Chapter 28 Wolfe
Wolfe
“But we’ll find out,” Diesel growled, eyes on Adair, who still held onto Rowen.
“And then we’ll kill him,” I promised them.
Thalia sighed, her head dropping onto Cody’s shoulder. “The pack…” She looked over at Darla. “Everything broke when they died.”
Diesel walked closer to her. “Tell me.”
She didn’t even blink. “It cracked, right down the middle.”
Darla moved forward. “The land split open, swallowed everything, would have taken us too, but something…” She stopped, shaking her head in remembrance.
“It felt like something shoved us,” Thalia said, her voice low.
“Shoved us into moving,” Darla agreed. “And once we started running…”
Thalia looked at me. “We didn’t intend to stop.” She looked over at Adair, who was watching us now. “But…we found them between here and Stonefang. On the pocket of land that separates territories.”
“Neutral ground,” Diesel rumbled.
Thalia smiled tentatively at Tariq. “Grandmother taught me enough when I was younger to give energy to those who needed it most. Channel it into another to help them.”
Cody pulled her closer, hand on her belly. Thalia murmured something too quiet for me to hear, but from the relief on his face, I was sure she was reassuring him that her child was safe.
“Where is he?” I asked her. “Where’s Axel?”
“We left him to die,” Thalia told me, voice like ice. “Her knitting needle sliced him wide open.” Her voice surged with pride. “Their shelter was the first one to fall,” she added.
“He’s dead?” Killian demanded.
Thalia nodded. “Everything there is dead.”
I exchanged a look with Diesel.
“He’s not dead,” Diesel growled.
“I know. But he will be.”
Lake looked up at me, and I picked him up again, holding him tighter as he snuggled into me for comfort. I saw Jaxson’s curious glance, and I didn’t care what wrong conclusion he might draw.
“They’ll all die,” Diesel vowed, gaze sweeping over the exhausted pack. “Every one of them who thought to target our women and children.”
I looked at Jaxson, recognizing the pattern. They struck our elders and our young. One for knowledge, the other to make us act rashly.
“They used them to bait us,” I said with disgust, and I saw his head dip in agreement and something that looked too much like relief that I’d seen it.
Diesel was watching me. “They wanted one or both of us to run out.” I set Lake down quickly.
“We check everything now!” I barked out, trusting Diesel and Killian to know what I meant.
“Rowen, get them safe, stay together!” I yelled. “Lake, stick to Darla!”
My shift happened flawlessly, my wolf running for the southern ridge. Our most vulnerable spot. Axel knew that. Axel knew far too much.
I reached the southern ridge before anyone else. Diesel and Killian gave me updates as I ran. The land outside the territory was empty. We had taken all of Emberfell into the Hollow not long after Jaxson and I spoke. Even Dex, though Cody watched him closely.
The Pack Council wasn’t waiting for me on the southern ridge with their warriors. No. They didn’t send warriors first.
They sent a messenger.
That told me everything I needed to know—they thought they still had the upper hand. They thought we’d bow before they ever had to shed blood.
I heard the leaves rustle, and Killian and Diesel flanked me as we stepped out onto the ridge and walked toward the break in the tree line where the messenger waited.
The Hollow pulsed beneath each step like it was matching our pace. Three shifters waited in front of us—one elder, one warrior, and one lanky male with posture so stiff it looked painful.
The envoy.
I’d seen him before. Council-trained. Taught to speak like a judge, not an alpha. The moment he saw me, his lips tightened—not in fear. In offense. Like the very sight of me defied something in him.
“Alpha Wolfe,” he said, projecting his voice like we were in a fucking courtroom. “By decree of the Pack Council, you are hereby summoned to immediate compliance.”
Diesel muttered, “Delusional.”
Killian didn’t blink.
I walked to the very edge of my territory, arms loose at my sides. “Compliance with what?” I asked. “You’ve thrown a lot of words at us these last weeks. Try being specific.”
The envoy didn’t appreciate the tone. He raised a parchment. Another piece of parchment. Theatrical idiots.
“The Council submits to you the following ultimatum,” he declared, like I hadn’t already prepared to ignore every syllable. “Blueridge Hollow must relinquish its territorial boundaries by sunrise. All pack members will disperse into neighboring territories for reassignment.”
My jaw clenched. Diesel swore under his breath. Killian whispered something vicious I pretended not to hear.
The envoy continued. “The Stonefang territory must be surrendered as well. In acknowledgment of your…irregular dominion, you will return to the Pack Council chamber for trial—”
Diesel’s growl cut him off as he took one step forward. Killian grabbed the back of his shirt.
The envoy cleared his throat. “Failure to comply will result in a full Council-sanctioned strike. Any who resist will be deemed traitors to shifter law.”
A quiet wind rustled the leaves. I folded my arms. “Are you finished?”
The envoy straightened. “There is one final clause.”
Of course there was.
He unrolled the parchment further. “Rowen, daughter of the previous alpha, is to be removed from here and placed into Pack Council protection—”
I didn’t hear the rest. My wolf surged so sharply I felt my vision blur. Killian swore. Diesel let out a sound that was half laugh, half snarl.
Killian blocked my body with his own wolf as I stepped closer, just one pace, enough to force the envoy to retreat one of his. But Killian forced me back a few steps. “No, Alpha. It’s what they want.”
With more willpower than I thought I had, I forced my wolf back. “Let me make something perfectly clear,” I said quietly. The kind of quiet that made the warrior behind him tense. “You have no claim on my mate.”
“She is not in danger—”
“She is mine.”
The envoy lifted his chin. “You misunderstand—”
“No,” I growled, “you misunderstand.” The air tightened. The Hollow throbbed with heat under the soil.
Even the Council warriors shifted uneasily as they sensed it in the air.
“You want the Hollow,” I said. My alpha power rose. “You want the land. You want the child my mate carries. You will never get it.”
The envoy’s eyes flickered. Good. He’d scented it.
“You want too much,” I finished softly.
The warrior behind him moved—half-step, defensive stance. Killian mirrored it instantly. Diesel bared his teeth.
The envoy looked between us and swallowed once. “I will…deliver your response to the Council.”
“Oh, they’ll get the response,” Diesel barked.
I didn’t look at him. My gaze stayed locked on the envoy. “Tell the Council the Hollow stands,” I said. “Tell them they have no power here.”
The envoy hesitated at my open rebellion.
“And tell them,” I added, letting the land surge up through my chest like a living threat, “if they step one foot near my territory again, they won’t have to worry about traitors to shifter law.
” I bared my teeth. “They’ll have to worry about me.
” I held his petrified stare. “Tell them I’m coming for them. All of them.”
The envoy turned sharply, rattled despite himself, and strode back toward the Council forces.
Killian exhaled. “He almost pissed himself.”
Diesel huffed out a laugh.
I watched the envoy try to keep his composure, but ultimately fear took over, and he and the other two with him shifted and ran to deliver the message to the Pack Council that still hadn’t shown itself—all posture, no spine.
“Why didn’t we suspect Axel?” I asked them quietly, knowing my pack was clustered together far from us.
“Because we’ve known him since he was a boy,” Diesel grunted. “He was one of us.”
“Why would he do this?” Killian asked, pain echoing in his voice.
Axel. A wolf who’d eaten at my table. Run at my side. Called me alpha.
I stood there feeling the betrayal, feeling it cut deep. He killed the Grumps. My fists clenched, my heartbeat sounded too loud, while Diesel and Killian stood in front of me, looking how I felt. Like we’d been flayed.
I didn’t yell. Yelling is for men who don’t know what to do next. “Tell me,” I said quietly. “Tell me how I missed it.”
Killian spoke first. “How? I don’t know, Wolfe. I never…” He ran his hand over his eyes. “I would have given him my life; I thought—”
“That he would do the same,” Diesel spoke over him. “We all did.”
“Obviously,” I snapped. “So explain to me how I missed this?”
Killian’s jaw tightened. “We don’t know, Wolfe,” he snapped. “None of us fucking know anything.” He threw his hands in the air. “Is that not fucking obvious?”
“Easy,” Diesel murmured. He reached out and rubbed Killian’s shoulder. “Bottle it, they’ll be pissed if you lose it now.”
The Grumps.
I felt the loss like a blow once more. I took a step back, staggering under the weight of it.
Diesel flinched. I don’t remember ever seeing him flinch.
Killian spoke up, his voice heavy with bitterness. “He wasn’t flagged because he never acted against us. Not once.” He stared at his feet. “He’s fought beside us, killed beside us.”
I dragged a hand down my face. I didn’t… I exhaled loudly. It was…devastating. Losing Stonefang—my first pack—felt like someone had reached into my chest and torn something loose. Losing the Grumps felt a thousand times worse.
“Do you blame us?” Diesel asked, voice low.
I met his look with surprise. “No,” I told them. “Goddess no. To blame you would be to blame everyone, and there’s only one wolf to blame here, and it’s not us.”
Killian exhaled shakily, shoulders dropping an inch. Diesel’s spine straightened.
I wasn’t finished. “Axel wasn’t able to betray us because he was stronger or smarter,” I said. “He betrayed us because he knew how we think—how we protect. He used our loyalty against us.”
Killian nodded grimly. “You think he survived?”
“Yes.” I didn’t hide it. “He won’t survive the next time.” I looked back towards the pack hall. “I need to go back, be an alpha, reassure the pack I’m strong enough to fight for them.” I bowed my head under the heaviness of it all. “I can’t let them down again.”
“When have you ever let them down?” Diesel asked gruffly. He squeezed my shoulder. “It’s like I told this one,” he said, with a wink at Killian. “We beat this first, and when every shifter this side of the world hears your howl and knows these are our packlands, then we can grieve.”
My eyes rested on the top of the ridge. “I’ll hold you to that,” I murmured, feeling the tug of the ridge in my chest.
“I want to check, Adair,” Diesel said. “And Thalia.” He shook his head. “Only that female would give her energy to two shifters when she needs her energy for her young one.”
Killian jerked in surprise. “Thalia’s pregnant?” He smiled, a genuine smile. “A Thalia and Cody hybrid?” He gave a soft chuckle. “Damn, I need to see this. Them two? Parents?” He almost looked gleeful. “Goddess, it’ll be chaos.”
“And Brand?” I asked them. “He’s in trouble.” Frustration swelled once more. “I can’t help him.”
“Then we’ll find someone who can,” Diesel reasoned. “We can’t leave. Killian would only go if you used your Will on him,” he added, and my other beta grunted in agreement. “And you need him here. We’ll figure it out.”
“Food,” Killian told us both. “We need to eat.”
We headed back to the pack hall, and as we approached the clearing, my steps slowed as a ripple of movement caught my attention—the pack gathering. Warriors. Elders. Young wolves with fear in their eyes. All of them looking at me. Not for comfort. For direction?
The air in the clearing went still. Not mystical. Not magical. Just…focused. Scores of wolves turning toward one center point.
Us. Diesel, Killian, and me.
A hum built in the pack—not sound but tension pulling tight between bodies. Spine to spine. Fang to fang. A resonance. Every wolf aligned with the others instinctively, steps shifting, posture straightening, breath syncing.
Pack unity. My pack.
For the first time in my life, I felt my presence hit them like a shockwave—not land-given, not Goddess-touched. Just authority forged in blood and mistakes and hard choices.
I stepped forward, and every wolf dropped to one knee.
Every. Single. One.
Diesel let out a slow breath. Killian bowed his head.
I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t expect it. But I knew what it meant.
Stonefang was gone. Axel had betrayed us, and the Pack Council had issued their final ultimatum.
But the Hollow? These wolves? They were with me, and that was enough. I looked over them, letting the silence stretch, heavy and binding.
“Stonefang has fallen,” I said. “We have been betrayed. So listen well.” Every head lifted.
“They want us divided. They want us scared. They want us broken.” A low growl rolled through the clearing.
“But they forgot something.” I stepped forward, my voice rising—not loud, but lethal. “We are one pack.”
The pack roared back, a unified sound that shook breath from my lungs. I lifted my chin, my voice ringing through the trees. “They took Stonefang. They will take nothing else.”
Another roar.
I turned to Diesel and Killian. “Eat. Sleep if you have to. Then get the warriors ready,” I said. “We move at dusk.”
Diesel grinned, sharp and feral. Killian nodded once, already shifting into commander mode.
“Rise.”
As the pack rose around me—ready, resolute, beaten but not unbroken—something settled hard and certain in my chest. I looked over the clearing and met Jaxson’s watchful gaze.
The Pack Council could send its army. They could send their traitors. They could take what was precious to us.
But they’d missed something crucial.
You can’t scare a pack that’s lost everything except each other, and you sure as hell don’t corner wolves who have nothing left to surrender.
Because those wolves are vicious and don’t stop until every single drop of blood of their enemy is spilled.
Every single drop.