Chapter 13 - Heath

Chapter 13

Heath

"I agree with Gage," Flint said as I slowly inched along off-road in the truck.

The extended cab would be useful when we finally found Freya and Rowan, so we could all easily travel together. But in the meantime, the extra length was a bitch to fit around boulders and the small cliff-faces formed from rock slides. After all, these weren't just lands unclaimed by any pack — they were true wilderness. We'd switched off driving in the middle of the night, but neither of us had gotten much sleep.

"About what?" I asked, clenching my teeth on the downslope, worried about losing traction on the scree.

Though we were both shirtless to make shifting easier, and it being late in the year, I was sporting a light sheen of sweat due to the stress of driving over this terrain.

"If your plan involves your father in any way, we should think of something else."

"Where else would we go?" I countered. "Midnight Path won't be welcoming. Not once Pack Alpha Astrid realizes we'd be dragging her into pack war with Ironwood."

Flint sighed, his eyes scanning the forest ahead as if searching for a solution, and I glanced over to make sure he was holding up. With one hand on the oh-shit handle, his bicep flexed. In spite of everything, a tendril of lust wound up in my loins, reminding me of when Flint and I had made Freya scream in ecstasy together. We'd done it in part to test Gage's promise to Freya — to prove that he'd let two other alphas fuck his mate when he could sense every second of it through the mate bond. The other part was to reconnect with Freya after everything that had happened.

Though I doubted he'd had any other sexual experiences with men outside of those involving Freya, we'd made a good team, Flint and I, making sure we really tested Gage's devotion. Gage had survived his punishment.

A ghost of a grin escaped when I remembered how I'd teased Gage with that word, punishment. I'd sensed his arousal… and I only wished it was because he craved me, not because he was remembering the sexy ways we'd punished Freya. But why would he, when Freya so enthusiastically sated all of our desires?

So, why did I find Gage and Flint so distracting? They seemed to be fully devoted to her, and her alone. Not to mention they both were completely straight as far as I knew. I was the only one with these desires directed at my other packmates.

I'd always considered my packmates off-limits. I'd kept a lid on my attraction to Gage for decades, even when it had only been the two of us. It was only recently that I'd seen Flint in a different light. And, let's face it, Rowan was intensely sexy, too.

What could I say? I was a greedy bastard, used to fucking around with anyone I desired who wanted me back. Once I gave in to my desire for Freya, I'd hoped those urges would calm down — that maybe I'd finally get over my fixation on Gage. But, if anything, seeing him with her only made me want him more. And now I was lusting after Flint as well. It was enough to drive me mad.

Shaking off my thoughts, I realized Flint was still staring out the window, face etched with concern.

"We're going to find Freya first of all," I soothed my too-quiet packmate. "Then, once Freya and Rowan are safely reunited with us, we can decide what to do next."

"Well, we can't take her back to Frost Fang until we're sure Gage has things in hand with the northern towns," Flint grumbled. "And we already know we can't go to Moonblessed or Midnight Path. But Elder Forest—"

"There are other alphas in Elder Forest besides my father, you know. Nor is he the pack alpha. They're the only pack with any ties to us that's big enough to make Ironwood think twice."

Flint took a deep breath, then admitted, "I suppose we all need some time to heal. Even Rowan took a bullet."

"Exactly. And if I play my cards right, we can shower Freya with food so she can regain her strength."

Flint nodded. "Being a prisoner and then out here in the wildlands can't have done her recovery any favors."

"Our mate needs someplace safe to recover, rest, and heal. As do we."

Flint snorted, and I glanced over when I sensed his gaze on me.

"What?"

His lips curled up. "You're already planning how to suck up to Freya with all your father's riches at hand."

I didn't hide the grin that stole over my face. "You know me so well."

"You don't have to buy her affections, you know."

Did I know that?

Thanks to my hesitation, Flint added, "And you don't have to try to impress her. After everything we've been through together… our bonds will only strengthen."

I sighed and shook my head. I wanted to believe him, but… my life experiences didn't allow me to be as optimistic as our sweet moonmarked wolf. "Do another scent check, would you?"

In the tight confines, Flint pulled off his pants. At six foot two, maneuvering around in here wasn't easy, but he managed it. I kept my eyes on the ground in front of us, but I had plenty of memories of him fully nude for my mind to taunt me with. Once he got his pants off, he opened the door and easily jumped from the vehicle before I'd even put on the brakes — which only highlighted how slow I'd been forced to drive.

He switched into wolf form and leaped from boulder to boulder to observe the forest ahead. When he climbed back in the truck, he said, "Bad news."

"What?" My heart instantly jumped up into my throat as I imagined all sorts of scenarios — we'd lost Freya's scent, he'd smelled her blood…

"I can smell her up ahead, but there's no good way to get the truck through there."

I let out a choked laugh. "You had me worried, man."

"We'd be better off leaving the truck behind and continuing in wolf form."

Frost Fang had loaded us up on supplies for four people before letting us leave the caravan. Flint grabbed the blanket he'd taken from them and began stuffing it into his sling bag. Our mate couldn't shift, and these cold, late-October nights had probably been rough on her.

I grabbed the shirt and jeans that were as close to her size as I could find in what Frost Fang forces could spare. She would need something better to wear than that awful dress they'd put her in back at Ironwood. Clearly, their pack had no fashion sense.

"C'mon," Flint said, showing his impatience for once.

I set the truck's emergency brake before getting down, then locked up and put the keys in my sling bag. Before I could even start shifting, Flint was tearing off through the forest ahead of me.

I raced to catch up, and as soon as I smelled Freya's delicious apple pie scent in the air, I understood his hurry.

"Fuck," escaped me into the pack bond with Flint.

"Yep. She's in heat again."

"But how—"

"She met another of her mates," Flint said with a level of certainty I didn't trust.

"Or maybe it's because Gage bit her," I countered.

"Either way, it doesn't bode well for her and Rowan. He'll be running himself ragged guarding her while she sleeps, and getting none himself."

"And he's still confused about her relationship with the rest of us," I recalled.

Back on Ironwoods packlands, there hadn't been time to explain our complicated arrangement. But I remembered that Freya had dreamed of Rowan the last time she'd been in heat. She'd chosen Gage, Flint, and even me as her mates. But as far as I knew, she'd never dreamed of us.

That meant her bond with Rowan must be a special one. She'd known about him before any of us even told her about him. She'd dreamed of someone she'd never met. My only guess was that it was thanks to the magic in her veins. After all, she'd also marked Gage without trying.

I knew Gage was worried about her feelings for him, but I had no doubt that she and Gage would make up as soon as they were reunited. She'd called him her mate when he'd threatened Luka over the phone, which made me believe she was already halfway to forgiving Gage's impetuousness.

No matter how angry she was that he'd marked her without her permission, the mark was proof that she accepted Gage as her mate on some level. And the mate mark would pull the two of them together, helping them forgive one another.

As for Flint, well, he and Freya had always just… clicked. Their undeniable chemistry and the way they'd instantly taken to each other made me jealous in spite of myself. It was part of the reason I'd tried to distance myself from Freya from the beginning… She and Flint deserved each other. They were both good people that their packs hadn't treated kindly.

I could never compare to Flint. Her dream linked her to Rowan in some way. And the mate mark bonded her to Gage.

Where did that leave me? What could I offer her? I was the one who pushed her away and pissed her off. Though she'd come a long way toward forgiving me for the way I'd treated her, I still felt like I had to earn my place at her side. I wasn't sure how to prove myself to her, but I was going to keep trying until I was sure I had.

Our noses told us how close we'd gotten, and Flint put on an extra burst of speed. Meanwhile, I circled around, being extra cautious in case we were somehow walking into a trap. But I could sense Rowan through the pack bond, and now that we were close enough… our minds could touch.

"Rowan, Flint and I are on our way to you and Freya," I pushed my thoughts toward him, hoping he'd stopped being feral somewhere along the way.

If he hadn't… I worried what state we might find Freya in. Sure, his wolf seemed driven to protect her even when he'd gone feral. But a feral wolf didn't make for a good companion.

When Rowan's words didn't reach me in turn, I pushed harder to see why. Assuming he was simply refusing to answer, I was shocked to realize our borderline feral packmate was in human form and couldn't hear me. Rowan rarely shifted out of wolf form unless forced to.

While that gave me hope we'd find him and Freya both well, it also meant I needed to warn Flint.

"Rowan isn't answering through the pack bond. I think he's in human form. So don't sneak up on him."

The last thing we needed was to startle him straight back into feral wolf form.

"Understood."

Neither Flint nor I could slow down, though, not with the scent of Freya's heat goading us onward. Fortunately, our mad dash was not at all quiet, so by the time we reached the clearing, Rowan was already looking out into the woods for us. The scent of cooking meat momentarily overpowered Freya's heat, but only until the wind shifted.

Then my eyes caught sight of her. Her long hair came down over the too-large button-up shirt she wore, and my wolf surged forward.

Mate! Bite. Claim. Keep safe.

Before his demands could get the best of me, I pulled up short and shifted. Now wasn't the time to go pissing off Freya with another mate bond.

When she looked up and caught sight of me, the smile that lit her face stilled my breath in my chest. She'd missed me — she wanted me. She might have already claimed the hearts of my packmates, but she still had space for mine, too.

I just needed to prove I deserved her. For her sake, and mine.

I moved toward her to make a start on that, eager to have her in my arms again, but Rowan stepped between us, a feral growl tearing from his human throat.