Chapter 4 The Hollow's Secrets

The morning light barely touched the windows of the stone chamber when I stirred awake. For a moment, I forgot where I was. The silence was so unlike the Bloodfang Pack's barracks-no barking orders, no loud footsteps, no forced training drills.

Just stillness.

I dressed quickly, pulling on the clothes Lira had given me. The weight of rejection still clung to me, but in Crescent Hollow, it didn't seem to define me. Not yet.

A soft knock at the door broke my thoughts.

I opened it to find a young girl, probably no older than fifteen, standing there with a tray of food. Her hair was braided tight, and her amber eyes reminded me of a fox's.

"Alpha Lucien said to bring you breakfast," she said with a shy smile. "And to tell you he's in the northern courtyard, if you're feeling... steady."

I nodded. "Thank you."

She handed me the tray and turned to go, but then hesitated. "You're not like the others. I hope you'll stay."

That made my throat tighten, but I said nothing.

The tray held warm bread, dried meat, berries, and a mug of tea that smelled of mint and honey. I ate quickly, hungry in a way I hadn't noticed before-like my body was starting to believe I might survive this.

Afterward, I made my way down the winding halls of the keep. The walls were carved with lunar runes-old ones I didn't recognize. This place was ancient, and it pulsed with a kind of raw energy that hummed through my bones.

When I stepped into the northern courtyard, the cold air greeted me like a slap.

Lucien was there, bare-armed despite the chill, sparring with two wolves. His movements were fluid, precise, not the brutal chaos I'd seen from Kael or the Bloodfang warriors. He fought like a shadow-silent and fast.

When he noticed me, he stepped back and handed his weapon to a guard.

"You came," he said simply.

"I said I was just passing through," I replied.

"Passing through doesn't mean you can't stretch your legs."

His gaze flicked over me. Not in a way that made me feel exposed-but in the way a wolf sizes up another.

"Have you trained?" he asked.

"I was part of a warrior pack. Training was all we had."

He nodded. "Show me."

I blinked. "Now?"

He stepped back, clearing space in the courtyard. "Don't hold back."

Something in me sparked. A challenge. Not to prove myself to him-but to remind myself that I hadn't been broken.

I stepped forward, dropping into stance.

We circled each other. He moved like smoke, but I matched him step for step. I landed the first strike-just a glancing hit to his ribs-but it made his lips curl into something like approval.

He struck back fast. I barely dodged.

It wasn't long before I was out of breath, my arms aching. But I didn't stop. Not until he raised a hand and called the match.

"You're rusty," he said. "But fast. You fight like someone who's had to defend herself, not like someone trained for glory."

"That's because I was never anyone's champion," I said, chest heaving. "Just another body on the line."

He watched me in silence for a moment. "That's exactly the kind of fighter this world needs."

There it was again-that sense that he saw something in me I hadn't yet recognized myself.

He gestured toward a bench. "Come. There's something you should see."

I followed him to the far edge of the courtyard, where a set of stairs led down into the keep's lower levels. The air grew colder as we descended, the stone walls slick with moisture. At the bottom was a chamber-half shrine, half library. Candles flickered against stone reliefs of the Moon Goddess, and shelves lined the walls, filled with old tomes and scrolls.

"This is the Sanctuary," Lucien said. "A place for those who walk between what was and what could be."

He moved to a pedestal and lifted a scroll, gently unrolling it.

"This," he said, "is an old prophecy. One few believe anymore. It speaks of a wolf born under a rare lunar alignment-rejected by her own, but destined to bring unity to fractured packs."

My stomach turned.

"That's just coincidence," I said.

He didn't argue. "Perhaps. But when I saw you that night, I felt something shift."

"You think I'm your prophecy?"

"I think the Moon doesn't make mistakes."

I turned from the scroll, unsure of what to believe. All my life I had been told I was less-just another foot soldier. Then Kael rejected me, crushing what was left of my worth. And now, Lucien spoke as if I might be something more.

It was too much.

"I'm not special," I said. "I'm broken."

He walked toward me, slowly. "Then maybe it's the broken who remake the world."

Our eyes locked, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. Not from fear-but from the pull I felt. The bond was gone, but this-whatever was happening with Lucien-was something else entirely.

A different kind of thread.

"I'm not ready," I whispered.

"You don't have to be. Just... stay."

"I told you, I'm passing through."

"Then stay until the path calls you again."

He turned to leave me with that.

I spent the next few days in Crescent Hollow. Training. Reading. Listening. The wolves were different here-less hierarchy, more unity. Even the lowest-ranked had a voice during council.

And no one looked at me like I was ruined.

But shadows still lingered.

One night, while walking the cliff paths alone, I heard whispering in the wind. At first, I thought it was my wolf. But then I realized-it wasn't coming from inside me.

It was outside.

Calling me.

I followed the sound through the trees until I reached an ancient stone arch, half-buried in moss. The runes glowed faintly under the moonlight.

When I touched one, the air shimmered-and I saw a vision.

A dark forest. Wolves fighting. A white-furred she-wolf bleeding in the snow. And Lucien, standing alone with blood on his hands and a crown of thorns on his head.

I gasped and stumbled back.

The vision vanished.

What was that?

Was it a memory? A prophecy?

Or a warning?

My wolf paced restlessly, uneasy. And in that moment, I knew-whatever I had stepped into, it was bigger than just rejection. Bigger than heartbreak.

I was part of something ancient.

Something awakening.

Back in my room, I found a note from Lucien.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

That's all it said.

And somehow, that terrified me more than the vision itself.