“No.” He stepped in front of me, blocking the entire request with his chest. “You’re pregnant. You’re not trained. And Wolfe will rip my heart out of my ribcage if I let you wander into the trees, chasing whispers.”
“I’m not chasing whispers,” I said tightly. “The land is?—”
“Don’t care,” Diesel said. “You don’t follow strange presences into the fucking forest.”
“It isn’t strange.”
“It isn’tfriendly,” he corrected.
He wasn’t wrong. But the Hollow’s tug didn’t feel dangerous. It felt…insistent. A knocking on a door that only I could hear. I took a step to the side to peer around Diesel’s shoulder. He moved with me like a wall on legs.
“Diesel—”
“Not happening.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Yeah, I do. You were going to say ‘just let me check.’ The answer’s still no.”
I rubbed my temple, frustration knotting in my chest. “I can’t ignore it.”
“You can, actually,” Diesel said. “It’s called being sane.”
“Like you know what that feels like.” I stared at him, my temper rising, and he stared right back, cool as a cucumber. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.” He planted a hand on my shoulder. “Rowen, you’re linked to the Hollow now more than you’ve ever been. You’re carrying my alpha’s child. Anything that reacts to you, reacts tohim.” His voice dropped. “And something out there reacted.”
My stomach tightened. My son. The Hollow pulsed again—harder this time, deeper. Not demand. Not command. This time in warning. I flinched.
Diesel saw it instantly. “What are you feeling?”
“It’s shifting again,” I whispered. “The land. It’s…turning.”
“Toward us?”
“No.” I swallowed. “Toward the direction Wolfe went.”
Diesel cursed under his breath. “Well, that settles it. Whatever’s watching you is definitely watching him too.”
I nodded slowly. “The druid said the Hollow listens through me. Maybe—maybe it’s trying to send a message.”
“Great,” Diesel muttered. “A mystical game of telephone between you, Wolfe, a druid, and something that smells like dust and nightmares.”
I almost laughed. Almost.
Another pulse. Strong. Urgent.
“Diesel…” I whispered.
He stiffened. “What now?”
“It stopped watching me.”
He froze. “Stopped?” he repeated.
I nodded. “The pressure…it shifted again. The attention is gone.”
He seemed to become more solid. I don’t know how, but he feltbigger. “Gone where?” he demanded.
