Chapter 16 #2
I’d been traveling up north with Killian.
Lars sent us on a fact-finding mission. I think he knew before I did that Killian would be my beta.
An alpha who ruled his pack with fear had grabbed us both and had known I was an alpha.
The fucker put me through a night of hell until my wolf roared out of me, my Will finally overcoming his, breaking us free.
As he’d lain at my feet, broken, bloody, he’d laughed and told me he knew I had it in me.
The violence.
The viciousness.
The rage.
That night, I’d looked into the eyes of a power-hungry alpha and seen my future self if I wasn’t careful.
My Will was a gift. Not a weapon.
And now…now I was going to use it on my whole pack.
My heart was heavy with the knowledge, so I looked to the stars, to the Goddess, and I waited for an answer that was never coming.
“Dunno if you’re pissing into the wind or thinking about jumping,” Diesel muttered as he approached. “I do know you gave me a fucking heart attack when I looked up and saw you standing there, perched like a fucking idiot on the face of a cliff.”
I grinned, not turning. “I asked the Goddess for a sign, and I got you.” I turned my head as my beta came to stand nearby. “Do you think you’re my answer or a heavenly fuck you?”
Diesel grinned in the night, his teeth white in the moonlight. “I’m both.” He was wearing black jeans and nothing else. “Where’s your clothes?”
I gestured behind me, down the trail. “Meh.”
“Meh. Right.” He swore under his breath. “So…this soul searching, do I assume you’ve committed genocide, or you’re thinking about it?”
I hid my smile at his tone. “Meh.”
“Sullen and broody really doesn’t suit you,” he grumbled. I felt cloth hit my bare legs. “C’mon down, Alpha, let’s talk this out like men and not touchy teenagers.”
I turned from the ridge. “You think I’d jump?”
“You?” Diesel produced a cigarette from fuck knows where. “Nah. You’re too stubborn to jump.” He looked across the void to the mountain beyond. “I think you’d try to fly, though.”
I grinned, the two of us looking across and back at each other. “I could—”
“Get me killed when your mate finds out I dared you to try?” Diesel took a drag. “Not for me. So…who’s talking first?”
“What’d you find?” I asked him as I pulled on the shorts he’d given me.
“What did you find?” he asked instead.
“Betrayal.”
He sniffed. “Yup, me too.”
My head turned, my wolf alert. I peered far down into the valley below. I listened to the ripple of power through my body.
Diesel whistled low. “I’m going to guess you just felt that too.”
We shared a look. “Diesel…what did you do?” I asked him carefully.
“Not me.” His eyes widened in protest. “Not me.”
“The territory doesn’t just seal itself,” I grumbled as we both started down the mountain.
“You shouldn’t have asked her for a sign,” he bit back. “She’s a tenacious bitch at the best of times.”
The ground rumbled beneath us, and I shot him a look of disbelief. “I’m going to die on this ridge because Luna finally decided to kick your ass for your insolence, fucking asshole,” I yelled at him.
“You know I hate to be lonely,” he said with a grin as the two of us picked up our pace as the stones started to shudder. He looked over his shoulder. “Ah fuck, Wolfe, run.”
I didn’t question, I felt it. Landslide.
We shifted and raced down the mountain as the mountain itself raced after us. It stopped halfway, but we didn’t; both of us had the wind at our tails and recklessness in our hearts. I heard Her laughter as we ran, and my wolf reveled in it.
The Goddess was with me.
At the bottom, I turned in a pivot and looked up towards the peak. Towards where the full moon sat heavy and fat just above the peaks, it looked like the mountain itself was holding it aloft.
I dipped my head in acknowledgment, and I felt Diesel do the same beside me, his wolf bowing low.
Luna is happy with her alpha, he told me, pride in his voice.
I turned from the mountain towards the Hollow. Tell me everything.
We reached the Hollow mid-morning and kept walking to the western edge. Diesel and I walked over the territory, and at some point, I felt Brand flank me on the other side, both alert, both watching.
We reached the edge of the territory, and Diesel and I shifted, taking the pants that Brand handed us both.
I turned just as Killian appeared out of the trees, Cody and Thalia just behind him. I looked past them as Rowen stepped out, hair off her face, eyes alert.
No fanfare. No hesitation.
She moved like she owned the damn mountain.
And maybe she did.
She wore black combat pants, a leather jacket, and hair braided tightly. No makeup. No smile. Just that sharp, unreadable stare as her boots hit the ground.
I didn’t move.
Neither did she.
The space between us cracked with tension, but I held it. Held her. Let her come to me on her terms, but not without knowing I’d called her for a reason.
She stopped a few feet away. “What is that?” She looked around her. “What am I feeling?”
Killian was looking between me and Diesel. “Another barrier?”
Rowen looked at the space between us, her eyes wide. “How?”
“We’re going to figure that out,” Diesel said with a shrug.
She didn’t blink. “Wolfe?”
“Princess.”
Behind her, the rest of Stonefang gathered—and I felt a few shifters come up behind us, drawn by the scent of her, by the shift in the air that always seemed to follow when she and I were in the same place at the same time.
She glanced around. “We can cross?”
I nodded. “Only the ones I trust.” Killian was already walking over the territory boundary, and my alpha power swelled as my beta stood at my side. He embraced me warmly.
“Good to see you,” he greeted, doing the same to Brand and Diesel.
Cody came next, Thalia a moment behind him. Rowen stood. Unsure for a moment, she walked towards me and crossed easily. I saw her surprise.
“You trust me now?” Her voice was soft but sharp enough to gut.
“I trust the bond,” I said. “And the fact that you didn’t even ask what happened that I asked all of you here.”
Her jaw tightened. She looked away—toward the trees, toward the Hollow, the mountain rising above it all.
“I came home, Wolfe,” she said. “The Hollow is my home.”
I nodded once. “That’s good. Because the Hollow needs you more than I do.” My hand reached out for her, and she met me halfway, our hands clasping lightly together. “But I still need you.”
She looked up at me, and something in her eyes cracked—just a flicker. Not surrender. Not forgiveness for sending her away. But maybe recognition.
I felt the pack looking, watching, seeing. The bond wasn’t sealed. But every shifter could feel it.
Could feel us.
And for the first time in days, the Hollow didn’t feel like it was splintering beneath my feet.
It felt like it was about to fight back.