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The Hollow

last update Last Updated: 2025-08-15 17:05:15

Chapter 29 — The Hollow

The forest beyond the western ridge was quieter than Raven expected. No wind. No night birds.

Even the crunch of their boots on the frozen earth sounded swallowed, dampened by something in the air.

Luca led the pack warriors in a loose V formation, their eyes scanning the shadows.

Ragnar moved beside Raven, his posture relaxed, but his hand never strayed far from the knife at his hip.

“This place feels wrong,” Luca muttered.

“It is,” Ragnar said simply.

They passed the old stone marker that split their territory from the deep woods. The trees here were older, their twisted trunks wide enough to swallow a cabin whole. Faint lines of pale moss ran up their bark like veins.

Raven’s wolf was alert, every sense stretched taut. We are being watched.

“How far?” she asked Ragnar quietly.

He glanced up at the sky, where moonlight barely filtered through the dense canopy. “Closer than it feels.”

Minutes later, the path dipped into a shallow ravine, and she saw it.

The
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