Chapter 2 THE EXILED ALPHA

The wind howled through the cragged peaks of the Direfang Mountains, a place untouched by pack politics, by peace, or by mercy.

At the base of a cliff carved by time and storms stood a lone figure-tall, cloaked, and shadowed by the biting winds. He was a man, and not a man. A beast, but not mindless. His presence exuded stillness, power, and pain.

His name was Darius Wolfe.

Once Alpha of the Ironhowl Pack. Once destined for glory.

Now? A traitor in the eyes of the Council. An exile. A ghost.

And tonight, the spirits whispered.

He opened his eyes.

A pulse in the ley lines. A tremor in the old earth. His wolf stirred restlessly under his skin.

"The Hollow stirs again," he murmured, voice like gravel. "After all these years."

He didn't need prophecy to tell him what that meant.

War was coming.

---

Two hundred miles south, Raven paced the edge of the Wyrdlands, eyes sharp, her wounds still raw from the ambush the night before.

Tavi was curled against a moss-covered root, finally asleep. His body needed rest, but Raven couldn't risk it for herself.

That stranger... the one with the silver eyes and the killing aura... he had let her go.

Why?

He knew what she was. Or at least, what she was becoming. The mark hadn't gone unnoticed-it glowed stronger with each day, with each heartbeat.

She could feel the power in her bones. But also the rage. The hunger.

She was a time bomb.

And worse-others knew she existed now.

It wouldn't be long before word reached the packs.

"Stay hidden. Stay sharp. Keep moving," she whispered to herself like a prayer.

But it was already too late.

---

In the far reaches of the southern packlands, a black-winged raven circled a moss-covered temple ruin. Beneath its stone arches knelt a woman in blue, her silver hair braided in coils, eyes pale and clouded with magic.

Eira Moonveil, Seer of the Circle.

The raven landed on her shoulder and whispered in a language older than wolves.

She listened.

She saw.

The girl was marked.

The Hollow bloodline had awakened.

And now the cursed moon would rise again.

Eira's lips moved in a silent chant. She drew a rune in the dirt with powdered bone, then poured a vial of her own blood onto it.

The ground trembled.

Visions flickered across her mind-chaos, betrayal, wolves ripping into wolves. And in the center of it all...

A girl with eyes like ice, glowing with ancient fire.

"She doesn't know what she carries," Eira whispered. "And when she learns... it may already be too late."

---

Darius reached the edge of the Wyrdlands by nightfall.

He hadn't intended to move this fast, but something compelled him. Not just the whispers of the ley lines, not just the omen-drenched sky.

He'd seen her-in a vision.

A girl with silver-black hair and the Hollow mark.

Not just a survivor of the cursed bloodline.

Its heir.

He had spent years running from that prophecy. From the truth buried in his own past. But now?

Now he had no choice.

He had to find her before the Council did.

Or worse... before they did.

---

Raven spotted the intruder before he crossed the ridge.

She crouched low behind a twisted cedar, dagger in hand, every muscle tense. This time, she wouldn't be caught off-guard.

The man moved with fluid power, deliberate and deadly. His hood was down, revealing a rough face with a scar across the jaw and pale silver eyes that seemed to pierce the dark.

Not the hunter from before. But dangerous all the same.

Raven held her breath.

Then he spoke.

"You're Raven Cross," he said calmly, stopping just short of the clearing.

Her blood went cold.

"How do you know my name?" she demanded.

"Because I've been looking for you."

She stepped out from behind the tree, dagger raised.

"People looking for me tend to have sharp blades and bad intentions."

"I have both," he said, unfazed. "But not for you. Yet."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Then who are you?"

"Darius Wolfe. Former Alpha. Former soldier. Exile."

"Why are you here?"

"To warn you."

She hesitated. "About what?"

"About what you carry. About what's coming. And about the thing inside you that's going to kill a lot more than just your pack if you don't learn to control it."

Raven's jaw clenched. "I didn't ask for this."

"Neither did the thousands who'll die if you let it consume you."

Something in his voice-cold, sad, bitter-made her pause.

"You've seen it before," she said.

"I lived through the last Hollow rising. Barely." His eyes darkened. "And I know what that mark means."

She stepped closer. "Then tell me."

Darius looked at her-really looked. Not at the blood on her hands or the fear in her eyes, but at the curse beneath her skin.

"If I tell you," he said, "you won't be able to run from it anymore."

"I'm done running."

Darius nodded once.

"Then come with me. There's a place-far beyond the Wyrdlands. A temple the Council tried to bury. It holds answers."

She glanced back at Tavi, still sleeping.

"Fine. But he comes too."

Darius studied the boy. "He'll slow us down."

"He's under my protection."

A long silence.

Then: "So be it."

---

They traveled through the Wyrdlands under cover of night, Raven matching Darius's long strides with determined silence.

"Why do you care?" she asked eventually. "Why not just kill me and stop the curse now?"

Darius didn't look at her.

"Because once," he said quietly, "I believed in someone like you. And I killed her."

Raven said nothing after that.

---

By dawn, they reached the outskirts of the Temple of Hollow Flame, a crumbling ruin wrapped in creeping vines and carved with forbidden glyphs.

Raven felt her mark pulse with heat as they approached.

She stepped inside.

The stone walls shimmered with faint energy. Raven saw murals-of wolves with white eyes, of flames devouring forests, of the cursed mark etched on every chest.

At the center of the chamber was a stone pedestal.

Raven approached it. Her mark began to burn.

"You were born with it," Darius said behind her. "But it was dormant. Until the Blood Moon awakened it."

Raven stared at the pedestal.

"What is it?"

Darius stepped beside her.

"A prison. The original Hollow Alpha was sealed here. His spirit is still bound to the old bloodlines. Yours. Mine."

Raven flinched. "Yours?"

Darius looked away.

"My great-grandmother was a Hollow. We all carry fragments."

She backed up.

"Why didn't the curse consume you?"

"I had help. A seer. Rituals. And discipline."

Raven's voice shook. "And if I can't control it?"

"You'll kill everyone you love."

She looked down at her hands. "Already did."

---

Tavi's scream shattered the silence.

Raven and Darius rushed outside to find him surrounded by five wolves-armed, armored, and carrying the sigil of the Council Hunters.

One of them grinned.

"Raven Cross. By order of the Alpha Council, you are under arrest for bloodline treason, murder, and unregulated magical inheritance."

Darius growled. "Back off."

The leader sneered. "You're wanted too, exile. We'll take both of you."

Raven stepped forward, the Hollow mark glowing bright against her chest.

"Come and try."

They did.

---

It was chaos.

Darius became a blur of claws and fury. Raven shifted mid-leap, her body moving with terrifying speed and raw power.

She felt everything-the way the wind curved, the beats of her enemies' hearts, the rage in her blood demanding release.

She gave in.

When it was over, the ground was stained red. Three hunters dead. One fled. One broken and gasping.

Raven stood over him, claws raised.

"Mercy," he begged.

She stared down at him.

And for a moment... her eyes burned white.

Darius grabbed her arm.

"Enough."

She blinked. Her claws retracted. The mark dimmed.

She stepped back, shaking.

"What... what was that?"

Darius didn't answer immediately.

Then: "Your wolf. And the thing inside it."

Raven looked down at the blood on her hands.

Again.

---

That night, they camped near a river. Raven sat alone, knees to her chest, staring at the reflection of the moon.

"I don't know how to stop it," she said.

Darius sat beside her.

"You start by not running from it."

She glanced at him.

"I need to know the truth," she whispered. "All of it."

Darius nodded.

"Then tomorrow... we find the one person who knows more than anyone alive about the Hollow curse."

"Who?"

He looked up at the stars.