AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My pack alpha nipped at my shoulder for my insolence, but I danced aside, still keeping pace with him as we scouted the woods behind the house.
“Okay, so when do you plan to let Freya in on the pack bond, then?”I challenged.
He scoffed.“Is this some crazy ploy to make Freya forgive you?”
“No.”Maybe.
“Right…”
“We’re about to go on another job, and we don’t know when her heat will start. She can’t be packless. It puts her at too great of a risk.”
“Heath…”
“She needs the mark of her pack to survive what’s coming.”
A mate mark would be better, but what would happen if Flint bit her now? Her heat might start… and Gage and I might never get the chance to find out if Flint was right — if her wolf really would choose more than one. Something told me we needed towait until her wolf showed up before anyone tried to claim her, or else she might be locked into just one mate after all.
To my surprise, another voice answered me via the pack bond. Flint had shifted, and though he wasn’t visible to us from this part of the woods, he was close enough to ‘hear’ our telepathic conversation, since we’d been broadcasting across the pack bond.
“I thought we agreed to keep this job simple for Freya’s safety.”
“We will,”Gage growled.“There’s no need for me to give her the pack mark yet.”
“But there’s no reason to put it off,”I pointed out.
“Look, we’ll just do the recon and get out before her heat, let her ride it out with whichever of us she chooses, and then proceed to the next part of the job,”Gage reasoned.
But now Flint switched sides.“Still, there’s no reason for you to withhold the pack bond from her.”
“Exactly,”I said triumphantly.
“Her heat may force her shift,”Gage insisted.“Then we can do the proper pack bonding ceremony, and we’ll have another shifter with us for the next part of the job.”
I growled at him. “After her heat, she might not be on the team anymore, Gage. Why would she stay after the deal when we’ve shown her no loyalty?”
A spike of anxiety pricked me through the bond, proving that my words affected Gage more than he wanted to admit.
He gruffly answered,“We’ll uphold our end of the agreement. What she chooses to do afterward is on her.”
“She wants to join our pack,”Flint told him.“She’s always wanted a pack to belong with. And since she’s going to choose us as her mates—”
“You don’t know that for sure,”I blurted.
“True, you have some groveling to do.”Flint’s amusement at my expense instantly made my hackles rise.
Some part of me needed Freya to be bound to our pack. I wanted assurance that she wouldn’t just disappear on us when the heat ended and she was free to seek out a new pack — a pack that treated her better. Though I doubted she would go back to the Moonblessed pack and bring Ironwood to their doorstep again, that didn’t mean she would choose us.
Or, she might choose Flint as her mate. If she did, I would respect her decision. Even though sensing their joy with each other through the pack bond would kill me, it would be worthwhile to ensure Freya’s continued safety.
And that’s when I realized I knew how to force Gage’s hand, win back Freya’s trust, and protect her, all at the same time.
“I can feel you thinking hard over there,”Gage grumbled.
“I can handle my turn at watch alone, you know.”I slammed my shoulder into his, pushing him back toward the house.“Both of you, get some sleep before we hit the road tomorrow.”
Neither of them answered me right away, but Gage did veer off and head for the house.“You’re right… but why do I feel like you have ulterior motives?”
“I’m not going to town!”I insisted, annoyed that he still thought I would stab Freya in the back like that when her heat was so close.
