Accueil / Werewolf / THE HOLLOW WOLF / Chapitre 31 - Chapitre 40

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The Woman From the Archive

Victoria's waiting in her private sitting room when we arrive, and the moment I see her face, I understand why Cassian looked so unsettled. She's always composed, always careful, every hair in place, and her every word chosen with precision. But right now she looks like a woman who hasn't slept in days, her hands twisted together in her lap, eyes red-rimmed like she's been crying somewhere private before we walked in."Sit," she says, gesturing to the chairs across from her. "Please. All of you."We sit, Cassian close beside me, Iris taking the chair nearest the door like she's still not entirely sure she trusts this family enough to sit further inside the room."I should have told you sooner," Victoria says, addressing Cassian directly, though her eyes keep flicking toward me.”"Everything that's happened these past weeks, I should have said something the moment Selene, or Mara, whatever name feels right to use, first walked through that gate.""Tell me what?" Cassian asks, voice ca

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-10

Divided Pack

We run the whole way to the north gate, and I make myself keep pace even though every part of me wants to slow down, wants one more second before I have to see whatever's waiting for us out there.A small crowd's already gathered by the time we arrive, guards holding people back, and Cassian pushes through them fast, pulling me along behind him. Damon's crouched near a still shape on the ground, and my stomach turns cold the second I see her clearly.Ilene. The woman from the archive, the same sharp eyes now empty and staring, throat torn open the exact same way Osric's was in the stable."Same method," Damon says quietly, standing as we approach. "Whoever did this, it's the same hand behind Osric's death too.""The message," Cassian says, voice tight. "You said there was a message."Damon holds out a folded piece of paper, edges stained faintly with blood. "Found it tucked into her sleeve. Addressed to you, Mara."My hands shake as I take it, unfolding it slowly, and the handwriting

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-10

Whispers in the Kitchens

The meeting ends in disorder, people breaking into small clusters, whispering, some casting glances my way that carry more fear now than sympathy. I barely register any of it. My eyes stay fixed on the black shawl at the back of the hall, on the woman Iris just named as Selene's mother."She's here," I say, my voice barely audible. "Selene's actual mother. Standing right there.""I didn't know she still lived close enough to hear about any of this," Iris says, equally stunned. "I thought the Voss family kept to themselves, out past the eastern farms.""She must have heard rumors," I say. "About a woman wearing her daughter's name walking around Rook Territory."Cassian catches the direction of my stare and follows it, understanding dawning fast across his face. "Do you think she's here for you?""I think she deserves to know what actually happened to her daughter," I say, guilt twisting sharp and sudden in my chest. "I've been wearing Selene's face for weeks, using her name, and her

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-10

An Attempt in the Night

I leave Helena with a promise to return, and follow Damon fast through the halls toward Victoria's private study. My mind's still spinning from everything she just told me, her husband died fifteen years ago, her daughter died more recently, both of them apparently silenced for stumbling onto the same buried truth.Victoria's study door stands open when we arrive, and inside I find Cassian bent over an old wooden chest, papers spread out across the desk, Victoria standing pale and shaking near the window."What did you find," I ask, breathless.Cassian looks up, something grim and certain settling over his face now. "They are old letters, hidden in a false bottom of this chest. Victoria kept them, all these years, too afraid to destroy them and too afraid to use them."Victoria doesn't look at any of us, staring out the window instead, arms wrapped tight around herself. "I should have burned them years ago. I told myself I was keeping them safe, keeping proof in case it was ever need

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-10

Damon's Watch

Damon's POVI didn't sleep after the attack, I just can't. I sit in the guard station just off the main hall, going over everything again and again, trying to find the piece I'm missing.A man got past our outer wall, he passed two patrols, and a posted guard knocked out before he even had time to raise an alarm. And he did it all without a single witness catching more than a shadow at a window.That's not luck, it's planning."You should rest," one of the younger guards says, passing through with a fresh torch for the corridor. "Alpha's already got extra men posted everywhere that matters.""Extra men didn't stop him last time," I say, not looking up from the map spread across the table in front of me. "It won't matter how many more we post if we don't understand how he's getting passed them."The guard doesn't have an answer for that, just nods and moves on, and I go back to studying the layout of Blackridge House, marking every point of entry, every blind spot in the patrol rotati

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-10

What Nadia Finally Says

Cassian decides we need to speak with Nadia again before we move forward with any plan to use Greta as bait. If Cordelia Ashworth really is the one behind all of this, Nadia might know more than she's let on so far, especially now that there's a name to press her with.We go together this time, me and Cassian both, and Nadia looks up from her cot the moment the cell door opens, something wary crossing her face at the sight of us together."Two visits in one week," she says. "Should I be flattered or worried?""We found the name," Cassian says, with no patience left for careful games. "Cordelia Ashworth."Something shifts hard behind Nadia's eyes, real shock this time, not the careful performance she's given us before. "Where did you find that name?""Letters," I say. "Between her and Cassian's father. Years of correspondence."Nadia stays frozen, completely in shock. She's processing, and I watch her weighing something behind her expression, deciding how much further to let herself fa

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-14

A Name Cassian Doesn't Want to Hear

Cassian doesn't waste time giving orders. By the time we reach the courtyard, half a dozen guards are already gathered, and he's shrugging out of his coat, tossing it toward Damon without a word."You're shifting," I say, though it's obvious enough from the way he's already working at the fastenings of his shirt."Faster on four legs," he says. "And I can track a scent better than any human tracker in this pack. If that boy's been taken recently, there's still a trail to follow."I've never actually watched him shift before, not properly, or this close. He steps back from the group, and something shudders through him, fast and violent, bones cracking and reshaping themselves in a blur that makes my stomach twist even knowing what's happening. Fur ripples out dark across his skin, and within seconds where a man stood, there's a wolf instead, massive, black as pitch, amber eyes glowing faint even in the daylight.He's beautiful. Terrifying and beautiful both at once, and something low

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-14

Cassian's Doubt

Cassian's POVWe split into two groups just outside the gate, Damon leading half the guards back toward Greta's cottage to keep searching for the boy, while I take Mara and two others to follow Nadia's trail before the scent fades entirely.I shift again, faster this time, my body already used to the strain of it tonight, and Mara follows a beat behind me, still clumsy in her new shape but steadier than she was an hour ago. Watching her find her wolf for the first time tonight did something to me I don't fully have words for yet, something that cracked open wider than even the truth of who she is already had.“You're doing well,” I tell her, keeping my pace slow enough so that she can match it. “Better than most first shifts I've seen.”“I don't feel like I'm doing well,” she says, breath ragged even in wolf form. “I feel like I might fall over any second.”“You won't. Trust your wolf. She knows what she's doing even when you don't.”Nyx's presence beside her, threaded through her voi

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-14

Mara Pushes Forward

Smoke. My whole body goes cold at the word, and before I even think about it properly, I'm shifting again, bones cracking fast and painful, and I take off running before my fur's even fully settled into place.“Mara, wait!” Cassian's voice chases after me, and I hear him shift behind me too fast, catching up within seconds, his longer legs eating up ground faster than mine can manage.I'm not waiting,” I say. “Not with Iris still inside those walls. And Helena is still there too.”We run hard, the rest of the group falling behind us, and my lungs burn from pushing this unfamiliar wolf body harder than I've ever tested it, but I refuse to slow down. I didn't think about anything except getting back to that fortress before whatever's burning takes something else from me.The gate comes into view finally, and my stomach drops at the sight of flickering orange light against the dark sky, smoke curling thick from somewhere near the east wing.“That's close to the guest quarters,” Cassian s

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-14

A Letter Meant for No One

Cassian's already shouting orders before the guard finishes speaking, guards scrambling into defensive positions along the outer wall, and I feel Nyx surge forward under my skin, sharp and alert, ready for whatever's coming."How many?" Cassian demands."Hard to say for certain in the dark," the guard says. "Twenty, maybe more. Moving with purpose, they are not scattered like refugees or travelers.""Cordelia's people," Nadia says immediately, standing despite her guards' hesitation to let her move freely. "She's not waiting for us to come to her anymore, she's bringing the fight here."Cassian's jaw sets hard, already moving toward the armory, and I fall into step beside him, adrenaline burning through the exhaustion that had settled deep in my bones just minutes ago."We need every able body ready to defend this wall," he says to Damon, who's already directing guards into formation. "Wolves on the perimeter, archers along the top of the wall, and get every non-combatant into the low

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-14

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