Page 66 of Bound to Exiles (Rejected Wolf Pack #5)

Heath

I stared into Gage’s eyes, daring him to force me to submit, my blood still humming with adrenaline from the battle and the restoration of my wolf. The cabin’s rustic walls seemed to close in around us, the air thick with tension and unspoken desires.

My challenge ignited something primal between us. Despite feeling raw and vulnerable after having my wolf ripped away, I wasn’t about to back down. Not from this. Not from him.

Freya’s worry for me shifted to understanding and then acceptance in the bond. As Gage pushed me toward one bedroom, I felt Freya’s desire ignite in the bond. She couldn’t wait to see what would happen.

Gage’s eyes flashed gold in the dim light of the cabin. Through the bookshelf opening, I caught a glimpse of movement as Freya settled onto the other bed with Flint, Rowan, and Zak. I felt her curiosity and excitement pulse through our newly restored bond.

“They deserve some time to themselves,” Freya said, her voice carrying through the open space.

Rowan’s low chuckle followed. “But you’ll feel everything through the bonds. They’re going to drive you crazy.”

He would know. Rowan had once confessed to me what Freya’s first heat had been like for him.

How he’d been alone, trapped by her lust pouring through the bond, this woman he’d never met but craved anyway.

How he’d tried over and over again to sate himself with only his hand, only to be hard and horny again only a few minutes later.

Now, he’d experienced her heat for himself, and he finally understood why he’d been driven to desperation over and over again.

If we didn’t find her sixth mate by the time her next heat arrived, she still wouldn’t be completely satisfied.

The thought of her endless need for us filled me with even more lust, and Gage’s nostrils flared as he caught the scent.

“Then I guess you’ll have to help me take the edge off,” Freya said.

Her flirty tone caught Gage’s attention. I sensed the war in him as he glanced from her to me. He didn’t want to choose.

With a pause, he growled, “We’ll be watching from the other side.”

Sooner or later he would realize he didn’t have to choose, just as Freya had. Just as I had.

But for now… it was another way I could push his buttons.

“Hell yeah we will,” I purred. “Gage will be watching from his back while I show him how much he’s always wanted my cock in his ass.”

Freya laughed as Gage’s cock twitched, showing he wasn’t entirely against that idea.

With a mischievous tone that sent heat down my spine, she said, “I can’t wait to watch through the peephole while you two alphas dominate each other.”

Her words seemed to crumble the last of Gage’s resistance, and he pushed me toward the bed again.

I took one step back, then crossed my arms. Raising an eyebrow, I didn’t bother to say anything.

The way I was staring into his eyes would be enough to make him want to put me in my place as his second.

Gage stalked around to the side, circling me like prey. “You submitted to Zak,” he said, his tone accusatory. “But you’re going to fight me about who’s on top?”

I snorted, turning and letting my hands fall, preparing for whatever he might do next. Matching his movements, I kept the distance between us .

“That wasn’t submission. I did that for Freya, for Zak, for you — to show everyone he was ready to join the pack. It had a purpose.”

“Must have been such a hardship,” Gage teased, a predatory grin spreading across his face.

I couldn’t help but match it. “Terrible sacrifice.”

And then we were moving. I lunged first, surprising him with my speed.

My fingers caught the fabric of his shirt, tearing it as we collided.

The scent of his skin hit me — masculine and musky and pure alpha — making my wolf howl inside my mind.

After the hollowness of the stone’s magic, feeling my wolf’s presence was intoxicating.

Gage countered, spinning me around and shoving me against the wall. His breath was hot against my neck. “You’re still weak from the stone,” he whispered. “I could tear your pants off and take you right now.”

My fury at the helplessness I’d experienced returned.

“Fuck you,” I growled, pushing back hard enough to make him stumble. “I’m not broken.”

I wasn’t holding back now.

We grappled, tearing at each other’s clothes, my hands finding the hard planes of his chest as I ripped his shirt completely off. His muscles rippled under my touch, and I felt a surge of desire that wasn’t entirely my own — Freya was watching, feeling everything through our bond.

“You think you can take me?” Gage challenged, his hands gripping my straining biceps hard enough to bruise.

“I know I can,” I shot back.

He wasn’t going easy on me, thrilling me with his strength, at the chance to feel his powerful muscles under my hands the way I’d always wanted to.

He was challenging my abused alpha, bringing out the fight I hadn’t been able to give during the battle with the witches.

In that moment, I fell a little more in love with him for knowing exactly what I needed.

In the bond, his emotions were a swirl of determination, desire, and dominance.

As I let my own desire roar alive in the bond, our lips crashed together, tongues tangling in a dominance battle of their own.

He pushed me toward the wall again, but when I sensed his weight shifting, I pushed him toward the bed instead.

Taking advantage of him being off-balance, I swept his foot out from under him, but he grabbed me around the waist as he fell.

We crashed onto the bed, a tangle of limbs and half-torn clothes. I managed to flip us, pinning him beneath me for a brief, triumphant moment. His sky-blue eyes darkened with desire, and I felt his arousal press against my thigh.

“This what you want?” I taunted, grinding down against him. “To submit to me?”

His response was swift and brutal. He bucked upward, throwing me off balance.

I fell to the side and scrambled to reach the edge of the bed, unwilling to let him end up on top of me.

In a flash, his strong body covered mine, and he had me face-down on the mattress, his weight pressing me into the sheets.

“You’re mine now,” he growled in my ear, his voice sending shivers down my spine.

I struggled beneath him, not willing to give in so easily. My wolf was howling, not in distress but in excitement. This was what we both needed — to test each other, to push boundaries, to finally acknowledge what had been simmering between us for years.

Through the bond, I felt flashes of the others — Freya’s mounting arousal, Flint’s amusement, Rowan’s intensity, Zak’s curiosity. But those sensations faded to background noise as Gage’s teeth scraped against my shoulder, not quite biting down. My wolf and I froze.

Mate bite, my wolf panted, hoping Gage would mark me as I’d always dreamed of, ever since he gave me his first pack bond and brought me into the Howling Echo as his second.

“You’ve wanted this for how long?” he demanded, his hand sliding down my back, fingers digging into my hip.

I bucked against him, managing to turn enough to meet his gaze.

“Longer than you know,” I admitted.

My honesty took him by surprise. His eyes widened slightly, and in that moment of distraction, I surged upward, knocking him back. We rolled across the bed, grappling for dominance, neither willing to yield. My hands found his wrists, pinning them above his head as I straddled him.

“Look at you,” I panted, taking in the sight of him beneath me, his dirty blond hair mussed, his chest heaving, his eyes wild with desire. “The mighty pack alpha at my mercy.”

He snarled, straining against my grip. “You think this is over?”

I leaned down, close enough to feel his breath on my lips. “I think it’s just beginning.”

With a powerful twist of his body, Gage broke my hold and flipped our positions once more. This time, his hand found my hair, gripping tight at the roots as he forced my head back, exposing my throat to him.

The pressure of Gage’s grip in my hair sent waves of conflicting sensations through my body. Pain mingled with pleasure, and resistance battled surrender. I could have fought harder, could have broken free, but something in me didn’t want to. Not anymore. My wolf wanted to submit.

He leaned in and sniffed, his nose trailing along my pulse point, making my whole body shiver with need.

“That’s hot,” I heard Flint whisper from the other room.

“It’s… intense,” Zak agreed, his voice strained.

I turned my head just enough to catch a glimpse through the bookshelf opening. Freya sat on Flint’s lap, her head thrown back as Rowan’s mouth worked between their thighs. Zak stood closer to the opening in the bookshelf, stroking his pierced cock for all of us to watch.

The sight sent another surge of heat through me, and I felt Gage’s grip tighten in response.

“Look at me,” he snarled, and I obeyed, meeting those fierce blue eyes.

The moment stretched between us, charged with years of unspoken desire. I let my body go pliant beneath him, a surrender that wasn’t defeat but a different kind of victory.

My eyes slid down to his lips, submitting to him as the more dominant alpha.

“That’s better,” Gage murmured, satisfaction evident in his voice .

Having him looming over me, powerful and commanding, awakened something I’d buried for too long.

At long last, the man I’d wanted for years had me right where he wanted me, and where I wanted him.

The vulnerability of this position strangely made me relax, like I could finally stop fighting because Gage was here to take charge at last.

“You like this,” Gage said, not a question but a statement of fact. “Being beneath me.”

I swallowed hard, not denying it. “I do.”

“Then take off your pants and show me that ass,” Gage growled, and my dick strained so hard against my pants, I thought I might come and embarrass myself then and there.