Chapter 18 - Freya

Chapter 18

Freya

Grievances had piled up during our short trip, and Bretton had wasted no time setting a schedule to address them as soon as we’d returned to Frost Fang territory yesterday. Gage had started tackling some of them last night on his own. But today, I decided to join him in the throne room as part of the alpha pair to hear the complaints and help settle disputes.

Meanwhile, Flint, Heath, and Rowan worked on whatever Gage had assigned them to prepare for Ironwood’s impending attack… and our new plan to lure them out before they were fully prepared. Flint planned to check in with Brielle for some kind of magical help, but I wasn’t sure what else Heath and Rowan were working on while Gage and I caught up on pack politics.

I sat on the arm of the throne as Gage and I slowly made our way through all the alphas and a few of the betas. Gage suddenly raised a hand, halting the next beta’s petty tirade against his neighbor. When Gage suddenly got to his feet, he pulled me up with him.

“Something’s wrong,” he said just as Bretton burst into the throne room.

“We have a diplomatic incident at the border,” Bretton warned. “Two sentries saw it all.”

“A diplomatic incident?” I echoed in confusion.

“What’s happening?” Heath asked over the mate bond. “I’m on my way.”

I was willing to bet Gage had yanked on Heath’s chain through the pack bond, and probably the other two as well.

“Not entirely sure,” I answered. “Bretton says there’s an incident at the border.”

“With Ironwood,” Bretton clarified. “But it doesn’t seem to be an invasion. Not yet. Two Ironwood wolves are fighting near the border.”

Gage didn’t waste any time taking off his clothes. He shifted, his powerful alpha wolf tearing through his slacks and shirt with ease. I quickly shucked off my clothes. As his four paws hit the stairs, I shifted and started running after him.

“Ironwood is on our border, but it’s not an invasion,” I warned Heath. “Appears to be two Ironwood wolves fighting? Gage and I are going to check it out.”

“Stay here,” Gage alpha-barked at me.

“Not a chance,” I answered.

He knew better than to try his alpha commands on me. The fact that he’d done it at all just showed how worried he must be.

“Heath’s on his way,” I assured Gage.

“What’s the emergency?” Flint asked through the pack bond before we were even outside the pack house.

His mental words reached us despite not knowing exactly where he was — he must be close.

Outside, Gage tore after Bretton, then quickly passed the smaller beta wolf. A dark wolf fell in at his side, and soon, so did a silver-white wolf with gray dusting throughout. I struggled to keep up with Bretton, and both of us fell farther and farther behind the alphas with their longer gaits. He described where along the border to go, and Gage, Rowan, and Heath galloped in that direction.

The pounding of paws behind me made my hackles stand on end.

“I’m here, moonbeam,” Flint assured me, soon pacing me and Bretton.

Bretton quickly caught him up on the situation, but Flint didn’t run ahead with the rest of our Howling Echo packmates.

“You don’t have to babysit me,” I groused.

“I’m not leaving your side, moonbeam,” he swore. “Not until we know what’s going on.”

As we neared the border, we burst out of the tree line into a flat grassy area. My whole body shuddered, as I remembered following my aunt’s directions out to an area just like this, though a little farther south. But the sound of growls and snarls up ahead soon banished that memory.

“Alphas,” an unfamiliar voice greeted us across the pack bond. “It’s those two Ironwood alphas who escorted the refugees here before.”

“Thatcher and Lee?” Gage asked.

“Thatcher and Ryan.”

Gage’s displeasure flooded through the pack bond. I recalled that Brooke’s cousin was named Thatcher, but I’d never been familiar with Lee or Ryan while I was in Ironwood. I’d tried to stay underneath every alpha’s radar if I could help it.

“Who’s Ryan?” I asked.

“One of the Ironwood assholes who tortured us,” Heath answered over the pack bond.

“Lee and Thatcher did, too,” Flint added, “but they were forced to because Luka threatened their families.”

Gage explained, “Lee and Thatcher escorted the refugees fleeing from Ironwood here, so Luka can no longer use their families as threats to keep them in check. Ryan also visited our packlands on the same trip. His intentions were not so noble.”

“He was looking for Freya?” Flint asked.

“And the two of you,” Gage growled. “Ryan carried out Luka’s orders to search our packlands. Of course, he found nothing.”

“Because Rowan and I were in the wildlands at the time,” I realized.

“And Heath and I were on our way to you,” Flint added.

“I think they actually showed up after the four of you reunited,” Gage corrected, “but regardless — you weren’t here, which served us well.”

As we neared the border, the sounds of wolves fighting grew louder.

“Stand down and I’ll let Luka decide your punishment!” Ryan’s alpha voice rang out for all to hear.

Gage snarled, but pulled up short when he reached the purple blaze on a lone tree marking our border. Heath and Rowan flanked him on either side, the two Frost Fang sentries not far away. Thanks to a rise in the terrain set back from the border, Bretton, Flint, and I stood high enough to see over top of our pack’s massive alphas.

Two other alpha wolves fought each other just outside our border, their ferocious snarls echoing off the boulders nearby. Since I’d never met either one, I had no idea which was which, but I could feel Gage’s disappointment when the lighter gray wolf broke the foreleg of the dark brown wolf.

“Ryan, you will find no amnesty here if you kill your packmate today,” Gage warned, projecting his voice for all to hear.

“I don’t need your—” Ryan started to respond, giving Thatcher the distraction he needed.

The brown wolf darted in, fixing his jaws around the gray wolf’s throat and clamping down. Blood sprayed the surrounding grasses, but the brown wolf didn’t let go until the gray wolf slumped to the ground, dead.

Then the brown wolf faced the three alphas closest to the border and bowed his head, exposing his neck in submission. He kept his front paw raised off the ground, and blood trickled from the injury.

“I came to warn you,” Thatcher’s strong voice rang out. “But now I’m uncertain about the accuracy of the news I bear.”

“Explain,” Gage demanded with a level of superiority only an alpha could claim.

“I thought I had intel about the upcoming attack Luka is planning on the full moon,” Thatcher said, still keeping his front paw off the ground. “Unfortunately, this asshole followed me.” He jutted his nose back toward Ryan’s still body. “He let me have the false intel so he could trail me and see what I would do with it.”

“And you didn’t think to warn us?” Heath growled.

“I did… I sent a message to my cousin just before I shifted, telling her I needed to talk to you. And by coming here, I proved myself a traitor. Ryan attacked me, saying I wasn’t worthy to call Ironwood home.”

“Now that you’ve killed your packmate, I’m not sure you can call Ironwood home,” Gage agreed. “What will Luka do when he finds out?”

Flint suddenly twisted around, startling me. My lightning burst into life, covering my fur. Hearing its crackle for the first time since the battle against my aunt’s coven was simultaneously reassuring and terrifying. What new threat awaited?

I followed Flint’s gaze to find a small female wolf, even smaller than me. I recognized her scent instantly.

“Brooke,” I called her name, and she came over to us, her head and tail held tight to her body as she approached Flint.

“Is my cousin here? I’m not used to having a phone… It ran out of battery at some point, and I only noticed an hour ago,” she babbled nervously. ”When I turned it on, I saw Thatcher had messaged saying he has intel you’d all want to know, but… then I heard something was happening on the border, and I didn’t want to distract you. Is it him? Is he okay?”

“He survived,” I reassured her. “But he killed Ryan, and now we’re not sure how he can return to Ironwood.”

She dashed toward the border and heaved a sigh of relief over the pack bond as soon as she saw her cousin was alive and well. She then bowed her head to Gage.

“Alpha, I beg you to please let my cousin join the Frost Fang pack. He would never betray the pack as long as our family lives here, I promise.”

“Your cousin has proven himself an honorable wolf,” Gage agreed. He glanced toward Flint and Heath before adding, “We would welcome him among our—”

“No, I will not join the Frost Fang pack,” Thatcher interrupted. “Brooke, I’m glad to see you found a place where you don’t feel so afraid. That you felt safe enough to ask your pack alpha for a boon speaks to your comfort here. When you belonged to Ironwood, I worried every day for your safety, but now I see that you have found a true home.”

“Then why won’t you join me here, cousin?” Her wolf let out a low whine. “The Ironwood pack doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”

Since she wasn’t an alpha and was no longer part of the same pack, Brooke’s question couldn’t reach her cousin. Heath repeated her words on her behalf, his alpha voice projected beyond our pack bond. Thatcher answered at length, his alpha voice booming so Brooke and everyone nearby could hear.

“As an alpha, it’s my responsibility to ensure our pack serves all its members, from alpha to omega. If I leave Ironwood behind, that's one less alpha to protect our subordinate wolves. Their fate will grow worse because of Luka’s unhinged ideas. I know outside sources are feeding him lies about what a great leader he could be… He’s considering alliances that Jameson, the pack alpha before him, never would have permitted. If I can’t thwart him, every wolf left in Ironwood will surely suffer.”

“Spoken like a true alpha,” Flint projected his voice. “The Ironwood pack doesn’t deserve you, but you raise valid points.”

“What kind of alliances is Luka eyeing?” Gage asked.

“The kind involving covens,” Thatcher growled.

Bretton gave me a sidelong glance, and I knew what he must be wondering. Would I, the half-witch, take offense?

I didn’t, because Brielle had clarified that most covens sought more power, and my only experience with one — my aunt’s — proved her point. But now wasn’t the time to explain all of that.

“Does the name Dryden ring any bells?” Heath asked Thatcher.

If Heath’s father were somehow involved, none of us would be surprised. He’d been trying to set up a deal to marry Heath off to a witch coven, after all. And he’d been responsible for the disappearances of his own Elder Forest packmates.

But Thatcher answered, “I’m not sure who Luka has been talking to. He’s become more secretive, only conspiring with betas because he can command them to secrecy.”

“He wouldn’t allow any alphas into his meetings?” Flint asked, his voice miffed.

“No, he stopped trusting his alphas once we sent our families away.”

“Since he can’t hold them over your heads anymore, he has no leverage to keep you in line,” Heath grumbled, glancing over at Brooke.

Thatcher dipped his muzzle in agreement. “Now he hides things from his alphas because he couldn’t be sure he could alpha-command us to secrecy. It pissed off Ryan something fierce. Luka doesn’t even trust Vaclar or Yuriko anymore, and I thought he considered them friends.”

I’d forgotten all about the two of them. They’d helped kidnap me back to Ironwood, but I hadn’t seen them once while I was Luka’s prisoner. To hear that Luka didn’t even trust Vaclar, the alpha who’d been groomed as Luka’s number one enforcer his entire life, surprised me.

Thatcher added, “The entire Ironwood hierarchy is failing.”

That seemed to shock everyone but Brooke and me into silence, because they had all benefited from the hierarchy. None of them had ever been treated like the lowest ranking wolves in the pack except for Brooke and me.

She and I exchanged a look, and I let out a snarl and said, “Good. Let Ironwood fail.”

“I can’t,” Thatcher said, and Brooke startled. “Luka may be a corrupt alpha, but not all of us are. I have to protect my packmates who can’t protect themselves.”

But Brooke was still staring at me in shock, realizing I’d been able to project my voice to where someone outside of our pack bond could hear me.

“You truly are part of the alpha pair,” Brooke said in awe, bowing and tilting her head to show her neck, submitting to me.

I decided not to tell her I’d always been able to project my voice like an alpha, but now I had to wonder if she was right. Perhaps this wasn’t a consequence of being an Odinswolf, but because Gage had bitten and claimed me before I’d ever shifted.

The only way we would know would be to encounter another Odinswolf, and the only other one we’d met had been so feral, he’d been beyond speech.

“So, Ryan got pissed that he wasn’t allowed into meetings and decided to show Luka his loyalty by baiting Thatcher into a trap,” Bretton mused across the pack bond, just as unable to project his voice as Brooke. “But are we going to just take Thatcher’s word for it?”

He glanced over at me and Flint, but it was Gage who answered over the pack bond. “No, but we can set the hook. I’d considered asking a Frost Fang wolf to defect to leak our story to Luka, but this will be much safer.”

“Can you dispose of the body?” Thatcher asked, oblivious to our private pack conversation. “I’ll do my best to return to Ironwood before Luka notices. That was always my plan — come out here while he was busy, warn you, and get back as quickly as possible.”

“You have a vehicle?” Heath asked.

“An ATV. Back that way.” Thatcher raised his muzzle toward the tree line in the distance.

“Bretton, go get him some extra fuel,” Gage ordered. As Bretton left, he projected his voice to Thatcher, “We’ll get you some extra fuel so you can double back and make sure no one else followed you.”

“Many thanks, alpha,” Thatcher bowed his head to Gage.

“Is Lee still on your side or has Luka corrupted him?”

“He’s loyal to our packmates, not to Luka,” Thatcher assured him. “But he’s losing hope that we can find a way out without challenging Luka for pack alpha. Luka is slightly more dominant than either of us, so we might not win. Plus, Luka has become so corrupt, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to send alphas like Vaclar and Yuriko to fight us. And they’re younger and more agile than either Lee or me.”

“Thank you for warning us that Luka plans to attack on the full moon,” Gage said slowly, as if feeling Thatcher out.

“I still believe he plans to. I was coming here today to give you more details about the planned attack, but now I can’t be sure if those details are true or not, since Ryan was obviously using them to bait me.”

“If you and Lee are forced to join Luka in the battle against us, you must avoid killing any of my wolves, Frost Fang or Howling Echo,” Gage ordered, his tone allowing no argument. “If you can avoid that, we will spare you both. When Luka dies, you or Lee will be in a position to take over Ironwood.”

“Only if a beta or lower-ranking wolf kills him,” Thatcher argued. “If you or one of your alphas kills him… that wolf will be our new pack alpha, by pack law.”

“True, but our current plans mean that many of our alphas will be… unavailable, when Luka attacks,” Gage said.

Thatcher tilted his head but didn’t ask more.

“You still have the phone you’ve been using to communicate with Brooke?” Heath asked.

“Yes, of course,” Thatcher sounded confused.

“We’ll have your cousin text you a message when we’re ready to put our plan into place,” Heath said. “Delete all your previous message history if it’s incriminating. When Brooke texts you a message from us, we’ll want you to show it to Luka. Use it to prove your loyalty to him. Show him what we’re planning.”

“You’re setting a trap,” Thatcher sounded relieved.

“Yes,” Gage and Heath both answered.

“We’ll only have one chance to get this right,” Thatcher replied. “Luka will likely take my phone, so you won’t be able to trust anything that comes from it after you send your message and I show it to him.”

“We understand,” Gage said.

“How will I know it’s the right message to show to Luka?”

Heath looked back, gazing up at me on the hill overlooking them all.

“The message will mention Freya by name.”

A grin filled Thatcher’s voice, despite being in wolf form. “That’ll get Luka’s attention.”

“Exactly,” Gage growled.