I turned back toward the ridge, heart pounding, wolf snarling, the Hollow humming like a struck chord. “It moved,” I said. “Do you feel it?”
He concentrated. “Faintly. It’s moved sideways again.”
“No,” I whispered, dread crawling up my spine like cold fingers. “Forward.”
“Fuck!” Diesel growled. “You know where it’s going.”
I nodded, feeling sick. “Toward Stonefang.”
Diesel swore so violently that he startled a raven from the trees. Then he grabbed my arm. “We’re going,” he said. “Now.”
“I can’t leave the Hollow?—”
“You’re not leaving,” he snapped. “We’re going to the Heartwood. Somewhere safe for you. Somewhere I can see what’s coming.”
“Diesel—” My wolf surged upwards, desperate, protective, wild.
“Rowen,” he countered, “something old just went after Wolfe.”
My pulse stammered. My wolf howled. And the Hollow shivered under my feet.
Not in fear.
In readiness.
Chapter 12
Wolfe
The moment it shifted,I felt it.
Not as a scent. Not as a sound. Not even as magic.
Just pressure.
A cold fingertip pressed to the back of my skull. Pushing, waiting to see what I’d do. Cody moved closer, his body on alert, his eyes on everything around us. Even the air changed—too still, too tight—like Stonefang itself waited for them to reveal themselves.
“Alpha?” Cody murmured.
Nothing moved. The pack was talking amongst themselves; no one but me and Cody was reacting. Well, other than the Grumps, but I doubted even their shelter burning around them would get them to leave.
The presence was still here. Lingering. Watching. Weighing and measuring, and I didn’t fucking like it. My head tilted towards the north. I felt itsharpen, and I turned fully to face it.
“Alpha?” Cody muttered again.
“Don’t speak,” I told him softly. Because I needed to listen. To everything. All around me. I filtered through my pack’s murmurs, their grumbles, their relief that I was back. My ears pricked as I listened, filtered what they said, heard what they weren’t saying. Packed away things I’d need to address later but not now.
There.
My wolf surged forward, teeth bared, claws flexing under my skin. The heartbeat I heard wasn’t mine. Not Cody’s. Not anyone else who was near.
Something else. Something light. Something deliberate. Something far too close. I stepped forward once, letting the weight of my authority roll across the clearing. Stonefang wolves tensed, some coming to a stop to watch me, some pressing closer to pack who stood near them as instinct took over.
It slid sideways. A ripple along the ground that felt like a shiver or a shadow slipping behind a rock.
Cody swallowed hard. “Wolfe? What the fuck is it?”
“Stay here,” I told him. “Stay alert.”
