Echoes Of The Past
835 Words
Chapter 7: Echoes of the Past
Memory Sequence: The Final Night
Adira had never seen the sky so red.
It was as though the moon itself wept blood, casting its stain over the execution pyres that crackled in the center of the Hollowfang courtyard. She could still feel the cold stone under her knees, the grit of ash under her fingernails as she reached for her parents—bound, bruised, yet silent with pride.
The council stood like vultures. Kael stood beside them.
His face was carved from stone, his hands clasped behind his back, the ceremonial Alpha's mantle still too large for his shoulders. He didn’t look at her. Not once. Even when her mother screamed her name.
“Adira! You must survive! You are—”
The blade silenced her.
Adira had screamed until her throat was raw, and Kael? He hadn’t flinched.
The memory split in two—the fire and the silence. Both seared deeper than any scar.
---
Present Day – Alpha Trials Grounds
Rina Hollowbrook shook herself from the memory as her boots crunched into the gravel of the Trial grounds. The sun had barely begun its rise, and the air was thick with fog and breathless tension. Fighters stretched, sharpened blades, ran drills. Some had their packs watching from the cliffside arena. Rina had no one.
And she liked it that way.
Her opponent was three inches taller and carried twin daggers engraved with family crests. She moved like a soldier trained by years in the Alpha guard. Rina only had seven winters of rage.
Still, when the whistle blew, Rina’s fists landed first.
The fight was quick but not clean. It wasn’t meant to be. Blood sprayed. Rina moved like water, dodging, turning, countering with precision that came from pain, not privilege. By the time her opponent hit the ground unconscious, the crowd had grown silent.
From the balcony, Kael watched her.
His wolf stirred violently.
“That’s the second time she’s taken down a ranked guard,” murmured one of the elders behind him.
Kael didn’t respond. His hands were clenched at the railing.
Something about her
“Rina Hollowbrook,” he muttered the name like a test on his tongue.
“You’re drawn to her,” Elder Darion said. “Perhaps you recognize strength when you see it.”
Kael barely concealed his sneer. “Or perhaps I sense deception.”
---
Elsewhere – The Outskirts Tavern
Ronan leaned against the counter, cloaked in his usual black. The barkeep poured the bitterroot ale without speaking. A group of lesser warriors were whispering about the day’s fight.
“She’s not normal. That Hollowbrook girl—she moved like death itself.”
Ronan smirked and took a slow drink.
“She’s more than death,” he muttered to himself. “She’s purpose.”
He turned just in time to catch a glimpse of Kael’s hunting party crossing the ridge toward the council house. His smile vanished.
---
Council House – Later that Night
Kael strode through the candle-lit chamber, pacing. The council members murmured about logistics, alliances, and border tensions. But Kael’s mind was still on the woman who fought like she had nothing left to lose.
He hadn’t been this restless in years. Not since the night of the fire. Not since he’d lost…
No. That part of him had died.
“Alpha,” Elder Corwin interrupted his thoughts. “You’ve seemed distracted.”
“Nothing gets past you,” Kael said coldly.
“Is it the girl?” Corwin asked. “Hollowbrook?”
Kael glanced out the window, then back.
“There’s something not right about her. She’s too good. Too calculated.”
“Or perhaps,” Corwin said carefully, “she reminds you of someone.”
Kael didn’t answer. But his wolf growled low and restless.
---
Training Grounds – Midnight
Rina stayed after hours. Ronan watched her from the shadows, arms crossed. She was practicing the same form over and over, knife draw, pivot, throw. Again and again.
“You’re not trying to win this,” Ronan said eventually. “You’re trying to provoke him.”
Rina didn’t stop. “He needs to remember.”
Ronan stepped closer. “And what if he does?”
She finally stopped, breathing hard. Sweat slicked her brow.
“Then I’ll kill him,” she said.
But Ronan could hear the doubt in her voice. The war between her human heart and the wolf who still longed.
Kael’s Chambers
Kael stood alone at the window, the Trial arena in the distance.
He held a file in his hand. Hollowbrook. No traceable bloodline. No regional pack affiliation. No family. She was a ghost. Or a shadow.
He placed the file on the table and lit a candle to burn it.
His wolf snapped at him.
He growled under his breath.
“She’s not her,” he whispered to himself.
But the bond, the one he thought had died, pulsed faintly beneath his skin.
Some ghosts never stayed buried.
- Writer
