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 ismine.”
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. Youwill 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 aboutme.” I held his petrified stare. “Tell them I’m coming for them.Allof 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.
