The Hollow’s Call

The Hollow came to her in dreams first.

At night, when the fires of Blackwood burned low and the howls faded into uneasy silence, Lena felt it pressing against her skin—an ancient pulse, steady as a heartbeat, calling her name in a voice older than language.

She dreamed of forests that weren’t Blackwood’s. Trees gnarled and twisted, roots bleeding black sap. The moon hung low and red, painting the sky in bruises. She walked barefoot across soil that pulsed beneath her toes like living flesh, and in the distance, she heard the growl of wolves she had never seen.

But it wasn’t them she feared.

It was the one who waited at the heart of the Hollow.

A great wolf, larger than any beast she’d ever imagined, its fur the color of shadows, its eyes twin voids. When it opened its jaws, she saw nothing inside—only endless dark, a hunger that stretched beyond the world.

Every night, she woke with its growl in her ears. Every morning, she found the mark on her neck burning as if the Alpha’s bite had been torn open anew.

Kade noticed.

He noticed everything.

By the third night, his temper snapped.

She woke gasping, nails digging into her palms, when the sound of splintering wood shattered the air. Kade had driven his fist through the bedpost, his body trembling with the effort of holding himself back from something far worse. His golden eyes blazed, his chest heaving.

“You were screaming,” he said, voice ragged. “I couldn’t reach you.”

“It was just a dream.” Her voice shook as she lied.

“Don’t lie to me, Lena.” He was at her side in an instant, his hands cupping her face, his scent wrapping around her like smoke and storm. “I can smell it. The Hollow is in you already.”

Her wolf stirred beneath her skin, restless, eager. It was as if the bite—the bond—acted like a door, and something on the other side had begun to push through.

“Kade…” She hesitated, her throat thick. “What if I can’t fight it?”

His jaw tightened, his thumb brushing the place where his mark glowed faintly in the moonlight. “Then I’ll fight it for you. I don’t care if I have to rip the Hollow apart with my bare hands. I won’t lose you.”

But his eyes betrayed him. Beneath the feral promise, she saw fear. Not fear of the Hollow—fear of himself. Fear that his rage, his obsession, his wolf would destroy her before the Hollow even had the chance.

The days that followed only deepened the fracture.

When she walked through Blackwood, wolves stared. Some lowered their eyes in submission, murmuring “Moon’s chosen.” Others bared their teeth, spitting words like curse and weakness. The pack that had once howled in unison was dividing, each wolf’s loyalty tested by her presence.

The worst part was the whispers that followed her even when Kade stood at her side. Whispers of betrayal. Of a spy. Of Cassian’s hand already inside their walls.

And every night, the Hollow called louder.

Lena could feel it now, even in waking—like claws raking her insides, like teeth gnashing against her soul. She feared sleep. She feared herself.

But most of all, she feared what Kade would do when the Hollow finally claimed her.

The Hollow gnawed at Lena’s soul. But it was the Council’s envoy who gnawed at Blackwood.

Cassian had sent more than an ambassador. He had sent a serpent, robed in velvet words and coiled smiles.

Ambassador Taryn of the Silvermane Clan moved through Blackwood like a guest of honor, though his eyes studied everything—the defenses along the ridge, the warriors who sparred in the yard, even the way Lena clutched her cloak tighter whenever he passed.

At first, his questions seemed harmless. Curious. How many wolves trained daily? How many nights had the Alpha spent away from his borders? Was Lena truly bitten by choice, or had the Alpha taken what wasn’t freely offered?

But wolves lived by instinct, and instinct knew poison when it tasted it. The air grew heavy with suspicion.

“He’s softening them,” muttered Garrick, Kade’s scarred second, as they stood watch one night above the longhouse. “Making them doubt. Divide the pack from within, and Cassian won’t need to lift a claw.”

He was right. Already, arguments broke out in the war hall. Some wolves accused Lena of being the Hollow’s seed, planted to rot them from the inside. Others snarled that she was the key to salvation, that the Moon had chosen her for a reason. Fights broke out at dawn; blood stained the stone floors before the sun even touched them dry.

And then the first body fell.

A scout was found gutted at the tree line, throat torn out, eyes wide and glassy with terror. The scent of wolf lingered on his corpse—but it was Blackwood wolf, not an outsider’s.

A traitor.

Kade’s fury was volcanic. He stood in the war circle with the body at his feet, his golden eyes burning as if he would set the entire pack aflame if they didn’t yield truth. “A wolf among us has turned,” he snarled. “Cassian’s hand is already inside my walls. And until I tear it free, none of you will sleep.”

The pack howled their oaths of loyalty, but doubt lingered in every pair of eyes.

Lena felt it too. A shadow brushed her mind when she looked at the corpse, a whisper that wasn’t her own voice but slid inside her skull like oil. One has fallen. More will follow. The Hollow feeds on betrayal.

Her knees buckled. She pressed a hand to her temple, shoving the voice away, but when she looked up, she found Taryn watching her. Not with concern. With amusement.

Like he knew.

Like Cassian had sent him not just to break the pack—but to watch her unravel.

That night, as the fires roared high, Kade pulled her close in the shadows of the longhouse. His hands trembled on her arms, not from fear, but from the violence he was holding back.

“Tell me what the Hollow whispered,” he demanded.

She tried to deny it, but his grip tightened. His eyes burned. His wolf was too close.

“It said betrayal feeds it,” she whispered, voice shaking. “That this is only the beginning.”

Kade’s chest rose and fell, a storm caged in flesh. “Then we burn the rot out. We cut down every traitor until the Hollow starves.”

But Lena saw the danger in his vow. Because if Kade began his purge, suspicion would spread like wildfire. Wolves would tear each other apart before Cassian ever crossed their borders.

The Hollow didn’t need to destroy Blackwood. It only needed to whisper—and let them destroy themselves.