Chapter 20 #2
I let the words settle. Didn’t fill the silence that followed. They needed to sit with it.
“There is no room in this pack for wolves who forget who they stand beside.” No one moved. I could feel Rowen entering behind me, her presence a shadow at my back. I didn’t look over at her. I knew she was with me. Knew that having her by my side made me stronger.
“One by one,” I said, “you will come forward. You will speak your truth. Or I will take it.”
A wave of unease moved through the crowd like wind across dry leaves.
“If your heart is clean, you have nothing to fear.” I cast my gaze over them all. “If it’s not”—I smiled, slow and cold—“then run now. Because this is your only chance.”
No one ran.
Not yet.
Somewhere, in the depths of the pack’s collective silence, I felt something crack and then start to burn.
I turned to Diesel.
“Start with the outer patrol. The wolves who ran routes near the Hollow during the last three attacks. One by one.”
He nodded and barked a name.
Billy. A younger Stonefang wolf. Quiet. Fast. Loyal, from what I’d seen. But I didn’t trust appearances anymore, not even ones I’d helped train.
Billy stepped forward, tense, shoulders squared. He knelt without being told. Smart. But unnecessary. I didn’t need them on their knees. Not physically. Mentally, I would make them bow.
That was enough.
“Do you know who’s passing information?” I asked.
“No, Alpha.”
“Have you spoken to anyone outside the Hollow about our patrols, our movements, anything?”
“No, Alpha.”
I reached for the thread that connected us. My Will surged—sharp, clear, and I pressed as I wrapped it around him. Not enough to hurt, just enough to uncover lies.
His body stiffened, but he held. No twitch. No deflection. No resistance. I asked my questions again, in his mind, through the link. When I was done, I nodded once. “Stand.” He did, and I waved him aside. “Next.”
The second wolf was Edric, Blueridge-born. Middle-aged. His protests over the packs joining had been heard by many.
He hesitated. Just a blink. Wrong move. My wolf snarled, and despite what I’d just said, I gave the command. “Kneel.”
He did—slower than Billy. Shoulders tight.
“Have you passed information outside the Hollow?”
“No.”
I pressed. His mouth trembled. My Will rolled through him like a tide as I asked him the question again.
“I said no!” There was a crack in his voice. A wobble in his jaw.
“You’re lying,” I said flatly, and I saw him flinch.
“I—I only told my cousin. She’s not a threat. She lives near the edge of—”
“You spoke of patrol routes. Movements.”
“It wasn’t—”
Diesel stepped forward, voice like frost. “You lied to your alpha.”
His body trembled. Sweat streaked his temples. I let the power settle into him fully, forcing him to feel what it meant to betray his pack. Only when he whimpered did I release him.
“Take him,” I said to Diesel. “Hold him in the cells. We’ll question his cousin next.”
Diesel nodded and dragged him out.
The room was silent.
I looked out over the rest of them. Dozens of faces. Some wide-eyed. Some hard. Some blank masks hiding flickers of fear.
“This will not stop until every shadow has been cleared. Until every secret has been dragged into the light.”
I let the silence stretch again. Let the weight press down.
“I will not allow my pack to bleed because of cowards hiding behind tradition. If you’re loyal—stand with me.”
Several wolves dropped to one knee. More followed. Row by row. I saw Killian roll his eyes as they did the very opposite of what I’d asked them to do. Stand. But it was enough.
There were a few who refused to move. Their gazes stared back at me, defiantly. Did it make them traitors? Or wolves who refused to bow? I marked them, logging their names and memorizing their faces. Lies would not survive this day. When it was done, I turned to Killian and Brand.
“Continue the questioning. I’ll start with them.” I jerked my head to the ones who hadn’t moved. “No one can leave the Hollow right now. And anyone caught whispering to outsiders—”
“They won’t make it that close to the boundary,” Killian said.
Rowen stepped up beside me. “What about me? What do you want me to do?”
I turned to her, reaching for her hand as easily as breathing. “You’ll be with me,” I told her as I looked back at the ones who still sat unmoving. “I’ll deal with these ones in your father’s office myself.”
Her fingers twitched in mine, but she didn’t pull away. Didn’t argue. She nodded once—sharp, sure—and I felt her wolf settle against mine like a blade sliding into a sheath. Not submissive. Not questioning. Aligned.
“Axel,” I said without breaking our gaze. “Send them through. Two at a time.”
He moved without hesitation.
Rowen’s hand tightened in mine as I led her from the hall, past wolves who were still on their knees, a part of me hating their submission, but I didn’t let it rattle me.
The hallway to the office felt different this time—heavier somehow. But not just from tension. From change. The kind of shift that cracks stone and bends steel.
Rowen stayed close. Not following—walking beside me. Not just my mate now. Not just the Hollow’s heir. She was part of this reckoning.
We reached the office. I opened the door, held it for her. She paused only a moment, then stepped inside, her chin high, her spine straight. I followed and closed the door behind us.
“I’m not going to hurt them,” I said.
“I wouldn’t respect you if you did.”
I turned to her. “Then we’re agreed.”
Her mouth curved—not into a smile, but into something fiercer. Something older. The kind of expression born of legacy and pressure and fire forged in the dark.
The first two waited just outside.
“Let them in,” I called, with Rowen by my side.
And we began.