The smoke thickened. The earth groaned under our feet. The mate bond burned hot enough to blister. Rowen pressed her forehead to my chest. “I need to get to the Heartwood.”
I didn’t hesitate; I shifted back to my wolf, and she did the same, staggering under the weight of the pain that slammed into her.
“We run, stay close to me.”
I ran away from the fighting to take my mate to the Heartwood to ease her pain. Every instinct in my body wanted to turn around and tear into the flesh of the ones who would attack my pack. But I could feel the need, the importance of getting Rowen to the heart of the Hollow.
I stopped twice to fight stragglers who were either running or hanging back to report the results. They diedquickly. Too quickly. My rage was not sated as they fell dead at my feet. As I approached the Heartwood, I felt the Hollow’s pain. It almost made me stumble. Rowen leaned into me, and with care, I guided her to the base of the tree.
A white wolf, with a streak of burnished yellow, leapt toward me from the side of the tree. I barely avoided the druid’s claws.
“It’s me!”
The wolf skidded to the side, shifted, and was pulling on their robes before Rowen looked up. She shifted and didn’t balk when a gray robe was flung her way.
“Where the fuck have you been?” the druid snarled. They grabbed Rowen’s arm, hissing at the heat. “You need to do this now.”
Had we not been in the middle of an attack, I’d have had something to say about the druid’s language. As it was, they waved me away. “Go. Kill them all, the Hollow wants their blood.”
“Rowen—"
“Is safe now. I’ve got this, Alpha.”
I almost lingered, but a pulse of fury from the ground surged up my hind legs. I turned and ran back to the fight. I didn’t know where it was, so I followed the sounds of screaming. It was loud all around me. Pack, trees, and land were crying out. I saw Brand at the edge of the pack hall. He was in his wolf form, head down, teeth bared, slowly backing up as four shifters circled him.
They thought they had him cornered.
Not today.
I sliced through the first one like a chainsaw through wood. The second one’s throat was torn out before the firstone hit the ground. Brand launched himself at the third, and my claws raked down the side of the fourth. When it was dead, I looked at my beta, who nodded his head once and turned and ran, leading me to the fight.
“You’re bleeding,” I told him.
“We’re all bleeding.”
“How did they get so close?”
He growled, and I knew he was pissed off I’d asked. “Patrols crossed, like they always do, through the night, but they knew our signals. Knew our routes, knew everything.”
The rogues. The rogue packs we’d been fighting for months.They were never rogues, I realized.
“They’re going to be dead soon.”
On that we agreed.
I recognized Cody’s wolf ahead. Killian had joined him along with a handful of others. Brand and I joined the fight, and it was over not long after. Cody’s head hung down once and then lifted.
“Good to see you. We need to go north.”
He was exhausted, they all were. “Stay here, help the wounded.”
“Killian!”
“North?”
We left the others behind. Brand needed more than a growl to stay with Cody, and Killian ran to meet Diesel. It began to rain, and I looked up at the sky, which had been clear only moments before. I didn’t want to know what the druid had done for this. I could feel Rowen through the bond, still in pain but stronger.
Diesel was a wolf named Death. He was slaughteringanyone in his path, and from the howl that erupted from his throat when Killian and I joined him, he was enjoying it.
