Chapter 4 4

The scent of charred bark and blood clung to the air long after the Hollowborn fell.

Leila stood at the edge of the glade, her fingers caked in ash. The last of the runes still flickered dimly, humming against the forest floor like dying embers. A breeze pushed through the blackened trees, scattering scorched pine needles and smoke through the air. It should've felt like a victory- but it didn't.

Not when her skin still buzzed with the echo of the Hollowborn's whisper.

You should not have returned.

The words had burrowed deep.

"Leila." Carley's voice reached her through the smoke.

She turned, slowly. His form was slicked with sweat, his jaw clenched hard, blood smearing one cheek like war paint. But it wasn't just the aftermath of battle written across his face-it was fear. A rare thing for an Alpha.

"You felt it too," she said before he could speak.

He nodded. "The voice. The spiral."

"They were waiting for me. Calling me."

He stepped closer. "And yet you didn't answer."

Her lips tightened. "Doesn't mean I wasn't tempted."

Carley stiffened. "Tempted?"

She met his eyes. "You think I'm immune to them? That reforging the bond erased the years I spent listening to their whispers? I was alone, Carley. For four winters, I lived with their shadows in my dreams. The bond gives me strength now, but it also makes me a target."

He didn't speak for a moment. Then he reached out, brushing her fingers with his.

"They will never claim you. I won't let them."

Leila shook her head. "It's not about letting them. It's about if I can hold out long enough."

Before he could answer, Rowan approached from behind, his face grave.

"One escaped."

Carley's shoulders tensed. "How?"

Rowan shook his head. "We burned the ones inside the glade, but a scout said he saw one break from the circle before the flames reached full strength. Smaller. Faster."

Leila exhaled slowly. "They were testing us."

Carley nodded grimly. "And they'll come harder next time."

Back at the Nightpaw stronghold, the war council gathered again. The once proud stone hall, built into the mountain's bones, had always served as a sanctuary for strategy. But now, the air inside was colder than usual. The brazier flames sputtered as though choked by unseen hands.

Elder Miriam leaned forward, her expression unreadable. "So. The Hollowborn are watching again. Whispering. Hunting."

Vaughn scowled. "They never stopped."

"Then why did we not fall sooner?" Miriam asked. Her eyes flicked to Leila. "What changed?"

Leila stood before them, spine straight, though fatigue clung to her. "Because they've evolved. This wasn't a mindless horde we faced. These ones... they remembered us. They spoke with purpose."

"They mocked us," Rowan added.

Carley paced near the stone wall, his hand running along the ancient carved symbols of their forebears. "This changes the plan. We don't wait for them to come again. We go after the one that escaped. It was young-smaller. We track it. Follow it to wherever it came from."

Vaughn scoffed. "You'd chase a ghost?"

Leila turned to him. "Not a ghost. A thread. Pull it hard enough, and the tapestry unravels."

He sneered. "Or you pull and it tightens around your throat."

Carley's voice turned steel. "Enough."

The room quieted.

He moved to the center. "We forge a hunting party. Leila and I will lead it. Rowan, you'll pick five of our strongest trackers. We leave before moonrise."

Vaughn stood. "No. I won't allow it."

Carley raised an eyebrow. "You won't allow it?"

"I speak for half the council," Vaughn said sharply. "And I say you're too emotionally compromised. You've just reforged a bond that was broken for years-and now you intend to stake your life and hers chasing shadows in cursed woods?"

Leila's laugh was low, cold. "Funny. You didn't question the risk when I stood in the glade with blood on my skin and a blade in my hand."

Vaughn's eyes narrowed. "I question everything that might doom this pack."

"Then question your own cowardice," she snapped.

Before the room could fracture further, Miriam stood.

"Enough," she said firmly. "Let them go. If this creature left a trail, we must know where it leads. If the Hollowborn are amassing again, then a preemptive strike may be our only hope. I'll speak to the rest of the council in the Alpha's absence."

Vaughn glared but sat, his silence bitter.

Carley gave Miriam a tight nod. "Thank you."

That Night – Beneath the Pale Moon

The forest had changed.

Leila could feel it in her bones as they rode through the deeper wilds, where the trees grew older and crueler, their bark blackened by time and magic. The air here whispered in strange tongues, and the wind had a way of circling back, as if chasing its own tail.

They rode in silence, the hunt party numbering seven. Carley at her side. Rowan behind. The rest-Nia, Thorne, Dax, Selwyn, and Marek-spread out in a loose V formation.

Every few minutes, Leila would pause, drop to one knee, and press her hand to the earth. She was listening-not just to the sounds of the wild, but to the vibrations beneath it.

The bond pulsed faintly within her chest. It was warm-steady.

Good. Carley was still tethered.

Then she felt it.

A tug. Like a thread plucked too tightly.

"The trail bends east," she said, standing swiftly.

Carley didn't hesitate. "Go. We're with you."

They followed the scent-copper and rot, laced with a strange sweetness, like fermented berries-and it led them to the edge of a ravine. A place Leila hadn't seen in five years.

She froze.

Carley noticed. "What is it?"

"This place..." she whispered. "I was brought here once. After I was taken."

The others waited, silent.

"There's a cave," she continued, pointing toward the ridge. "Below. Hidden behind the waterfall."

They descended carefully, each step silent over slick moss and broken stone.

As they neared the cave mouth, the air changed again-heavier. And inside, a faint sound echoed outward.

Breathing.

Shallow. Wrong.

Carley nodded to Rowan, who stepped forward and tossed a rune stone into the dark.

It hit the cave floor with a faint clink and burst into pale light.

They entered, blades drawn.

At the back of the cavern, curled into itself like a dying animal, was the escaped Hollowborn. It twitched, whimpering, rocking.

Selwyn took a step forward. "It's injured."

"No," Leila whispered. "It's shedding."

Even as she spoke, the creature's skin began to crack and split. Smoke poured from its eyes. From its chest.

Then it spoke again.

Not with a voice.

With hers.

"Leila..."

Everyone froze.

It tilted its head up, and now-its face was hers. A perfect, ghastly mirror.

Leila staggered backward. "What-what is this?"

Carley stepped between her and the thing.

The creature smiled with her mouth.

Then, in Carley's voice, it whispered, "You failed her once. You'll fail her again."

He lunged, driving his blade through the mimic's throat.

It shattered like glass.

And from within it, something slithered into the shadows.

They didn't give chase. They couldn't.

The cave trembled. A pulse of magic rolled outward.

"Move!" Rowan bellowed.

They fled the cavern just as it collapsed inward, sealing itself in stone and flame.

Later - On the Ridge

The pack stood in silence as the smoke rose behind them.

No one spoke.

Finally, Leila broke the quiet.

"They were never trying to run."

Carley nodded slowly. "It wanted us to follow. To show us that... thing."

"Why my face? My voice?"

"Because it knows it haunts you. Because it feeds on fear."

Rowan approached. "That was no scout. That was a message."

Leila turned to Carley, the wind tossing her hair around her face.

"They're coming for me," she said. "And they're coming soon."

Carley met her gaze.

"Then let them come."

They returned to the ridge in silence, the full moon casting cold silver over the wreckage of what they'd just faced.

Leila stood at the edge, watching the smoke rise from the collapsed cave. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself- not out of fear, but to contain the storm surging just beneath her skin. Seeing her own face on that creature had shaken something loose in her. A memory. A warning. A truth she didn't want to admit, even to herself.

She didn't feel whole. Not really. Not yet.

Carley approached quietly, as he always did when words weren't enough. He didn't touch her- he never assumed- but the nearness of him, the grounding scent of his presence, helped keep the shadows at bay.

"They're playing a long game," Leila said eventually. "One where I'm the centerpiece."

"You're not a pawn," Carley replied, voice low. "You're a weapon they fear."

Leila gave him a bitter smile. "And yet they still know how to unnerve me."

Carley turned to face her fully. "I don't care how close they come. I'll burn the entire forest down before I let them take you again."

His words were iron-but beneath them, she sensed the tremble in his resolve. He wasn't just angry. He was scared. Not of the Hollowborn, but of losing her again.

"We can't outrun this, Carley," she whispered. "Whatever they did to me- whatever I became when I was theirs- it's not gone."

He reached out this time, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "Then we face it. Together."

Their eyes locked, and for a moment, the world narrowed to the bond humming between them- a tether reforged, tested in fire, but still unbroken.

Behind them, Rowan cleared his throat.

"You need to see this."

They followed him a few steps down the ridge, to where Marek and Thorne stood near the base of a charred pine. In the dirt, carved deep with claws or blade or both, were symbols. Ancient. Feral.

Leila crouched, brushing away loose ash.

"These aren't just warnings," she said slowly. "This... this is blood pact language."

Carley frowned. "A challenge?"

Rowan stepped closer. "More like a declaration."

Leila traced the largest sigil with a shaking fingertip. It pulsed faintly, even now.

"This says, The Hollowborn rise by blood and bone. The stolen one will guide us."

Silence fell.

Carley's voice dropped. "The stolen one... you?"

Leila's throat felt tight. "They don't just want me back. They think I belong to them."

Thorne, who rarely spoke, added darkly, "Then it's not just about war. It's about reclaiming a queen."

"No," Leila whispered. "A weapon."

Carley straightened. "We destroy these symbols. Every one we find. Rowan, double the patrols. Selwyn, inform Miriam. And no one- no one- goes near this ridge alone."

"Understood," Rowan said, already issuing hand signals to the others.

As the others set to work, Leila lingered by the sigil, her hand still pressed to the earth.

There was a vibration beneath it. Not magical. Not spiritual.

It was alive.

"Carley," she said softly. "This spot... it's a gate."

He knelt beside her. "A gate?"

"The cave wasn't just a hiding place. It was a conduit. They've been opening ways between realms... and this is the seam."

Carley stared at the mark, his mind racing. "So even if we destroy this one-"

"They'll open others," she finished.

He took her hand, curling his fingers around hers. "Then we find them all. And we close every damn one."

Later That Night – The Alpha's Quarters

The hunt party had returned to the stronghold well past midnight. Most had gone to rest, but Leila couldn't sleep- not after what she'd seen. What she'd heard.

She sat by the hearth in Carley's quarters, wrapped in one of his old cloaks. The fire crackled softly, casting flickers of gold across her face. She stared into it, eyes distant.

Carley emerged from the adjoining room, his shirt loose, damp hair curling at the ends.

"You're freezing," he said, crossing the room.

Leila didn't respond. Her eyes were locked on the flame.

He knelt beside her, gently tucking the cloak tighter around her shoulders. "Talk to me."

"I remember the first time they spoke to me," she said finally. "Not with words, not at first. Just... images. A child's laughter. A forest on fire. My hands soaked in blood. I thought I was dreaming. But they were showing me futures. Versions of myself."

Carley watched her carefully.

"One of them... she was a queen. Powerful. Feared. But her eyes were hollow. She didn't remember her name. She only answered to them."

He touched her cheek, gently turning her face to his. "You're not her."

"I could've been."

"But you're not."

She shook her head. "I'm still scared I might be."

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers. "You've come back to us. To me. That bond you carry-it's stronger than fear. Stronger than fate."

Her breath trembled. "I don't want to disappear again."

"You won't ."

The bond between them pulsed again-soft, but steady. Reassuring.

She finally met his gaze. "Then let's make sure they never get another gate open."

Elsewhere - Unknown Hollowborn Temple

Far beyond the northern ridge, deep beneath the earth, in a place untouched by sunlight, the last of the Hollowborn circled their altar.

A figure knelt in the center, cloaked in bone and ash. Its eyes were pits of fire, and in its hands it held a shard-a piece of the mirror that once belonged to the queen they lost.

Leila's image flickered across its surface.

"She is unmoored," the figure hissed.

Another, taller creature stepped forward. "Yet bound again."

"We severed her once. We will do so again."

The fire above them crackled, and a voice echoed from the void.

"She walks the path of memory. Let it twist. Let it break. When she returns to us, she will not remember him."

The mirror flashed-and a new image formed.

Carley Nightpaw, blade drawn, surrounded by light.

The figure growled.

"We will kill the Alpha. And then we will take our queen home."

Back at the Stronghold - The Next Morning

Leila awoke with a start.

She had slept beside Carley, her head resting on his shoulder, his warmth steady beside her. But now, she sat up abruptly, sweat slicking her brow.

He stirred beside her. "Leila?"

She didn't answer.

Her fingers trembled as she reached for the bond-her side still strong, but she felt a flicker. A phantom ache where his heart should be.

A warning.

She looked to him, eyes wide. "They're going to try and kill you."

His brow furrowed. "What?"

"I saw it. Not a dream. A vision."

Carley sat up fully now, his muscles taut, senses snapping to alert. "When?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "But soon. And if they succeed..."

He reached for her hands. "They won't."

She didn't look convinced.

"We'll double the guards, tighten the warding," he said. "We'll prepare."

She gripped his hand tighter. "You don't understand. It wasn't just about killing you. They want me to watch. They think it'll break me."

Carley's jaw clenched. "Then we give them nothing."

Leila looked into his eyes, tears threatening. "You're my anchor, Carley. If they take you... I will break."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then to the bond mark at her shoulder.

"Then we'll make damn sure they never get the chance."