Page 42 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

Freya

Zak sat up in bed, suddenly wide awake as he drew the blankets around his hips.

“My memories? How is that possible?”

“I guess it’s an Odinswolf thing.”

I pushed my hair back from my face with trembling fingers, then drew my knees up to my chest to rest my chin on them.

“I saw a man healing a little boy’s knee. Teaching him about magic. Telling him that one day he’d be able to shift and heal himself. The little boy in the dream was you,” I said with certainty.

Zak went completely still, his eyes darting back and forth as he searched my expression.

“Preston took me in after my parents were killed. He raised me, taught me about both sides of my nature.” His voice softened with memory. “He never made me feel ashamed of being a hybrid. He was the only one who didn’t.”

“In the dream, you sacrificed yourself for him. He got away. He survived.”

“At first, anyway,” Zak said, his expression clouding.

“Preston wanted me to leave with him, but the coven was hunting us. He’d made them swear not to kill me, so I stupidly felt invincible — that’s why I decided to be the diversion.

I never thought about all the other things they might do to me.

” He looked down at his hands. “I never saw him again.”

I reached out, taking one of his hands in mine, resting our wrists on a pillow.

“He wanted to come back for you.”

“I always hoped he would,” Zak admitted, his voice barely audible. “For years, I waited. But then I heard he’d been killed, and…”

He swallowed hard.

“Tell me about him,” I urged.

Zak’s expression softened with the memories.

“He was brilliant. One of the most powerful mages in the Ravenscroft Coven. But unlike the others, he thought magic should be shared, not hoarded. He taught me that most packs acted like our coven, and hybrids like me wouldn’t be welcome just anywhere.

He wanted to cross into shifter territory because he’d heard about a pack that wasn’t like the others.

A place that didn’t rely on typical pack hierarchy, called the Winter Wind pack. ”

“I was born in the Winter Wind pack,” I said, remembering what I’d learned about my history. “Did you know that?”

Zak stared at me in shock. “You were? What do you know about your family?”

“Not much,” I admitted, thinking of the scattered pieces I’d gathered recently.

“I had an older sister I’ve never met. My mother led the pack.

And my mother had three mates.” I watched his face carefully as I continued.

“Two wolf shifters… and one powerful mage who left his coven to be with her. His name was Preston.”

The color drained from Zak’s face.

“Preston,” he whispered, and I knew with absolute certainty that we were talking about the same man. “Preston was your father?”

“My aunt, his sister, Pandora, told me so.”

Zak’s eyes widened. “Preston spoke of her often. He regretted that she left Ravenscroft to join a different coven, though they still talked.” He studied my face with new intensity. “The shape of your face… You do look like him. ”

I touched my face reflexively, wondering what else I might have inherited from this man I’d never known.

“What can you tell me about him? I don’t remember him at all.”

“Your father was very, very powerful. So powerful he was next in line to become coven master of Ravenscroft.” Zak’s words tumbled out faster now.

“But the old coven master wanted Preston to prove his loyalty and stabilize the coven by becoming Bonded with the two other most powerful witches — political enemies Preston despised. So he disappeared.”

“To the Winter Wind,” I murmured.

“Yes. They were furious he’d run to lands where pack law kept him safe from the coven.

To a special pack that might even accept a mage.

Your mother must have been an Odinswolf, holding power without forcing it on others.

That alone would have attracted Preston to her.

” His expression grew thoughtful. “Preston raised me from age four to eight. After I created the distraction that let him escape, I never saw him again. You said you’re twenty-five now? ”

I nodded.

Zak’s mouth drew down in a frown. “Then he met your mother after he left me behind. He found love and started a new family while I was still trapped in Ravenscroft.”

The pain in his voice made my chest ache. “He wanted to come back for you. I saw it in the dream — he promised he would.”

“But he couldn’t,” Zak said quietly. “The coven kept me under watch at all times after that. Any rescue attempt would have put both of us in danger. And by then he probably had your mother to protect too. When we heard he’d taken three wolves as his Bonded, it stirred up more controversy.

Some said he’d betrayed our kind by bonding with wolf shifters.

Not long after that, we heard that the Winter Wind was no more. ”

A chill ran down my spine. “Denraider slaughtered the Winter Wind because they hate witches and mages.”

“Some said Preston deserved to die,” Zak finished grimly. “That he’d brought it on himself by mixing with wolves.”

“You’re sure he didn’t make it?” I asked, though I already suspected the answer .

After all, Ingrid had painted a very grim picture.

Zak’s expression fell. “He’s gone, Freya, I’m sorry. We’re certain because his power returned to my coven.”

I frowned, my mind racing. “He never broke ties with the coven when he left?”

“They kept the connection open, hoping he would ‘come to his senses’.” Zak’s mouth twisted bitterly. “So technically, your mother and her other two mates were all connected to the coven through him.”

“And as his Bonded, they would have had a right to join Ravenscroft,” I realized, a horrible suspicion forming.

“Exactly. The talks in Ravenscroft were finally getting serious about severing his link when Denraider attacked the Winter Wind pack.” Zak’s eyes narrowed. “They solved the problem, since Preston and his Bonded were dead.”

“Coincidence?” I asked, though the answer seemed obvious. It wouldn’t be the first time witches had interfered in wolf business.

“Probably not,” Zak agreed grimly.

“Wait. Denraider hates witches. They would never willingly work with a coven.”

“No, but all my coven needed to do was make sure Denraider knew about Preston living with your mother’s pack. Denraider’s hatred of magic would handle the rest.”

“So the coven got what they wanted — my father dead and his link to the coven severed — without having to dirty their own hands.” My stomach heaved.

“And Denraider got to conquer more territory and destroy another pack that dared to welcome magic users,” Zak finished. “Everyone wins except the innocent people caught in the middle.”

We fell silent, both lost in thought. I felt the weight of this new knowledge settling over me — the father I’d never known had been connected to Zak all along.

He protected him as a child, sheltering the young hybrid from the cruelties of the coven.

It explained so much: the immediate bond I’d felt with Zak, the way my magic had reached for his during my heat.

But doubt crept in alongside wonder .

“Strange to think he might have raised us together as siblings if you’d managed to escape,” I asked quietly.

Zak quirked an eyebrow. “Step siblings, at most. Preston never once called me his son.”

“Still weird.”

Zak hesitated. “You feel like home. Maybe that’s why your wolf dreamwalked to me during your heat. Maybe some part of you remembers the feel of Preston’s magic and reached out to find me.”

“And my mage side Bonded you because of that connection,” I continued the thought.

“Does it really matter how we found each other?” Zak finally asked. “Your dreams brought us together, and this is where I want to be. With you, together.”

I considered this, thinking of my other mates.

Did it matter that Flint and I had found each other through chance?

Had it mattered that Gage had initially hated me?

Or that Heath had resisted his feelings for me because his flame still burned for Gage?

That Rowan had tried to deny our bond because he hated witches?

What mattered was what we’d built together since.

Though my connection with Zak was still new, I couldn’t ignore how my heart quickened whenever he was near.

It wasn’t just our shared connection to Preston that drew me to Zak.

It was his gentle patience when teaching me, his quiet strength in the face of rejection, his willingness to be vulnerable about his past. I admired how he’d survived being outcast from both worlds yet remained kind, how he’d faced his trauma without becoming bitter.

And yes, there was the undeniable attraction — how wide his smile stretched when he was truly happy, the way his silver piercings caught the light, the electric feeling of his magic brushing against mine.

Preston might be a connection between us, but what I felt for Zak now was entirely my own. He would become my mate, and he could help me build something new together that honored my parents’ vision but was uniquely ours.

Just before I pulled back the curtain to let Zak feel what I was feeling, he spoke up .

“I’ve spent my life feeling like I don’t belong anywhere,” Zak said slowly. “Too witch for the wolves, too wolf for the witches. Then I found you, and for the first time, I felt like maybe there was a place for me.”

He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts.

“I know you don’t remember our dreams from before we met as well as I do, but… in one of the first ones, you were laughing.”

Because of my heat, my memories of those early dreams were mostly fragments. I vaguely recalled seeing how shifter magic worked while I was feral, but most of the rest of my heat was a blur. Except the pain in Willow’s scream as my witchfire burned her. That I remembered all too well.