Chapter 1 - Gage

Chapter 1

Gage

Our Moonblessed allies wanted a debrief, so, as pack alpha, I met the alpha pair alone to discuss what their pack had seen on the battlefield last night. My two Frost Fang packmates Bea and Ivar had asked for backup when they sensed my distress through the pack bond. Moonblessed warriors had followed on their tails like cavalry to the rescue. Except they’d arrived after the fight ended.

Instead, they found four injured Howling Echo wolves and a dead coven of witches near to Moonblessed packlands. They’d escorted us safely back to their packlands and allowed my packmates to rest and recover. As for me, I owed them a longer explanation in Hugo’s study.

“Freya’s aunt tracked us down, hoping to steal the magic she herself had sealed inside of Freya all those years ago,” I said.

Then I described the fight and how the witches had kept us pinned in with their witchfire until Freya shifted. What had happened next surprised us all.

“You’re saying Freya’s magic killed… the entire coven?” Idori asked as Hugo stared at me in shock.

I winced at the whiff of fear both of them gave off.

For a woman who’d once feared she would never shift and never be able to use magic, Freya had shocked us all. Knowing that she hadn’t consciously used her magic made me a little concerned about what might happen if her magic was unsealed at last.

Perhaps Hugo and Idori were right to worry, but I couldn’t keep the awe from my voice. “Not exactly. Pandora’s magic rebounded against Freya’s. A spherical cage of lightning, like some kind of shield, exploded outward from Freya before colliding with her aunt’s spell. The rebounding magic killed Pandora and created a massive amount of energy. The resulting boom knocked all of us off our paws. As soon as the witchfire walls came down, we pounced, killing the rest before they could continue hurting our mate.”

“I’m glad none of you were injured more than you were,” Idori said slowly. “Rebounding magic… a magical blast powerful enough to create so much chaos… Our warriors are trained to fight other shifters, not something like that.”

“We’re proud of your pack,” Hugo added, a healthy dose of admiration in his voice. “Proud of you for protecting Freya, and proud of you for reaching out to your other two Frost Fang packmates for backup. You are a wise leader, Gage.”

“Why do I sense a ‘but’ coming?” I growled.

“Once word of this gets out… Once others realize Freya is a powerful witch, the friendships she’s built here… might become strained,” Idori said carefully.

I recalled how Brielle didn’t live on Moonblessed packlands, but just outside of them. Was that by her choice, or theirs?

“We’re happy to give you a safe harbor to recover, but after that…” Hugo trailed off, probably hoping I would immediately agree to leave.

Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t feeling so agreeable after that battle.

“I thought you welcomed Freya in your pack.”

“Of course we do,” Idori said with a motherly smile. “But you’re as much a pack alpha as we are. You know that sometimes difficult decisions must be made for the greater good of the pack.”

Sitting in Hugo’s study, I couldn’t help but remember he’d once given Freya the chance to join the Moonblessed pack and leave the Howling Echo behind. She hadn’t, and I’d brought her into my pack instead. Would he have given her that choice if he’d known then that she was only half-shifter? If she’d joined their pack, would they be kicking her out now, consigning her to the wildlands just as Ironwood had done? That thought, plus the rapidly deteriorating alliance with our closest allies, had me feeling grim.

“So you’re kicking us out,” I said bluntly.

“Nonsense,” Hugo growled. “All of you are injured. You need a few days in wolf form to heal. Freya, too. We’ll give you that much.”

I stared down at the raw and painful witchfire burn that stretched from my wrist past my elbow on my right arm. A bolt of magic had knocked the gun from my hand during the fight to protect Freya.

I finally grasped the years of suffering Rowan endured. Shifting hadn’t taken the pain away, though Rowan assured me it would eventually. The scars, though — those would remain with me for life.

“Thank you—” I started before Idori interrupted.

“But we also recognize that Moonblessed had a near-miss with people trying to attack Freya — again. And you’ve admitted the threat from Ironwood remains. There’s already unrest among Moonblessed for bringing the potential for pack war here. We have always been a peaceful pack.”

Her words reminded me we’d been fighting on too many fronts. Freya had decisively ended the threat from her aunt, thankfully. But although we’d recovered our packmates from Ironwood captivity, I doubted Luka had given up. And I still wasn’t fully convinced I’d rooted out every dissident in Frost Fang who might challenge my new reign. On top of it all, Heath thought his father in the Elder Forest pack might be mixed up with witches, somehow. It seemed he’d been the one to tip off Pandora as to our whereabouts.

My pack needed a moment to rest and recover before we faced all of it again. And not just physically recover. A few shifts would heal most of our wounds, save the witchfire scars. It was the unseen pain I was more worried about. Freya was devastated after killing her aunt. And the fact that her own blood family had tried to kill her had wounded her more deeply than any blade, bullet, or witchfire could have.

“A week,” I said, meeting Hugo’s eyes, then Idori’s. “Will you give us that to recover?”

They shared a glance, then Hugo frowned as Idori countered, “Three days. It would take Ironwood at least that long to organize their forces and bring their war caravans here again. Three days of sanctuary is the most we can offer you.”

I nodded, feeling tired. I didn’t have the energy to argue, especially when I knew they were trying to make the right choice for the Moonblessed pack. Even now, the emotions I felt through the mate bond with Freya felt dim and depressed. If three days were all they could give us, then so be it.

“Three days,” I agreed.

“You have Frost Fang to fall back to,” Hugo pointed out.

“Of course, but I think being here with Shante will do more to aid in Freya’s recovery than going back to Frost Fang would.”

“I think having the comfort of her mate, regardless of where you go, will help her most,” Idori said in her gentle, motherly voice.

“But you need to make the bond equal if you ever have any hope of truly winning her over,” Hugo scolded. “Perhaps an equal mate bond might help Freya recenter herself.”

“You understand she has multiple mates, right? She already has an equal mate bond with Heath.”

“Who’s not here,” Hugo pointed out.

Heath had stayed behind in the Elder Forest packlands to spy on his father, but through the pack bond I sensed Heath had changed his mind about staying behind. Being away from the pack during a battle would’ve killed me, too.

I sighed. I’d hoped to work things out with Freya, but with only three days in Moonblessed, I had a lot to do to ready Frost Fang for our return. Especially if Ironwood planned to start a pack war.

“Her heat hasn’t yet arrived?” Idori asked.

I barked a laugh. “It arrived. We helped her through her last heat. This will be her second.”

Bea, Ivar, and the Moonblessed wolves had retreated from the battlefield after they realized they’d arrived too late to help. Everyone had scented Freya’s heat, and no one wanted to set off our protective instincts, not when we were fresh off a fight for our lives.

“Apparently my foolish bite started it again,” I went on. “Or maybe it was because she met Rowan for the first time, another of her mates.”

Hugo’s victorious smile took me by surprise. “I knew she must be a different wolf entirely.”

I nodded. “We believe she’s from a nearly extinct line of Odinswolves, while my kind are considered Lokiswolves, a different lineage from your moonblessed wolves. Like you suspected it would, her first shift arrived on the full moon after her twenty-fifth birthday.”

I’d been devastated not to be there for her first-ever pack run, but I’d been handling things in Frost Fang, preparing the way for my mate’s safe return.

“Then that other wolf must have been an Odinswolf, too,” Hugo mused.

Hugo had told us of a wolf he’d once met who’d shifted late, after his twenty-fifth birthday. He’d been right that Freya would be the same.

“What else is different with Odinswolves?” Idori asked. “Other than the shifting late and taking multiple mates, that is.”

“We’re not sure, to be honest,” I admitted. “There are a lot of myths about her kind, and not many who’ve ever met one to tell us the facts.”

“Do you think her aunt drained her magic?”

“Not based on what I saw. But I’m uncertain what powers her wolf has compared to her witch side.”

Hugo took Idori’s hand. “If anyone had threatened my mate the way yours was threatened, I would have torn their throats out the moment I had the chance.”

I could hear the ‘but’ coming, so I headed him off.

“I know it would’ve been helpful if we’d kept at least one witch alive for questioning,” I growled.

Hugo rose from his chair, bringing Idori up with him. “We’re truly appalled at everything your pack has had to face recently, and we’re glad to help how we can.”

“But we all have pack matters to attend to,” Idori finished.

As always, the alpha pair were on the same page, likely because of the mate bond between them. I couldn’t wait to share the same with Freya, though I wasn’t sure it would work exactly the same way, or that she would be able to sense the pack bond like I could. After all, Freya wasn’t an alpha.

Then again, she also wasn’t a subordinate wolf. Alpha commands bounced off her with no effect. It seemed Odinswolves were a different breed altogether.

I stood and held out my hand to shake theirs. As a pack alpha, I understood their drive to protect their pack, even though it conflicted with my need to protect mine.

“Thank you for everything,” I said, putting every drop of sincerity into my words.

As wolf shifters, we could sense when someone was lying. They would know I truly meant it. I turned to leave.

“Gage?” Idori called before I reached the door.

I turned back, and the two alphas smiled at me.

“The Moonblessed pack will always consider the Howling Echo our allies,” Hugo said.

“Even when they masquerade as the Frost Fang pack.” Idori winked at me.

I returned their smile. “And the Howling Echo pack will always be allies with Moonblessed.”

“Good. Now that’s settled,” Hugo turned toward Idori. “About the winter spirit dance. I was thinking—”

I left them to it, leaving the study and waving to the betas guarding the outside doors as I passed.

When I returned to the den, I found Flint, Rowan, and Freya outside. Rowan was already in wolf form, and I swallowed down my rage when I noticed the pink and hairless underside of his tail. Rowan now carried witchfire burns in both his forms, and if we’d left any of our foes alive, I’d want to kill them. He’d gotten his original witchfire burns before he joined our pack, but his new wounds were on me. Being unable to protect my mate and my packmates during the battle left me filled with rage, and nowhere to put it.

Flint was busy stuffing his shirt into his sling bag, clearly preparing to shift.

“We’re going to find an open spot and give Freya some wolf training. Want to come?”

Flint’s invite rankled. If Freya wanted me to come, she would have invited me herself. From the mate bond, I sensed a worry that kindled as she slowly raised her eyes.

She’d never acted subservient around me before, and I hated it. We needed to talk, but I wouldn’t interrupt her training for that, especially when I had Frost Fang business to attend to. Flint and Rowan were right to teach her more about her wolf, since she was a decade behind the rest of us in shifting skills.

Still, I needed to reassure her that all would be set right between us. I crossed the space between us, using my knuckle to raise her chin just like I used to. The scent of her heat wrapped around me, and her arousal cleaved through it, sending lust straight through me.

I’d always loved the way she challenged me with her gaze. Knowing that I couldn’t make her submit with my alpha command left me hungry to make her submit to my dominance in other ways. But now wasn’t the time.

“You’re in good hands, my mate,” I told her. “We will talk soon. For now, I have work to do before we can return to Frost Fang.”

“Gage…” Her eyes fell to the scar on my arm.

The mate bond revealed her sadness and disappointment, and I recalled her words from the previous night. She’d forgiven me for biting her in the heat of the moment. Maybe the emotions I sensed from her now had nothing to do with that old argument. Maybe now she felt guilty for getting us hurt.

“Freya, none of this is your fault.” My words came out more sternly than I intended, and I leaned in, putting my forehead against hers. Her scent filled my lungs, grounding me.

Her hands tightened on my arms, and she tilted her face up. I would never deny my mate a kiss, so I crashed my lips to hers, promising her everything I couldn’t say with words. She kissed me hungrily in return, but I soon broke the kiss.

“I would kill a dozen covens of witches to protect you,” I growled.

The blooming scent of her arousal reassured me Freya liked the way we’d tried to protect her, even though she hated the outcome — all of us burned and scarred. It would be far better for all of us if we never faced another witch again.

I needed to make sure Frost Fang remained strong so we could keep Freya safe from any future magic battles or pack war. That thought gave me the resolve I needed to turn away from my packmates and head inside the den. Sometimes, it sucked to be the pack alpha with so many responsibilities to tend to.

“Take good care of her,” I called over my shoulder.

Then I went inside and called Heath. I needed to warn my second-in-command how short our stay here would be. By the time he navigated around all the various packlands between Wyoming and here, we would be preparing to leave. As much as I longed to reunite the Howling Echo, it would make more sense for Heath to meet us in Frost Fang.

First, I would reassure him Freya was safe. Then, I would convince my second-most dominant packmate to oversee Frost Fang until we returned. And I would warn him about Freya’s unleashed power — a kind of magic none of us had ever seen, and that Freya had never been taught to control.