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“How long was I out?”
“Fifteen days.” He ran a hand down from my shoulder to my wrist, leaving goosebumps in its wake.
My eyes met his in the mirror, and I raised my chin in defiance. He was the pack alpha of two packs. His word was law on his packlands, within his influence. Now that he’d just marked me as his mate, everyone would know I was his. His and his alone. Without a reciprocating mark from me — a mark I couldn’t give him without my wolf — the bond between us only went one way.
I belonged to Gage, my new mate, the pack alpha, but according to pack law, he didn’t belong to me.
He’d effectively made me his property, his to do with as he pleased. This was worse than the deal we’d once struck. Gage owned me completely now.
Chapter 30
Freya
“Freya, you’re safe,” Gage said, his hands toward me as if to calm down a wild animal. “You’re safe with me. You’re safe here in the Frost Fang pack. We’re okay. And we’ll never have to struggle to survive again. I can take care of you, if you’ll let me.”
“Who are you trying to convince?” I growled. “Me or yourself?”
Weak and angry and sad and hungry, my emotions surged.
Why did alphas always think they could just take what they wanted without asking? He’d taken advantage of the situation, where he had me vulnerable, to satisfy an impulse without even considering my consent.
What if this meant that Flint could never mark and claim me how Gage had? Would the future I’d been imagining with Flint ever come to pass?
I whirled, my arm flying, ready to lash out at him. But he was ready for me, his hands up. He caught my fist before I even realized I’d thrown a punch.
Despair knotted in my stomach. Of course he knew what I was going to do. He’d claimed me, and that meant he could sense all my emotions — maybe even my thoughts.
“Fuck, can you read my mind?” My voice came out so high-pitched and panicky, I barely recognized it.
“Of course not. Calm down, Freya.” Gage so rarely said my name that it really gave me pause.
I’d accepted the pack bond, which would allow him to sense my strongest emotions, especially if I was in danger. But this was different. This was how alpha males kept control of their female mates, by using an unequal mate bond to spy on them constantly.
After Wilder had realized I would never shift, he’d taken a different mate in Ironwood, and I’d given up hope of ever having a mate of my own. But then Flint had given me space to dream, and he’d promised me an equal mating where we both bit each other at the same time. Gage hadn’t waited for my wolf to emerge — had he wanted our mating to be one-sided all along?
“You think that because I’m a half-breed, I don’t know what the mate mark does?”
“Of course I don’t think that—”
“You took away my choice,” I growled.
“Freya,” the alpha’s stern voice warned. “If you know about mate marks, then you know the mate bond can’t be forced.”
My eyes widened. “You think I wanted you to claim me with an unequal mating bite?”
Gage frowned, and I caught a flash of hurt in his eyes before he put up his guard again. His expression shifted into the blank mask he only let down around his pack — hisrealpack, the Howling Echo.
But I steeled myself against remorse. He’d never asked me. Without even hesitating, he’d taken away my ability to choose my mate.
“The deal is over,” I growled. “You don’t own my body anymore. I’m not your property to do with as you please!”
Gage turned away, his voice low and steady. “As my mate, you have the protection of Frost Fang, because they’ll consider us the Alpha Pair. We can rule together.” Then he glared at me,his words becoming more passionate. “I shared my power with you. Why would you be mad about that?”
“I don’t want your power!” I yelled.
How could he even think that’s what this was about?
My outburst freaked out part of me, reminding me not to talk back to an alpha like this. But the rest of me couldn’t care less, furious that he’d done this without asking.
