Chapter 8 - Freya

Chapter 8

Freya

With our caravan of three vehicles — the Howling Echo’s original Jeep and truck plus the Frost Fang truck Bea and Ivar drove — we looked like a force to be reckoned with as we traveled from one packlands to another. We took paved roads and even better maintained neutral territory highways all the way back to Frost Fang. It was a quick, peaceful journey compared to our previous trips.

When we arrived at Frost Fang, shifters in both forms poured out of their dens to greet us. I felt like a celebrity as Gage helped me down from the Jeep.

“Appearances are important,” he whispered to me just before he swept me into a kiss in front of everyone.

Despite the cheers that went up, I soon found myself lost in this passionate, fierce kiss. Gage devoured me like this was the first time he’d seen me in weeks. My tongue tangled with his, and I suddenly wanted to climb up and wrap my legs around his waist. Before I could, he pulled back.

Gold ringed his sky-blue eyes for a moment as he took in the sight of me. He must have liked what he saw, because his lips curled up in a smug smile, like he was proud of himself for blowing my mind with a simple kiss.

Then he took my hand and raised it as he faced the gathered Frost Fang wolves.

“My mate returns, alive and well!” Gage called.

My stomach sank as I looked across the gathered wolves and caught sight of Heath on the outskirts. His expression remained neutral as his gaze roamed over the crowd. He was dressed in a classy three-piece suit that made him look more like a human businessman than a wolf enforcer. But a suit like that conveyed something different to shifters.

It showed Heath was so dominant he had no need to even consider shifting. With one look at him, anyone could see he was in charge. If someone so much as looked him in the eyes, he would force them to look away before it even came to a challenge. He wouldn’t need to shift to fight, because his dominance would never be questioned.

I pushed my ripple of pride through the mate bond to Heath, and his caramel gaze snapped over to me across the crowd. Gage was saying something else, and I squeezed his hand in support even as I shared this private moment with Heath.

“Thanks for taking care of things while we were away,” I whispered across the mate bond.

“It’s good to see you.” Heath’s relief poured across the bond.

Even though he knew I’d survived the coven’s attempt to steal my magic and kill me, he’d obviously still needed to see for himself that I was okay. I couldn’t wait to show him just how much I’d missed him.

The surrounding crowd howled in unison, and Gage squeezed my hand as a howl tore from his partially shifted throat. I joined in, despite not knowing what they’d just said.

As the howling died off, I glanced over at Heath, who winked.

“Unless you want to play politics, leave the next part to Gage.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” I answered as an older male beta strode through the crowd, which parted as easily for him as it would have an alpha. Clearly, the pack respected him.

“Bretton, is there news?” Gage asked.

A blush crept up my neck and into my cheeks as I realized why the name Bretton sounded familiar. This respectable man had been on the other end of the phone call I’d interrupted when I’d seduced Gage.

“Much news, alpha.” Bretton inclined his head to Gage. “But first, allow me to congratulate you on a successful mission.”

“Thank you.” Gage raised our hands and kissed the back of mine.

Was it normal for a pack alpha to shower his mate with so much affection? I’d never seen it from Jameson of Ironwood, the only pack alpha I’d known before meeting Gage, before Luka took his father’s place. I supposed Hugo and Idori were very affectionate toward each other in Moonblessed, now that I thought back.

“Alpha, we are proud to serve a pack alpha who accomplished such a feat without bringing us into pack war. But your absence has been noted.” Bretton smiled to soften the words.

Gage narrowed his eyes, but replied, “A good alpha serves the pack. Let’s go to my study and discuss how I can be of service now that I’ve returned.”

“Indeed, allow me to steal you away,” Bretton gestured toward the pack house, easily identified as the largest building in the town.

“I leave my mate with my capable enforcers,” Gage said, kissing my hand again and giving Flint a meaningful glance.

Gage let my hand slip from his large palm, and I gave him a smile and a nod to show I didn’t mind him leaving. As Gage and Bretton cut through the crowd away from us, Flint’s hand landed on my shoulder.

One wolf yelped and backed away when Rowan jumped down from the back of the truck next to me. I placed a hand on his head, which was chest-level on me. The crowd lingered for a moment, looking at the three of us before they dispersed.

The thinning crowd parted as my third alpha came for me. Shifters in both forms gave Heath a wide berth as he strode toward us. His head turned to follow Gage as he walked away, and Heath’s mouth tugged down in a frown as he stared at our pack alpha’s back. I wondered if anyone else could so easily interpret the longing look in Heath’s eyes like I could.

“You’ll have your chance to catch up with him too,” I assured him through the mate bond.

“I know.” His mental voice revealed his pain.

My heart ached for him. Heath had kept his heart locked up for so long, he had no hope left. And Gage had no idea.

But when Heath’s attention turned to me, a genuine smile lit his eyes. My knees weakened just meeting the gaze of this powerful alpha shifter, the man who had overseen Frost Fang while his pack alpha had been away.

I surged forward, but Flint’s hand on my shoulder reminded me we had an audience. Disappointment hit me, and a quiet growl escaped Heath’s throat, echoed a moment later by Rowan’s warning growl as he stepped between us.

I tangled my fingers in Rowan’s fur and whispered, “He’s not upset at us.”

Turning my head, I raised my eyebrows at Flint, silently asking him if I could greet Heath the way I wanted. Flint gave the faintest shake of his head, but his eyes held no condemnation.

Flint felt compelled to follow along with his pack alpha’s lead, claiming me publicly as his mate. But Flint’s eyes said something different. He would suffer Gage’s ire if I asked him to. I shook my head, telling him I wasn’t ready to upend the pack’s traditions just yet.

Frost Fang had only just gotten used to Gage as their pack alpha, and Heath and Flint as his enforcers. They’d barely seen me, and Rowan was also an unknown element. I didn’t want to make things even more confusing or highlight the fact that the pack alpha’s mate was actually a witchling hybrid with four mates, not one. Wolf shifters and witches rarely mixed well.

“Let me escort you to your den,” Heath said in a too-loud voice, holding out his elbow.

Flint’s hand slid from my shoulder. We took one step forward before Heath rocked back on his heels, stopping me with him.

A woman with long, dark hair stood in our path. She was an inch taller than me, but it felt like more than that because of her powerful presence. My wolf sensed she was a beta, but a strong one. Like Bretton, her presence was so dominant it was almost on the level of a weak alpha. She could probably force a subordinate packmate to obey her commands if she put enough force into them. It took only a moment for me to sense all that.

What took longer was why she seemed so familiar. She was lean, with an agile runner’s build, and her deeper skin tone and dark eyes hinted at native ancestry that reminded me of… Flint’s.

“Fern!” Flint jumped forward to pull his shorter littermate into a crushing hug.

She hugged him back, but her joyful expression changed into wariness as her eyes met mine, as though trying to figure me out. When they stepped back, she grabbed his hands and met his gaze.

“It’s been too long,” she said in a deeper voice than I expected. A voice that didn’t carry enough sincerity for my liking.

Inside me, my wolf growled and paced, as though she were a threat.

Not a threat. Littermate, I reminded her. She wouldn’t try to take Flint away from me.

“I should have claimed Flint so that I wouldn’t be so jealous this time,” I grumbled to Heath.

His soft chuckle only irritated me more. My upcoming heat made me overly protective over my mates.

“Freya, this is Fern, my littermate,” Flint introduced us.

“A pleasure,” I said politely.

Instead of acknowledging me, Fern looked up into Heath’s face for a moment before ducking away from his gaze. But she had no problem meeting my eyes. She studied my face as though I were a puzzle she had yet to find all the pieces for.

“So you’ve taken both Gage and Heath as your Bonded.” Fern’s voice was carefully neutral until she growled, “How long until you take my brother as well, witch?”

A chorus of growls surrounded me, making it impossible to pinpoint who had growled and who hadn’t. Rowan pushed forward, putting himself between me and Fern. She glared at the gigantic wolf for a moment before averting her eyes.

“It was only a matter of time,” Heath murmured to me. “After all, I wear your rune.”

Flint cut the tension by slapping his sister on the back and forcing a laugh. “You always did cut straight to the heart of any matter, my dear littermate.”

He glanced over at Heath, who turned to address the shifters standing close enough nearby to have overheard the exchange. Heath met their gazes, quietly forcing wolves and two-legged shifters alike to avert their eyes. The lowest ranked bared their throats in submission.

“Freya is Gage’s mate, and that makes them the alpha pair,” Heath announced. “She is half wolf shifter, but she is also half mage. That means she will take multiple Bonded. I am but one.”

“Way to simplify it,” I whispered into his head as he continued staring into the crowd, daring anyone to challenge him.

“I refuse to reveal anything about your Odinswolf side unless we have to,” he answered.

Out loud, he added, “Gage will make a more official announcement about this later. He may even entertain your questions about it.” He scanned the crowd. “I, on the other hand, will not. Now, make way. Our mate has had a long journey.”

Shifters fell back from us, but I could hear the whispers between those still in their human forms.

“She took two of our most powerful alphas as her Bonded.”

“Why can’t we have a normal alpha pair for once?”

“Witches and mages… can’t trust any of ‘em.”

“She’s bewitched them all. It’s only a matter of time before she takes over just like Nira did.”

My inner wolf bristled at being compared to their previous pack alpha, someone none of them had bothered to challenge, despite the way she mismanaged the pack.

“That greedy witch will be our downfall.”

“Witches eat our pups as a delicacy.”

“Can’t trust a witch.”

“She’s going into heat like a wolf shifter, though, can’t you smell it?”

“What offspring would she produce? A baby mage?”

“I’ve never seen her do any magic.”

I couldn’t wait to get inside the den. This was worse than I imagined, and the ones in wolf form were probably saying much, much worse.

Fern traveled through the crowd alongside her littermate. “I was hoping we could catch up, brother. I didn’t mean to—”

“Better that it’s out in the open,” Flint reassured her, but I wasn’t so sure.

It probably would’ve been better to let Gage announce it first, rather than to have it cracked open like a secret.

“How did she know?” I secretly asked Heath.

Heath pulled aside his collar. “She probably noticed your bite mark the first day I arrived. But the pack alpha already claimed you as his mate, so I’m sure she’s been wondering for a while.”

“I have, and I noticed the glowing mark matched the one on our pack alpha’s face,” Fern admitted.

Her gaze turned on me again, unnerving me with its intensity.

Something about her raised my hackles, and it wasn’t just that she had outed us in front of much of the pack. My wolf snarled inside of me, refusing to look away from her, so I met her gaze head-on.

Fern narrowed her eyes, trying to get a read about where I fit in the hierarchy. I straightened my shoulders and raised my chin, refusing to let her intimidate me. As if remembering she was staring at one of the alpha pair, Fern’s gaze slid off mine, but not down.

“It would be good to catch up,” she said to Flint.

Flint looked over at Heath, who nodded.

“You two talk.” Heath pulled me against him, not caring who saw. “I’ve been so worried about you, my love. Come spend the night with me?”

I smiled up at him, ignoring Fern and everyone else. “I would love to.”

Rowan trotted over to lay down beside the den’s front door before any of us could address him. As Heath led me across the threshold, I glanced back at Flint. He smiled softly at me.

“Join us when you can?” I asked, frustrated to be leaving him with Fern.

He nodded. “Of course, moonbeam.”

Fern scowled, but her expression went blank when Flint turned back to her. “Want to run?”

I turned away to follow Heath inside. He shed his suit jacket and hung it up by the front door.

“I’m so glad to see you alive,” he said the moment the door closed behind us.

Glancing around the familiar kitchen, I remembered the last time I’d been here. I’d grabbed the gun Gage had given me on my way out the door to meet my aunt. So much had happened since I’d been here. And an echo of a memory arose… the vision I’d had of how to avert the coming bloodshed.

“Are you okay?” Heath asked, pulling me close to him.

I nodded, refocusing my attention on the mate I’d been missing for so many nights.

“I was worried about you too,” I said, running a hand over his smooth cheek. “When I realized it must have been your father that tipped off my aunt, and you were still in Elder Forest…”

“I know,” he said, grabbing my hand to kiss my palm. “And now, to hear that Dryden’s run off to witch territory…” A growl escaped his human throat.

“Did you talk to your sisters?”

“Yes, and Harlow said, ‘He’s always plotting something,’ so she’s unsurprised. I told them everything I know, including what Flint learned from the Bloody Dawn.” Heath frowned.

“But?”

“They don’t believe the Bloody Dawn. They don’t know them, and they don’t trust them to tell us the truth. Harlow and Hazel believe our father is up to something, but their hands are tied.”

“So, I guess we shouldn’t expect their help if he shows up at our doorstep with a coven of witches at his back?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not even if they believed every word I said. Dryden married off Harlow to his fae allies on the East Coast. There’s no way she and her friends would make it to us in time, even if she convinced them to come.”

“And your other littermate?”

“Hazel is a strong beta, but she’s in bear shifter territory in Oregon. That’s not far, but she’s probably not dominant enough to rally anyone to our aid.”

“Well, at least we’re all okay right now.” I let out a deep breath, thinking of all the unknown enemies we still might face.

Heath took my face in both his hands and gently kissed my lips as though afraid to hurt me. “My wolf still can’t believe you’re okay.”

“What will it take to convince him?” I asked, gazing up at him through my eyelashes.

“I can think of a few things,” he grinned, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves to reveal his delicious forearms. How had I never admired his forearms like this before?

“Do they all involve getting naked?” I teased.

Heath grinned and scooped me up in his arms, taking me out of the kitchen. “Let’s find out.”