Page 35 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

Throughout the meal, I couldn’t help noticing how Brielle and Zak kept gravitating toward each other in conversation, discussing magical theory and shared experiences.

They spoke as equals, Brielle asking pointed questions about my training and abilities.

Zak answered most of them, explaining the techniques he’d been teaching me.

Their magical knowledge formed a bridge between them that excluded the rest of us.

“She’s a quick study.” Zak smiled at me.

The way they were talking about me instead of to me was starting to annoy me, so I returned his smile and said, “With the right teacher.”

Brielle didn’t seem annoyed by the implication, however.

Instead, her focus remained on Zak. “Your wolf is quiet, but I can sense it.”

A shadow passed over his face. His eyes darted to Gage’s for a moment, then mine. He’d admitted he was afraid to shift into his beta wolf around the alphas, and we’d been trying to build trust between us ever since.

He responded vaguely, “My wolf side has been… dormant for some time. ”

“By choice?” Brielle pressed.

“Necessity.”

The exchange was loaded with meaning I couldn’t fully grasp.

With one word, a new dimension to Zak’s reluctance to shift opened before me.

I hadn’t pushed, not wanting to pressure him before he was ready, since he clearly needed to trust us first. But watching him now with Brielle, I wondered if I’d been too passive, if he needed someone who understood his reluctance better than I did.

Gage shared a meaningful glance with me, both of us wondering what Zak meant.

“Not in front of everyone,” I warned.

“Ask him later, then,” Gage suggested in a gentler voice than I expected.

Zak’s confession had brought out Gage’s protective side. Now we knew he not only feared to shift into his beta wolf in front of alphas, but that he hadn’t shifted in quite some time. I was willing to bet the reason had something to do with the terrible coven he hadn’t hesitated to leave behind.

“How did you find your way to them?” Brielle asked, gesturing to the rest of us.

Zak glanced at me before answering. “Fate brought me to Freya. We met in a dream.”

Brielle’s gaze flicked between us. “Thanks to your mate bond?”

“The Bonded connection,” Zak corrected.

“It must have been difficult, being raised in a coven when half your nature called for pack.”

Zak’s expression tightened momentarily. “It certainly had its challenges.”

Brielle nodded knowingly. “Neither wolf nor witch fully welcome our kind.”

“The Howling Echo does,” I said firmly, drawing their attention. “We’ve always been a pack of outcasts.”

Brielle studied me thoughtfully. “Yes, I suppose you have.” Her gaze swept over all of us.

“Traditional pack structures are failing. Canada abolished most packs. Denraider conquers pack after pack, then leaves conquered packlands in poverty. The Frost Fang pack followed corrupt alphas for decades, then exiled the only good alpha that’s ever ruled them,” she nodded to Gage.

“The Moonblessed pack, easily the most inclusive pack around, still doesn’t welcome our kind.

The Ironwood pack remained insular and tried to start a pack war until you stopped them.

The Elder Forest pack is so massive and decentralized it can’t even keep track of its missing wolves. Change is coming. It has to.”

“What are you suggesting?” Gage asked, his voice tight.

“Nothing you haven’t already begun, pack alpha,” Brielle replied.

The statement hung in the air, provocative and weighted.

“What more would you suggest we do?” he growled. “We have no packlands, and our pack has grown in size.”

Brielle leaned forward, her green eyes stormy. “Your mate is unique among wolves, is she not?”

Rowan’s golden eyes bored into her. “She can’t issue commands like we can, but that also makes her resistant to them.”

Gage nodded slowly as he met my gaze. “It’s why you’re a natural leader — if you follow, it’s only by choice, not compulsion. It’s why I’m proud to have you at my side.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Brielle said, her voice suddenly solemn as her gaze caught on mine. “Now you have true power behind you — not just alpha strength, but magic. And something more. Something… intangible that Freya brings to the table.”

The words sparked something in me — hope, mixed with trepidation. Circumstances had thrust me into the position of pack leader at Gage’s side, but it still felt unnatural to me.

And… “I brought us into exile yet again,” I sighed. “It’s mostly my fault we left Frost Fang. Maybe…” I shook my head. Dwelling on should haves and could haves wouldn’t change a thing.

“You’re not exiled,” Brielle disagreed. She gestured at the broader camp. “You’re starting something new. A place where your pack followers don’t have to hide what they are to fit in.”

She had a point. For some reason, a large number of Frost Fang wolves had decided to follow us, along with all of the former Ironwood refugees. The responsibility terrified me, settling over me like a weighted net, trapping me .

Brielle rose from her seat. “Freya, you pushed the Howling Echo to change for the better. They opened their pack to a hybrid, and then, when you called to Zak, they allowed in a second hybrid as well. That tells me our kind will continue to be safe with you.”

Zak looked away as he rubbed his wrist, probably thinking that he wasn’t truly part of the pack yet. He didn’t wear Gage’s bite mark.

“Your pack gave shelter to those who needed it, because you helped show a different path forward. And as a hybrid, you straddle both worlds.”

To everyone’s shock, Brielle knelt before me. “Freya, hybrid of the Howling Echo pack, I offer my loyalty to you specifically.”

“What?” I croaked.

Stunned silence fell over the camp. Brielle — independent, powerful Brielle — kneeling before me?

Her intense gaze bored into me for another moment before she respectfully dropped her eyes.

“For years, I’ve watched packs and covens alike reject those who don’t fit their narrow definitions of what we should be.

Hybrids like us have nowhere to belong. But seeing him,” she nodded toward Zak, “accepted here proves that the Howling Echo didn’t just accept one hybrid out of necessity or fate. I know you would accept others.”

I glanced at Gage, uncertain how to respond. His expression was unreadable, but he gave me a small nod, deferring to me.

“If you wish me to give her the pack mark on your behalf, I will,” he offered.

I startled. “Brielle, I — thank you, but I’m not an alpha. I can’t give you a pack mark.”

My fellow hybrid stood, a satisfied smile playing at her lips. “I’m not asking to be pack-bonded or wear your mark. But know that my loyalty is yours when you need it.”

I nodded. “Then the Howling Echo welcomes you.”

“I don’t give my loyalty to your pack, Freya. I give it to you.”

“But, Brielle, you know that my mates are the Howling Echo, and I put them ahead of everything.”

Brielle nodded, glancing at Zak. “When you act in your best interest and Zak’s, that also helps other hybrids like myself. I trust you, Freya.”

Zak seemed impressed, though his expression clouded when he caught me watching him.

“Call on me whenever you need. And when you leave this valley… I will go with you. No matter where.”

I gasped. “You’d leave behind your cottage?”

Brielle gave a tight smile. “For the chance to be with those who accept me as I am? To be where I belong? Of course.”

Her gesture clearly pleased Gage, whose tension seemed to ease slightly at this unexpected alliance. Especially with what she offered next.

“I’ve been working on some protection amulets. At first, I thought to sell them. But now, I realize why I felt this urgency to make them — because you’re going to need them, aren’t you?”

Gage glanced at Rowan and said, “We just might.”

“Very well. I’ll bring them the next time I come. Or I’ll send them with Shante if she visits you first.”

“Thank you, Brielle. That’s very kind of you,” I said.

Shante’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she looked between us. She came over and gave me a big hug, and I noticed Zak approached Brielle for a private word. I tried not to eavesdrop, but couldn’t help noticing how animated he became discussing magical theory with her.

“I’m so proud of her for moving on,” Shante whispered to me. “She’s always been too stubborn.”

But I could barely focus on her words as I watched Zak talk to Brielle.

My stomach churned with doubt and guilt. Had I been neglecting Zak’s needs? I shouldn’t have listened to Gage. I should’ve advocated for Zak and demanded Gage bring him into the pack. The fear that he might prefer Brielle’s company over mine gnawed at me.

“Ready to go?” Shante called to Brielle, who nodded.

As the two friends departed our camp, I retreated to the forest’s edge, needing a moment alone with my thoughts. The morning’s events had stirred up insecurities I didn’t know I harbored .

I sensed Zak’s approach before I heard him. The Bonded connection hummed between us, allowing me to feel his presence like a gentle touch across my skin as he came to stand beside me.

“Your hybrid friend is fascinating.”

“She seems to have made quite an impression on you,” I replied, trying to keep my voice neutral and my mental curtains drawn.

Zak studied me for a moment, his expression softening. “Freya, are you jealous?”

Heat rushed to my face. “No, I—” The lie died on my lips when I saw his knowing smile. “Maybe a little.”

To my surprise, he seemed pleased by my admission. Taking my hand, he gently pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me.

“You don’t need to be,” he said softly. “Meeting another hybrid was… validating in a way I can’t really explain. But Brielle isn’t you.”

“She understands parts of you that I can’t,” I said, voicing my fear. “And she’s closer to your age.”

His eyebrows rose at that. “Is that what’s bothering you? That there might be a decade difference between us?”

“No,” I admitted. “Just that you’re… more experienced than I am, in every way. You and Brielle seem to have so much in common. I understand if you felt safer talking to her than to me.”

Zak chuckled. “I wasn’t sharing any deep, dark secrets with her, Freya. We mostly talked about you.”

“You did?”

“What you and I have is unique.” Zak tightened his arms around me.

“During your heat, you called to my very soul. I dreamed of you over and over again. You made me your Bonded over a distance, something that should be impossible. I crossed borders to find you. And… there’s something undeniable between us, Freya. ”

My breath caught at the intensity in his voice. Through our Bonded connection, I felt his sincerity — and something deeper, a devotion that made my doubts seem foolish.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been… distracted,” I said. “With everything that’s happened, I haven’t given you the attention you deserve.”

Zak shook his head. “You’ve given me exactly what I needed — time to find my place here, to understand how I fit with you and your mates, to learn to trust you all…

far more than I could ever trust my coven.

” His gaze drifted to where Gage and Rowan were discussing plans for the day.

“I know my position among them is… complicated.”

“It shouldn’t be.” I frowned. “You’re my mate, just like they are.”

“Am I?” he asked quietly. “We haven’t claimed each other, Freya. And that’s not just because Gage hasn’t given his approval.”

The admission stung, but it occurred to me that his matter-of-fact tone wasn’t criticizing me. It seemed directed at himself. “Then… what’s holding you back?”

He sighed, running a hand over his dark hair. “I don’t want to disrupt the balance you’ve found. Your alphas have accepted me as your magic instructor, and as your Bonded. But as your mate? That requires something more.”

Understanding dawned. “Your wolf. I haven’t wanted to pry, but…”

“Thank you.” His expression was pained. “I… I haven’t shifted in years, Freya. And if I want to be your mate… I need to be honest with you about it.”

“I’m listening,” I said gently.

His gaze dropped to the ground. “I allowed my coven to suppress my wolf. It was easier that way — to be just one thing instead of caught between two worlds that rejected me.”

My heart ached for him. “But now that you’re free of them… Don’t you want to shift?”

“Yes.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “But my wolf has been silent for so long. I’m not sure I even remember how to call him forward. I don’t know… that part of myself, anymore.”

I reached for his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

“We’ll be there with you when you’re ready to shift.

My other mates could help — their alpha commands might be able to break through the suppression if your wolf is stuck.

And I could work with Brielle to see if there’s a way to unravel whatever magic is holding your wolf back—”

Zak cut off my rambling with a kiss, soft and sweet.

My lips gently parted, and his tongue sought mine like he’d been desperate to gain entry but unwilling to ask.

I slid my hands around him, letting him feel through the bond how much I wanted him.

He might think that revealing his secret would make us pull away, but the truth was, it would make us closer.

I tried to convey all of that with our kiss…

and a little help from our Bonded connection.

When he pulled away, his eyes were warm with affection. “You’ll make a good mate, when you’re ready.”

“I can’t wait to feel your bite.” I smiled up at him. “And you’ll make a good packmate, when you’re ready to let your wolf run free.”

He stepped back and ran a hand down the back of his neck, uncertain again, though the Bonded link revealed nothing of his distress.

I hesitated, then asked, “Would you mind if I explained to the others why you haven’t shifted? I think they’d be more forgiving if they knew.”

He considered this, then nodded. “Yes. They should know. It’s just… it’s not something I’m proud of. I’m not sure they’ll accept me afterward.”

“Then I’ll make them understand so that they will,” I said softly. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”

“Always,” he replied.