Page 17 of Wolf's Reckoning
It had been many years since I walked the land of the Hollow, and I wasn’t looking forward to returning. I wasn’t looking forward to seeingher.
But this wasn’t about my history with her—or with her pack. This was about doing what was right.
Rowen may be the daughter of the Hollow, but she wasn’t a prize to be won. She was a gift the Council had no business offering.
She was a storm in a girl’s skin.
Only a fool mistook that for something they could claim.
Once, I’d called her mine. All I wanted to do was make sure she wasn’t pressured. That’s all. I had no stake in this game.
At least that’s what I was telling myself as I ran towards Blueridge Hollow packlands.
Chapter 5
Rowen
I didn’t speakas I crossed the boundary back into Blueridge Hollow territory. I barely breathed.
The forest had never felt this quiet before.
Branches shifted overhead, wind dragging through the canopy like the trees were whispering about me. The dirt path under my boots was the same one I’d walked since I was a child, and suddenly it felt foreign. Smaller. Like it was closing in.
As if the Hollow were shrinking to make room for someone else.
I should’ve been angry. Furious. But all I felt was empty.
They were sendinginterestedsuitors to try and what?Dateme? I didn’t want to think about the fiascothatwould be. I knew of one of the prospects, and I remembered too well the crack his jaw had made when I punched it the last time I saw him.
My hands curled into fists at my sides. Let them try. Let them run after me like I was some trembling little thing just waiting to be caught.
They were not alphas. I did not have to bend to their Will.
I’d spent three days locked in my own skin while my heat burned through me like wildfire. I came through it alone. No touch. No comfort. Nomale.
And now the Council was encouraging the idea of turning me into arewardfor the fastest dog?
No.
Not me. Not a daughter of the Hollow.
Not ever.
The trees thinned as I neared the edge of the ridge where our pack hall sat—stone and wood and iron, carved into the land like it had grown there. Lewis slipped away from my side. Our journey home had been silent.
Voices reached my ears before I stepped into view. Movement. The scent of the pack. I straightened my spine, shoved the ache down where it belonged.
They would not see me tremble. Not now. My pack needed me. I belonged to my pack; I was no one’s to give away.
I stepped into the clearing, and the world greeted me like it had been waiting. Pack members milled near the main hall, sparring, hauling wood, or talking in quiet pockets as they discussed their day. Normal. Routine.Ordinary. It was as if they didn’t know I’d just been served up an ugly version of my future. But they knew; the whole pack was waiting to see who I would wed, who their future leader would be.
Who their futuremaleleader would be.
Some looked over as I arrived, pausing in their conversations or tasks. Some offered smiles, one or two more tentative than others.
Adair straightened from where she’d been organizing dried herbs by the steps. She smiled gently as I approached, her eyes kind in a way I wasn’t yet ready for.
“You’re back sooner than I thought. How was the?—”
