The Wolf’s Reckoning

The fractured moon hung low, its silver glow spilling across the training grounds. Mist curled around the gnarled trees like smoke from a fire that had never fully died. Lena stood barefoot on the cold earth, her muscles coiled, heart hammering with anticipation and dread. Her wolf prowled beneath her skin, restless, impatient.

Kade circled her like a predator marking its territory, his golden eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight. His presence was heat and gravity, pulling at her blood, stirring her pulse.

“You’re tense,” he said, voice low, a growl lurking in the edges. “If the Hollow is going to rip you apart, I want you ready to fight everything—your fear, your doubt, and your wolf.”

Lena’s chest rose and fell rapidly. “I’m ready.”

“Don’t lie to me,” he snapped. His hands flexed, claws itching against his palms. “Your wolf is hungry. I can smell it.”

The words were accusation and challenge, and the wolf inside her leapt at the sound, teeth bared, claws itching to tear. Lena clenched her fists, summoning every shred of control she had learned from months of Blackwood discipline.

Kade stopped, studying her, golden eyes narrowing. Then he lunged.

The first clash was brutal. Kade moved with the precision of an apex predator, testing her reflexes, forcing her to react faster, strike harder. Lena dodged, rolled, and countered, each movement drawing her wolf closer to the surface. The air around them hummed with power, their bond crackling in tension and fire.

“You’re too cautious!” Kade snapped. “Let it out. Let it come!”

Her wolf snarled, claws raking her palms from the inside. Pain flared, sharp as lightning, but Lena forced herself to focus. Each strike, each block, each dodge was a battle between the instinct to surrender and the instinct to dominate.

Hours passed. Sweat stung her eyes. Her chest burned. Her limbs screamed. Yet Kade did not relent. Every blow he gave was precise, every feint designed to force her wolf to the surface, to tempt her into losing herself entirely.

Finally, Lena’s knees buckled. She gasped, her wolf roaring from the depths, a sound that made the trees shiver. Kade caught her by the shoulders, holding her upright. His chest heaved; sweat slicked hair clung to his forehead.

“You’re close,” he breathed, lips just inches from hers, his scent intoxicating. “Closer than you’ve ever been. You feel it, don’t you? The pull. The power inside you.”

Lena swallowed hard, chest heaving, eyes wide. “I… I feel it. I can’t—”

“Yes, you can!” he snapped, fierce and unrelenting. Then, softer, “You will. Or the Hollow will eat you alive.”

Her wolf surged, claws ripping at her insides, teeth gnashing. Lena bit down on her own wrist to ground herself, blood mingling with sweat. Pain, fire, hunger—it all fused into clarity. She was not prey. She was not weak. She was wolf.

And she would survive.

The training grounds reeked of sweat, blood, and earth. The pack had long since drifted away to give their Alpha privacy, leaving only Lena and Kade in the silver hush of moonlight. Her body trembled as if it belonged to someone else, every nerve lit up like lightning.

Kade crouched in front of her, his hand steady against her cheek. His thumb brushed away the streak of dirt and blood at the corner of her lips, and for the first time since the training began, his touch was not a strike but an anchor.

“You didn’t break,” he murmured. “That matters more than how hard you fell.”

Lena’s breath hitched. She wanted to argue, to snap back that she had nearly lost control, that her wolf had clawed so hard against her skin she thought it would tear her apart. But instead, she whispered, “I almost lost myself.”

Kade’s golden gaze burned into hers. “Almost isn’t failure. It’s proof you still have the reins.” His voice dropped lower, huskier. “And proof your wolf listens to you. Not me. Not anyone else. You.”

The words sank deep, threading through the throb of her bond-mark, through the ache in her muscles, through the restless hunger of her wolf. Lena shuddered, torn between exhaustion and an ache she couldn’t name.

She leaned back against the oak tree, trying to steady her breath. Kade didn’t move away. Instead, he sat beside her, his presence a wall of heat and dominance. For a long stretch of silence, only the crackle of distant torches filled the night.

Finally, Lena said, her voice raw, “What if the Hollow doesn’t just test me? What if it consumes me?”

Kade’s jaw flexed, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “Then I’ll drag you back,” he said fiercely. “I don’t care if I have to bleed the ground dry or rip apart the Hollow itself. You’re mine, Lena Carter. The Hollow will learn that, or it will burn.”

Her wolf stirred, not in fear but in something dangerously close to pride. She met his gaze, her pulse a drum in her throat. “You sound like you’ve already decided for me.”

“I have.” He leaned closer, his lips grazing the shell of her ear. “And you’ll thank me for it when you walk out of the Hollow alive.”

Her body betrayed her with a shiver. The bond-mark pulsed hot, dragging heat low in her belly, binding her to him in ways she could neither fight nor fully surrender to. She clenched her fists against the urge to reach for him.

Kade noticed. Of course he noticed. His smirk was a slash of fire in the dark. “Your wolf wants me closer,” he said, voice like velvet over steel. “Say otherwise. Lie to me.”

Lena swallowed hard, every muscle tight. “I don’t want you.”

A low growl rumbled from his chest, dangerous and amused. He leaned back finally, granting her space, though his golden eyes never left her. “You’ll keep saying that,” he murmured, “until your wolf decides you’re done pretending.”

The words lingered long after he rose to his feet and offered her a hand. Lena hesitated, then slid her palm into his. His grip was rough, grounding, unshakable.

Together, they walked back toward the Blackwood stronghold. The air felt heavier now, thick with the weight of what was coming. Lena’s body ached, her wolf prowled, and her heart beat with a truth she didn’t want to face:

The Hollow wouldn’t just test her.

It would test them both.