Page 53 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

The casual cruelty in his voice made my stomach turn.

This was my father — the man who had raised me, taught me about pack politics, gained my respect for his strategic mind.

And now he sacrificed innocent wolves for his own gain.

My wolf paced inside me, barely restrained as I struggled for control over both sides of myself.

While some witches conversed with my father, I quickly relayed what else I’d seen through the Bonded link, even though my plan was falling apart by the second. The others stayed quiet, merely receiving what I sent, trying to distract me as little as possible.

Until I admitted, “I’ve been made.”

“Get out of there,” Gage demanded. “We’ll be there soon.”

“I’m coming,” Rowan promised.

“No, stay safe,” I told him. “Help the others when they get here.”

I lunged toward the door, but it was too late. Two witches blocked my path, including Mabel. Both women wore identical severe expressions, but weren’t quite twins.

“Now, now,” a new voice interrupted.

From behind them emerged a witch with silver-streaked black hair, and the other two witches stepped back, their postures instantly deferential.

Even my father gave her a nod of respect. “Magistra Aliza.”

She stank of magic. Cold calculation filled her eyes as she joined us near the throne. “There’s no need for violence.”

The pendant beneath my shirt suddenly warmed against my chest, pulsing with protective energy. Invisible magical pressure I hadn’t even noticed pressing down on me lifted slightly.

I pushed past Mabel, making a break for the door, but Tork tackled me from behind, sending us both crashing to the floor. We rolled, grappling for dominance, but I could feel my strength being sapped by something — magic pressing down on me like a weight.

“Don’t fight, Heath,” Tork hissed in my ear as he pinned me. “You’ll only make it worse.”

“My son needs to be secured until we decide what to do with him.”

Dryden’s voice was dispassionate, as if he were discussing the weather rather than imprisoning his own progeny.

The witches approached, and Mabel’s sister produced silver cuffs etched with glowing symbols.

I desperately reached for the Bonded link, feeling their distant presence like a lifeline.

“My father and Tork betrayed me to the witches. They’re—”

The moment the cuffs clicked around my wrists, burning pain shot through my arms, and my alpha strength fled entirely.

My mind went strangely silent in a way I’d never imagined before.

It had been years since I’d been packless, and I’d gotten used to an awareness of the pack in my mind — and more recently, my mate.

“What—”

“Magic-dampening restraints,” Mabel explained with a thin smile. “They even work on wolf shifters. Your mate will feel your distress, but she won’t know why or where you are.”

I snarled, my wolf rising to the surface despite the burning pain from the cuffs. “If you think you can keep me from shifting out of these—”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Tork said. “It hurts like a bitch. Besides, if you’re a good boy, maybe they’ll play nice and let you keep your wolf.”

The witches yanked me up, their grips unnaturally strong.

“We haven’t gotten to practice on many alphas.” Magistra Aliza’s eyes trailed down my body, making me feel like a bug under a microscope .

As they dragged me toward the door, I locked eyes with Tork, who at least had the decency to look uncomfortable.

“You’re a fool,” I told him. “They’ll experiment on you soon enough.”

A flicker of uncertainty crossed his face, but he quickly masked it.

The witches yanked me through the doorway before Tork could respond. They marched me through the main pack house and outside into the night. The few Frost Fang wolves that remained around averted their eyes rather than witness my humiliation. The witches didn’t slow their pace.

“Don’t come for me,” I called loudly, unable to reach Rowan through the Bonded link. “Stay back.”

I’d gotten myself into this mess, and he didn’t need to end up the same way. If I could tell him to wait for backup without giving it away, I would.

Misunderstanding who I was talking to, Mabel chuckled. “You think these broken shifters would try to help you after you abandoned them?”

I struggled harder, but the magic-dampening cuffs sapped my alpha strength along with my connection to Freya and the rest. By the time we reached the jail, I was breathing hard from the effort, my wrists raw and bleeding where the silver had burned my skin.

Inside, the scent of fear and pain hit me like a physical blow.

The witches dragged me past cells filled with suffering Frost Fang shifters.

Most lay curled in on themselves in human form, some whimpering, others eerily silent, only the shallow rise and fall of their chests proving they still survived.

And in front of each cell, a stone pulsed with its sickly symbols.

All except for one.

Fern sat with her back against the wall of her cell, her face gaunt and her eyes closed.

They stopped at an empty cell beside hers.

The other witch unlocked the door while Mabel maintained her magical grip on me.

I tried to twist, to fight back, but I was as weak as a kitten.

Once the door was open, they easily shoved me inside, the force of their combined magic sending me sprawling to the floor .

“Enjoy your stay,” Mabel said with a smirk as she locked the door behind me. “We’ll be back with your special stone soon. Be a good dog until then.”

“You think stealing our wolves will break us?” I growled, raising my voice to give hope to the shifters around me, despite my imprisonment alongside them. “You can try to break us wolf shifters, but we have something you’ll never understand. We have our packs.”

Her smile was cold. “We’re advancing the future. And your half-breed mate possesses unique magic that could benefit our research significantly. You’ll stay here until she comes to find you.”

The casual way she spoke of experimenting on Freya made my wolf howl with rage. I slammed against the bars, snarling until they disappeared outside.

With my head pounding and my wrists burning, I took stock. The scent of fear and pain hung heavy in the air, and the emptiness where my Bonded link should be felt like a missing limb.

“Didn’t expect to see you back so soon,” a familiar voice said from the next cell.

I turned to see Fern watching me through the bars separating our cells, her face gaunt and her eyes hollow with exhaustion.

“Not exactly how I planned my return,” I admitted, wincing as I shifted position.

“Those cuffs block magical connections,” she explained, clearly noticing how I suddenly cradled my head in my hands. “They’ve cut you off from your mates completely. And trying to shift will hurt a lot.” She raised her hands, showing off her own shackles. “Ask me how I know.”

I tried to reach Freya again, only to encounter the same blank void. The isolation was worse than physical pain.

“How many have they experimented on?” I asked, looking around at the other occupied cells.

Fern’s expression darkened. “Dozens that I know of. They started with the weaker subordinate wolves, the ones less likely to resist. They’ve recently started experimenting on betas.” Her eyes raked over me, then guiltily away. “So far, they haven’t had an alpha to play with. ”

In the cell across from us, a wolf whimpered, his body convulsing as his trapped wolf fought against magical barriers. A dull stone sat just outside his reach, pulsing with sickly light in rhythm with his heartbeat.

“Each one has their own stone,” Fern continued grimly. “It’s why they haven’t cursed the entire pack at once — it takes time to prepare each one individually.”

“And you? Have they tried to curse you yet?”

Fern shook her head. “Just starved me and put these silver cuffs on me. They know I’m the de facto leader here, so they’re keeping me as leverage. As long as I’m alive and unharmed, the pack holds out hope that Dryden will follow through on his promises…” She trailed off.

“They blindly trusted him too much.”

“Your father said the witches could protect us from rogue alphas and from packs like Denraider. He used his alpha charisma on us, and too many believed him. They felt desperate enough to listen after….” She trailed off.

“After what?”

“Everyone started noticing how strange the pack bond felt without any alphas,” she forced the words out, refusing to look my way.

“And Tork?”

“Showed his belly the moment they arrived, and told them everything about Moonblessed.” Her voice turned vicious. “I thought he cared for me. But he switched sides with the blink of an eye. He’s been free this whole time, following them around like an obedient pup.”

I mentally reached for the others again, only to encounter blank void.

Fern’s voice cracked. “I was so wrong, Heath. About everything. Without alphas, we were defenseless. Dryden used his alpha commands to force compliance while the witches worked their magic.”

The jail door opened with a creak. The silver-haired witch entered with her companions.

“Heathcliff,” Magistra Aliza said. “Your father speaks highly of your… potential. ”

I met her gaze without flinching. In the cell beside me, Fern whimpered.

“My potential to what? Become another one of your lab rats?”

She smirked. “He seems to think that once you’ve been tamed, you’ll be worthy of becoming Coven Master Trella’s Bonded. He’s wrong, of course, but our coven leader will decide in due time.”

“Too late,” I smiled grimly. “I’m already someone else’s Bonded.”

Her lips curved in a thin smile. “Such spirit. It’s a shame you chose to waste it on a half-breed abomination.

” She approached my cell, the stone glowing brighter.

“This has been attuned specifically to you. It will sever all your unnatural connections completely and free you from the burden of your bestial nature.”

She stroked a yellowish stone that pulsed with malevolent energy.

“To speed up the process, we adapted this from your father’s signature, and Mabel added the finishing touches after meeting you. This has been attuned to you, Heathcliff, and I can’t wait to see how it works on an alpha.”

Aliza nodded to the other witches, who raised their hands in unison. The same invisible force from earlier slammed into me, pinning me against the back wall of the cell. I struggled against it, but the silver cuffs had weakened me too much to resist effectively.

A warmth against my chest reminded me of the pendant again. For a moment, the magical energies around me seemed to ease slightly, just enough.

I desperately latched onto the Bonded link. “Trap!” I yelled, hoping they could hear me along the Bonded link. “Likely after Moonblessed next. Don’t bring the hybrids here!”

I tried one final, desperate reach through our bonds. For just an instant, I felt them — Freya’s anguish, Gage’s fury, Flint’s helplessness, Rowan’s frustration, Zak’s determination — before cold magic descended on my mind like a blade.

Aliza unlocked the cell door and stepped inside, the stone held before her like a weapon.

“Impressive,” the lead witch mused, studying me as magical force kept me pinned. “That pendant bought you a few seconds. But you’ll be easier to control after this. ”

The pendant’s warmth flickered as Mabel’s sister yanked it from my neck, the clasp snapping.

As Aliza raised a sickly stone, I thought of my mates racing toward me through the night. Whatever happened next, I’d given them the warning they needed.

The rest was up to them.

She came closer, bringing the sickly looking stone closer to my face. Cold magic invaded my mind as though I’d fallen through a crack in a glacier and been instantly submerged in ice water.

“This won’t hurt… much.”

I tried to shake my head, but the invisible force clamped even tighter, holding my skull in place. Something moved in the back of mind, where I normally felt my Bonded link to the others.

One thought burned bright: they were coming for me. My mates, my true family, my pack. Even if I never shifted again, they would avenge my wolf.

And when they arrived, these witches would learn exactly why no one should cage a member of the Howling Echo pack.

Aliza pressed the stone against my forehead, and my wolf’s internal howl cut short.

Everything went dark.