Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE LAST SHIFT: A Werewolf without a Wolf : Kabanata 181 - Kabanata 190

​“Kaia… don’t let them close it…”​His voice came through the silver seam as if it were bleeding.​“Kieran!” I cried, stumbling toward the light. “I hear you. I’m here. I’m not letting go. Do you hear me? I’m not letting go!”​The seam shook. The silver line trembled as if something on the other side were pressing against it with everything it had left.​“I can’t hold it alone,” he said, his voice tight and strained, as if he were fighting against a weight far heavier than a human body. “They’re… they’re locking the layers. They’re trying to make me part of the frame.”​“Then fight them,” I said. “Like you fought everything else. Like you fought the cold and the pull. You’ve broken their laws before, Kieran. Do it again.”​A sharp, ragged breath came through the seam. “I am fighting. But this isn’t like the void. This is inside me. They’re writing me into the door.”​My chest burned. “You are not a door. You are a man. You are mine.”​The system’s hum grew louder and closer, sounding

The cold wall crashed down between us.“Kieran!” I screamed.The silver crack shrieked, its edges curling inward like paper caught in a flame. “No—no, don’t you dare close on him!”His hand was still reaching for me. It wasn't fully solid, and it wasn't fully light; he was caught in the seam of the world.“Kaia!” he shouted. His voice tore through the air as the frame tightened around his arm, his shoulder, and his chest. “It’s locking—I can feel it locking!”I slammed both palms into the invisible barrier. The cold bit into my skin, sharp and dead, like touching ice that felt a primal hatred for warmth.“Push back!” I cried. “Don’t let it fold you in!”“I am pushing!” he said, his breath coming in rough, ragged gasps. “But it’s heavy—it’s like the weight of every door they ever made is pressing on me at once.”The silver-eyed man shouted from behind me, his voice cracking with fear. “The frame is sealing around his core! If it closes past his heart, he’ll be bound to it completely!”

​“Kieran!” I shouted, clutching him tighter as the world shifted violently under our feet. The silver light around him flickered with the frantic energy of a candle caught in a hurricane. “Don’t let it take you! Stay with me!”​He gasped, his chest heaving as he hovered between a dying shadow and a burning white light. “Kaia… it’s pulling… deeper this time. Not just the frame. Something beyond…” His voice trembled, barely audible over a roar that had transcended sound and become a vibration in our very bones.​“Then we fight it together!” I pressed my palm hard against his chest. The thread pulsed under my skin, searing and bright—a heartbeat made of liquid fire. “Whatever it is, it won’t have you while I’m breathing. I won’t let it!”​The man with silver eyes stumbled forward, his hands shielding his face from the brilliance. He pointed at the quivering air around us. “It’s not the system now. Whatever you did… you forced its attention. The anomaly isn’t just being contained anymore.

​“Kaia… it’s pulling again.”​Kieran’s voice shook against my ear. It wasn’t loud or panicked; it was just tight, like a rope stretched to its absolute breaking point.​I didn’t let go. My hands were locked in his shirt, gripping his skin, holding onto the burning line of the bond. “Look at me,” I said, my voice cutting through the rising hum. “Not at it. At me.”​His silver eyes flickered, struggling to remain solid. “It’s not just pulling me anymore. It’s… opening me. Like it wants to see what I’m made of.”​“Then let it look,” I said. “It won’t like what it finds.”​A low hum rolled through the air—not a sound, but a crushing pressure. It felt like the world was leaning in, eavesdropping on our very souls.​The old alpha’s voice cut through the heavy air. “The frame is thinning. If he takes even a step more toward you, the overlap will be permanent.”​“I know,” I snapped. “I feel it too.”​Kieran let out a rough, uneven breath. “Kaia… there are memories surfacing. Not mine. Old one

​“Kaia—look at me. Don’t close your eyes.”​Kieran’s voice cut through the roar, raw and shaking. His hands were on my face—firm, grounding, and desperate—even as the world tore itself apart around us.​“I can’t—” I gasped. “It’s too bright. It’s inside me. It’s everywhere.”​“Stay with me,” he said. “Breathe with me. In. Out. Like before. You’re not alone in this, Kaia. You aren't just a vessel.”​The ground split again, a deep, jagged canyon that glowed with a red-gold intensity, as if the heart of the world had finally been laid bare. Heat rushed up my legs—not a burning sensation, but a pulsing, living warmth that seemed to recognize my name.​The old alpha’s voice rose above the wind. “The First Flame is rising through her! If it fully wakes, the laws won’t be able to hold the layers together!”​The silver-eyed man shouted back, his face pale with awe. “Then hold her! Hold the bond! It’s the only thing keeping the tear from swallowing everything!”​The cold presence of the system