Page 60 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

Zak

The moment I felt my wolf surge forward, I knew something was different this time.

For decades, I’d kept him buried deep inside me, silenced by fear and the Ravenscroft Coven’s cruel magic.

Now, facing these witches who threatened Freya, who had already harmed Heath, my wolf refused to be suppressed any longer.

He refused to show restraint, refused to let my human side maintain control for even one more second.

My body burned with the need to shift as primal rage flooded through me. The pain was exquisite, bones cracking and reforming, muscles tearing and rebuilding. I embraced it, welcomed it as penance for denying this part of myself for so long.

I’d only shifted a few times alongside the Howling Echo — and every time either with Freya’s help or alpha encouragement. This time was different.

Confident in himself, my wolf tore from my body, not with fear or anxiety this time, but pure savagery.

The transformation completed swiftly, leaving me crouching on four paws, my gray fur bristling as I bared my fangs.

Beside me, Freya’s white wolf snarled, ready to spring, her eyes gleaming with fierce approval.

Through our Bonded link, I felt her human pride wash over me.

But through our pack bond, her wild wolf called to mine, inviting me to the hunt.

Then the witches attacked. Their magic crackled through the air, reminding me that my own was depleted from the earlier fight. It didn’t matter, though because my wolf was fresh and hungry for blood. My human side fell to the back seat as my wolf took charge to defend his mate.

“Let’s show them they have everything to fear from hybrids like us,” Freya growled, still mostly in control of her wolf.

With my mate’s encouragement, my wolf lunged at the nearest witch.

My jaws clamped around her arm before she could complete her spell.

She screamed, the half-formed magic burning my muzzle.

Freya moved like lightning beside me, her white fur sizzling as another witch came too close while she dealt with another.

I could no more control my wolf than I could stop a blizzard, and he instinctively snapped and dodged and bit anything he could get his fangs on.

So with my remaining shreds of humanity, I took stock of what my wolf ignored.

Through our Bonded link, I caught fragments of what was happening elsewhere.

Heath’s desperate worry pulsed through the connection, along with his frustration at his own weakness.

As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Freya took advantage of a pause in the fight to reassure me.

“Heath is safe,” Freya informed me as we circled back to face Aliza. “The Bloody Dawn got him and Fern and the rest out of the jail, but the witches are still pursuing them.”

I growled in acknowledgment, my focus narrowing on Aliza. She stood her ground, and the yellow stone she clutched blurred with magic as she drew more sigils in the air. Two more witches flanked her, their faces tight with concentration.

“We need to destroy that stone,” Freya said, her mental voice urgent. “And find the rest.”

My wolf didn’t care about stones. He launched off his powerful haunches, flying through the air to bodily take down a male witch aiming his spell at Freya. The world flooded with red as my wolf’s fangs found his soft throat.

While his blood partially blinded me, a wave of magical force slammed into us. I skidded backward, claws digging into the path to keep my balance. Freya wasn’t so lucky — witchfire caught her mid-leap, sending her yelping as she tumbled across the ground.

Rage exploded from both sides of me at the sight of my mate sprawled on the dirt. With a snarl that startled even me, I charged the witches.

They weren’t prepared for my ferocity. The first witch fell beneath my weight, her scream cut short as my teeth found her throat. The second managed to cast a shield, but Freya’s quick blast of magic shattered it, and my momentum carried me through it, knocking her to the ground.

Aliza alone stood firm, her magic pulsing with dark power as she faced me.

“Come here, little beta,” she taunted, raising the yellow stone. “Let me tame you.”

My feral wolf charged directly at her with no forethought. Witchfire met me midair, knocking me back and making me keen with agony. By the time I shook off the pain and rose shakily to my paws, I watched my amazing mate lope toward Aliza.

The unnatural lightning in her coat arced toward the magistra, making her cry out and stumble back.

Despite her moment of weakness, Aliza showed why she deserved her title, casting a slowing spell on Freya.

My mate pushed forward like a fly trapped in honey, her lightning crackling angrily in her fur as though seeking a target.

Watching Freya struggle against the slowing spell, lightning crackling impotently in her fur, snapped me back to myself with startling clarity. My wolf’s feral rage had been useful for the initial attack, but this required more than animal instinct.

I needed to be smart. Strategic. The mage who’d learned to survive in a hostile coven, not just the wolf who’d been caged for too long.

My human consciousness surged back into control, and suddenly I could see the battlefield clearly — every witch’s position, every magical trap, every opportunity. This was what Freya needed from me: not just tooth and claw, but the tactical mind that could outthink our enemies.

Though I doubted the spell they were using to block wolf shifting would work on Freya’s Odinswolf, I didn’t want to test that theory. While Aliza was distracted by Freya, I circled around behind her.

My eyes fell on the yellow stone in Aliza’s hand, and I lunged forward before she noticed my presence, grabbing her forearm in my jaws.

Aliza screamed as I crushed her delicate bones and twisted, yanking her off balance.

The yellow stone went flying, and Aliza let out a growl that would have made any shifter proud.

With her free hand, she enveloped me in witchfire, blinding me as my wolf yelped and let go.

She screamed in fury, unleashing a blast of magic that sent us both flying backward.

By the time I regained my paws, she was fleeing, casting protective spells behind her.

Freya rushed toward the spot we’d last seen the stone.

“It’s gone,” Freya grumbled.

Our wolves were still riding us hard, aware that the hunt was far from over. I might not be feral anymore, but my wolf hungered for more.

“Are you both okay?” Gage’s powerful voice broke through the haze of battle.

“Alive and ready to kick more witch butt,” Freya growled, clearly annoyed Aliza had gotten away.

“Watch out,” I called to Freya, mentally pointing out a magical trap Aliza had left behind. Triggering it would render us momentarily blind. “Should we go around?”

“No,” she decided. “Let’s go make sure the Bloody Dawn got Heath to safety.”

Heath’s vulnerability and shame poured through the bond at her words.

“They got us free,” he admitted. “But we’re certainly not safe. Witches are after us.”

“We’re coming, Heath,” she promised. “Since they’re a separate pack, the Bloody Dawn can’t hear us through the pack bond,” Freya privately reminded me as we ran through the trees. “And Heath is too weak to fight. ”

I pushed myself harder, my wolf reveling in the sensation of running at full speed after so many years confined. The forest blurred around us as we raced toward the edge of Frost Fang territory, following Heath’s presence through our Bonded link.

We burst into a small clearing just in time to see the Bloody Dawn wolves forming a protective semicircle around Heath, Fern, and a few other fallen wolves. Heath stood in the center, his pale face washed out with exhaustion.

Several witches advanced on them, hands raised as they prepared to cast their spells. Heath was trying to alpha command Fern to stay back, but without his wolf, he had no alpha-bark.

His relief flooded through our bond when he saw us. “They’re trying to take back our stones!”

The witches turned at our arrival, their expressions shifting from confidence to uncertainty. Heath’s did as well.

“Please tell me that’s not your blood,” he said to us both across the Bonded link.

“All theirs,” Freya said.

“And more to come,” I promised.

Through the Bonded link, Gage, Rowan, and Flint fed our battle fury with their own, as we all faced down our witch adversaries.

“There’s so many more of them here than Dryden led me to believe,” Heath said ruefully.

“More witches for us to kill,” Rowan growled, his bloodlust rising.

As each of us added our excitement to the bond, our collective bloodlust grew stronger. My wolf wanted to tear out the throats of every witch in sight. The witches that had been prepared to attack tried to fall back to avoid getting caught between two groups of wolves.

“Now!” Freya projected her voice like an alpha, and the Bloody Dawn leaped into battle with us.

My wolf launched into the fray, teeth bared and claws at the ready. Freya was right beside me, her white coat now stained with dirt and blood, lightning still crackling through her fur.

Wolves and witches alike gave her a wide berth, but when one witch’s magic knocked Freya close to another, her lightning reached out as if it had a mind of its own. It pulsed around the unlucky witch, making his body convulse so hard his neck snapped, and he fell to the forest floor, dead.

The battle was chaotic and vicious. The witches fought desperately, but they weren’t prepared for the ferocity of our wolves.

Each time their witchfire burned one of us, another growl tore from the throats of those nearby.

Each time they struck one of us down, another set of jaws snapped their bones.