Chapter 44. Kael's Betrayal

The forest swallowed them whole.

The wolves moved in broken clusters, wounded and bloodied, weaving between ancient trees whose boughs seemed to sag with sorrow. Each step Selene took felt heavier, as though the very air resisted them, mourning the loss of the Hollow.

Night pressed close, cold and absolute. Only the ragged breathing of the survivors and the distant crackle of dying fires marked their passage.

Selene led from the front, Alaric at her side, a constant, silent shadow. Her blade was still slick with blood, her tunic torn across the ribs where the enforcer's blade had grazed her. Every breath sent knives of pain through her lungs, but she kept moving.

Stopping would mean collapsing.

Behind her, she heard the soft, broken sobs of younglings too scared to hide their grief. Elders limped, supported by younger warriors. A few