Like Stonefang had broken.
They had no idea that Brand’s broken body had just provided us with the weapon we needed. “Get word to the perimeter,” I said. “Let ten of their wolves through. No more.”
Killian nodded. “I’ll choose who stands at the line.”
“Druid stays at the Heartwood,” I added. “No rituals. They cannot accuse us of influencing anything.”
Rowen stepped closer, voice low. “Wolfe…be careful.”
“I am,” I said. It wasn’t entirely a lie.
Her fingers curled into my arm. “Letting them in—is this the only way?”
“Yes.”
Because the Council needed witnesses. They needed to be exposed in the open. They needed to be stripped of power by truth, not teeth, and a battle wouldn’t do that.
A massacre wouldn’t do that.
But walking straight into the Hollow—after what they did to Brand—with Rowen standing beside me as both mate and legacy? That would be the end of them. I kissed her temple again. “Trust me.”
Her breath trembled. “I do.”
“I don’t.” Diesel huffed. “I think grief has made you go completely fucking insane.”
I clapped his shoulder. “Good. One of us has to be cautious.” I grinned. “Never thought it’d be you, Diesel.”
Rowen shot me a look that should’ve melted bone. “Don’t get cocky. You’re either right or about to fuck everything up we’ve just fought and died for.”
“I’m right,” I told her confidently.
Diesel grumbled something about “insane alphas” and stalked off toward the boundary line.
Killian lingered. “What if they don’t fall for it?” he asked quietly.
I met his gaze. “They already have.”
As I walked toward the boundary line on the easternridge—the place where the Pack Council would finally step into their own grave—I felt it in my bones.
Not the land shifting. Not the magic within it.
Certainty. Conviction.
I was right; tonight, the Pack Council would fall—but not by my hand. They would collapse under the weight of their own sins, and all I needed to do was make damn sure every witness saw it.
I used my Will to raise my voice as I stepped out from the trees so they could see me—see every bruise, every wolf at my back, every inch of Hollow soil beneath my feet.
“I am willing to talk to the Pack Council,” I announced, letting the words carry across the ridge, “if they will grant me an audience.”
Movement rippled through their ranks—surprise, hesitation, calculation.
“Every alpha of the Pack Council,” I continued, “and every alpha who stands with you…I offer you sanctuary to come forward and discuss how we move forward from this.” My voice softened, just enough. “Shifter fighting shifter…it’s too much.”
A lie. A truth. Whatever they needed it to be. I let sincerity seep into my words—not the genuine kind, but the kind that stroked their egos. Arrogant men walked into traps willingly as long as they believed the trap was beneath them.
“We can end this without more bloodshed,” I added. “But only if you are willing to step onto neutral ground.”
Behind me, Killian didn’t breathe. Diesel muttered something obscene. Rowen stayed still, trusting me even when she hated the method.
