Lucien’s POV
I stood at the edge of the glowing circle, my boots sinking into the wet soil, arms crossed tight over my chest. The Hollow pulsed around me like a living thing, the blood wards humming under the weight of Elena’s magic.
And she was at its heart.
Elena knelt in the center of the circle, still as a statue, her hair glowing silver under the moon’s watchful eye. The lines of power she had bled into the earth were now living veins, and they beat in rhythm with her heart.
And mine.
But I couldn’t touch her.
I couldn’t cross the line without breaking it—without unraveling the only protection we had left between her and what was coming.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I paced.
I could feel the pack beyond the Hollow’s ridge, alert and restless. Wolves in their shifted forms pro
