Pregnant for The Hollow Alpha

graph had

lar. Not

f

the back, handwriti

nineteen. On

y mother

went s

ld me ev

down. I looked at h

alive,"

l no

er

een sitting in his chest for twelve years and

he

vy. Like the weight of it had finally wo

year

And every year after that, Merek lo

d to me,

tected

welve

Which meant he agreed with me. Which someho

hands flat

ng," I said. "Rig

twenty

hat it meant that the Alpha had been planning

t on the table and I let it land, piece by

A wolf whose howl doesn't just shift, it calls

ver met had been afraid of

hed I sat quietl

I sto

the rest,

other secret insi

lls covered in handwriting and maps and symbols and at the cen

owl. And bel

sed an

line will end what

prophecy old

ne. Words that had been waiting in the dark w

ned a

k red covers worn soft from handl

journal and opened i

ing was noth

oping, completely certain of itself. The handwritin

twelve years ago. The n

he said the woman was me and the moon was just the moon because

l, because Merek will keep hi

Howl is n

s a

ria. Use

d the j

nds flat on

ath

t up and tucked

all of the

k no

you tell me ev

win

I go to the boundary ton

eyes. "Everyth

e journal

dawn exactly whe

ls open, tea I'd made an hour ago gone cold. He

ng, which I was beginning to understand was just a thing he did. He had a particular

most restful thing

er. She knew what was coming

id it carefully. Like he'd been thinking about how to s

know

sides." A pause. "I know my father is a

of a woman he'd

o

in my hands. At my mothe

today," I said.

ven't s

I stood. Picked up my cloak. "

sto

th moved. Not quite a

e rules,"

in

ollow

ition

at me fo

hat the Howl would

e door. "Co

y morning had a textur

arings, every root worth avoiding. But now with the Howl awake in

ty feet east.

ird branch of th

ground before m

ped wa

l the deer

ed beside

neve

watched my face. "It'll keep expanding. The close

lways th

t used

story under that answer. I

use it," I sai

ent

ep in muscle and bone, the same way you flinched from heat. It surged,

mes. Fou

ael stopped saying try

ghting it,

not

t of his head.

t. The surge. The

hting it

es

do I

look up slightly. He looked at my hands shak

n't reach. Don't push. Just find it. The

tr

tely. It had alway

it,"

" he said. "Just let

t know

Howl

, slow, enormous, rising through my hands and arms and

" I

" he

reating it l

rest," he said. "The Howl is the forest. You t

ked a

en, with a father who timed things, that some thin

u learn tha

o be what my father said I was." A pause. "And

n my chest

ed awa

n," I

I could hold it f

l stood at the edge of the clearing and let me work without commenta

lly up and the forest br

us through the trees. Two hundred yards out. No

chi

t stop

rees," I said. "Two hundr

aid. "I felt it

is

I recognized now info

eir distance. They don't observe." A pause. "This i

ched with the Howl carefully, the way he'

nce didn'

sti

voice through a thick w

so

rm

gnit

someone who knew you b

eath

ped wa

," I

he said. V

e presence was too far to see, perfectly wit

us. Deliberate. Like it had decide

in se

l roaring in my chest and Kael's hand on my arm and I said the

as my m

nd tig

he said

at I think. He d

t: