Chapter 30 Wolfe #2
He was already moving, bolting back into the trees. Killian followed, crashing into the attackers so forcefully that two of them rolled backward down the hill.
I didn’t go with them. I couldn’t, because the next wave wasn’t hitting the sides; it was coming straight at me. Six wolves burst through the underbrush all at once, their eyes locked on me with coordinated, terrifying purpose.
Assassins. Sent for me.
I shifted back to human mid-step—deliberate—and they lunged.
I caught the first one, twisted, and drove my elbow into his spine.
The second clamped onto my arm; I shifted into my wolf form, muscles bulging with size and weight as I crushed him to the ground.
But two more hit my back. Teeth tore into my flank.
Pain flared. I roared, not in agony—in fury—and slammed backward into a tree, the crack of bone and bark erupting behind me.
One dropped. The other didn’t. The bastard hung on, jaws locked tight. I rolled, crushing him beneath me, then tore him free with a savage shake. My vision went red—blood, rage, bond, Hollow—all blending into one raw instinct.
Protect what’s mine.
A voice snapped through my skull, “Alpha! Behind you!”
I spun around, but it was too late. A massive wolf—bigger than any we’d seen tonight, more enormous than Diesel—hit me with full force, jaws snapping inches from my throat. His weight crushed me into the dirt. His fangs scraped along my jawline. The hot, rancid smell of his breath filled my lungs.
He was strong. Experienced. Trained to kill, not toy.
But so was I.
I slammed my head into his muzzle, feeling the crunch of his snout breaking, then clawed upward, digging my hind legs into the ground and using every ounce of strength to flip him.
We rolled. He landed on top again. Damn it.
He lunged for my throat—then a blur of tawny fur slammed into him from the side.
Killian.
He tore the wolf off me, ripping into its shoulder.
Diesel showed up a second later, striking the assassin’s other flank.
I got to my feet quickly and jumped back into the fight.
We tore him apart together. When the wolf finally went still, panting and broken in the dirt, the air shifted—and the forest fell silent.
Not silent. Quiet.
Waiting.
The Pack Council wolves pulled back again, but not out of fear; they withdrew in formation, watching and studying us, planning their next strike.
Diesel shifted from his human form to his wolf to heal, then back to human. He spat blood onto the ground. I couldn’t tell if it was his or theirs. “They’re still not done.”
I did the same, quickly shifting to heal my wounds. “No,” I growled, chest heaving. “This is the second wave.”
Killian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “How many more do you think they have?”
I stared at the enemy line forming in the distance—controlled, steady, coordinated. “Enough,” I said grimly, “that they don’t expect us to survive the night.”
Diesel watched them, eyes wild. “Then let’s disappoint the bastards.”
“Cody?” I asked them. They both shook their heads. “You came back for me?” I guessed.
“Someone had to,” Diesel said gruffly. “That giant fucker almost had you.”
“Cody?”
“I’m fine. We’re fine. I got help. We held.”
I didn’t even need to ask to know who would have run to his aide. My eyes closed briefly as I braced myself to ask.
“They’re fine, Wolfe.” Cody sounded relieved, pissed, and grateful all at once. “Our wives are fine.”
“You didn’t stay put, mate.” I growled.
“Thalia took off, and I couldn’t let her go alone.” Rowen sounded breathless. “I’m still in the Hollow, so you can’t be grumpy. Are you okay? We’re okay here. No one has gotten past Cody’s line.”
Thalia. One of these days, I’d kick her impulsive butt myself. “I’m fine, stay alert. If you can, go back to the Heartwood.” I didn’t expect her to follow the order, which is why I never gave her one. “Stay safe.”
A howl split the night, a cry of challenge from our enemy. I lifted my head and responded with one of my own.
War wasn’t coming. War was here, and we were still standing.
“They’re coming,” Diesel growled.
I heard the same cry all around the pack. I nodded.
“Let’s finish it.” I shifted back to my wolf. My injuries were healed, but that didn’t mean I was energized; it only meant I was no longer bleeding.
This time, I led the charge against them, no longer defending.
It was time to go on the offensive and break them down.
We surged across the ground like a living avalanche, snarls ripping through the darkness.
They faced our attack head-on. Bodies collided, teeth and claws tearing into each other. It was brutal, fierce and vicious.
One of them slammed into me from the side so hard I felt a bone crack under my shoulder, and another lunged at my flank. I twisted and caught them mid-strike, snapping their neck with my jaws.
On and on we fought. So many that they blurred together, and all I could do was hold them off from taking me down. Slowly, they pushed us back. I couldn’t see Killian or Diesel anymore; all I saw was what was in front of me. My enemy.
There were so many of them.
One landed on my back. I didn’t even see it coming. I went down as its claws dug into me. Its teeth tore into my side, and I grunted in pain. Fuckers. They couldn’t fight me one-on-one; they were coming at me as a pack.
I scrambled to my feet, knowing I was losing blood quickly, but I knew I had to stand up. I had to keep fighting. I struck down the one at my side. With a heave backward, I dislodged the one on my back.
I felt the change. Not in myself, but in the ground. I was back on my packlands. The Hollow didn’t shift, pulse, or whisper—it responded like a living body bracing itself around me.
Wolves coming at my sides stumbled. Their feet slipped where the soil suddenly softened beneath their paws, not ours. Roots held firm for my wolves and became treacherous for theirs.
The Hollow was moving the land, and it was choosing who it let stand steady.
An enemy wolf lunged at me, expecting my weight to drive me backward.
Except the ground held me like stone—unshakable—while under his paws the earth gave just enough for him to lose balance.
I tore out his throat before he recovered.
Another came from behind. I pivoted sharply, and the ridge itself acted like an anchor at my heels, letting me swing with far more force than I should’ve had at that angle.
My jaws crushed into his shoulder, ripping tendon from bone.
Killian’s thoughts slammed into my mind. “It’s helping us. The Hollow—Wolfe, it’s…responding to you.”
This was its territory. My territory. The Hollow wasn’t bending to my Will.
It was fighting for its alpha, and I was fighting for it.
That mutual recognition renewed my energy, so when a large enemy wolf tried to barrel through our line, using momentum and size to bowl me over, he might have succeeded on any other ground.
But the Hollow held firm beneath my stance, and when he crashed into me, I didn’t budge.
I saw their eyes widen just a split second before I grabbed him by the throat and drove him into the ground hard enough to crack the soil beneath us. He didn’t get up again.
“Help them,” I whispered to the land at my feet. “I will not fail you.”
Around me, my pack grew sharper, faster, and steadier. The territory was strengthening them—subtle yet undeniable. Each coordinated movement struck harder. Each push lasted longer. Every blow was landed with the confidence of wolves fighting on ground that chose them.
Diesel ripped free from a pile of bodies, blood running down his flank, and barked out a laugh. “Holy shit, Wolfe—this land loves you!”
Killian snapped at a Council wolf’s face and spat. “I can feel it,” he said in wonder. “It’s singing your name. Remind me to never piss you off again.”
Another wave approached—larger, equipped with our stolen strategies, Axel’s knowledge, and Pack Council discipline.
“Let them come,” I heard the whisper in every fiber of my being—ancient, wise, and angry.
I nodded to let the land know I’d heard it. Because as long as my feet were on this soil, as long as Rowen was somewhere behind me breathing, and as long as this pack fought under my command—the Hollow itself would not let me fall.
I surged ahead once more, unstoppable, with the Hollow bracing every strike and every step—and when I saw fear in the Pack Council wolves’ eyes, I smiled.
This was what they feared. Not just me, but the land beneath us that was mine to defend.
I was Alpha of the Hollow, and tonight my enemy would die.