Page 61 of Wolf's Vow

I didn’t reply, fury pounding beneath my skin like a steady, heavy drumbeat.

The druid continued, head tilted slightly. “I’m worried about you for other reasons…” They watched me closely. “You’ve been gone too long from your other half.”

“She’s not a half,” I said sharply. “She’s her own damn person.”

“Exactly. And you’re walking around like you’re not starving without her.” Their lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. “This is not what is needed right now. Separation is not helping. With the discoveries that you’ve made recently, the pack is unsettled. Too much change makes reclusive wolves nervous.”

I felt the bond pulse—not painfully. Just there. Present. Alive. “I’m doing what needs to be done. I’m doing what needs to be doneforthis pack.”

“That bond you’re both pretending not to feel?” They raised their brow. “It’ll pull. Harder. Tighter. Until one of you breaks. It will not be pretty.” The druid leaned forward. “The Goddess wants her two chosen matesunited. Only together will you give the pack balance.”

I didn’t answer.

“You’re bleeding into the Hollow, Wolfe. Rage, frustration, loneliness—your pack feels it. They don’t want to be another pack where the alpha leads by sheer force. They need an alpha who knows when tobend.”

I stared at them. I could remind them that we were under attack. Or that there were traitors amidst us. Or that shifters in this pack were overlooked because they were too intimidated to speak up. Instead, I asked them a question. “And what if I don’t know how to bend?”

The druid smiled. Not cruel. Not soft, either. “Then start by admitting you’re willing totry.” They stood and turned to go, robes whispering over the stone. Over their shoulder, they spoke. “Bring back the daughter of the Hollow. It needs her as much as you do.”

The door closed behind them silently, but it may as well have slammed shut, their words echoing loudly in the silence.

Was she ready to come back? It wasn’t the question I needed to ask. Of course she was. She had never wanted to leave.

The question I needed to ask was, was I ready to let her come back?

Chapter 15

Wolfe

I left the office.

I’d never thought I would be the kind of alpha that sat in an office, reading reports, managing a packon paper.

Lars had been very hands-on, and in Stonefang, it was easier, I guess. We were more communal. Smaller. Compact. I looked over Blueridge Hollow as I took in the fact that they were more than just spread out. Some of the wolves here lived so far from the main pack hall that you could go days without interacting with them. Everyone had their place, both in the pack and in the hierarchy—I guess that was the best way to describe it. How did I improve that?

I didn’t want toforcepeople to mingle; the very idea of it made the contents of my stomach curdle, but this pack was…I couldn’t think of the word.Reclusivewas how I’d described them earlier, but were they? They didn’t like outsiders, I knew that, but as I walked the paths that separated houses and pack, I wondered if they likedinsiderseither.

I saw Adair hanging out washing, and I hesitated. I liked the young female. She’d been a child when I left, but I remembered how, even then, she seemed older than her years. Adair looked up and saw me. She raised a hand in a wave, but like many of herpack, it wasn’t in invitation; it was a simple greeting.I see you, move on. I returned the wave and did as she silently requested.

I wondered if they knew how unintentionally uninviting they were. With determination in my stride, I turned and walked back, seeing her look up and straighten slowly as I approached, a slight frown line forming as she held my gaze.

“Alpha?”

She was pretty. I don’t think I’d noticed before. My eyes were on only one female shifter in this pack, and everyone else dimmed in comparison. But looking at Adair with her short hair, wide eyes, and smooth complexion, she was attractive. I don’t know if that was what surprised me or the fact that she was so…adult. I remembered a young, albeit serious, wolf, not this strong shifter in front of me.

“You grew up,” I said with a smile.

Adair looked puzzled at the greeting, but she smiled. “Happens to us all,” she said serenely. Her voice was gentle but strong. She didn’t whisper or lower it, she was quite happy if people heard her, and I liked that. “How are you today?”

“Good.”

Her head tilted and her nose wrinkled. “No…” She sniffed the air. “No, I think you need to try again to convince me, Alpha.”

She’d always had that aura about her, making you think she could see more, sense deeper. I was going to insist it was nothing, but I opened up, surprising myself. “I’m tired,” I admitted. “The more I look, the more I uncover, but it’s not out there…”

Adair’s gaze dropped to her washing. Stooping, she lifted a garment and began to hang it. “The pegs are there,” she told me, and I started to hand her pegs as she hung her clothing. “You’re finding the cracks in the Hollow,” Adair said. This time, her voice was low.

“Yeah, something like that.”