“You can call it a hearing,” I said, “but this was never about the attacks, it was about me.”
Deryn didn’t deny it.
“I am no threat to you or any other pack,” I stated as calmly as I could. “But my pack is being attacked, there are shifters dying, there is a conspiracy in Blueridge Hollow I need help with…” I held Deryn’s stare. “Will you help me?”
He didn’t answer, none of them did. I fought the urge to rail against their impassivity. “Then I guess we’re done here.”
I walked out of the marquee before they could say another word.
I was halfway along the walk back to the woods that led here when I felt someone approach. Turning, I saw an older alpha who had sat on the chair behind the semi-circle table, one who had barely spoken.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“Your anger burns so bright,” they murmured as they approached. “It is blinding.”
“Alphas who waste my time piss me off,” I growled.
They looked pleased at my anger. “There is a way to save both territories,” they told me. “Without further bloodshed.”
I wasn’t aware I was in danger of losinganyof my territories. I didn’t say that. Instead, I waited, and when they didn’t speak, I fought the urge to snap their neck. “What is it?”
“If you go on like this, you will lose the Hollow.”
My wolf snarled beneath my skin.Was that a threat?“What?”
“War will come for you,” they said. “Give Blueridge Hollow up, return to Stonefang, and you will keep your mate.”
Keep my mate?What did that mean?
“You’re threatening Rowen?” I took a step towards them, my wolf ready to rip out their throat.
“Not me, young one. But two territories? Unchallenged? You are a dangerous alpha, Wolfe. The Pack Council does not take kindly to a power play so bold. Lose her, you lose the Hollow anyway. Stonefang will welcome you back.”
I leaned over them, fighting the urge to give in to my violence, and they looked up at me, unafraid. “You tell them, they come for her, they all die.”
I turned and shifted before I went back into that marquee and killed them all anyway. Bringing me here? This had been nothing but a ploy. They wanted me away from my pack.
Why?
I knew it in my gut that it was because, with me gone, my pack was unprotected.
Mymatewas unprotected.
I ran and prayed to the Goddess that I made it in time.
The forest swallowed me whole—trees blurring past in streaks of shadow and light, earth kicking up beneath my paws, the taste of iron in the back of my throat. The wind roared against my ears, carrying no scent of blood, not yet—but the silence beneath it was worse. Still. Anticipating.
Clouds thickened above the canopy, casting everything in a greenish-gray pallor, like the world was holding its breath. Moss clung to the rocks, damp underfoot, and branches clawed at my fur as I vaulted over fallen logs and tangled roots, heedless of the scrapes, the sting.
The pull in my chest—the thread of the bond—stretched thinner with every mile, and I swore I felt it tremble.
Hold on,I begged silently.Just hold on, Rowen.
Cities I had navigated on the way here passed me in a blur as I ran. Not taking the time to shift and blend like I should.
The further south I ran, the trees began to change as I neared Blueridge Hollow territory—older, gnarled, familiar. My breath was ragged, but I didn’t stop.
Because something was wrong, and the earth itself seemed to know it.
