Chapter 8 - Gage #2
Instead of individual voices responding, I felt a wave of unified acknowledgment wash through the link.
For a heartbeat, I experienced the battlefield from multiple perspectives, one after another.
Heath’s view of the empty chokepoint, Flint’s first glimpse of the enemy in the valley, Freya and Zak’s views of each other, even glimpses through Torsten’s ravens circling high overhead.
Rowan’s wonder blossomed as he sensed it, too.
The sensation was disorienting and exhilarating.
“This will take some getting used to,” Flint admitted.
If Torsten was right, it was Freya’s witch and Odinswolf powers combining to give us this sixth sense of exactly what the others were seeing and experiencing. If so, then that meant it was a skill she could refine… if only Torsten showed up in time to help her do so.
“Stay focused,” I warned the others, though part of me marveled at what was happening between us. “Use it, but don’t get lost in it.”
The main Denraider force appeared — flowing across the landscape like a dark tide, and I felt the collective tension spike as they all instantly saw it through my eyes. Another set of enemies converged on Flint’s position in the south.
“Freya and Zak, now,” I commanded through the link.
To the south, where the valley opened toward the wildlands, I sensed the moment the three figures emerged from concealment.
Through Flint’s eyes, the rest of us watched with baited breath.
Freya and Brielle moved with predatory grace in their wolf forms while Zak remained in human form between them — a deliberate target standing exposed and vulnerable, his hands lit with magic.
Our combined admiration for his bravery gushed through our bonds before I could tamp down on it. Now wasn’t the time.
Through the Bonded link, Freya’s magic flared to life. Lightning crackled along her white fur while Brielle’s magic shimmered like heat waves around their wolves.
The effect on the Denraider forces was immediate.
Howls of rage and bloodlust rose from their ranks as they spotted the witches — exactly the reaction we’d hoped for.
Their formation shifted, the majority of their force wheeling toward the magical threat instead of continuing their advance on our Frost Fang camp south of Moonblessed walls.
“It’s working,” Flint reported, unable to keep the satisfaction from his mental voice. “They’re taking the bait.”
Despite this small victory, my protective instincts screamed at me. Watching Freya deliberately draw enemy attention went against every alpha instinct I possessed. I barely held myself in check rather than charging south to shield her.
My wolf growled, desperate to protect her, and I answered in kind.
Trust our mate.
Through the link, I felt her growing confidence, her fierce joy in finally using her powers for something that mattered. Over the past several months, she had become a leader in her own right, now making tactical decisions that would affect the entire battle.
Through the enhanced connection, I watched Freya, Zak, and Brielle work together with seamless precision.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, and I wondered if their coven bond somehow worked like a pack bond.
They seemed to move as one mind, anticipating each other’s actions, covering weaknesses, amplifying strengths as the enemy came for them.
I didn’t stop to consider the implications of that, because I had my own battle to focus on.
Hugo and Idori held back their snarling packmates, all their wolves positioned in front of those of us still in human form.
When Denraider’s charge reached a few body lengths beyond an alpha wolf’s lunging distance, I gave the order to those in human form.
“Open fire!”
Gunshots rang out, followed by high-pitched yelps as Denraider wolves racing headlong into battle suddenly tumbled paws over snout and came to rest in heaps of fur.
More shots rang out as fast as our allies could shoot, and we made a dent in their numbers before they could reach the Moonblessed front line.
As my bullets tore through pelts, Heath’s satisfaction washed over me in the bond.
He and the Bloody Dawn held their positions, no enemies sighted near them in the eastern mountain pass yet.
But as he waited, he watched. And soon, they waved through the Ironwood convoy, urging them to go farther south.
Some of the Moonblessed shifters next to me lost control of their wolves, shifting and dropping their weapons as they lunged into battle. I held back, still hoping to pick off any wolves I could, watching for knots of enemies where I could snipe Denraider wolves without risk to our allies.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Moonblessed, Denraider forces surged toward Freya’s position like a breaking wave, and I could feel Flint struggling to hold himself back just like I had.
Through the enhanced Bonded link, Freya’s magic rose, pulling strength from each of us as she, Zak, and Brielle prepared a massive offensive.
As more Denraider wolves reached them, Brielle let her shields drop, and the three of them channeled all their power into one singular strike. With Freya’s hands up, I noticed the ring of fang marks decorating her hand… Zak’s mate mark.
All three witches fed into the spell that broke free from Freya’s lightning, blinding light arcing forward with the power she had gathered from the Bonded link.
Freezing in awe, I felt the tug even from this distance as raw power unleashed.
A crackling chain of lightning broke through Denraider ranks, striking three wolves, then arcing to two more, striking them down only to crackle back through their ranks to claim other lives. In moments, fifteen wolves lay motionless at the foot of the valley.
The lucky survivors whimpered, cowering back with their tails between their legs. But a massive Denraider alpha broke from the pack, tough and battle-hardened. He loped forward and howled, galvanizing his fearful allies, who renewed their attacks.
I could hear it as though I stood right alongside Flint, the newly enhanced Bonded link showing me everything from both wolf and human eyes.
Zak switched to wolf form to go on the offensive with Freya and Brielle, all of them wielding fangs and magic alike.
That they had learned to use some of their spells in both forms still amazed me.
Brielle took a vicious swipe from an enemy wolf, her coat darkening with blood. She stumbled, her foreleg collapsing beneath her.
The massive Denraider alpha who’d been advancing suddenly froze mid-stride, his yellow eyes locked on Freya’s wolf with shocking intensity. Through multiple viewpoints in our enhanced link, I could see his satisfied snarl.
“Come out here, girl,” he projected his alpha voice, the words carrying clearly to all of us because Flint, Zak, and Freya could all hear him.
Ignoring him, Freya shifted back to human form, her hands glowing with healing magic as she rushed to Brielle’s side.
The sight of my naked mate exposed on the battlefield in front of that alpha made every protective instinct I had scream, but I forced myself to trust her judgment as Zak tossed up a shield over them both.
“I’ve got her,” Zak assured us through our bonds.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” the alpha projected his voice. “You’re just like that bitch, Valkyrie. She never listens to authority, either.”
All of Freya’s mates snarled at his crude language, rage flooding through our bonds.
The alpha stalked closer to Zak’s shield, his massive head tilted with predatory interest as he stared through it at Freya. “You both have those freaky blue eyes in your wolf form. Your white hair, your lack of curves… And just like her stubborn ass, refusing to bow to alpha commands.”
“Freya…” Flint warned as the bastard approached our mate.
He was within lunging distance now, kept in check only by Zak’s shimmering shield. Every instinct demanded we rip his throat out. Heath and Flint’s bloodlust rose right alongside mine.
“Hold position,” I growled at my fellow alphas through the link, as much a reminder to myself as an order to the others.
“Protect Gage!” Hugo’s alpha command rang out, but I didn’t have time to feel chagrined that he’d noticed my lack of attention to the battle at hand, caught up as I was in what Freya now faced. I ignored my surroundings, focused completely on the alpha that threatened Freya and Zak.
My wolf didn’t just want me to rescue Freya. He felt protective over our beta hybrid, too.
Protect mates, he pleaded with me.
We’d only just brought Zak into the pack. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him just after Freya’s fresh claim on him, before I could sort out my own feelings toward the beta hybrid. Because I had no doubt that before that alpha could get to Freya, he’d have to go through Zak first.
In my mind’s eye, the alpha’s lips pulled back in a cruel grin. “You two must be related, because you’re the spitting image of that defiant little bitch we’ve got chained up back home. Is she your cousin? Your littermate, perhaps?”
Freya focused on healing Brielle’s wounds. But I felt her shock and growing fury through the bond as he spoke about her sister.
“Rowan and Torsten know where Valkyrie is,” Flint reminded Freya.
“I know,” Freya said privately to all of us. “And Brielle will be okay. I’m shifting back now.”
The moment Freya shifted back to wolf form, the alpha spoke directly to her.
“I’m Kevin,” the alpha announced with obvious satisfaction. “I want you to remember that name, pretty girl.”
Through the Bonded link, Rowan’s voice cut through our fury with ice-cold hatred. “Kevin? His littermate Keith is the wolf driving me to Lydell. Looks like being a complete asshole runs in the family.”
Unaware of Freya’s mental conversations, Kevin continued, “Because when we drag you back to Denraider, I’m going to be the one breaking you in while your long-lost whoever-she-is watches.”