Page 15 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

Rowan

The words Brielle had once spoken to me echoed in my mind as Zak picked his way through the forest.

Your mate has two natures. If you ever wish to become hers, you’ll need to accept that.

Brielle, Freya, Zak… they were all half wolf shifters… and half mages. But something about Zak got under my coat like an itchy burr.

“Why are you still on two legs, mage?” I grumbled as he slowly made his way over to me.

“Because if we’re going into a fight with magic, I’d rather have it at my fingertips,” he answered without hesitation.

At least he had the good sense to do it over our mental connection than out loud. And yet a cursory sniff revealed the deceit in his words. He wasn’t outright lying… but that wasn’t the only reason he refused to shift.

I turned tail and faded into the shadows of the woods. “If we encounter trouble, I could distract them while you shifted back to two legs.”

“You wanted me behind you anyway,” he grumbled. “Didn’t want me to stink up the place with more magic, right?”

So, he’d noticed me sniffing him out, then. Maybe that’s what bothered me about Zak — his magic didn’t stink at all. It reminded me of Freya’s. Powerful. Mysterious. Full of potential.

“Good point,” I rumbled. “The scent trail goes this way.”

Zak obediently followed me, reminding me that the wolf inside of him definitely wasn’t an alpha. Which meant I needed to be careful not to accidentally command him.

This was one of many reasons I preferred to keep to myself.

Among the Howling Echo, my dominance wasn’t strong enough to challenge Gage or Heath, and Flint’s equaled mine.

Alpha commands also rolled off Freya without any effect, thanks to her Odinswolf heritage.

So, with the entire Howling Echo, I was safe from accidentally imposing my will over another wolf.

But now Freya had a new mate.

“What do you think of Freya so far?” I asked, embarrassed a moment later at how terrible my tactics were. Heath would have surely found a more subtle way of questioning the mage.

None of us had outright stated it, but with one shared look, we’d all decided this new mate needed to prove himself to us before we’d trust him with Freya. The others would make sure he held only good intentions toward our mate, but I wanted to be sure myself.

“She’s amazing,” Zak answered instantly. “She clearly doesn’t remember much of our shared dreams, yet… she accepts me.”

His voice held a note of awe. I paused to let him catch up — so I could sniff him again.

His pea coat caught on a briar, and he struggled to break free before stomping through the woods and snapping nearly every branch between me and him.

If I’d been in my human form, I would have winced. Zak was no woodsman.

“She makes an effort to include me even though she doesn’t have to. She reassures me even when there’s no way that she senses…”

He trailed off as he met my eyes, instantly lowering his.

So, he was intentionally hiding from us across the Bonded link.

I’d thought so. That was another reason I hadn’t talked about Zak over the Bonded link to the others.

He might have more control over it than we realized, and he was surely using that to his advantage.

He was a mage, and he understood how to use it better than we did.

“She’s powerful without misusing that power,” Zak added, darting his dark eyes up to mine for a moment as I breathed him in. “But she’s not the only one. All of you have done your best not to misuse your power.”

For a moment, I wondered how he knew I’d been worried about accidentally commanding him with my alpha dominance just a moment earlier. Until he continued.

“You were put into an impossible situation back in Frost Fang and yet… somehow we avoided pack war. My friends back in Ravenscroft would never believe me if I told them how things played out back there. You’re all alphas, but even when challenged, none of you killed anyone.

The four of you could have taken on that entire crowd and lived to tell the tale, but you didn’t. ”

“The Howling Echo—”

“—doesn’t stand on tradition. I know.” Zak’s smile dazzled me, and my old fears flared to life. Was he somehow beguiling me, bewitching me?

And yet… all my other senses said otherwise. He truly admired us.

Then he tilted his head, causing his piercings to dangle and catch the light. “Are we safe here?”

I raised my snout, then turned and bobbed my head in the direction I’d been going. “Whatever it is, it’s in the distance. Closer to Frost Fang packlands than I’d like.”

“See? You’re all still looking out for them, even though they don’t want you to. I don’t know Gage well, but I don’t think he’s holding onto pack alpha status for his ego.”

“No.”

Zak nodded, gazing off in to the distance for a moment. “Rowan…”

Hearing my name in his voice, even though it was only his mental voice, sent shivers down my spine. He was a mage, and a powerful, confident one. Yet just like with Freya, my wolf didn’t fear him.

“Spit it out,” I growled, annoyed at the effect he had on me.

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but when we first met, I noticed what looked like witchfire scars on your body. If you’d like… I can take a look at them and try to ease your pain. I might even be able to make some of them disappear. Maybe all of them.”

I instantly danced back, putting distance between us. I couldn’t help it. Even my wolf didn’t like the thought of him using his magic on me .

“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Zak slowly raised his hands, as if afraid of spooking me. “If you’ll allow it, you need to be in your other form. And… I would have to touch your scars.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” I growled, wishing I believed it.

If he’d been in his wolf form, he definitely could have smelled the lie. As it was, he probably felt it through the Bonded connection. Besides, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that someone as badly scarred by witchfire as me might be wary of witches or mages. Denying it was stupid.

Zak didn’t bother to point that out.

He didn’t respond, didn’t move. He kept his eyes averted, his hands open without so much as a crackle of magic from his fingertips.

“I know what it’s like to fear the touch of magic,” Zak whispered in my mind, piquing my curiosity.

He didn’t smell like guile or deceit. He smelled… earnest. He’d been hurt by witches, too.

Mentally, I sighed. Wasn’t this what I’d wanted? To test the mage, to make sure he wouldn’t harm Freya?

Unlike Heath, words were not my forte. I couldn’t hope to trap Zak in a lie.

But what better way to test him than give him an opening to hurt me? A wolf versus a mage might be a fair fight, but if I switched back to human form, I would be at a disadvantage.

“Why now?” I asked.

“Because we’re alone,” he admitted. “The last time we were alone together back at the den, I’ll admit I was more preoccupied with my own concerns at the time.”

He meant the night I’d stood guard over him, staying in my alpha wolf form to intimidate him. Yet somehow he’d slept, giving me another reason to believe he was a very powerful mage, one who didn’t fear the likes of an alpha threatening him.

It made me wonder if perhaps his mage side had somehow corrupted his wolf half. Maybe that was the real reason he didn’t want to shift.

“And now? We should be preoccupied with whatever this magic is.”

His lips quirked up, and he spoke out loud. “You’re stalling.” Then he dipped his head. “Look, if you don’t want to do this right now, the offer still stands—”

I abruptly shifted back, but I’d forgotten one thing.

The male body didn’t intimidate or offend Zak.

His heated gaze raked my body, drinking in the details of my naked form in the dappled daylight falling through the leaves overhead.

He didn’t avert his gaze from what hung between my legs, either.

The early December cold didn’t seem to have affected me yet.

“Freya has good taste in men,” Zak said in an authoritative voice, his hands falling to his waistband.

Was he…? Even my human form’s duller senses didn’t miss the bloom of arousal in the air. Unbelievable.

I crossed my arms and glared at him.

His scent didn’t put me off. If anything, he smelled… right. Like pack. He belonged as my mate’s mate.

I let out a huff of air. “Are you going to heal me or ogle me?”

Zak shrugged. “How about both?”

Then he stepped forward, closing the distance between us. I stood my ground, gritting my teeth. The mage stood an inch taller than me, but he didn’t meet my eyes. Instead, his dark gaze latched onto the witchfire scar over my chest.

“May I?” he asked, reaching toward me.

Telling myself this test was on Freya’s behalf, I gave a slight nod, but he shook his head.

“I’m going to need a verbal response. I don’t want to have to explain to Freya why you kicked my ass if I accidentally trigger you. So, talk to—”

“Yes,” I ground out. “Let’s get this over with, already.”

“Okay,” he said quietly. “And just say the word if you want me to stop.”

The moment his fingertips brushed my skin, the blue light had me flinching away.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, eyes meeting mine for a moment. “It’s not witchfire, I promise. Stupid that healing magic is the same color…”

I’d gotten so used to ignoring the lingering burn of the witchfire after all these years, but his touch felt cool and gentle… soothing like a balm to a fresh burn.

“I’m going lower first,” he muttered, his dark fingers sliding downward over the pink scar tissue over my ribcage to my right hipbone.

He placed his whole palm against me, and something ignited in me at his touch. My traitorous dick twitched, and I hoped Zak was too busy concentrating on his healing to notice. I willed my cock to stay asleep, trying to focus on the cooling sensation of the healing magic once more.

Surely I wasn’t attracted to yet another mage? Especially not a male mage.