Page 45 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

Zak

I lifted my muzzle and howled — a sound of joy, of freedom, of rebirth. And together, four other wolves howled with me. The sound echoed against the nearby mountains, bouncing back to me like nature itself welcomed me home.

“Zak,” Freya’s voice touched my mind through the Bonded link, filled with wonder. “ You’re magnificent.”

Seeing her through my wolf’s eyes for the first time made me admire her all the more. Her white coat seemed to radiate power. My wolf instantly recognized her.

My mate. My savior.

I moved toward her on unfamiliar legs, still remembering how to coordinate four limbs instead of two. When I reached her, I rubbed my muzzle along her neck as she did the same.

“Thank you,” I tried to project through our Bonded connection, wondering if it was different in this form.

“Welcome back.”

She buried her nose in the thick fur around my neck as if she couldn’t get enough of my scent. I closed my eyes, savoring the touch, the moment, the feeling of being truly myself for the first time in so long .

Mage and wolf, together at last.

Preston had been right all along. I didn’t have to choose. I could be both. I was both.

And now, finally, I was free.

A quiet chuff from nearby caught my attention. My wolf’s ears swiveled toward the noise, my body tensing instinctively as I caught sight of three massive alpha wolves, much larger than Freya or me.

Gage, Heath, and Flint. My packmates. No — not quite yet. But soon.

With dark gray fur only a shade lighter than mine on his head and upper back, Gage stood the tallest. His heavy winter coat turned white along his sides and legs, and he had a white muzzle.

The second-most dominant wolf had a uniformly silver-white coat with gray dusting throughout — Heath was the lightest in coloring, aside from Freya.

And the dark brown wolf I remembered best from my shared dreams with Freya regarded me with curious eyes beneath a forehead decorated with a crescent moon’s C shape — Flint. The moonmarked wolf’s brown coat faded into light gray on his forelegs.

But Freya was the most striking of all, the only one with light blue eyes in her wolf form. The glowing white of her coat seemed to have a light blue undertone. In my dreams, lightning had sparked along her fur, but not today.

My wolf had recognized the four of them instinctively.

Mates, he rumbled.

“You just needed a little push, like Freya said,” Heath teased, darting in to nip at my shoulder.

My wolf perked up, my body tensing, ready to lunge and play. But the pack alpha approached, calming me as his golden eyes assessed me. I lowered my head and bared my neck, my wolf instinctively acknowledging his dominance.

“It’s about time,” Gage said, circling me once. There was no anger in his mental voice, only approval.

“The coven’s suppression magic was powerful,” Freya explained. “I couldn’t have broken it without your help.”

“We were happy to,” Heath’s voice held a hint of awe as he stared at our powerful mate, the hybrid who had braided their magic together to free me.

Flint moved closer, sniffing at my flank. “So you really are a beta.”

“I said so, didn’t I?” I growled.

“That’s going to make things… interesting, for Rowan,” Heath said.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. “What do you mean?”

Freya slid alongside me, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with me in a manner that reassured my wolf immensely.

“Rowan doesn’t trust himself around those he might accidentally command with his alpha-bark,” Heath explained.

I had a feeling there was a story there, but Freya argued, “He wouldn’t hurt Zak.”

Thinking back, I remembered a subtle hesitation anytime Rowan addressed me, as if he were choosing his words carefully around me.

Flint’s fangs daintily closed on the shoulder strap of the sling bag he’d dropped, then he approached me.

As an alpha wolf, he was taller than me, and he easily draped it over my neck.

The gift warmed my heart, making me feel accepted and cared for.

I noticed that Freya and Flint’s bags were similarly decorated, while Gage’s and Heath’s were more spartan.

“Thank you,” I told Flint. “I’ve never had a sling bag of my own before.”

“Never?” Heath asked, aghast.

“I rarely shifted in the coven.”

Heath circled behind me, then playfully nipped at my tail. “Well? Are you going to run with us?”

The invitation sent a thrill through me. Running with a pack — I’d never experienced that. The few times I’d shifted in secret, I’d always been alone.

“Let’s see if he can keep up,” Gage challenged.

“I might be smaller, but maybe that means I’m faster,” I said to the alphas.

Heath’s wolf grinned, tongue lolling. “Let’s find out.”

He took off toward the deeper forest, and without thinking, I launched after him. My legs felt awkward at first, my coordination off after so many years without practice. Freya and Flint kept pace with me on either side, and to my surprise, the pack alpha brought up the rear.

I was clumsy at times, still relearning how to move in this form, but no one seemed to mind. Muscle memory kicked in quickly, and soon I was weaving through the forest behind Heath, my paws barely touching the ground.

Freya’s white form flashed beside me, with the moonmarked wolf on my other side. The forest opened up before us, a playground of scents and sounds that my human form could never fully appreciate. I caught the trail of a rabbit and veered toward it instinctively, my wolf’s hunting instincts surging.

“This way!” Freya called, steering me back toward a wider path.

As we followed her, the most delicious scent wafted toward me, and three simultaneous growls met my ears.

“He’s finally triggered her next heat,” Heath said.

“Her… next heat?” I asked in shock.

“If it works like her last two heats, it’s a full moon away,” Flint explained. “We’ll need to find a safe place to spend five days with Freya.”

Gage gave his assent through the bond. “We have time. The twenty-eight-day countdown starts today. Rowan was right.”

“About what?” I asked.

“We all wondered why you hadn’t triggered my heat to start,” Freya answered over the bond, falling back into formation, surrounded by her mates.

“We all had our guesses as to why,” Gage said, and I recalled him suggesting it might be because I wasn’t an alpha, while Heath wondered if it was because I was a hybrid.

“So Rowan knew…” I mused.

Freya smiled through the bond. “He’s the most in touch with his wolf out of all of us. It makes sense he would assume it was because I hadn’t met your wolf yet. But it looks like he was right.”

She snaked along my side, her fur rubbing along mine in a way that made me want to bite her neck.

Claim, my wolf insisted.

Can’t rush it, I told him.

To distract him, I put on some speed and rushed up ahead, clearing my head of Freya’s intoxicating scent. The alphas quickly caught up to me.

We burst from the tree line onto a grassy slope that led down to a small stream. For a moment, I simply stood at the crest, drinking in the view with my enhanced senses as Freya caught up to stand beside me.

A chorus of howls rose from the direction of the camp, and soon more wolves appeared — some I recognized, others I didn’t.

My wolf had no problem identifying the ones I’d already met.

The small gray female was the woman I’d healed after she’d injured herself unpacking supplies.

Sara, I remembered. Freya greeted a small, light brown wolf — Brooke.

Gage acknowledged Bretton, a large, tan wolf with a white chest, nearly as large as the alpha wolves.

I averted my eyes to him, acknowledging him as a more dominant beta than me.

“Look who decided to join us at last,” Gage announced to the newcomers, nodding toward me.

I felt their curious gazes, their silent assessments.

Some seemed wary, others merely interested.

And now I understood why the Howling Echo hadn’t been able to fully trust me until they saw my wolf.

Being able to sense the other wolves’ intentions felt so primal and obvious in this form.

With the slightest shifting of weight or widening of eyes, I could sense whether they perceived me as a threat — and some did.

“No, he can’t hear you yet,” Gage answered someone. “Not until I bring him into the pack bond.”

A large gray wolf approached with his hackles slightly raised, and I recognized him as the wolf Gage had defeated without even shifting.

“This is the witch?” Varden asked, using the alpha ability to project his voice so I could hear him even without the pack bond.

“This is Zak,” Gage corrected, stepping between us. “Freya’s mate and our soon-to-be packmate.”

Varden’s head peeked around Gage to sniff at me cautiously, then he backed away with a respectful dip of his head to Gage.

“As you say, alpha,” he conceded.

More wolves joined us — an alpha named Dean, three subordinates named Bea, Ivar, West, and others whose names blurred together in my excitement. With each new arrival, the energy built until finally Gage threw back his head and howled.

The pack answered, their voices blending into a harmony that vibrated through my bones. I added my voice to the chorus, feeling the power of it resonate within my chest.

“Let’s run,” Gage commanded, and as one, we moved.

I’d never experienced anything like it — more than twenty wolves running in formation, furry bodies moving in a coordinated dance. Even though I couldn’t yet communicate with most of them telepathically, our wolves naturally fell into step together.

My initial awkwardness faded as I found my rhythm, letting my wolf take over. We leaped the stream together, climbed the opposite bank, and raced across an open meadow. Thanks to the scents the alphas had left along our temporary camp border, I knew the moment we crossed into the wildlands.