Chapter 27 Wolfe #2
Killian stopped pacing. “I feel them.”
So did I. It wasn’t scent. It wasn’t sound. It was pressure. The very atmosphere tightening around us like a storm front. The Pack Council wasn’t creeping up on us this time. They were marching.
Straight for us.
A soft voice flicked through the bond—Brand. My whole body stiffened.
“Four Winds. Trapped. Not right here. Keep drugging—"
I swore under my breath. “That was Brand,” I told them both. “He’s in trouble.”
Diesel growled, “Should’ve dragged him back by the throat.”
“He’s been gone too long,” Killian said. The accusation was implied but not spoken. We no longer knew who to trust.
“Too many unknowns,” Diesel said with frustration.
Silence descended on us again, and I stood unmoving as Killian resumed his pacing, and Diesel’s anger burned brighter and hotter.
They had killed our most precious. Taken them from us with brutality and callousness, and the loss still choked me. Words got stuck in my throat, and all I could feel was an anger so big that it was only dwarfed by Diesel’s.
I closed my eyes, but every time I did, I saw her frail body shift into a small gray wolf and leap forward, knowing it would be her death.
“Have you slept?” Killian asked, breaking the silence.
“No,” Diesel and I answered together.
“Me neither.” His voice was heavy with sorrow. “One of us needs to,” he told us with a heavy sigh. “There’s still so much left to fight.”
I clenched my jaw and looked over the horizon. “I’ll sleep when his head is mounted on a spike in front of me.”
“After he’s choked on his own cock and balls,” Diesel growled fiercely. “And his skin peeled from his body.”
“And bathed in salt,” I added.
“Or simply rip his throat out,” Killian snapped impatiently. “Make it clean and simple, but it gets the job done.”
Diesel and I exchanged a look. “No.”
“He will know what suffering is,” Diesel vowed.
We looked away. Eye contact with anyone was hard right now. Grief, fury, betrayal—each emotion shone back at me and only made my temper build.
“Should I ask if you ate?” Killian pressed us both.
Before I could respond, a howl sounded in the distance—low, stretched, unmistakable.
Killian’s lip curled. “They’re signaling.”
“Let them,” I said.
Another patrol arrived from the southern ridge, mud streaking their legs, breath sharp.
“Alpha,” one said, stepping forward, “movement on three fronts. Organized. Looks like the scouts said. At least fifty.”
Fifty was the polite estimate. Fifty usually meant seventy. I nodded.
Diesel squared his shoulders. “They want to box us in.”
“They want to see if we’ll panic,” Killian corrected. “It’s a pressure tactic.”
He was right. The Council liked spectacle. They wanted our pack to feel cornered before another blow landed. The Hollow pulsed under my feet, stronger—like it was pressing power upward, offering itself.
I crouched down and laid my palm on the ridge soil, feeling it vibrate beneath my hand, warm and alive. The land was bracing.
“They know the ritual happened,” I said.
Killian nodded once. “I’d bet my life they felt it from wherever their tents are pitched.”
Diesel snorted. “They’re bitches but not blind.”
A howl broke across the western flank—warning, not attack—followed by Henry’s voice through the mindlink. “Alpha. Wolves running right for us. They’re not slowing down.”
My teeth bared. “How many?”
“Too many.”
I quickly filled Diesel and Killian in.
Killian stiffened. “This doesn’t feel right,” he muttered.
“No,” I growled. “Let’s move.”
We ran to Henry.
“They still can’t cross unless you let them,” Killian said, but it lacked conviction.
Because the truth was we no longer knew. Just like Stonefang was protected when Diesel and I weren’t there. The barrier sealed my pack in, keeping them safe. No one in and no one out. Safe.
Until they weren’t.
I felt Rowen through the bond—alert, steady, present. “Wolfe?”
“With Killian and Diesel, I answered. “Heading west.”
“The druid says the Hollow is shifting.”
Before I could ask what she meant, the ground beneath me pulsed twice—hard—the equivalent of a slammed door.
Diesel yelped in surprise. “Was that…?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “The Hollow’s warning.”
Henry and his patrol were waiting for us. We shifted back to our human forms, pulling on loose shorts as we watched a pack of wolves running up the ridge.
I leaned forward. “Fuck.”
My arm shot out, holding Diesel back. “The barrier, it’s still up. Stay here.”
Killian jerked in surprise. “Holy shit, is that—”
A dark brown wolf I knew well barreled past us and down the slope. A yell went up around us as Pack Council wolves burst from the trees, intent on attack.
“Wolfe?” Killian shouted, his eyes on the small skirmish beneath us.
“Go,” I told him and two others. “Help Cody and bring them home.”
Diesel gripped my arm.
“No, we wait. We’ve left lookout points empty.
We leave, the whole Hollow is vulnerable.
” I didn’t know what was worse: knowing my grief had allowed my packlands to become vulnerable or watching the shifters struggle below us.
And then Killian and two others were there, ripping violence into the attackers with deadly accuracy.
The smaller of the shifters ran towards us, and soon they were all over the barrier.
Lake shifted and threw himself at me. I caught him and held him close as he clung to me. Cody shifted back into human form, Thalia shifting and collapsing into his arms as she sobbed.
“Tariq?” Jaxson asked, and the larger gray wolf shifted into his beta. “Are you hurt?” His eyes scanned his beta.
“No,” the older male said gruffly. “Fucking exhausted, but not hurt.”
Diesel helped Adair to her feet. His fingers were running down the scar on her face, which ran down her neck. “What happened?” he demanded.
“He betrayed us,” Thalia spat out, pushing Cody away. Her blonde hair was matted, her skin dull with exhaustion. “He betrayed us all.” She limped over to Adair. “She was left to die; the shift didn’t heal it,” she said softly, keeping the other woman close.
“Not dead though,” Adair murmured. Her voice was raspy from the damage. Her eyes filled with tears, and I looked around, seeing so many similar looks from my pack. “Not like some.”
Thalia was crying again. “He killed them, Alpha,” she sobbed. “He killed them both.”
I nodded. “I know.” I’d never felt so helpless. I held Lake closer. I wanted to hold all of them closer.
Rowen came running down the path, and Adair pushed off Diesel and ran to her. They collided, holding on tight, sobs wracking her body.
“How did he get in?” Thalia demanded.
I sighed, placing Lake down, despite his cry of protest. “I don’t know,” I told them truthfully. “I don’t know how Axel betrayed us all.”