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“You’re confused, Luka. You see, you kidnapped a Howling Echo wolf. And now nothing can save you. This is the end for you.”
I smiled as fear filled his eyes, just before he managed to replace it with his usual bravado. He backed off, going to the door.
“The Howling Echo isn’t here to save you,” he said, his voice unsteady.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “BecauseIam here, and I am Howling Echo.”
Luka knocked on the inside of the door. “Keep her here until I call for her,” Luka told the guards.
My wolf snarled and growled inside of me, thirsty for Luka’s blood. I may have been the prisoner here, but I’d never felt stronger standing up to an Ironwood pack bully. Even though he was the pack alpha.
“It’s too late,” I warned him. “You never should have brought me here.”
“I’ll give you the chance to change your mind,” Luka called as he stepped across the threshold.
“I won’t,” I swore. “I’ll never belong to you. I belong with the Howling Echo. And I can’t wait to make you bleed.”
Chapter 38
Gage
I woke up with a start to find sun streaming in directly onto my face. I rolled over with a groan, realizing I hadn’t moved once the entire night. My arm tingled and I stretched.
The moment my pack bonds and the mate bond crashed into me, I realized how out of it I must’ve been. Flint was still asleep, but Heath was up and about. So was Freya… and she felt… off.
I supposed that was to be expected, considering everything she was dealing with. Heath, Flint, and I had plenty of time to come to terms with our new situation with Frost Fang while she was unconscious. She still had that to contend with, along with the new mate bond.
I got dressed, filled with a new resolve to see this through. I’d given Freya her space, and I’d done some thinking of my own. Now we needed to try to move forward… together.
Maybe if I told her she could have Flint and Heath bite her, too, that would reassure her? But Heath was right, we didn’t know if it would even work… And I remembered how upset she’d been about her privacy. If someone else did form a second mate bond with her, she would have evenlessprivacy. It would give more men a window into her inner turmoil, but do nothing to lessen it.
Guilt filled me, and I knew it was time to apologize. To her, for doing this without her consent. To them, for creating an imbalance between us.
As I headed for our den, I wondered if this was what it meant to be pussy whipped. My younger self never would’ve entertained the idea of sharing his mate with anyone. But I couldn’t deny how natural it felt. And with my new responsibilities as pack alpha of a much larger pack… it actually calmed me to know that Freya was with the others.
I jerked to a halt when I realized shewasn’twith the others just now. I sensed the distance growing between us. And as pack alpha of a pack that actually had packlands… I sensed it when she left. Had she decided to run and leave us behind?
Mate. Danger!My wolf warned inside my mind.
Panic filled me as I raced toward the den. The only thing that reassured me was that she didn’t feel angry or upset. She felt… curious? And definitely wary. So what had my wolf sensed that I hadn’t?
Sensation tickled along the back of my mind, making me feel like Freya was looking for me through the mate bond… Which shouldn’t be possible, since it was one-sided.
I burst through the den’s front door just as echoes of pain lanced through the mate bond. Doubling over in shock and shared pain, I must have made some sound, because Flint appeared at my side. My vision cleared — I hadn’t even realized it had grown dark at the edges until then.
My wolf went absolutely insane inside me, demanding I go after her immediately. We should howl and call the pack on a hunt with us, he insisted.
My spine stretched to give me a tail, and I fought for control like never before. It took all my effort not to shift. Because right now, I knew I needed my human side. My wolf’s instincts alonewouldn’t be enough to rescue Freya from whoever had done this to her.
“What happened, Gage?” Flint put a hand on my shoulder, steadying me as I straightened.
“Freya’s in danger,” I rasped, the aftereffects of pain still lingering.
I tugged on my pack bond to Heath, calling him to me.
“Can you sense where she is?” Flint let out a growl of frustration. “She told me to go back to sleep. I thought she was just getting up to go pee or get some breakfast or something.”
“You didn’t hear her leave?” I asked.
