It wasn’t attacking. It wasn’t curious. It was seeking. It had followed the Hollow’s tether directly to me.
Shaman.
I reverted to my human form. My anger eased a bit. “Show yourself, old one.”
Shamans were few. Old ones. Ones who communed directly with the Goddess. Her vessels on this earth. Skeptics pretended they were harmless old men with potions and herbs, forgetting they were ancients. Those who walked the lands long before there were packs. Ones who could unmake an alpha without touching him.
“Why follow me?” I asked, turning softly and speaking into the air.
Another ripple. Another shift in the air. I felt it coming closer now. Too close, but I did not fear it. I rememberedwhat the Grandparents had said. I was bonded to Rowen, and she was linked to the Hollow.
And the Hollow was awake.
“You will not harm her,” I told it.
The presence hesitated, and I felt it step back. Not far.
“Soon.”
I stiffened as I understood the faint message. Soon? What was soon?
And then it vanished. Completely. The air snapped back into place.
I drew in a breath as if I’d been drowning. I turned and looked over my shoulder, back across the land I had traveled over. “It’s moved,” I told the air. I swallowed hard. “You’ve gone back.”
I shifted. My shift was always fast, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel the bones crack. Pain as fur tore through my skin. My wolf hit the ground with a snarl, teeth bared, anger simmering as I ran straight back toward my mate.
Not to her, not directly.
To the land. I felt it as I ran. Stonefang pulsed beneath my paws, anticipation and awareness curling up my legs into my chest, into my heart. The ground trembled beneath me, faint but real, echoing through the earth, and the ancient heartbeat of the land flowed through my veins.
I ran quickly over land I once thought was no longer my home. I was mistaken, and it reminded me with every beat of my paws on the ground. As I approached the packlands, I could feel them waiting.
Grandmother’s whisper was loud in my skull, sensing everything the closer I got.“It wants to see what the Hollow will choose.”
“Before it picks a side?”I demanded.
“No sides. Not for this one.”Grandfather sounded certain.
“So we’reentertainment?”I growled.
The shelters appeared on the horizon, and I felt the tremor in the distance, faint but genuine.
“She is vulnerable,” Grandmother warned me.
I didn’t wait another second as Cody and Thalia stood there, waiting for me. I shifted to my human form. “Thalia. Cody. Get the pack secured. Now. Anyone not coming with us stays here, with the condition that no one leaves the shelters. No one goes to the borders. No one wanders.”
“Already done,” Cody told me. “The Grumps and ten others. Mostly children.”
I looked past him and met Darla’s gaze. She was on the top step of her shelter, holding her youngest in her arms. “You sure?”
She nodded. “The children will be safer here. Their routine is here, schooling, training, I have it handled.”
I didn’t like it, but I understood, and I needed some of the pack to stay and care for the Grumps. I shared a look with Cody, and he sighed.
“Babe, you need to stay.”
Thalia instantly bristled, ready to fight, but Cody placed his hand over her abdomen. “You need to stay here,” he said, pulling her closer. “Keep them safe.”
