Chapter 3 SOMETHING INSIDE ME

I woke to the sound of voices.

Low. Urgent. Speaking in hushed tones like they didn't want me to hear.

"...never seen anything like it. Her eyes changed right in front of me."

"That's impossible. She's Hollow. The reports all said..."

"I know what the reports said. I also know what I saw."

The second voice was Ronan's. I recognized the deep rumble of it even through the fog in my head.

I kept my eyes closed and focused on breathing slowly. My chest still ached from whatever had happened outside. A dull throb that pulsed in time with my heartbeat.

What had happened to me?

"Should we call a healer from the capital?" the first voice asked. The Beta, I realized.

"No." Ronan's response was immediate. "No one outside this compound learns about her until I understand what we're dealing with. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Alpha."

Footsteps moved away. A door opened and closed.

Silence.

Then I felt him. His presence like a weight in the room. Warm and heavy and impossible to ignore.

"I know you're awake," he said quietly.

My eyes opened.

I was lying on a bed. A real bed with soft sheets and thick pillows. The room around me was simple but well made. Stone walls. A fireplace crackling with low flames. A window showing a dark sky filled with stars.

Ronan was sitting in a chair beside the bed. His elbows rested on his knees and his hands were clasped in front of him. He looked tired in a way I hadn't noticed before.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

I pushed myself up slowly, wincing at the ache in my muscles. "Like something tried to claw its way out of my chest."

His jaw tightened. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Pain," I said. "Just... pain. And then nothing."

He was silent for a moment. His amber eyes studied my face like he was searching for something.

"Your eyes changed," he said finally. "Right before you collapsed. They turned gold."

I stared at him. "That's not possible."

"I saw it."

"But I'm Hollow. I don't have a wolf. My eyes can't..."

"I know." He stood abruptly and walked to the window. His back was to me but I could see the tension in his shoulders. "None of this makes sense. Your scent. The way my wolf reacted to you. And now this."

"The way your wolf reacted?" I asked carefully.

He didn't answer immediately. When he did, his voice was strange. Almost strained.

"When I touched your hand in the kitchen, my wolf recognized you."

The words hung in the air between us.

"Recognized me as what?"

He turned to face me. The firelight cast shadows across his features, making him look almost dangerous.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. The pendant hidden under my dress pressed cold against my skin.

"I don't know what I am," I whispered. "I've never known. I was found at the border as a baby. No family. No history. Nothing except..."

I stopped myself.

Ronan's eyes sharpened. "Except what?"

I hesitated. I had never shown anyone the pendant. Never told anyone about it. It was the only secret I had in a life where everything else had been stripped away.

But something about the way he was looking at me made me want to tell him.

"I have something," I said slowly. "Something I was wearing when they found me."

I reached under my dress and pulled out the pendant. The silver chain caught the firelight and the three intertwined symbols gleamed in the darkness.

Fang. Claw. Wing.

Ronan went completely still.

"Where did you get that?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I told you. I was wearing it when they found me. It's the only thing I have from... from before."

He crossed the room in three strides and took the pendant from my hand. His fingers brushed mine and that same heat sparked between us. I saw him feel it too. His eyes flickered gold for just a second before returning to amber.

He held the pendant up to the light and studied it with an intensity that made my stomach clench.

"Do you know what this symbol means?" he asked.

"No."

"This..." He pointed to the fang. "This represents vampires." His finger moved to the claw. "This represents werewolves." Finally he touched the wing. "And this represents dragons."

I shook my head. "Dragons are extinct. Everyone knows that."

"Everyone believes that." He lowered the pendant and looked at me. "But there are stories. Old stories from before the Sundering. About beings who carried the blood of all three species."

My mouth went dry. "What kind of beings?"

"They were called Tribrids." His voice dropped lower. "They were considered abominations. Creatures so powerful and so unstable that the three kingdoms united just to destroy them."

The room suddenly felt too small. Too warm.

"You think I'm..." I couldn't even finish the sentence.

"I think something is locked inside you," he said carefully. "Something that has been dormant for nineteen years. And I think it's starting to wake up."

I pressed my hand to my chest where the pain had been. "That's insane. I'm Hollow. I have no power. I can't even shift."

"Not yet."

The words sent a chill down my spine.

Before I could respond, the door burst open.

The Beta stood in the doorway, his face pale. "Alpha. We have a problem."

Ronan's entire demeanor changed. The softness disappeared. The Alpha emerged.

"What is it?"

"Wolves at the eastern border. At least a dozen. They're not from any pack we recognize." The Beta's eyes flickered to me briefly. "They're asking for the girl."

My blood ran cold.

"How do they know she's here?" Ronan demanded.

"I don't know. But they say if we don't hand her over by dawn..." The Beta swallowed hard. "They'll burn Greymane Hold to the ground."

Ronan turned to look at me. His amber eyes were glowing now. Fully glowing. And when he spoke, his voice had dropped to something low and dangerous.

"No one is taking you anywhere."

He moved toward the door but stopped when I called out.

"Wait." I scrambled off the bed. "Why would anyone want me? I'm nothing. I'm no one."

He looked back at me and something moved behind his expression. Something fierce and protective that made my heart stutter.

"Clearly," he said quietly, "you're something worth killing for."

Then he was gone.

I stood alone in the room, my pendant clutched in my trembling hand.

Fang. Claw. Wing.

Three symbols. Three species. Three bloodlines that were never supposed to mix.

And somehow... they were all inside me.

The window rattled suddenly. I spun around just in t

ime to see a face pressed against the glass.

Not human.

Not wolf.

Something else entirely.

It smiled at me with too many teeth.

And then the glass shattered.