red—not angry red, but something deeper. Ancient. Like every voice from that chamber had crawled inside him and made a home.Heat poured off his skin in waves. I could feel his pulse returning, slow and heavy."Step back," Kieran warned.I tried to let go, but Subject 13's hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. Not hard, but firm. Purposeful.His eyes opened.Still red.He was breathing now—fast and shaky, like he was learning how all over again."Thirteen?" I whispered.He blinked slowly. "No. I'm not just him anymore."His voice sounded different. Layered, like multiple people speaking at once.We helped him sit up. His whole body trembled like his muscles d

We couldn't rest.There was no time.The moment we got Subject 13 stable and out of that nightmare chamber, Kieran sealed every exit behind us. My hands still shook from the fight with Alpha Zero.Tyra's voice crackled through the bass speakers."They're coming."Kieran's face went dark. "How many?"A pause that lasted too long."Not many. But it doesn't matter. These aren't scouts, Kaia. They're Reapers."The word hit me like ice water.Even Subject 13, barely conscious and wrapped in blankets, flinched at the name."Tell me what that means," I said to Kieran. "All of it."He met my eyes. "They're not hunters. They're the cleanup crew. Final-stage killers.""They don't ask questions," Tyra added through the comm. "They don't leave survivors. If they sent Reapers, this is a total purge."My stomach dropped. "They want us all dead.""Every last one," Kieran confirmed.The war room was bathed in red warning lights when we reached the upper levels.Tyra stood at the center screen, arms c

I stood frozen as Null's voice crackled through the static."They sent the Controller.""What is that?" Kieran demanded, already reaching for another weapon.I didn't answer right away because my blood had turned to ice.I'd heard whispers about the Controller. A mind without a body. A consciousness built only to dominate others. The thing that gave orders to Subject Zero and Echo.If they'd sent it after us, we wouldn't have just been being hunted anymore.We were being claimed."We need to get underground," I said. "If we stay up here, we're sitting ducks."Kieran's face was grim. "It's already in the system, isn't it?""It doesn't need doors," Null's voice came again. "It is the door. You'll know when it's close.""How?""Your thoughts will stop feeling like your own."We ran through the service tunnels, jumping over broken grates and fallen beams. The whole base shuddered like something massive was moving beneath us."Tyra!" I shouted into my comm. "Get Malek and Subject 13 to the

She stood barefoot at the center of the chamber.Golden veins pulsed beneath pale skin like a heartbeat that shouldn't exist. Her hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders. The mark on her chest glowed—the same shape that had burned into my skin weeks ago, but older. Rawer.When her eyes met mine, my breath caught.Not from fear.From recognition.She looked at me like she knew me. Like I'd always belonged here with her."You finally made it." Her voice was gentle but deep, echoing like a thousand forgotten thoughts speaking at once.Subject 13 trembled beside me. "She's real. She's actually back."Kieran stepped forward, alert. "Who are you?"She tilted her head. Her smile faded into something calmer. Wiser."I'm what was left behind. The code they couldn't erase. The soul they failed to control." Her eyes found mine again. "I'm Subject One. And I'm your origin."Silence swallowed the chamber.Even Null hovered quietly by the wall, staring at the golden light rising from the glyphs

She stood across from me in the center of the Mirror Room.Same skin. Same eyes. Same height. Even her voice sounded like mine: smooth, calm, with deadly precision underneath."And this time, I won't hesitate when they give the kill order."I didn't move, and I didn't blink. Because if I did, she would.She matched everything. Even the way I breathed.Only her eyes were wrong. Mine held fear, fire, and memories.Hers were glass."This isn't a test. This is theft."She smiled. "You forfeited your role the moment you deviated. Your emotion, love, weakness.""I evolved.""No. You broke."I stepped forward. She mirrored me. Every shift of my foot echoed in her stance.The room pulsed, code dancing across invisible walls, rewriting with each breath we took.This wasn't just a simulation. This was a battlefield.And only one of us was leaving."You weren't born. You were stitched together. Built to be what I wasn't."Her smile never moved. "Exactly. I am perfect, uncomplicated, pure.""No s