All Chapters of THE HOLLOW WOLF: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The growl comes again. This time I saw him. A wolf steps out from between two trees. Dark gray. Big. Teeth are already out.I don't move. Every part of me wants to run but something stops me. You don't run from something like that. It'll chase you down before you get three steps."Easy," I say, and I keep my hands up so he can see them. "I'm not here to fight you."He doesn't answer, because he's a wolf, not a person. But his ears go flat and his lip pulls back more, and I get the feeling this isn't some animal that wandered up on me by accident. He's working. This is a patrol.A man steps out from behind him. Tall. Heavy gray coat, collar turned up against the cold. Maybe thirty years old. He looks at me like he hasn't decided yet if I'm trouble or just a headache."That's Grimwood land you're standing on," he says. "We don't get a lot of folks climbing out of the dirt at sunrise."My stomach drops. He saw the grave."I don't know what you saw," I say, trying to keep my voice from sh

They walk me through the big doors of Blackridge House with my wrists still tied, and every step across that stone floor feels like walking into a memory I'm not allowed to have.The entry hall hasn't changed. Same high beams. Same old tapestries on the walls. Same cold draft that never goes away no matter how many fires burn in the hearths. I used to run down this hallway laughing. I used to belong here.Now they're dragging me through it like a stranger.Cassian walks ahead of us, not saying a word, his back straight and stiff. I watch the width of his shoulders and try to match this man up with the one who used to pull me against his chest and tell me nothing bad would ever touch me in this house.He leads us into a small room off the main hall. A study. Dark wood, a fire already going, maps and papers stacked neat on a heavy desk. He waits until the guard shuts the door behind us before he turns to look at me full on."Untie her," he says.The guard hesitates. "Alpha, she was foun