LOGINEvelynn POVBlood hit the ground before the first breath finished leaving my lungs.Jaxon moved like he’d been waiting his entire life for this moment. He was fast, brutal, laughing under his breath as his blades carved through the first creature’s throat. It didn’t fall clean. None of them did. The thing shrieked, voice splitting into layers, clawing forward even as black ichor poured from the wound.“Yeah.” Jaxon muttered, ducking under a swipe that would’ve taken his head off. “You’re definitely worse than the last batch.”Maddox didn’t waste words. He hit the second one head-on. No hesitation. No testing. Pure force. His shoulder slammed into its chest hard enough to send both of them crashing into the ground. The creature twisted beneath him, spine bending wrong, claws raking across his side - but Maddox didn’t even flinch. He just growled. Low. Deep. Lethal. And tore its head clean off.It didn’t die immediately. - Of course it didn’t. - It kept moving - limbs jerking, claws s
Evelynn POVThe road was too long even for wolves to run, so we went back for our bikes and drove for as long as we could. I rode between Maddox and Calder, my bike’s engine low beneath me, the headlamp cutting narrow tunnels through the dense black woods. At first it was only subtle things - the way the wind stopped carrying birdsong, the way the trees began growing too close together, their trunks warped inward like bent spines leaning toward a secret. Even the scent shifted. Pine and damp earth gave way to something older, heavier: wet bark, cold stone, and the faint metallic trace of ancient magic buried deep beneath the roots.By the time we crossed onto the oldest stretch of Thornborne land, silence had become its own presence.Not peaceful silence. Watching silence. The kind that pressed against your ears until every snapped twig sounded like a warning.Jaxon led ahead, weaving through the winding deer paths like he had been born to shadows. His taillight flashed red between t
Evelynn POVFor several long seconds after the Hollow Mother vanished, none of us moved.The corridor stayed cold.Not the ordinary chill of cracked stone and winter air creeping through ruined walls - but the kind of cold that settled beneath skin.My hand was still pressed to my stomach. I didn’t remember putting it there. But I didn’t move it either.“I felt it.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.Because even though the shadow was gone, even though reason screamed that it had been manipulation, illusion, poison wrapped in grief - I had felt something.Not imagined. Not dreamed.Felt.A pulse. A flicker. A thread. And that thread was now wrapped around my heart like barbed wire.Calder’s arms were still around me, iron-strong, holding me upright. Maddox stood directly in front of us, chest heaving, wolf too close to the surface, fury radiating from him in waves so hot it almost balanced the cold she had left behind.Jaxon had gone unnaturally silent. That frightened m
Calder POVYou really thought I would let you leave so easily?The voice wasn’t just sound. It slid under the skin. Into the bond. And that - that was new.Maddox swore under his breath. “She’s in our heads now.”“No,” I said quietly, already tracking the way Evelynn’s breathing had changed. “Not all of us. Just her."The shadows at the end of the corridor gathered - not forming a body this time. Not reaching. Just… existing.Watching. Waiting.Smarter move than last time.“Don’t engage.” I said low, not taking my eyes off the dark. “That’s what she wants.”But Evelynn didn’t step back. Her grip on the dagger tightened, knuckles paling.“She’s not trying to attack.” she said, voice steady - but too quiet. Too controlled. “She’s trying to talk.”Jaxon made a sharp sound. “Yeah, that’s not better.”Oh, little wolf, the voice purred, softer now. Closer. Intimate in a way that made my skin crawl. You learned so quickly.Evelynn inhaled slowly. “Say what you came to say.” she answered.No
Calder POVPain was useful. That was the first rule. Pain meant you were still in control of your body. Still aware. Still capable of making decisions instead of reacting blindly. Pain was information.Right now I had too much of it.I kept my hand pressed hard against my side as we moved, fingers slick with blood that refused to slow. Not arterial. Not immediately fatal. Which was good. But still, it was deep.Deeper than I liked. Deeper than I would admit.“Stop compensating.” Maddox muttered beside me.“I’m not.” I replied. It was a lie. He knew it. I knew he knew it.We didn’t have time to argue about it.Evelynn moved ahead of us without hesitation, already choosing the route before any of us could question it. No second-guessing. No pause.That alone told me how serious this was.“We go back the same way,” she said quietly. “No open ground. No main corridors.”Jaxon exhaled behind us. “Shame. I was just starting to enjoy myself.”“No, you weren’t.” Maddox said flatly.“I was.”
Maddox POV"Hold them. " Eve said. The dagger flared and everything changed. Not exploded, like I somehow expected, just… shifted. Like something ancient had turned its head and finally looked back.The crack in the ground pulsed in response, darkness thickening, stretching upward like it was testing the shape of this world again.Calder swayed. We all saw it.“Don’t you dare fall.” I muttered under my breath, already shifting my stance to compensate, already recalculating distance, angles, threats.Because if he would dropp we would lost our center. And right now, center was everything.“I said hold them.” Eve repeated, sharper this time. Not a request. A command.Not Alpha command. This was something else. Something that made my wolf go still for half a second - listening. Then baring teeth in agreement.“Fine.” I growled. “Then don’t take too long.” I added, because I didn’t know how long we had.They came harder this time. Not so scattered. Not mindless. Directed.The things craw
Evelynn POVThe forest changed long before we crossed into Thornborne lands. At first, it was subtle.The air got heavier. Thicker. Like breathing through something unseen. The wind carried a different scent too - less pine, more rot. Damp earth turned sour, like something beneath it had been distu
Evelynn POVWe didn’t slow. Not for the wounded. Not for the dead. Not even for Elara.That thought should have broken something in me. Instead, it hardened.Because this - this was exactly what the Hollow Mother wanted. Chaos. Delay. Grief turning into hesitation. And hesitation got people killed.
Evelynn POVThe moment we stepped back outside, the world hit us again. Noise. Blood. Movement. War hadn’t paused for us.If anything - it had gotten worse.The courtyard was barely recognizable now. Bodies littered the ground, some still shifting, some very much not. The air was thick with the sce
Evelynn POV“We need the Codex.” I said, already moving.Calder’s hand caught my wrist. “Not alone.”“I’m not going alone.” I met his gaze, steady despite the chaos screaming around us. “But I’m not sending someone else either.”His jaw tightened. Because he understood. Because this wasn’t just str







