Chapter 13
Rowen
Wolfe had been back three days, and every day, his temper got shorter.
I knew how he felt. Preparing to leave the Hollow felt like trying to pack up a storm. Every time I thought I had a firm footing under me, the wind inside me changed direction. Every time I tried to breathe, the Hollow breathed with me—too loud, too close, too aware.
I wasn’t used to it, and I wasn’t sure I ever would be.
The Pack Council summons lay on the table beside me. A single sheet of parchment. Crumpled, torn at the corners, just a simple piece of paper. Almost weightless. Yet its contents weighed more than the heaviest burden.
A summons that said my husband and I were required to attend the Pack Council. Required. Like Wolfe belonged to them. Like we belonged to them.
My fingers reached for it, but I pulled back. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to burn the summons or tear it into enough pieces to choke the entire Pack Council.
Behind me, Wolfe’s pacing scraped against my nerves—long strides, sharp turns, the sound of a male trying very hard not to punch a hole in the wall of my father’s old office.
Diesel and Killian had gathered the pack outside the pack hall, trying to keep them calm.
The pack sensed the tension between their alpha and me.
The entire Hollow was wound tight, waiting. Staring. Whispering. Because everyone knew two things now. A war was coming, and I was carrying the next alpha.
The thought made my stomach twist—not from fear, but something much deeper, something that I hadn’t named yet because I didn’t know how. He’d barely had time to settle inside me and already the world wanted to rip him from us. I placed a palm on my stomach without thinking.
“Princess.” Wolfe’s voice was low, almost tender.
I turned. He didn’t look tender. He looked like a man barely holding himself together. Eyes too sharp, jaw locked, every muscle pulled tight. The mate bond hummed between us, a low, insistent pull, like it too wanted to bolt the door and barricade us inside the Hollow forever.
“You’re not coming,” he said quietly.
There it was. The fight he didn’t want to have but wouldn’t avoid. “And if I don’t,” I asked softly, “what message does that give them?”
“I don’t give a fuck what message it gives them. It keeps you safe,” he growled.
“It tells them that I’m hiding.”
He flinched. I stepped toward him; this wasn’t a fight to have where we yelled at each other—we’d had enough of those, and I was sure we’d have many more if we survived this. I let my fingers brush across his stomach, reassurance for both of us.
“I’m not hiding. The Hollow’s magic is moving because of me, Wolfe. If I don’t stand by your side, they’ll say the bond broke. Or was false. Or was forced on me.”
His chest rose sharply. “I won’t risk you.”
“And I won’t let them use my absence as a weapon to use against you.” I reached up, stroking his cheek. “You protect me, I protect you. Remember?”
His jaw flexed so hard I heard his teeth grind. “I remember,” he said, voice low enough to vibrate in my bones. “But protecting you doesn’t include parading you into a nest of shady fuckers who already want your head on a spike.”
“They want your head on a spike.” I stepped into his space, spine straight. “Mine is just a bonus.”
“Not funny,” he growled.
“Not a joke.” His glare was one of fire, and I felt a momentary pang of sorrow for the Pack Council because my mate was ready to kill them all.
He turned away, pacing once, shoulders rigid. “You’re pregnant, Rowen. Pregnant. And you want me to march you into the Council’s hall like it’s a fucking celebration—”
“I never said that.”
“—while they prepare to tear us apart—”
“I never said that either.”
He spun, eyes blackened, wolf right at the surface. “Then what are you saying? Because all I’m hearing is you asking me to risk the only thing that matters.”
“I’m not the only thing that matters,” I reminded him, feeling my own temper rise.
“The Hollow, Stonefang, our pack!” My temper sparked.
“And, Wolfe, I’m not asking.” His head snapped toward me like a struck animal.
I didn’t back down. “I’m telling you,” I said, voice sharp, steady, and sure. “I will not stay behind.”
His breath stuttered in outrage. “You don’t get to tell me—”
“I do because I’m your mate.”
He said nothing, and I pressed forward.
“And I do when the land itself reacts to me. When the magic wants me there. When the Council’s lies hinge on my silence. When the Hollow chose both of us, Wolfe—not just you.”
“That’s not the point.”
“It’s exactly the point.”
His wolf snarled, his emotions leaking through the bond in a hot rush of fury and fear. Mine answered instinctively, rising beneath my skin, sharp and wild, refusing to be overshadowed.
“You are carrying my son,” he said, voice breaking on the word my like he couldn’t control it. “And you want me to walk into the Council chamber knowing they’ll sense it and could—”
“Could what?” I snapped. “Use me against you? They already are. My absence is their weapon, Wolfe. If I’m not with you, they win before we even step inside.”
He shook his head, almost desperate. “I will not lose you. You understand that, right?”
“I will not hide,” I whispered. “That’s not how we survive this.”
He let out a harsh sound and grabbed the edge of the table like he needed something to hold onto. “Rowen…” His voice was shredded. “You can’t ask me to choose between being an alpha and being a mate. You can’t ask me to choose between the pack and you.”
“I’m not,” I said softly. I stepped closer, pressing my hand to his chest, feeling the rapid, furious pounding beneath his skin. “I’m asking you to stand with me,” I whispered. “Like you always have. Like you told me we did. Together.”
He shut his eyes, pain dragging across his features like a blade. “And if something happens to you?” He sounded broken this time.
“Nothing will happen to me that doesn’t happen to us both,” I whispered. “But we could lose everything if I don’t go.”
His eyes snapped open. That was the truth he couldn’t outrun. Because it wasn’t just about us. It was about the Hollow. Our pack. The magic awakening under our feet. The unborn child who carried the future of our pack.
A long, heavy silence stretched between us. His breathing slowed. His shoulders dropped an inch. Not agreeing with me, but accepting. Finally, he stepped closer, cupped my face in both hands, and pressed his lips to mine, breath shaking.
“You infuriate me,” he murmured.
“Good,” I said with a small smile. “It means you’re listening.”
A reluctant huff left him—almost a laugh, almost a growl.
For a moment, neither of us spoke. The air pulsed—another ripple from the Hollow beneath our feet. The roots stirred. The ground hummed, reminding us it was there. Not that either of us could ignore it.
Wolfe’s eyes flicked to the floor. “It’s reacting to you again.”
“I think it’s just restless.” How strange that we could have this discussion about the land being alive, like we were discussing the weather.
He dragged both hands through his hair, then gripped the back of his neck like he wished he could strangle the entire Pack Council with one hand. “Everything in me is telling me to keep you here,” he said hoarsely. “Safe. Hidden. With Killian and every warrior in the Hollow between you and danger.”
“Everything in me,” I murmured, placing his hand on my stomach, “is telling me to stand with you.”
His wolf surged, hot and sharp, pushing through the bond until I could barely breathe for how much he wanted to shield us. For how much he couldn’t. “Rowen…” His voice cracked halfway.
“I know,” I whispered. “I’m scared too, but I will not hide.”
He pulled me in, forehead pressing to mine, his hands cradling my hips like he was already afraid I’d disappear. The bond throbbed, steady and fierce. “You’re pregnant,” he murmured, like saying it made it real all over again.
“I know.”
“I won’t do it.” He pulled his head back and looked at me. “You can’t come.”
“Yes. I can.”
The mask dropped, shielding his emotions from his eyes. “I hate this.” He kissed me quickly. “As your alpha, you will remain here.”
“Wolfe—”
A sharp knock broke my rising protest. Brand stuck his head through the doorway, absolutely failing to hide his worry. “We need to move, or we’ll be traveling at night. And Killian’s threatening to sedate himself if he has to wait any longer.”
Killian’s voice floated in from outside. “Tell her I’m not sedating myself, I’m sedating YOU, you insufferable—”
“Out,” Wolfe snapped. Brand vanished with the speed of someone valuing his life. Wolfe turned back to me, the storm gathering behind his eyes. “My word is final.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I shook my head. “I’m your mate first. I was summoned too, by name. You cannot override this. You cannot stop this, Wolfe.”
“I can fucking try!” he yelled, frustration and anger spilling from him.
The door opened and Diesel walked in, not caring at all that we were in the middle of a private conversation. “I told you it was pointless.” He looked me over. “Stay close to me,” he said. “At all times.”
“Thank you, but I’ll be beside my mate.” I saw the flash of respect in Diesel’s eyes.
Wolfe cursed. He glared when Diesel chuckled. “Fuck off,” he mumbled.
“Alpha.” Diesel mockingly bowed as he left the room.
“Asshole,” Wolfe muttered when the door closed, and we both heard the beta’s chuckle. “If something feels wrong, you tell me. If the Hollow reacts, you tell me. If you feel even a hint of—”
I kissed him. Quick, sharp, stealing his breath and his anger all at once. “I’m not helpless,” I murmured. “I can fight, I’m not defenseless.”
“You’re vulnerable, don’t forget that.”
I pressed my lips to his. “Our child will learn early that his parents don’t run.”
A reluctant smile twitched at his mouth. “Stubborn.”
“You love it.”
“Unfortunately.” His eyes searched mine and then he groaned. “You win,” he muttered.
“I know.”
He kissed me—angry, hungry, claiming, surrendering. His thumb stroked my cheek once, reverent and fierce in the same breath. When he pulled back, his voice was steadier.
“We go together.”
I nodded. “We go together.”
He held me for one last heartbeat—one last soft moment before the world demanded we show our claws again—then took my hand and led me outside.
Killian straightened immediately. Diesel fell into step beside him. The patrol waited.
And the Hollow…breathed. The druid stood at the very back, but I saw them watching, waiting. They’d also wanted me to stay behind.
“Rowen and I will go together,” Wolfe said, his voice carrying through the trees.
The pack dipped their heads. “Killian will be with us,” he told them, and if I didn’t know better, I’d have said he was purposefully avoiding eye contact with a certain beta.
“Brand, Diesel, Cody, and Axel will remain.”
There was a huff behind me, and I didn’t need to look to know it was Diesel. He wasn’t happy he’d just been told to stay behind. Killian murmured something to him, low and sharp, and Diesel snapped back, but neither stepped out of line.
The Hollow seemed to be sending me a warning, a caution, to be careful. I tightened my grip on Wolfe’s hand, letting the warmth of him steady the rising hum under my skin.
“I’m ready,” I told him.
He looked at me the way he always did when he didn’t know whether to kiss me or throw me over his shoulder and lock me inside.
I wasn’t sure if he thought I was the bravest or most infuriating wolf alive.
He glanced behind himself once. I didn’t need to look to know it was at Diesel. I was staying out of that fight.
“Let’s go,” Wolfe murmured to me.
We stepped forward—toward the summons, toward the Council, toward whatever future they thought they could dictate.
They were wrong.
We were coming.
Together.