“Dex.” Rowen didn’t cower from my glare. “Jaxson is on the western ridge. He’s not been hit as hard as you and Cody. Dex was scouting. He saw Ezra, and they brought them home.”
Home.But this wasn’t Cale’s home. Stonefang had beenhis home, but I’d never let him stay here long enough to truly call it that.
My head shook in denial, more likely guilt; I wasn’t sure which. But looking down at my beta, I knew I had to help him. “What did they use?” I asked the druid.
They looked up at me, angrier than I’d ever seen them.“Silver.”
The air left my lungs in a single breath. I couldn’t breathe. My legs buckled, and I dropped to my knees beside him, my hand cupping the back of his neck, my forehead pressed to his. Silver was more than poison; it was a death sentence.
“Brother, can you hear me?”I felt tears streaming down as grief overwhelmed me. “I will avenge you. I promise. I will make them all pay.”
I felt his finger twitch, and my heart broke a little more.
I quickly rose to my feet. “Cody!” He was at my side in an instant, almost as if he’d been waiting for the call. “You’re with me.” I turned to Rowen. “I’m going back out,” I said. “Stay here. Keep them calm.”
She nodded, her eyes filled with worry, but all she said was, “Come back to me.”
I didn’t promise it, but I let my thumb linger on her jaw for a heartbeat longer than necessary. My gaze briefly settled on the Heartwood, then I turned and walked out of the grove, carrying the full weight of the Hollow at my back—ready to kill anything that came near it.
And the ones who sent them.
All I could see as I walked away was Brand’s broken body.
He couldn’t shift.
He couldn’t defend himself.
He couldn’t speak.
But his body told the same truth, the Pack Council didn’t come to win a territory, they came to destroy one. And suddenly, the battle outside the Hollow wasn’t the center of the war anymore.
They’d already crossed a line they could never come back from.
When I returned to the eastern ridge, Killian was watching me like he expected something to break, but something already had.
I stood there, my eyes fixed on the highest ridge, my gaze on the moon as it dipped below the peak. Dawn was approaching. “Gather all who are able,” I said, my voice low, steady, and lethal. “It’s time.”
“Time for what?” Killian asked.
“For the Pack Council to face what they’ve done.”
Chapter 32
Wolfe
“Wolfe?”
I turned to Rowen as she approached. I frowned, but then I realized I’d told Killian to gather all who were able. My wife was able.
“What’s happening?” she whispered.
“Proof,” I said. The word tasted like iron.
She went still. “Proof of what?”
“That the Pack Council never wanted a hearing. Never wanted a ruling. Never wanted the truth.” My jaw clenched. “This was never about order. Or law. Or balance.” My voice dropped into something cold enough to frost the air. “This was about trying to erase us.”
“We know that.” Rowen’s eyes burned. Not with fear. With fury. “And we’re showing them what that costs.”
