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.
Chapter 31
Wolfe
The next wave hit—andthis time, we didn’t yield an inch. The Council fighters pushed hard, but their rhythm faltered. Their formations slipped. They were expecting us to break, expecting us to scatter.
Instead, we held.
My pack crashed into them with renewed force, the Hollow firm beneath us, each step powerful, each strike savage. The Council had planned for fear. They hadn’t prepared for resolve. One of their alphas barked orders—sharp, clipped, panicked.
I smiled hearing it. Panic meant cracks.
“Wolfe!”Killian shouted over the mindlink. “They’re pulling right—trying to isolate your flank!”
I saw it—the shift in their line, a coordinated drag to the east to thin us out. A move to separate me from my fighters and expose the pack’s center.
“Hold formation!”I told the pack. My voice cut through the noise. “Stay tight. Don’t chase.”
The Council wolves hesitated, expecting us to follow thepull. Instead, Diesel crashed into their weak left side like a wrecking ball, taking out two fighters before they even registered the shift in pressure.
“That’s right, you bastards,”he snarled, voice echoing through the bond, “fight the right fucking pack this time.”
As we advanced and held, I watched their careful strategy collapse—and then break apart. Killian dashed into the gap at the center, snapping a wolf’s spine as he hit the ground. The Hollow wolves charged behind him, a wall of teeth and fury.
We pushed the advantage hard, and our enemy's line bent in retreat.
I saw Diesel freeze. He was mid-lunge, mid-bloodshed, and mid-battle, then he crashed to the ground. His nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, and every part of him became a lethal weapon.
“Alpha.”
One word. Tense and loaded. He raised his head, gazing through the sea of bodies. I tracked his gaze, and the night faded away.
Axel.
Standing behind the enemy’s fighters, not fighting himself, butdirecting. The traitor hadn’t come to battle—he’d come towatch. Hidden among the Council’s elite, partially concealed behind a massive wolf I didn’t recognize.
My blood went cold, then it turned molten. He had the audacity to come here without even facing us like a wolf. No, he was here to look upon the pack he betrayed. Not to look at me and explainwhy.
A warning growl burst from my chest—and half my pack echoed it.
Killian’s voice cut through the mindlink, crisp and deadly. “I’ve got eyes on him. Let me know when.”
Diesel didn’t wait. He roared Axel’s name so loudly that the Council wolves turned around, startled, and the traitor stumbled backward, realizing we had seen him.
“Wolfe,”Diesel snarled, teeth bared, “it’s your call.”
My lungs burned. My vision tunneled. The line between wolf and man blurred into something razor-sharp. I saw Grandmother, knitting needle in hand, ready to defend herself, knowing she was going to die. I could feel her life ebbing as her blood fell to the floor, mixing with Grandfather’s, and I felt the hate in my heart for the one who took them from us.
But I didn’t charge. I kept control.
“Hold,” I growled.
Diesel’s hackles raised. Killian’s did too. Both were ready to tear Axel apart, along with every other wolf here who had called the Grandparents theirs. But this wasn’t the time. That fight would come later; right now, we had a war to win.
“Let him run,”I said coldly. “I want him scared.”