Chapter 11 - Freya

Chapter 11

Freya

The alphas went round and round with their pack war talk, leaving me dizzy with boredom. Helping Gage with the petitioners in the throne room seemed easy enough, but all this talk of war left me feeling… hollow.

I’d tried to speak up earlier when Flint pulled me into the conversation, but I’d frozen like a deer in the headlights. Besides my four mates, six border town alphas, five local alphas, and Bretton circled the giant conference room table. Gage sat at the head with me at his left hand and Heath at his right. Rowan sat beside Heath, with Flint beside me.

I wondered if Bretton felt out-of-place like me, the only non-alphas in the room. Plus, I was the only woman… and definitely the only half-mage.

So far, the only magic I’d conjured had proven inconvenient — marking my mates’ faces with an ansuz rune that claimed them as my Bonded for all to see. It made it obvious to everyone that I was different. Yet, I didn’t even have any special magic to show for it. All my lessons with Brielle had been utter failures. I longed to return to Brielle and try again, but what would be the point? I couldn’t even master the easiest lesson.

On the other hand, I’d easily mastered my other half. Shifting came naturally now. And my Odinswolf had struck back with her lightning powers without much effort on my part. From what Hank and Brielle said, even my visions came from my Odinswolf side.

My mind wandered back to those visions, and that’s when I sat straight up, my back going rigid as horror dawned. This path led to my first vision, the one with so many Frost Fang wolves slaughtered right alongside Ironwood wolves. The memory of the slaughter left me trembling.

All my mates were so in tune with me that they all fell silent to stare at me, which brought a hush over the entire room. My lips parted, and I almost told my mates about the vision.

But then I remembered what Brielle had said about trusting my wolf. Inside me, she whimpered and lowered her head to her paws. What if sharing my visions changed the outcome?

A blush crept into my cheeks as I remembered my second vision. It showed how to avoid that bloodshed by baiting Ironwood to attack during my heat. And here I sat in a room choking with testosterone. I couldn’t broach the topic with all these unfamiliar alphas around.

When I didn’t speak up, Gage asked, “What is it, princess?”

One of the border town alphas scoffed at the nickname, and my stomach dropped.

“Varden,” Gage growled as Rowan snarled at the alpha seated beside him.

Varden cowered back, but didn’t avert his gaze from Rowan. He’d been forced to switch into his human form for this, which no doubt put him on edge nearly as much as I was in a room full of unfriendly alphas.

Rowan and Varden stared each other down, making the room more and more tense until Varden finally dropped his eyes. He didn’t remain chastised for long, however, quickly raising his gaze again to glance between me and Gage.

I’d gotten so used to being surrounded by the Howling Echo alphas that I’d forgotten what most alphas were like. Being Gage’s mate technically elevated me to alpha pair status, but anyone could sense I wasn’t really dominant like an alpha. The other Frost Fang alphas probably considered me as little more than trash. Mentioning my heat might reinforce their beliefs about low-ranking wolves like me — that were a hole to be fucked and nothing more.

“I…” I tried to speak, to find the right words to prevent the bloodshed I’d foreseen. But the other alphas’ stares crushed me. In a tiny voice, I made my request. “Can I please be excused, alphas?”

Rage flooded the mate bond, and Heath’s secret words instantly soothed me. “I’m not angry at you, love. I’m angry that these assholes intimidate you.”

“We’ll reconvene tomorrow,” Gage said in a tight voice to the gathering.

Chairs pushed back, and, despite my averted gaze, I caught the sound of heavy footfalls as the other alphas filed out, some grumbling under their breath as they left. Bretton cast me a worried glance as he followed the alphas. They all disappeared from view behind the wall of muscle that converged on me.

With four big alphas all surrounding me, I didn’t feel reassured. Instead, I pulled my knees up to my chest, curling in on myself in the overlarge chair sized for alphas.

“Fuck, we’re not helping,” Heath growled.

“Let’s go back to the den, moonbeam,” Flint suggested. “You’ll feel more comfortable there.”

The den! That’s where my second vision had taken place, I remembered now.

Filled with a renewed sense of purpose, I took Flint’s hand and followed him out the door. Behind me, a quiet argument broke out between Rowan and the other two.

“We should let Flint handle her. Give her some space,” Rowan suggested.

“Don’t try to get out of this that easily,” Gage growled in response.

“Maybe he’s right,” Heath said as we headed outside and crossed the short distance to our den.

“I’m not that fragile,” I snapped. “The fresh air is already making me feel better.”

Gage caught up to me, but stood apart from me, not taking my hand like Flint had. “I’m sorry, Freya. I should have remembered that with your heat coming up—”

“Yes, about that,” I said, ducking my head toward our den. “I don’t want to talk about my heat in front of the entire pack.”

Gage closed his mouth with an audible snap. He and Heath followed me into the den, but Rowan lingered in the doorway, looking decidedly uncomfortable, his shoulders tense.

I sighed and waved him away. “Don’t stay for my benefit. I feel better already. Now it’s your turn.”

To my absolute shock, instead of instantly shifting and running off, Rowan reached for me. I froze, waiting to see what he would do next. His large hand gently lifted mine, and he bowed over it, raising it to his lips.

“Did you just… kiss my hand?” I choked out.

“You deserve to be treated gently by alphas.” Rowan’s rumbly voice called to my inner wolf.

Bite, she demanded.

Before I could respond, Rowan dropped my hand. He glanced over my shoulder, his eyes darting to three separate points as he checked with his packmates. At last, his golden gaze came to rest on me.

“We’ll always protect you.”

Then he stepped back and closed the door between us, with us inside and him outside. Rowan was off for a run, leaving me with only three alphas.

When I turned around, I caught Heath staring at Gage. When he noticed me looking, he jerked his eyes away as though I’d caught him with his hand down his pants. His shame dripped from our mate bond.

“It’s okay,” I reassured him. “I’m not jealous of your feelings for Gage. I know how you feel about me.”

“Do you feel comfortable talking about your heat here?” Flint asked, unaware of my silent conversation with Heath.

I nodded, and Gage’s eyes lit up with approval. “Good, because we should discuss what may happen if your heat arrives before the attack.”

“I agree,” I said, drifting toward the bedroom.

“We have bigger problems I should be focused on rather than my stupid crush, that’s why I feel guilty,” Heath privately responded before saying out loud, “If this heat is anything like the last one, it may well arrive before the attack.”

“Do you think so?” Flint asked, taking a seat on the bed.

“Her last heat was during the full moon,” Gage pointed out.

I noticed how Heath gave him a wide berth as he entered the room, as though afraid to be close enough to accidentally touch our pack alpha.

“Yes, but it was about twenty-eight days from when she met us,” Heath said. “A full lunar cycle, triggered by meeting your mate, or mates, in your case.” He grinned at me.

“Although, with her being an Odinswolf…” Flint trailed off.

Thinking back to my vision, I realized I would have noticed a supermoon, though I couldn’t tell them that.

“I don’t think the full moon has anything to do with my heat,” I said.

“If it keeps the same schedule as before, your heat should be done and over before the next full moon,” Heath agreed.

“Right, but I don’t think we should wait for them to attack,” I said boldly. “We don’t want to give them extra time to prepare, do we? Maybe we can use my heat…”

Gage narrowed his eyes. “We should stay here for your heat.” He seemed to sense what I was getting at. “We’ll be better able to protect you on Frost Fang packlands.”

My skin crawled as I noticed he’d just said the exact words I remembered. And I was standing exactly where I’d been in my vision.

And just as I had in my vision, I knew that this conversation was the one that would change everything and keep our Frost Fang allies safe from the slaughter.

“We can use my heat to draw out Ironwood so we have them right where we want them.” I said the words exactly as I had in the vision. “And Frost Fang can surround them and force them to surrender instead. Fewer wolves will die that way — on both sides.”

My heart fell when Gage shook his head. “That will draw our best warriors away, too, princess. It’ll leave our packlands vulnerable to invasion. It’s not mating season, after all. Ironwood won’t be distracted like we will.”

I saw his point. In the early spring, all mated female wolves went into heat at once. As a result, pack war almost never occurred in those months.

I had to convince Gage. My vision demanded it.

“But if we can draw them out before they’re fully prepared on the full moon, won’t that be worth it?” I asked.

“Keeping them away from our packlands would help protect the pack.” Flint bolstered my argument. “They’re unlikely to attack us on two fronts, since they don’t have many alphas left. Not after Heath, Rowan, and I powered through them.”

Gage crossed his arms, making me salivate over his strong biceps. “A good plan doesn’t depend on what we hope won’t happen.”

Heath inhaled, pausing to gather his thoughts as he looked at our pack alpha. “You’re worried because we’d be leaving the Frost Fang packlands undefended… from within and out, right?”

Gage nodded.

“Okay… hear me out. What if we called in backup?”

Gage raised an eyebrow.

“The Midnight Path,” Heath suggested. “They could—”

“I can’t ask Astrid to fight on our behalf.”

“Who’s Astrid?” I tried to ask it calmly, but it came out on a growl.

Just knowing that she was a female that my mates felt friendly toward meant she was a threat to my heat-minded wolf.

“She’s alpha over a pack we’ve done business with,” Gage added, “Before we met you,” as if that reassured me somehow.

“We wouldn’t ask her to fight Ironwood on our behalf.” Heath picked up where he’d left off before I interrupted. “She’d be doing the babysitting.”

Flint chuckled. “You mean to have Astrid take over Frost Fang while we’re gone? Do you know how angry that will make the Frost Fang alphas?”

“We’ll take them all with us,” Heath said. “They’re eager for a fight. We just need a place that’s safe enough on the outskirts of Frost Fang packlands, but looks undefended.”

Gage smirked. “I commend you for thinking outside the box.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Heath loud-whispered to me.

“You don’t trust Astrid?” I guessed.

My inner wolf didn’t trust her either, not that I knew her.

“It’s not that we don’t trust her,” Gage said. “It’s that she’s a bear shifter. Asking Frost Fang to trust me with witch runes on my face is already pushing it.”

“Regardless, she is a shifter. They’ll respect her, and she has a lot of wolves in her pack. That’s why they called it a pack not a…” Heath waved a hand. “Whatever bears call their packs.”

“And she’s never shown a desire to challenge you, Gage,” Flint pointed out. “She won’t try to take over the pack while we’re gone.”

“Because she’s a bear shifter, and they don’t fit into our hierarchy the same way,” Gage argued. “Even if we take all the alphas with us, the Frost Fang betas might not respect a bear shifter lording over them.”

“She’s dominant enough to win challenges against most alpha wolves,” Heath pointed out.

“Even my wolf drops his eyes to her,” Flint added.

Gage sighed. “If we do this, we’ll need a pretty big bribe. She’ll be leaving her own packlands undefended.”

My hopes soared. He was considering it.

“But they’re allied with their neighbors,” Heath said. “Less of a risk for her to leave her borders than it is for us.”

“What kind of bribe?” Flint mused.

Gage tilted his head. “I have an idea, but we’ll need help from the Snow Moon pack.”

“Are you sure that’s safe after what happened last time?” I asked.

We’d met up with an envoy from the Snow Moon pack to pick up a delivery for Moonblessed, but we’d been ambushed right afterward. To reach the good outcome my vision had promised, I wanted to make sure we thought through everything first.

“I talked to the guys who made the delivery,” Heath said. “They had some… interesting things to say. We might not want to make an official request, but I bet the triplets can get us the hookup we need. I’ll reach out to Gabriel.”

“Thanks, Heath,” I whispered, squeezing his hand.

“If you’re right about the lunar cycle,” Flint said, “then we only have five days to meet up with both packs and get this set up before Freya’s heat hits.”

“It’s doable.” Heath’s intense caramel gaze met mine. “As long as you’re sure about your role in this, little wolf.”

“Playing bait is the easy part,” I laughed. “Besides, I probably won’t remember most of it.”

“We’ll take care of you, princess,” Gage promised. “And I’ll make sure the Frost Fang alphas fall in line.” He nodded to Heath and Flint. “Let’s get to work.”

My wolf pawed at my inner walls, unhappy with the thought of a dominant female coming to our packlands.

Claim mates, she whined.

I know, I told her.

My wolf and I both wanted to bond all of my mates before Astrid arrived. Flint should be easy to convince once I told him my wolf was ready, but bonding Gage might make Heath jealous. Still, I knew it needed to happen. Rowan was the wild card. Would he ever be ready to become my Bonded?

I couldn’t know for sure if my vision would unfold exactly the way I’d foreseen it. I also couldn’t be sure that today’s conversation would prevent the terrible bloodshed I feared. We would need the best chance of surviving whatever might happen next, and bonding would strengthen us as a pack. I could have private conversations with each of my mates, and that would give us so many advantages.

I just needed to figure out how to make it happen.