Chapter 109: The Forgotten Horror
Dante didn't speak as they burned the body.
Didn't flinch when the flames rose into the sky, thick with the scent of burning flesh and death.
His mind was elsewhere.
Locked on a memory.
A story his father had once told him.
Something whispered in the dead of night, in hushed voices, in warnings never meant to be spoken aloud.
"Dante."
Bella's voice snapped him back to the present.
She was watching him carefully, her golden eyes sharp, searching.
"You know what this is, don't you?"
Dante exhaled slowly.
Then—
"There's an old legend." His voice was low, steady, dark.
"Something our ancestors spoke of before our kind ever ruled these lands."
Sage frowned. "What kind of legend?"
Dante's blue eyes burned.
"Not all wolves were meant to live in packs. Some were meant to be forgotten."
Chase stiffened.
"You're saying this thing is a wolf?"
Dante shook his head.
"Not a wolf. Not anymore."
His gaze flicked toward the forest, toward the place where the shadow had disappeared last night.
"A beast that was cast out before the first Alpha ever rose. Something older than us. Something that was never meant to survive."
Bella's blood went cold.
"What do they call it?" she whispered.
Dante's jaw clenched.
He turned to her, his voice low, heavy, drenched in something that sounded an awful lot like dread.
"A Hollow One."