“You love it.”
“Unfortunately.” His eyes searched mine and then he groaned. “You win,” he muttered.
“I know.”
He kissed me—angry, hungry, claiming, surrendering. His thumb stroked my cheek once, reverent and fierce in the same breath. When he pulled back, his voice was steadier.
“We go together.”
I nodded. “We go together.”
He held me for one last heartbeat—one last soft moment before the world demanded we show our claws again—then took my hand and led me outside.
Killian straightened immediately. Diesel fell into step beside him. The patrol waited.
And the Hollow…breathed. The druid stood at the very back, but I saw them watching, waiting. They’d also wanted me to stay behind.
“Rowen and I will go together,” Wolfe said, his voice carrying through the trees. The pack dipped their heads. “Killian will be with us,” he told them, and if I didn’t know better, I’d have said he was purposefully avoiding eye contact with a certain beta. “Brand, Diesel, Cody, and Axel will remain.”
There was a huff behind me, and I didn’t need to look to know it was Diesel. He wasn’t happy he’d just been told to stay behind. Killian murmured something to him, low andsharp, and Diesel snapped back, but neither stepped out of line.
The Hollow seemed to be sending me a warning, a caution, to be careful. I tightened my grip on Wolfe’s hand, letting the warmth of him steady the rising hum under my skin.
“I’m ready,” I told him.
He looked at me the way he always did when he didn’t know whether to kiss me or throw me over his shoulder and lock me inside. I wasn’t sure if he thought I was the bravest or most infuriating wolf alive. He glanced behind himself once. I didn’t need to look to know it was at Diesel. I was staying out ofthatfight.
“Let’s go,” Wolfe murmured to me.
We stepped forward—toward the summons, toward the Council, toward whatever future they thought they could dictate.
They were wrong.
We were coming.
Together.
Chapter 14
Wolfe
The journeyto the Council put me more and more on edge.
Every step out of the Hollow scraped against my nerves. Every gust of wind felt like a warning I couldn’t interpret fast enough. And every time Rowen walked half a step ahead of me, my wolf surged to pull her back behind my shoulder.
I didn’t grab for her. I didn’t hover over her. I restrained myself. Barely.
We moved fast through the lower ridge, Killian flanking our right, six wolves from both territories taking up the rear. Not betas, I needed them at the Hollow; I didn’t trust the Pack Council not to throw something at my pack while I wasn’t there to defend it. I’d chosen six trusted fighters, handpicked because they’d bite through their own tongues before betraying us. We’d stayed in our human form, which let the pack communicate more easily.
Their loyalty had been confirmed when I used my Will on the pack. These six were the most loyal to our fight aftermy betas. My betas stayed behind to guard what mattered. I didn’t like this distribution of power, didn’t like that I had to split myself like this—half my strength at the Hollow, while Rowen and I walked straight into the Council’s maws.
Killian kept glancing at the tree line, jaw tight. “They could try something before we get there.”
“I’d count on it,” I muttered.
Better an ambush in neutral ground than a knife in the Pack Council’s chambers, where we couldn’t retaliate. Better to fight an enemy with teeth than an elder with a pen. We cut through the forest quickly, the shadows thick this deep into the valley. The path narrowed, pushed between slabs of old stone and heavy roots that were prone to tripping even the lightest of feet.
The air smelled wrong—still, flat, too cold for the season.
