When The Sun Died

Chapter 13

Asher’s pov

The wall behind me vibrated with every breath I took.

I wasn’t sure if it was the building shaking or just my bones grinding against themselves, desperate to finish shifting—or to tear themselves apart trying.

The worst part?

I couldn’t tell which outcome I wanted.

My hands dug into the tiles, cracking them. The air was thick with blood, dust, and that burning red light that felt like it was crawling inside my skull.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Hold it. Hold it. Don’t lose them. Don’t lose yourself.

But the monster inside me was pacing. Thrashing. Tasting the fear in the air like it was fuel.

“Asher,” Elara whispered.

Her voice was too soft. Too close.

“Don’t,” I growled no, snarled. “Elara… stay back. Please.”

My throat felt stretched. Wrong. Like two voices were fighting to speak through the same mouth.

Serena still had the gun trained on me, knuckles white around the grip.

Kane tried to whisper something to calm her, but he sounded like he was trying to calm himself more than her.

Nia hid behind a cart, little fingers clutching the metal like it was the only thing keeping her alive.

And I hated it.

All of it.

Their fear.

My fear.

The heat roaring through me like molten iron.

Another pulse tore through my spine and I hunched forward with a guttural sound that scraped out of my chest.

“Asher?” Elara whispered again. “Can you hear me?”

I forced my eyes open.

The world was sharp. Too sharp.

Every heartbeat echoed in my skull like thunder.

But Elara’s eyes were steady. Terrified, yes, but steady.

And she was stepping closer.

“Elara,” I snarled, dragging myself tighter into the corner. “Stop. Now.”

She froze but didn’t retreat.

“I know you’re still you,” she said. “I saw it. When Nia screamed you didn’t attack her. You protected her. You chose.”

My entire body trembled.

“I don’t know how long I can keep choosing,” I rasped.

She swallowed hard. “Then we’ll help you. But you have to trust us.”

Trust.

I laughed but it wasn’t a laugh. It came out like a broken growl, a noise that didn’t belong in any human throat.

“I can’t even trust myself.”

Elara didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t step back even when my body spasmed hard enough to slam my shoulder into the wall with a c***k.

She just breathed slow and steady like she was trying to lend me the rhythm of her heartbeat.

I wished it worked.

My own pulse was chaos. A pounding drum that shook through my teeth, my bones, my claws.

The monster inside me paced louder, pushing, scraping, whispering in some language I didn’t understand but somehow fully felt.

Violent.

Hungry.

Inevitable.

Another tremor rolled through me, stronger, sharp enough to twist my spine. I curled forward, claws dragging lines into the floor.

“Asher,” Elara whispered.

Her voice felt like a rope pulling me upward, but my body didn’t want to obey.

My head hung low, breath sawing in and out like knives. Still, I forced my eyes up.

She flinched.

Only a little, barely more than a breath,but I saw it. I smelled it.

Fear.

My chest tightened, and something inside me lunged at the scent. The monster tasted her fear like sweetness, like invitation, like prey.

“No…no…no…” I slammed my fists against the tiles, cracking them deeper. “Get away from me, please! I mean it!”

“I may not know you well enough but I know you are a good person so I won’t leave you here.”

Serena scoffed shakily behind her.

“This is insane. He’s barely holding it together Elara, move before he snaps!”

“I said I’m not leaving him!” Elara shot back, her voice slicing through the panic like steel.

Kane swallowed. Nia whimpered. Serena cursed under her breath.

And me?

My vision flickered color shifting, lines blurring, the world dipping in and out of red-black static like a broken screen.

“I’m going to hurt someone,” I growled, or maybe the monster did. “I can feel it. It wants out. It wants…”

My words mangled into a sharp snarl as pain cracked down my spine.

Elara took one more step toward me.

That step nearly unraveled me entirely.

“Elara, STOP!” I slammed my claws into the floor so hard dust exploded upward. “I can smell you, your fear, your heartbeat, your blood…just stop.”

Her lips trembled, but her voice didn’t. “What do you need, Asher?”

“I need…”

I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking.

“…to not kill any of you.”

Silence.

Then Serena muttered, “Wonderful. Just wonderful.”

My breathing grew uneven. Too fast. Too sharp. My ribs felt like they were expanding with each breath, stretching skin too tight.

The monster inside me clawed upward, urging my body to shift fully.

I could feel my teeth lengthening.

Feel the skin around my jaw stretching.

Feel my fingers twitching to curl into full claws, not this half-shifted mess.

“I can’t…”

My voice broke violently.

“…I can’t hold it much longer.”

“Yes, you can.” Elara moved closer. “You already are.”

“You don’t understand,” I hissed. “It’s not just the shift. Something else is happening. Something is… changing me.”

“That’s why you need to breathe”

“I am breathing!” I roared, startling everyone. “And every breath makes it worse!”

I curled into myself, muscles spasming again. Kane made a small, wounded sound. Nia started crying harder. Serena’s gun clicked as she steadied it, tears in her eyes she didn’t want anyone to see.

“I’m sorry,” Serena whispered. “But if he goes feral, I have to”

“Elara,” I rasped weakly, ignoring Serena. “I need you to go. Please. Please just go.”

Her expression shattered for a second but then hardened.

“No,” she said. “We leave together. You’re not dying here.”

“I didn’t say I was dying,” I growled through clenched teeth. “I said you need to.”

She shook her head. “Not happening.”

The monster liked her stubbornness.

It leaned toward it.

Pushed at my muscles again, testing them.

“Elara,” I warned, “the next pulse, I don't know if it will be me or it.”

Her voice softened. “Then hold onto something. The person you’ve lost to this eclipse, the things you’ve sacrificed. You are not alone.”

God the words hurt.

Because I felt alone in the worst possible way.

Alone inside myself.

Locked in with something that wasn’t me.

Another violent pulse speared through my gut. My spine arched.

claws scraped against the wall as a guttural, monstrous sound tore from my throat.

Elara sucked in a breath.

Serena whispered “Oh my God…”

Kane pulled Nia closer.

I pressed my forehead to the cold tile and forced out, “I can’t…I can’t breathe…I can’t”

My vision blurred.

Red.

Black.

White flashes of pain.

A scream ripped out of me—half human, half creature, all agony.

Nia shrieked.

Kane shouted something.

Serena steadied her gun.

Elara reached for me.

Her fingertips brushed my arm.

The monster inside me RAGED.

“Don’t touch me!” I snarled, jerking back so violently I slammed into the wall.

The impact rattled through my bones, but it wasn’t enough, nothing was enough.

I couldn’t hold on anymore.

My heartbeat stuttered.

My breathing hitched.

The heat in my veins peaked into pure fire.

“Elara”

It came out as a broken, terrified whisper.

“I’m sorry.”

Her eyes widened. “Asher? Asher, wait”

The world tilted.

Colors drained.

My monster roared triumphantly.

And then

Everything crashed all at once.

My body dropped sideways, hitting the ground hard.

My claws retracted halfway.

My breathing stopped for a beat.

Darkness swarmed in heavy, cold, merciful.

Elara screamed my name.

I didn’t answer.

Because the darkness finally won and swallowed me whole.