Kael's POV
The sound chilled my blood before I even fully woke.
A howl—long, guttural, and wrong. It wasn't like the cry of a rogue or even the desperate scream of a lost wolf. No. This howl carried something unnatural. Like it came from a throat that had forgotten what it meant to be alive.
I opened my eyes to darkness, firelight casting faint shadows on the stone arches above us.
Sophie still slept beside me, her head on my chest, her heartbeat steady. I didn't move. Not at first. I just listened.
The howl came again. Farther this time, but deeper. A signal. A warning.
A call to blood.
I slid my arm out from beneath Sophie carefully, rising without waking her. My coat was still damp with forest mist as I crossed the camp and scanned the trees beyond the ruins. My eyes adjusted quickly, and the shadows sharpened.
There were no glowing eyes. No footsteps. No scent. But that made it worse.
Nothing could hide from a Moonbound Alpha unless they wanted to be hidden.
I clenched my fists.
It wasn't just any creature that made that sound.
It was something long buried.
Something that should have died with the old bloodlines.
I didn't want to wake her. Sophie had only just started to sleep again—truly sleep. Her dreams had been haunted for days, and the trial had stripped her soul raw. She needed rest.
But she also needed the truth.
I crouched beside her, brushing my hand across her shoulder gently.
Her eyes fluttered open. Green, tired, beautiful.
"What's wrong?" she murmured, voice heavy with sleep.
"Stay quiet," I whispered. "Listen."
She sat up slowly, the blanket slipping off her shoulders. The fire crackled beside us, but neither of us looked at it.
We waited.
And then—there it was.
Another howl.
Closer now.
This time, Sophie flinched.
"That's not one of yours," she said. Not a question. A truth.
"No," I replied. "It's not."
She reached for her boots. "What is it?"
I didn't answer immediately.
Because I didn't want to say the name aloud.
Because I wasn't sure saying it wouldn't summon it closer.
Finally, I said, "It's the Hollow Wolf."
Sophie paused, one boot half on. "What is that?"
"An old one. A failed Guardian. Cursed to walk without pack or purpose. A wolf that ate its own soul to survive."
"That sounds… impossible."
I looked at her. "So do we."
We left the ruins before the fire finished dying.
The forest around us was no longer still. Birds had gone silent. Leaves barely moved. The wind avoided this place like it feared touching the trees.
Sophie walked beside me, quiet, tense. But she didn't ask for comfort.
She didn't need it.
She was changing—becoming something stronger with every step. The Rite had marked her. But it had also awakened something.
"I didn't know this forest had creatures worse than rogues," she finally said.
"It doesn't," I replied. "This thing isn't a creature. It's a warning."
"From who?"
I didn't answer. Because I knew who sent it.
And if I was right… then time was no longer on our side.
Hours passed. Tracks appeared in the soil—prints too large for any normal wolf. The earth had been torn by claws, as if whatever walked through here had been desperate, angry… or starving.
Sophie crouched beside one of the prints. "Why hasn't it found us yet?"
"Because it wants us to run."
She looked up sharply. "You think it's playing with us?"
I nodded.
"Then what do we do?"
"We stop playing."
We made our stand in a hollow near the northern glade, a place where the trees thinned and moonlight could reach the soil. I needed the sky. I needed the light.
Even if it was faint.
I motioned for Sophie to stand behind me. She didn't argue.
The air grew heavier with each passing breath. My pulse slowed, my senses sharpening.
And then… it stepped from the trees.
Taller than any wolf I'd seen, but twisted. Its fur was patchy, like something had tried to rip it off and failed. Its eyes glowed a dull orange—not fire, but rot.
And its mouth—too wide. Too human.
Sophie gasped behind me.
The Hollow Wolf's voice scraped the air like a rusted blade.
"Found you."
I shifted, letting the wolf inside me rise. My bones stretched. My claws sharpened. My vision turned to silver and frost.
But I didn't attack.
Because something was wrong.
The creature didn't move.
It stared at Sophie.
No—it stared into her.
"You reek of the flame," it hissed.
"She took the Rite."
Sophie stepped forward. "You know what I am?"
The creature growled. "You are her. A pawn, A spark. The beginning of the end."
I moved between them in a flash, teeth bared. "Touch her, and I'll tear you apart."
The Hollow Wolf laughed—a dry, brittle sound.
"I am already torn, Prince. But you… you're still whole. That won't last."
It didn't lunge. It didn't fight.
It stepped back into the trees and vanished like mist.
Gone.
Like it had never been real.
But the claw marks it left behind… told a different story.
Sophie didn't speak for a long time.
We walked until we reached a waterfall carved into a cliffside, where we stopped for water and breath. She stood by the edge, eyes on the silver pool beneath the moonlight.
"What did it mean?" she asked finally. "That I'm her?"
I approached her slowly. "I think it meant the Dark Queen."
"The one you never talk about."
"Because I hoped we'd never have to."
Sophie turned to me.
"I need to know," she said. "All of it."
And I knew then—no more secrets.
No more delays.
If I wanted her to trust me completely…
I had to give her the truth.
Even if it destroyed everything between us.