~Elara~
He turned back to me, his expression intensely focused. "Elara, listen to me. You're neither human nor wolf. You're both. And neither. The first of your kind. But you need to accept all aspects of yourself for the integration to complete."
"I don't know how," I whispered, my voice barely recognizable.
"Yes, you do." His hand found mine, fingers intertwining. "Your mother programmed the Algorithm to respond to your consciousness. You're the architect now. You decide what form the integration takes."
The architect. The words resonated somewhere deep within me, triggering memories—my mother's final message, her certainty that I could control what I was becoming. That the Algorithm would respond to my will if I could only find the courage to direct it.
I closed my eyes, turning my
