Chapter 25 - Freya

Chapter 25

Freya

Flint had stayed with me the whole time as my tattoo slowly took shape on my left wrist, starting with the mountain, followed by the howling wolf. He praised me for being brave, and when the tattoo artist remarked on my high pain tolerance, I managed to smile without grimacing. Years spent as the Ironwood punching bag had given me that "gift."

The tattoo artist told me how to care for my tattoo and reminded me to wait an hour or two before shifting for the first time. Then it would be healed.

I ducked my head, letting my hair shroud my face as Flint paid. I was thankful for his presence. It didn't seem worthwhile to explain to her that I couldn't shift, but it reminded me that even though I had my pack tattoo at last, I still wasn't fully one of them.

It had surprised me to learn that Rowan felt the same way. An outsider even among the pack. But all thoughts of Rowan fled when we entered the house and heard an unfamiliar voice.

Flint's nostrils flared, and he growled, "Dryden is here. Unannounced, from the sound of it."

"For the last time," Heath bellowed as we rounded the corner. "I will never leave the Howling Echo. There is no threat or promise you can make to get me to change my mind."

Heath and his father stood in one of the high-ceilinged sitting rooms, facing one another. They may have been in their human forms, but their wolves were close to the surface as they stared at each other with golden gazes.

Maybe it was the tattoo making me feel bold, but I floated across the room to Heath's side, wrapping my right arm behind him while laying the other hand possessively on his chest, my body molding to his. Together we faced his father, and Flint subtly took up position shoulder to shoulder with Heath.

The Howling Echo protected its own, in whatever shape that took.

Dryden continued the conversation, ignoring both our presence and Heath's outburst.

"Once you're Bonded to Trella," Dryden started, "she'll expect you to renounce your loyalty to Gage."

Heath's chest rose under my hand, but before he could speak, I cut in. "Heath will never be Trella's Bonded." I didn't explain that it was because I expected him to become mine. Instead, I said, "As I told you before, Heath is already my mate."

"Really, my dear. You can drop the charade. It's clear that the mating mark on your neck is the same as the one on your wrist. I'm happy for you, securing a powerful pack alpha as a mate. So, you see, I can tell Gage is your mate, not my son. Which means he has no reason—"

"Get out," Heath growled.

When Dryden didn't budge, Flint took a menacing step forward. Dryden's eyes flicked over to him, and a snarl curled his lips, but he stepped back. A small, subtle submission, but it was enough to avert a battle for dominance.

"This won't be the last time we discuss this, Heath. You owe me, and you know this arrangement will also benefit you, son. Don't be selfish."

Heath scoffed, and Dryden's eyes narrowed.

"Stop by when you're in a more reasonable mood." He turned his back on us and walked out, showing he didn't fear Flint or Heath.

As soon as we heard the front door slam, the tension leaked out of the room.

Heath sighed. "Sorry you had to see that."

Then he picked up my left hand, turning it over to kiss my palm. When he raised his head, his eyes studied my pack tattoo. I squirmed under his inspection; his face remained a neutral mask, as though still protecting himself from his father's ploys.

But when his eyes met mine, joy filled them. "This is perfect, Freya."

I lunged forward, capturing Heath's lips in a kiss.

"Now no one can question you're ours," he murmured against my lips. "No wolf, witch, fae, or any other can deny you belong to the Howling Echo."

The rest of the day slipped by with us enjoying each other's company, and when an early dinner of delicious winter stew appeared, we all devoured it. I had three bowls, surprising myself.

"Hungry little wolf," Heath teased.

But when I glanced over at Flint, his eyes glittered with anticipation.

"It's probably just because my body's healing from the tattoo," I said. "Or maybe this means my next heat is drawing closer."

"Perhaps," Flint said in a way that made me doubt he believed either of those two options were the cause. I sent him a questioning glance, but he ignored my silent request to reveal his thoughts.

I might have pursued it further, but throughout dinner, I'd started feeling restless, itchy, and irritated, making it hard to sit still and finish. Maybe my body had grown used to working out and didn't like taking the day off. But inside of me, my wolf felt restless, too.

Twilight fell, and I found myself drawn to the porch despite the November chill. Heath faithfully appeared with a winter coat that fit me well and came down to my shins.

"Thanks for standing up for me earlier," he whispered into my ear, wrapping his arms around me. "No one's ever done that before."

"No one?" I teased. "Surely your packmates."

"True," he said. "What I meant to say was ‘none of my past lovers' but—"

I growled low in my throat, angry at the thought of anyone else being with Heath. My wolf bared her fangs, clawing at her prison walls at the thought of him being with anyone else.

"—but I thought the heat's jealousy wouldn't appreciate it, and I was right," he chuckled.

Flint joined us outside, tilting his head back as though bathing in the moonlight. "It's a supermoon tonight, Freya," he said in a low voice. "Does she call to you?"

I gazed up at her round fullness as she hung low in the sky, seeming closer than ever before. Impact craters marred her surface, yet she remained beautiful despite it all.

No one had ever said the moon's scars made her less perfect. Just as my pack had acknowledged and accepted my own. I whispered my thanks to the moon goddess for sending me such a perfect pack.

The urge to run overcame me, and I found myself pulling away from Heath without a thought. My wolf called to mind images of the forest, and before I knew it, my feet carried me in that direction.

"Freya?" Heath wondered, but the two of them followed me.

I picked up the pace, my jog turning into an all-out run, but it wasn't enough. My wolf ran inside my mind, too, but my skin felt sweaty and wrong. I was too hot, that was it.

Discarding the heavy winter coat, I still couldn't get cool enough. Was my heat already coming on? I heard Flint and Heath exchange words, but I was too restless to listen as I tore off my shirt and pants. Dim awareness alerted me to another presence, but my wolf danced with joy — whoever he was, he wasn't a threat.

As I finished stripping down, I found myself standing naked in front of Rowan once again. The massive wolf waited in the shadows, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I caught sight of a silver-white alpha wolf almost his size gazing at me. His coat practically glowed in the moonbeams that managed to shine through the bare branches of the trees.

"You're both beautiful," I told the wolves, tears filling my eyes.

They were going to run without me, in their wolf forms since it was the full moon. I wanted to run so badly, and my wolf pranced around inside of me, feeling more active than ever before.

"You have to let go, moonbeam," Flint's reverent words reached me over the sound of the night creatures coming to life.

"What do you mean?" I asked, but just then, pain doubled me over, nearly forcing me to my knees.

I instinctively fought against it. I hadn't felt pain like this since my aunt tried to steal the magic she'd bottled up inside of me as a child. But I'd fought back then, as I fought back now.

My long hair shrouded my face as I tried to rise back to standing, but something monstrous tried to burst out of my skin. The sensation centered in my chest, but it felt like it was… everywhere. Inside my mind, my wolf whimpered with need, pushing against her boundaries like she always had.

Flint's hands smoothed over the naked skin of my hunched back, reassuring me. "Let your wolf spirit guide you, love. Don't fight her."

"What?" I said, or tried to say, but my vocal cords wouldn't cooperate.

An even stronger wave of pain wracked my body, and this time, I really did fall to my hands and knees.

MOVE.

My wolf had never sounded so loud or powerful in my mind. And suddenly, I realized what was happening. For some reason, I panicked, fear taking hold as my body shuddered. I had to run, I had to get away—

"You'll be okay, love. Just let your wolf spirit take over. She knows what to do."

His calm, soothing words got through to me somehow, and I took a deep breath. I wanted this, I reminded myself. I'd wanted it for years… a decade, now.

But someone was missing. How could I shift without Gage, without my pack alpha here with me?

"I need Gage," I moaned as another shudder of pain ran through me.

The silver-white wolf before me shifted, and Heath put a hand under my chin, tilting up my face to look at him. That gesture reminded me of Gage so much and brought fresh tears to my eyes.

"I shouldn't shift without him. I need… all of us to be together."

"We are, little wolf." Heath's caramel eyes held so much compassion for me, it made my heart ache. "Gage is here with us, in spirit. Can't you feel him in the pack bond? He can feel you through the pack bond and the mate bond. As long as the bonds hold us together, none of us are ever alone."

He was right. Pain had taken all my attention, but when I focused on the other magic inside of me, I felt the bond that linked my wolf with the rest of my pack.

For so long, I'd felt all alone, the only Ironwood wolf who couldn't shift. But the Howling Echo had given me a place to belong. With them, I would never be alone. Gage's calm confidence flooded the pack bond, and I felt my wolf's desire to howl.

Heath stepped back and shifted in front of me, his eyes on mine as though willing me to see how it was done. I tried to follow him, falling to all fours again… but pain tormented me instead.

"Shift and run with us under the Hunter's Moon." Flint's words filled with his alpha power, even though he knew it would do nothing to me.

"I can't," I sobbed.

Tears poured from my eyes. I couldn't do it. I was broken, a shifter who couldn't shift, who never would. Flint's hands continued to rub my back, and I got to my feet. This wasn't going to work. Inside, my wolf whimpered.

With Flint's hands on me, I startled when a third hand stroked my arm. I blinked through tears as I looked up at Rowan, back in his human form, fully nude. He held my gaze, stepping close to me as his hand wrapped around my wrist.

The fingers of his other hand traced something else, though… the rune beneath my collarbone, the same mark Gage shared with me. A witch's mate mark.

I shivered as Rowan exhaled a long, quiet growl.

"I'm not them, Rowan," I whispered.

With his hand still on my wrist, he circled around behind me, wrapping his arms around me, my back pressed tight to him. Flint stood before us, studying us, waiting for something.

Rowan and I stood at the edge of a precipice. One arm pulled me close like a lover while his other hand traced the mark of his enemy. I wondered if it was my witch side keeping my wolf trapped inside me.

"No." Rowan's gruff voice was so low I felt certain Flint couldn't overhear it, even with his wolf shifter hearing. "You're nothing like them. Because you, Freya, are a wolf shifter. And my wolf wants to meet yours. Will you deny us? Or will we run together beneath the moon?"

Years of longing welled up inside of me, making fresh tears fall down my cheeks. Rowan suddenly stepped away from me and shifted back into his wolf form, making me feel cold and bereft without his heat at my back.

Mates, my wolf whimpered.

"Shift," Flint alpha-barked at me, but as usual, nothing happened.

But I owed it to her. My wolf wouldn't give up, and neither would I. My wolf wanted out, and I wanted to run with Rowan. So, I got to my hands and knees on the forest floor again, hoping it would help this time.

Flint fell to his hands and knees beside me. I turned to look at him. He smiled at me, his expression calm, his eyes full of confidence. The pack bond surged with the same feelings, along with encouragement. Heath was right. Gage was here, too, though only through the pack bond.

"It's time to let her out, moonbeam. Join us. Accept the blessings of Grandmother Moon."

Then Flint shifted before my eyes, making it look effortless as his bones broke and reformed, his knees turning backward in an instant while fur erupted from his skin and his face elongated.

Something in me moved, but it terrified me. Flint's nose tickled along my shoulder, but I shook my head. I couldn't do it. I wanted to run with them, but—

LET ME OUT.

Flint took a step away from me, and then he raised his muzzle to the sky and howled. Rowan and Heath immediately joined in. And I wanted to, as well.

With that howling echo resounding in my ears, my wolf tore out of me, bursting free in a blaze of glory.

But my wolf wasn't she — she was me. I was her. We were… one.

Answering the call of my pack, I threw back my head and howled. My new vocal cords were made for this. Even as the sound died, the echo reached us from the mountains in the distance. And inside me, the pack bond radiated with pride.

When I looked down, white-furred paws met the ground, giving me a good sense of the moist forest floor beneath me. The world grew brighter and vibrant around me, as if twilight had yet to fall. The night came alive with motion — an owl twisted its head, watching for prey. Leaves and branches swayed with a slight breeze. In areas with less dense foliage, my line of sight extended much further than before.

I twisted my head and gazed back, catching sight of my snow-white coat — and my long, furry tail. Lightning crackled from the tip of my tail, arcing along the fur of my body, startling me.

Scents assaulted my nose, a cacophony of smells: pine needles, the rot of long-fallen leaves, squirrels, other things I couldn't identify, tangy electricity, and three dangerous wolves.

I needed to run. Running would fix everything.

"She's going to bolt," a familiar voice warned in my mind, but I paid it no heed.

My body reacted on instinct, and I lunged forward, the wolf taking charge.