Chapter 1 - Flint #2
Heath’s voice faded as he paced away, then grew clearer again. “These states are under pack law. He came onto our packlands as an outsider. He’ll get what the pack alphas of these lands deem fit. Which is execution.”
I exchanged a look with Zak over Freya’s head. “Did we miss anything?”
Zak’s smile held a hint of mischief. “Just some of us doing the actual work while you two hid away.”
“Jealous?” I asked, though I could already sense the answer.
“Of course,” he said without hesitation. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to share?”
Despite the tension in the hallway, I found myself smiling. It would be fun to see where things went with Zak. Especially once Rowan returned.
“What kind of ‘actual work’?” Freya asked, wisely staying on topic.
“I overheard Gage talking to Astrid again this morning,” Zak said. “Midnight Path is still planning to join the alliance as soon as they help that family get to Canada to escape pack law.”
Relief flickered through me. “That’s good news. We’ll need their fighters.”
“Any word from Ironwood yet?” Freya asked.
Zak shook his head. “As far as I know, not yet.”
Heath’s voice rose again from the hallway, cutting through our quiet conversation. “I don’t care that he is in Congress. They know how pack law works, too.”
A pause, then his footsteps resumed their agitated pattern. “Well, this isn’t Washington D.C.”
The frustration in his voice was palpable, bleeding through the walls and into our bond. Whatever his sisters were saying, they clearly didn’t understand the reality of what we were facing.
“Sounds like his call is ending,” Zak observed as Heath’s pacing slowed.
We emerged from the bedroom just as Heath lowered his phone, running a hand through his dark hair in obvious frustration. Gage stood nearby, his expression grim.
“Want to go for a run?” Gage asked Heath. “Burn off some of that frustration?”
He shook his head, then caught sight of us.
His jaw was tight, his eyes bright with anger as he caught us up, “My sisters are worried about the political repercussions if we kill Dryden. They didn’t see what he did — how he allied with the Ashworth Coven, let them torture me, helped them steal wolves and break shifters.”
“Political repercussions,” Gage repeated, his voice flat with disdain.
He let out a bitter laugh. “Apparently, being a sitting Congressman gives him some kind of immunity from pack law.”
The raw pain in Heath’s voice cut through me.
This wasn’t just about justice — it was personal.
Dryden had betrayed his own son and allowed those witches to sever Heath from the wolf that made him whole.
He had his wolf back, but we could all still see the changes in him, the haunted look in his eyes at times.
“Human politics can’t hold us back from enforcing pack law, can they?” Freya wondered.
“Not us.” Gage stepped forward, his alpha presence filling the hallway.
When he placed his hand on Heath’s shoulder, the gesture carried the weight of absolute authority.
“Heath,” Gage said, his voice filled with alpha certainty. “Dryden will get what’s coming to him. If I have to, I’ll kill him myself.”
Heath’s expression transformed as anger and frustration gave way to something deeper. Relief. Gratitude. The bone-deep trust that came from knowing your pack alpha would go to war for you, politics be damned. And something deeper still.
Heath’s throat bobbed as he swallowed down his emotions.
“When’s the last time Harlow or Hazel saw Dryden?” I asked Heath.
“He married them off for political alliances ages ago. He attended the weddings, of course. After that…” He shrugged.
“Then of course your sisters don’t understand,” Gage continued, his hand still steady on Heath’s shoulder. “They can’t fully understand how he betrayed you, or what he did to Frost Fang. How he turned his back on wolf shifters. But we know. And that’s what matters.”
Heath nodded, some of the tension leaving his frame. “Thank you.”
“Torsten’s ravens are keeping an eye on him,” Freya reminded us all. “When I talked to him last night, he told me Dryden’s not far from Frost Fang packlands.”
Zak paced beside us. “The longer we wait, the more time they have to regroup. To plan their next move.”
“And to hurt more shifters,” Freya added.
We’d all seen firsthand what Dryden and his witch allies were capable of.
Heath nodded, fury in his eyes flaring like a struck match. “Then we need to move. Now. While the coven is scattered and before their reinforcements can arrive from Colorado.”
“We shouldn’t fight on two fronts if we can help it,” I pointed out. “Eliminate one threat completely before facing the next.”
“Agreed,” Gage said, his voice taking on that edge that made him a natural leader. “All the more reason to strike fast and decisively. We’ve been reactive too long. Now that our people are healed, it’s time to take the fight to the witches.”
“Frost Fang will want to join us,” I pointed out.
Gage nodded, the decision crystallizing in his expression. “Let’s get back to the camp. We bring in anyone who wants to join the offensive, look at the maps, and figure out how and where to strike.” He looked at each of us in turn. “No more waiting. No more playing defense. We end this.”
The shift in the air was palpable — from defensive uncertainty to offensive determination. Through the bond, the others responded to Gage’s alpha authority, their agreement and hunger for justice burning right alongside his.
Twenty minutes later, Pack Alpha Idori joined us as we walked out Moonblessed’s gates, leaving the safety of the walled city for our more exposed camp in the valley beyond.
Our breath misted as we made our way down the worn path toward the cluster of tents and vehicles that had become our temporary home.
The camp was already stirring, with Frost Fang refugees emerging from their shelters. But there was something different in the air today, a tension that hadn’t been there yesterday.
Whatever it was, whatever came next, the longest night was ending. This turning point between darkness and light would test everything we’d built together.
Knowing we were coming, someone had already spread maps across the tables inside the biggest tent in the camp.
Gage’s commanding presence drew alphas like iron filings to a magnet, and we all crowded in.
Artemis and her grandfather Hank of the Bloody Dawn pack, along with Dean of the Frost Fang pack, gathered around a large table with us.
Bretton, the top ranked Frost Fang beta, arrived moments later.
Heath traced his finger through some mountain passes. As I took my place beside him, our shoulders touched. The bonds between us thrummed with shared purpose and the easy affection of packmates who’d been through hell together.
“We need to put scouts along these three valleys,” Heath said, his voice carrying the strategic certainty that made him such an effective enforcer. “If Denraider pushes past the northern border, these are the natural routes they’ll take.”
I studied the map, feeling the weight of responsibility for all the wolves who had chosen to follow us into exile. The refugees, the fighters, the families who’d put their faith in our ability to protect them.
“And Torsten is somewhere here?” I asked, pointing to a region near the Snow Moon packlands up in Canada.
Freya nodded. “Last night he confirmed it, yes.”
Gage frowned. “With Denraider blocking routes across the border, reaching him physically won’t be easy.”
Heath pulled Freya to his side and kissed the top of her head. “We’ll find a way to him. But first, we need to secure our position here so we aren’t fighting on multiple fronts.”
Bretton cleared his throat, glancing between Gage and Heath. “What if we pulled back… Let Denraider solve our witch problem for us. They hate magic, after all.”
Idori’s sharp intake of breath was enough of an answer in my opinion, but Gage raised a hand.
“Because Denraider would run roughshod over Moonblessed, turning it into a battleground.”
“We won’t abandon you or let your packlands become collateral damage,” Freya reassured Idori.
Their words visibly reassured Idori, and even Zak took a steadying breath.
Before Bretton could respond, a disturbance outside the war tent cut through our planning. My littermate’s voice rose above the general murmur, sharp with frustration. I stepped outside to find Fern facing off with Varden, their postures tense, though thankfully neither had shifted.
My littermate had undermined Gage’s authority in Frost Fang, leading a beta council that had nearly torn the pack apart. All because she couldn’t accept that some alphas were different from the tyrants who’d broken her spirit before we returned to the pack.
“What makes you think you can tell us what to do?” Fern was saying to Varden. “Frost Fang doesn’t need alphas like you throwing your weight around.”
“Frost Fang clearly needed our protection,” Varden growled back. “We all saw what happened when you were left in charge.”
Fern’s eyes flashed, her mouth falling open to retort.
I stepped between them before the argument could escalate further. “Enough. This isn’t helping anyone.”
Varden backed down immediately, recognizing my alpha authority, but Fern’s eyes locked onto mine with that stubborn defiance I knew so well. The same look she’d given me when we were pups and I’d tried to use my alpha powers on her. She was a strong beta, not one to submit easily.
“Fern,” I said quietly without a drop of alpha command in my voice. “Walk with me.”
For a moment, I thought she might refuse. But after a tense pause, she fell into step as I led her toward the edge of camp where we could speak privately.
We walked in silence for several minutes, the morning dew beading up on our moccasins. Despite all our time apart, despite everything that had happened, I could still read my sister’s moods as easily as tracking prints in fresh snow. Things weren’t easy between us.