<h4>Chapter 335: 335-Not My Mate, Please</h4>


    <strong>Clementine:</strong>


    Troy stepped forward and struck Oriana, and Joshua moved into the way.


    Troy pushed him, making him fall, but Joshua got up quickly and spread his arms again.


    "Open the door. Please open the door," someone shouted, breaking the chaos.


    We heard a voice crying from the entrance.


    "What is taking so long?" the person screamed, and we realized that while the noise we had been causing, one of us was still outside.


    "That is Nate," Joshua remarked.


    The same Joshua who had never cared much about the other crusaders suddenly looked anxious, probably because he understood he was the only one left from his own group.


    He began to run toward the entrance, but a voice spoke.


    "I am so guilty."


    As soon as Nate said that, our bodies froze. He had fallen victim to the Whisperer.


    "I’m guilty!" Nate screamed again, and we rushed toward the door.


    As soon as Joshua unlocked it and stepped out, we saw Nate standing there, stepping back from us.


    He held a silver knife to his chest.


    "Nate, please put it down," Joshua urged while I looked around for any sign of the Whisperer.


    "I shouldn’t have left Yash behind." When Nate said that, everyone paused before we began moving toward him, trying to get him to lower the knife, but he kept stepping back.


    "I am guilty of watching the Wendigos enter the mansion, but I was so scared I left Yash behind when he fell. Thest time I saw him, he reached out his hand for help. I am guilty because I knew that Wendigo took him, yet I told no one and even brought everyone back into the same deadly mansion with Wendigos," Nate announced.


    At that point we needed to reach him because he was going to stab himself.


    As soon as we ran toward him, it happened. He stabbed himself.


    "No!" Joshua cried, but he did not reach him in time.


    Joshua copsed to his knees, and stayed in ce, silently staring at the falling body of Nate.


    Everyone screamed and rushed to Nate, trying to pull out the knife.


    Joshua did not move. He stayed on his knees as if he had gone still.


    Nate was gone. We had lost him, and the Whisperer seemed to have grown bloodthirsty because the moment Nate died, I lifted my head and saw the Whisperer in the distance.


    I guessed our attack had made him angrier.


    "Come on, everybody, we need to get back inside!" I yelled, pointing toward the door.


    But right then I noticed Oriana barely standing near the entrance.


    For a moment everyone stared at her. We all knew how vindictive she could be.


    She might have used this moment to shut the door on us.


    "Come on, guys,e back inside, quick!" she screamed, gesturing toward the station, and everyone began to sprint.


    As expected from Yorick, he quickly lifted Nate’s dead body.


    Then we all ran toward the subway station, trying to get away from the Whisperer.


    As we rushed toward the station, a violent force mmed into us and flung everyone backward.


    It wasn’t wind, nothing natural moved like that. The Whisperer was advancing with his arms lifted, shoving us away with an invisible pressure.


    Yorick and Haiden had already made it inside with Nate’s body, and they were reaching out, trying to pull others in.


    But the push hit again, too strong, and it threw the rest of us far from the door.


    Mira struck the pavement hard. Blood streamed from a deep cut on her forehead, and her eyes fluttered as she swayed.


    "I... I don’t think I can stay awake," she whispered.


    She tried to rise, but her knees buckled. She copsed again, tilting her head back like she was fighting to stay conscious.


    "No. Stay with me." I wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her up.


    Ian appeared beside us, he always found a way to be near me, especially when things were falling apart.


    His arm brushed mine as he lifted Mira’s other side, guiding her arm over his shoulder.


    We started moving again, but the Whisperer struck with another brutal wave.


    Ian and I braced Mira as we were thrown back.


    Renee and Sebastian clung to each other, focused only onnding without shattering bones.


    Joshua stood motionless, letting the force toss him wherever it wanted.


    Mira groaned, barely aware of her surroundings. "I’m... I’m passing out..."


    I scanned the chaos, searching for Troy.


    "It’s okay! I’m fine!" he shouted from a distance. Somehow, he’d seen my concern just from a nce.


    "We need to form a circle!" I yelled.


    The idea barely left my mouth before another st knocked us off our feet.


    I would’ve hit the ground hard if Ian hadn’t hooked an arm around my shoulders.


    He stayed upright, one leg braced behind him like his feet were glued to the road.


    When he looked past me at the Whisperer, there was fire in his eyes.


    Troy rushed to grab Mira from us, securing her more tightly.


    The Whisperer was closing in.


    "Everyone—forget the station!" I shouted. "We’re running straight into his path like idiots. Move toward Fleshmingo Town! There’s a safe ce there. We can lock ourselves in or at least buy distance!"


    The group didn’t hesitate. They turned and sprinted away from the monster. I held Ian’s hand as we ran.


    Then a heavy thud sounded behind us.


    I stopped sharply and whipped around, Ian’s hand still in mine.


    And I heard the most cursed words spill out behind me:


    "I am guilty."


    A sharp gasp escaped everyone at the same time while my eyes kept widening.


    In all the chaos, I had forgotten that any one of us could be affected too.


    When it turned out to be my mate speaking, my breath caught in my throat.


    "What are you saying?" I uttered.


    "I am guilty," he repeated.


    "No. You are not." I stepped toward him, but then I saw what he had grabbed.


    During themotion, he had picked up a silver rod that the wind had knocked loose.