The Black Mire Pack lives in the shadow of a curse. Their Alpha, Corvin Maddox, carries an ancient predator inside him called the Hollow, a soulless wolf that wakes whenever he feels too much. Rage feeds it. Fear sharpens it. Love would destroy whoever receives it. To protect his pack, Corvin rules with silence, distance, and a heart he refuses to use.Then Seren Vale stumbles into his territory, half-dead and running from the pack that once owned her. Small, quiet, and scarred in places no one can see, she looks harmless… until Corvin lifts her from the riverbank and his real wolf, the one he thought the Hollow had devoured years ago, roars awake with a single, impossible truth: She is his mate.Terrified of what the Hollow might do to her, Corvin tries keeping Seren at arm’s length. But Seren isn’t the type to be gently shelved. She sees the violence he’s holding back, the self-hatred he hides behind cold eyes, the way he moves toward danger so she doesn’t have to. And she sees the Shadow… the Hollow… clawing at him from within.When Seren’s former pack comes hunting for her, the truth unravels: Seren’s bloodline carries the power to either bind the Hollow forever or unleash it in full. Her existence could save Corvin or doom everyone he’s sworn to protect.As war creeps through the Black Mire and the Hollow grows restless, Seren and Corvin are pulled into a bond that feels fated and fatal at once. Touching him risks waking the creature inside. Staying away risks losing him to it entirely.To break the curse, they must confront what the Hollow is truly made of: Corvin’s deepest grief, Seren’s buried terror, and a love strong enough to tempt the darkness itself.But if the Hollow chooses her instead of Corvin…the Alpha the Black Mire fears may not be the one who rises.