Chapter 8 - Freya

Chapter 8

Freya

Rowan instantly strode forward to put himself between me and the rogue. The other alpha should have backed down — Rowan was huge compared to him. And yet he took another step forward, snarling.

So, Rowan also stepped closer to the rogue wolf, showing he wouldn't back down from a fight if it came to it. Inside me, my wolf leaned forward, excited to see Rowan fight for us once more.

And that's when I wondered how much longer Rowan could go on. I was weary to the bone after the long day and what felt like hours riding on the big wolf's back. But Rowan had fought countless wolves and then carried me on his back at a full run. How much longer could he last?

I fell back closer to the water's edge, worried for Rowan. As if by some signal I failed to see, the two wolves suddenly lunged toward one another, colliding in savage fury. Their growls and snarls made the human side of me recoil in alarm… but made the wolf part of me go wild with excitement — both sides of the flight or fight instinct triggering at once.

Rowan did seem to be moving slower than he had when fighting the Ironwood wolves, and the smaller alpha looked more agile. He dodged Rowan's attacks, circling around to flank him over and over. The gray wolf darted in, seeing a chance to grab Rowan by the throat. At the last second, Rowan dodged to the side, but the rogue's momentum carried him past, and he nearly reached me. I couldn't help the scream that left me as his jaws snapped near my wrist.

Rowan's fangs crushed the rogue's rear leg. The gray wolf let out a howl of pain, whirling to face the threat. His tail thwacked me hard enough to make me lose my footing, and I scrambled to get my feet back under me on the rocky ground, scraping my hands and knees.

The rogue alpha wanted me, and he didn't care if he hurt me to get what he wanted. Tears stung my eyes as I rose to my feet just in time to see Rowan's jaws close around the other wolf's throat. Blood flew as he bit down, and I narrowly avoided the spray. With a savage growl, Rowan shook his head, and the rogue went still.

Inside me, my wolf went wild. She howled, the sound echoing in my mind with joy and triumph. The dark wolf called to my own like no one else ever had.

Rowan stepped back, his sides heaving as he caught his breath, staring at his latest kill. Then his golden eyes turned on me… and his wolfish form shuddered as he rose to two feet and turned into a tall, powerfully built man with disheveled, dark hair. Despite shifting, his eyes remained a feral golden color, making him no less intimidating in this form. He was lighter in skin tone than Flint but darker than Gage or Heath, and just as jacked as the two of them.

As his graceful strides quickly closed the distance between us, everything about him screamed predator. An aura of danger cloaked this alpha I barely knew. My senses trained on him, my pulse pounding in my ears as my entire body went on high alert. I felt like the rabbit, frozen in place as the wolf's attention fell upon it.

Unlike me, Rowan had no shame when it came to nudity, his naked body proudly on display, his skin tight over his powerful muscles. As he drew closer, two important details stood out to me.

The first was that he'd been horrifically burned on the entire right side of his body. The too-smooth, pink skin started at his hipbone, covered part of his muscular abs and chest, and splashed across his face as I imagined the fire must have done. The edge of one eyebrow ended abruptly, and it looked like the fire had narrowly missed his eye. The dark beard on his chin grew irregularly on his right side, as well. Part of me wanted to ask what had happened, but I was distracted by something else…

The second thing his nakedness revealed was that the fight had stirred more than just bloodlust in him, and I tore my eyes away from the massive erection poking out of his dark bush with difficulty. Fights tended to get alphas' blood pumping, and Rowan was clearly no exception. I'd gotten a good enough look to know that he was as well-endowed as my other alphas.

As Rowan reached for me, a sudden fantasy overpowered my senses. For an insane moment, I imagined what would happen if he took me right then and there, on the riverbank. My wolf certainly approved of the idea. The thought excited me, that my new mate had protected me, gone feral for me, and was now ready to fuck me with pure, animalistic need, like the dark wolf in my dream.

"Did he hurt you?" Rowan's gruff voice surprised me. It sounded rusty, like he rarely spoke.

I raised my palms and noticed small pebbles digging into my lacerated skin. Rowan's large, darker hands circled my pale wrists, making them look tiny in comparison. My skin instantly heated with his touch, and my dampness turned to pure, hot need between my thighs.

His nostrils flared, and I met his eyes, refusing to back down from my desire for him. My wolf knew what she wanted.

Mate, she told me.

He flinched, turning so his left side was closer to me, as if trying to hide his burn from me. Empathy welled up behind my breastbone, because I knew that feeling all too well. But Heath and the others had made me feel better about my scars, reminding me that they weren't something I had to hide. Why hadn't they ever done the same for Rowan?

I kept my eyes locked to his, willing him to see that his burns didn't matter to me. I wouldn't even look at them, if it made him uncomfortable. His pupils dilated, circled by golden irises, like his wolf remained close to the surface. When my gaze dropped to his full lips, his did the same before scanning my body.

He stepped away from me as soon as he confirmed I was uninjured, releasing only one of my wrists as though reluctant to stop touching me, even as he pulled away. With his left side still turned toward me, his golden eyes traced the contours of my torso.

I'd intended to dry my hair after I put clothes on, but the rogue's sudden arrival had distracted me. Only now did I realize my wet hair had soaked the white shirt, leaving it clinging to my curves.

"Wash your hands in the river," Rowan commanded, but as always, the alpha power slid off me without effect.

His eyes narrowed, and his hand tightened on my wrist as if he could force me to obey by sheer force of will. Was he like Gage — did he like being obeyed?

"Yes, alpha," I said, dropping my gaze as I turned to do as he ordered.

He released me, leaving my skin feeling cold in the absence of his touch. From the corner of my eye, I caught his visible shudder as he took a giant step back from me.

Rejection burned hot in my chest, radiating up to my cheeks as I kneeled by the river and washed the pebbles from my hurt palms. Rowan had reacted to my pain, eager to make sure I wasn't hurt. But when I looked over my shoulder, I noticed how much distance he'd put between us. He faced the forest in the direction the rogue alpha had come from, his fists clenching and unclenching for a moment.

Then he bent over the body of the wolf he'd killed and searched his sling bag. I got up, wringing my hands to let them dry. My fingers had gone numb from the frigid water.

If I weren't a wolf shifter with greater resistance to the cold compared to humans, I would be shivering in my boots right about now. As it was, I still wished for a warm blanket and a fireplace to curl up in front of, but it wasn't a necessity.

I couldn't help but watch Rowan's muscular form as he crouched down and rifled through the enemy's sling bag. The way his biceps rippled as his hands moved through the contents of the sling bag left my mouth watering. I could almost feel my incisors growing.

Bite, my wolf growled. Claim.

I blinked in surprise. Flint had believed all along that when my wolf emerged, she would claim more than one mate. But since Gage had bitten me and gained the same witch's mark that now decorated my skin beneath my collarbone, I'd found myself losing hope in that idea. After all, my mark hadn't appeared on Flint or Heath after we'd been together.

Yet my wolf's voice sounded completely confident. She wanted Rowan and already counted him as hers despite the cold shoulder he'd given me so far. He didn't seem to be attracted to me like the rest of the Howling Echo wolves. Did Rowan have a lover in some other packlands, like Flint and Heath once had?

The thought instantly made my hackles rise, my wolf growling in annoyance inside of me. She prowled back and forth like a caged predator that would go on a rampage the moment she gained freedom.

Rowan rose from his crouched position, adding whatever he'd taken from the rogue's sling bag to his. Then he lowered it across his naked chest once more. Before he could shift and leave me alone with my thoughts again, I took a step toward him.

He froze, like a wild animal about to run, again flinching away from me and hiding his right side as much as he could. I raised a hand toward him, and for the strangest moment, I flashed back to the time I'd dreamed of him in the forest. Even though he'd been pursuing me in wolf form in the dream, I'd been the one to reassure him, saying "You're safe with me, too."

The words came to my lips, but I didn't voice them. He was an alpha and would no doubt take it the wrong way. I sensed that getting to know Rowan was going to pose a challenge, like trying to convince a wild animal to trust me.

Instead, I asked, "Do you know somewhere we can hole up for the night? Is there a village—"

"It's too dangerous." His abrupt words cut me off. "I'll keep you safe out here."

With his left side still turned toward me, his golden eyes scanned me from head to toe, making me feel like the naked one despite the fact that I stood fully clothed before his nudity.

"But you can't shift," he mused, as if to himself.

I nodded. "Can we make a fire?"

He flinched, as if the idea brought him pain. There was something different about Rowan, something that seemed more in tune with his animal nature than his human one. And that animal wasn't nearly so fierce as he first appeared.

"Follow me," he said, his voice turning gravelly as he fell to all fours, his black fur instantly overtaking all that beautiful tanned skin.

He shouldered into his sling bag and took off without a second glance.

I let out a sigh of frustration, knowing I'd get nothing more from him now that he'd shifted back into his wolf. All I could do was follow along like he'd demanded. Feeling more frustrated than ever about the situation, I grumbled to myself about alphas expecting to be obeyed at all times.

I found it interesting that his wolf form didn't share the same burns as his two-legged form. Whatever had happened to him must have been while he was in his human form. Was that why he'd shifted? To hide his scars?

I pushed ahead, determined to walk alongside my packmate, rather than behind him. But every time I got close to him, Rowan picked up the pace. His large, furred form pushed easily through undergrowth that forced me to slow down to avoid being scratched to pieces, or getting my clothing caught.

Sometimes when he got too far ahead, the dark wolf would pause, glancing over his shoulder as if to say, Are you coming, slow human?

When it happened again, I let out a grunt of annoyance. "Look, I would shift if I could, okay? Everyone always looked down on me for being a half-breed who can't shift. I don't need you making me feel less-than when I already feel pathetic enough. I didn't ask for any of this."

Somehow I'd hoped that challenging him and revealing my feelings would get some kind of a rise out of him. Sure enough, he began shifting back, and I held my breath, worried now that'd pressed my luck by talking to an alpha in such a way.

But my thoughts soon turned in other directions, my mouth going dry as my gaze devoured his sculpted back. Without him looking back at me, I let my eyes travel up from his bare feet to his powerful thighs and tight ass.

He paused to pull his jeans from his sling bag, and I cringed when he sighed at the state of the wet denim. He shook them out and savagely yanked them on before putting on his black boots.

"Sorry," I whispered.

His head snapped up, and he took one step toward me before halting mid-stride as though catching himself. He shook his head and didn't look at me, and his gruff voice did little to reassure me, in spite of his words.

"It's not your fault. I wanted you to use them to dry off. I just… I don't usually stay in this form."

Then he turned back toward the direction we'd been headed. When he glanced back at me, his yellow eyes practically glowed in the dark forest. He tilted his head in the direction we'd been going.

This time, when I caught up to him, he didn't try to get ahead of me. He held branches back for me along our path, making it easier for me to walk alongside him.

"So, you usually prefer your wolf form?" I broke the silence between us.

His golden eyes met mine for a moment before he turned to hold back another branch for me. "As a wolf, I'm faster, my senses are stronger, I can—"

"I know," I grumbled, then dipped my head, realizing it was foolish to interrupt an alpha. I dipped my head. "Sorry."

They didn't take kindly to that. How had all of the survival instincts I'd learned from a lifetime in Ironwood faded so fast?

But then I remembered how good it had felt to stand up to Luka, calling him out for all the things he and my old packmates had done. My new pack had empowered me, making me feel stronger. Maybe I'd been strong all along, I just needed to see it for myself.

"I didn't mean to…" Rowan sighed. "It's also easier to communicate in wolf form thanks to the pack bond."

That sent my heart racing. "Did you hear anything from the others? Are they okay?"

He shook his head. "We're too far away to talk, but Flint and Heath are strong. They'll survive."

"I know they'll survive ," I growled, my wolf surging up protectively inside of me. "But I don't want them to suffer the way that I did."

Rowan snarled, and I flinched back instinctively. He instantly calmed and put his big hands toward me, palms open.

"That wasn't—I didn't—" It was so strange to see such a large, imposing man look so off-kilter. Then he stepped back with his hands clenched at his sides. "I wanted to kill them all, and you're making me wish I had."

"Trust me, I get it." I hoped that if Flint and Heath had gotten recaptured, they'd given them hell.

I kept walking, and Rowan fell into step beside me, his head swiveling, his body tense and on alert. For some reason, I felt the urge to put this big, tough-looking alpha at ease, but I wasn't exactly sure how. I settled for picking up our conversation about shifting.

"I would love to be able to communicate in the pack bond with you guys and go on pack runs like a normal wolf shifter."

"You've never shifted? Not even… in your sleep?" He seemed astounded.

I shook my head. "The others hold out hope, but…" I shrugged. "The Moonblessed pack alpha said he once knew someone who didn't shift until the first full moon after his twenty-fifth birthday." I glanced over at him. "Have you ever met a wolf shifter who shifted so late?"

He shook his head, and when my shoulders fell, he rushed to say, "But… I haven't known many shifters outside of the Howling Echo."

Suddenly, I wanted to know everything there was to know about Rowan and how he'd come to join the pack. He seemed so different from the other three — I couldn't even begin to imagine how he and Gage interacted. But just as I opened my mouth to ask more about him, Rowan leaned down to pick up a couple fallen sticks.

"Since you can't shift… I'll build you a fire."

His words held a hint of resignation, yet also… determination? Maybe that was another reason he often stayed in wolf form — it was easier to ward off the cold without needing a fire to stay warm.

He was stepping outside his comfort zone to help me, which warmed my heart. As I watched him add another stick to the bundle in his arms, I enjoyed the sight. His back muscles rippled as he bent and twisted to pick up another stick beside it. His bicep bulged as he held the bundle of sticks against his firm pecs. The unruly hair fell in his eyes every time he bent down.

Reluctantly tearing my gaze away, I set about helping my packmate. Maybe there was hope for taming his wild side yet.