Chapter 25
Rowen
The morning had started normally enough.
Brand had asked me to go over the patrol rotations with him—an olive branch from the older beta, which I took willingly.
A few of the younger pack had argued over training techniques, and Killian had already threatened to put his foot up their asses if they didn’t stop whining and get back into the training ring and learn.
Diesel had left the day before, taking a small contingent of shifters, Stonefang and Hollow alike, back to Stonefang Pack, and the druid had watched them go like an eerie specter.
Axel and Cody were on patrol. With Wolfe and Diesel gone, the remaining members of his inner circle ensured they were in most patrol runs. Thalia had jumped in too, and I loved the fact that these males, these males built like human tanks, made room for her, like she was their equal.
Until I realized they thought of her that way too, and I knew I had misjudged them when they came here. They weren’t trying to change my pack, they were trying to make it stronger, and I had been so blind.
Business as usual, an almost normal day in the Hollow, if you discounted the fact that its alpha was not here.
But by midday, the air shifted.
Not the weather—not exactly. It was sunny, still warm. No clouds, no storm in sight. But I could feel something in my skin, crawling beneath it like the promise of pressure before a downpour.
In my chest, the bond pulled taut. Wolfe?
There was no answer, but it didn’t feel like absence. It felt like movement. Speed. Panic barely contained. I pressed my hand to the curve of my ribs, right over my heart, and closed my eyes.
I felt it again.
A shiver. A tremor along the bond that said he’s coming—not in control, not like before. This wasn’t just him returning from a Council summons.
This was run or lose everything.
My breath hitched.
“Something’s wrong,” I said aloud, barely aware that I’d spoken. Thalia looked up from the table, her brows drawing tight.
“What is it?”
I didn’t answer. We were in the pack hall, and she followed me as I stood and moved to the doors, looking out at the forest where the trees grew thick and old, where the shadows crept even in daylight. The woods were too quiet. Like the earth had exhaled and refused to breathe in again.
And the bond…the bond throbbed in my chest now, sharp and aching. My skin prickled.
He was close.
But so was something else. I didn’t know what was coming, but I knew it wasn’t finished. Something had followed Wolfe back.
Or waited for him to leave.
Either way, it was already here, and I was no longer sure we had time to prepare. I didn’t wait for confirmation.
I ran from the hall and raced to the training ring, Killian’s head snapping up when he saw me running.
“I want every patrol within our perimeter, not outside it. I want the north trail watched. I want our youngest and our elders inside the west wing of the hall, and I want eyes on anyone who is in doubt. Now.”
Killian blinked. “Rowen—”
“There’s no time,” I snapped.
Killian didn’t pause a second time. He turned and started barking out my orders to the trainees.
The moment shattered the stillness. I heard Thalia’s boots as she joined me. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Something’s coming,” I told her, seeing Killian turn back to us. “I don’t know what. But Wolfe’s on his way back, and the bond—Killian, it feels wrong. Like he’s too far but too close all at once.”
He didn’t question me. Just squared his jaw and turned away. “Everyone, formation, stick to your patrol, no deviations. If in doubt, strike first.”
A low-level hum began vibrating in the pack’s center, the kind of buzz that came with too many wolves holding their breath at once. It spread fast—tension leaping from one pair of eyes to the next. Whispers carried.
“Rogues?”
“No alarm yet.”
“Is the alpha back?”
“Where’s Rowen going?”
I walked fast through the heart of the Hollow, scanning every face. A few met my eyes. Most didn’t.
Some didn’t belong. There were wolves here I didn’t recognize.
Not that unusual—Stonefang and Blueridge were still integrating, and with Wolfe gone, a lot of the Stonefang wolves kept to themselves.
But that wasn’t it. I wasn’t imagining the stiffness in their movements. The way a few lingered just outside the communal ring like they were waiting.
Or watching.
My wolf prowled just beneath my skin. Restless. Agitated.
I stopped cold.
Two younger wolves near the storage shed—they stiffened when they saw me looking. One glanced over his shoulder toward the tree line. Not toward an exit. Toward a signal.
I stepped forward, and they vanished into the shadows before I could say a word.
I didn’t need to say anything. I’d seen it in their eyes. Whatever was coming, it wasn’t from the forest. Not from beyond the Hollow.
It was already here.
“Rowen?” Killian was behind me.
“Why are you following me?” I asked him. “I need you on—”
“I don’t leave your side, Rowen.”
I looked up at the big beta, ready to protest. With his short brown hair, muscles bulging, pale blue eyes hard like chips of ice, and his face stoic. I didn’t even bother arguing. He could ignore me better than anyone.
We found Brand near the eastern watchpoint, pacing like a caged animal.
He turned before Killian could call his name. His eyes swept over me once, and whatever he saw there—whatever tension lined my face—snapped him to attention.
“Wolfe?” he asked, already walking toward us.
“He’s coming back,” I confirmed, “but something’s wrong. I can feel it through the bond.”
Brand didn’t ask for proof. Didn’t question. That was the difference between a soldier and a leader—he was both, and he trusted instinct over comfort.
“Where?” he asked Killian. “Where’s the weakness?”
“I don’t know yet,” he admitted.
“We’ve got too many unfamiliar wolves in the Hollow,” I told them, keeping my voice low. “And I just saw two disappear behind the storehouse when they saw me coming.”
Killian swore under his breath as Brand looked past me, eyes narrowing. “We need to close ranks.”
“Exactly.” Kilian was already moving. “We start with pulling the western perimeter in—station guards at every choke point in the Hollow. Only us or vetted Stonefang wolves go near the alpha’s house or the pack’s central stores. I want at least two of ours at every junction.”
“Patrol the ridge?” Brand asked, already thinking ahead.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We’re not defending against an outside force.”
Killian looked at me. “You think they’re already here?”
I nodded. “I know it.” I looked around us. “I just don’t know where.”
He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Alright. I’ll handpick the patrols myself. Anyone new or anyone acting even remotely twitchy—they’re detained, questioned, and disarmed. No exceptions.”
“Thalia already has people gathering the pups and elders in the west wing. Put someone in charge of securing it from the inside.”
“Bash,” Killian said instantly. “No one gets through him.”
“Good.” I met their gazes. “Blueridge Hollow holds, no question.”
“We burn anyone who tries otherwise,” Brand corrected grimly, then took off without waiting for dismissal.
I turned toward the main trail that led through the pack grounds, scanning again. Watching every step. Every blink. Every shifter that moved, assessing if they were too still or too calm.
My skin prickled as my wolf bristled beneath the surface. Not panic. Not yet. But whatever this was—it was ready to strike.
“We need to move,” I told Killian, turning toward the south. My eyes locked on the storage shed. “They’re going to flank us.”
We started jogging to the southern ridge, when the scent of blood hit first. Sharp. Coppery. Wrong.
Then came the screaming.
Not fear. Not yet.
The first screams were warnings—howls laced with urgency, not terror. The kind that split the air just seconds before impact.
Then the ground trembled. Not from the wind. Not from the weather.
From wolves.
Dozens. Maybe more.
Killian and I stopped and immediately went into defensive mode as I took it all in. These weren’t rogues from the wilds. They weren’t shadows slinking through the trees.
These shifters had names. Had walked my father’s halls. Slept under our roof. They were traitors who waited.
Who watched.
Who waited for Wolfe to be gone and for me to be alone to defend my home. My pack. They thought that with Wolfe gone, I would be vulnerable.
They thought wrong.
Killian was steady at my side. “They’re coming from the east, the ridge. But we’ve got movement in the north flanks too. This is coordinated.”
My breath left me in a sharp burst. “They waited for us to split. Just now, they waited until Diesel was gone. Brand and the others, we’re split up.”
“No matter.” Killian nodded once, then bared his teeth. “They underestimated us.”
I nodded.
“Remember your training,” he spoke quickly. “I won’t leave your side, but this is going to get ugly.”
“It’s already ugly.”
Killian rolled his neck. “Then let’s make it worse.”
I shifted. Right there in the clearing, my bones cracked and realigned, and the moment my paws hit the dirt, I felt the soil of the Hollow answer. My wolf let out a snarl that rattled the trees, and it was echoed by dozens more. Not just Blueridge. Not just Stonefang.
Wolves loyal to their alpha. To us.
To this pack.
They ran to us, shifters ready to fight beside Killian and me, and I didn’t lead them with words.
We attacked.
Through the smoke, through the blood, through the howl of traitors and defenders alike. My claws tore through a body that lunged at me from the left. A familiar face—I didn’t care. He fell. He stayed down.
I heard Killian behind me, teeth snapping.
Felt Brand as he joined us, fury tearing through the ground as he took down two at once.