“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 washere, 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 injurieswere 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 slippedwhere 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, andangry.
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.
