“Stay alert,” Killian warned the others quietly. They listened, not that they’d been rowdy or making any noise at all, but his sharp reminder made even the deeper breaths disappear. It made me smile. Killian was such a hard ass. It wasn’t as if he needed to be teaching obedience in the middle of a potential ambush.
Rowen walked beside me, silent, alert. The Hollow seemed to pulse around her in faint rhythmic waves—nothing like it had been, but present enough that I knew it monitored our progress. Watched the land around us.
Watching for what? That question chewed at the back of my skull like a parasite.
“Wolfe.” Killian’s voice cut through the tension. “Are you feeling that?”
I was. The prickle on the back of my neck. The weightin the air. The sensation of being tracked by something patient.
“Left ridge,”I told him.
Killian nodded once. “I thought he’d be subtler.”
“No.” The word came out as a growl. “Too much of an asshole.”
“I know you’re there.”
“I wasn’t really hiding.Diesel sounded amused.
“I told you to stay behind,”I reminded him.
“I didn’t hear that.”He had no shame. “You’re being followed by the way. Do you know?”
“Yes, Iknow, you insufferable dick.”
“Just checking. Also, your wife needs to stop for a water break. Youdoremember she’s pregnant, right?”
“Come down so I can kick your ass.”
Rowen glanced at me. “Who are you talking to?” she asked me curiously.
“An asshole.” I came to a stop and handed her a water bottle. “Drink.”
She looked around. “So Diesel didn’t listen when you said no either?” Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “You run a really undisciplined pack.”
I could use my Will and make them all stay here, and I could go on ahead alone, quietly.
“Don’t even think about it,” Killian murmured beside me. He gave me a knowing look, which made me wonder if this was why Lars had laughed uncontrollably when I told him who I was considering as my betas. The old alpha told me to go with my heart. I don’t know why he decided to lead me wrong there; I should have avoided my friends and gone with my head.
“You know you need us,”Diesel said cheerfully as he emerged through the trees.
“Are you mind readers now?”I snapped at them both.
“Just know you too well.” Killian said as he exchanged a look with Diesel with a sigh. “You had one job.”
“To protect the alpha’s mate, I know,” Diesel said easily, not the slightest bit bothered about his insubordination. “Cody’s in my place, he’s just as good.”
He wasn’t, but I wouldn’t shame him by saying it when more than my betas could hear.
“I really thought you’d stay,” Rowen murmured. All three of us looked at her in surprise, and she flushed. “So I’m naive and think, when an alpha gives an order, his betas listen.”
“Not naive,” Diesel told her with a grin. “Just mistaken.”
Diesel opted to scout ahead, and after Rowen had another swig of water, we set off again. We walked in silence, Killian alert to my right, Diesel in his wolf form ahead. I knew we were being shadowed, but I let them follow us. Let them see we were no threat.
Rowen tensed beside me, but she didn’t reach for my hand. She didn’t need to, not when the bond flared with her focus—steady, calm, calculating.
The presence I’d encountered at Stonefang lingered ahead. Not pushing. Not with ill intent, just watching. My muscles locked, the wolf in me pacing, restless and irritable. “How far to the Council border?” I asked.
