Hollow-Born

l D

nd my hands itching to curl into fists. I could a

enforcers like they were waiting for a damn performance. I didn't say anythi

nt to climb. Maeve hovers near the edge, eyes wide, hands already glowing with healing light. Bloo

ell happen

"You look like you g

o keep

o. You're not brushing

n," I

u don't get to ignore thi

Hollow Ridge. I caught scent of a lone wolf. No markers. No pack. Fi

ed up lookin

didn't answer t

le

hifted. "That's

," I said. "Nothing. It looked me dea

was soft. "S

s wolf... it moved like it knew me. Like it'd studied me. Every stri

p breath, the sound of paws crunching dead leav

ster. Got my fangs in it's shoulder. Then out o

arren, one of the

ing. One moment I was upright, the next I was weightless, airborne, until I crashed

Across the forest." Ro

n I came to, I was gasping, eyes blurry, chest heavin

" Mae

lver hair. A crimson-red jacket. She wasn't looking at me. She didn't even spare me a glance. Her hand brushed over the wo

w?" Cal

ke they were one. Same rhythm, same inst

ouched the wolf... t

and wild and

I've stood my ground against beasts meaner than I am. But

orse, whispering things I didn't want to hea

Not hurt, humbled

wolf-touched her, it was like

the wolf? I fe

her

d somethi

ding its breath-and suddenly e

finally

Recogniti

rees, I just lay there. Stunned.

l anyone ab

t

muttered, "Silver hai

his breath. "That sou

. "What

ter, Maeve, raised her head. No on

was clea

ak and blood

usk with m

rn, not mad

shadow, stee

. Even Rowan turne

gged and said

rse sh

nt, something tw

ld she be...

aid aloud, "then I'll

li

ing to cont

this was. Not until I knew

bay herself. She said nothing, just cleaned the blood from my fac

e muttered, finally

- but quieter, almost

d but didn

lt like I'd had a brush with deathStill, none of

stop thinki

t g

t w

easily. Bigger than any wolf I'd

nished me. But she didn't. She felt

cent - it was still b

ays do when my world

ed the

s. One of them - her or

ifters. The girl is a shifter, the w

One soul. A Hollow-born. The scent, the t

... I didn't kno

one thing

find

it kil