Chapter 8 - Gage #3
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Freya replied, projecting her own voice now. “You’ll release Valkyrie, or you’ll pay my price.”
Kevin recoiled, not expecting to hear a non-alpha’s words in wolf form.
If he’d ever interacted with Valkyrie in wolf form, it would further confirm what he suspected about Valkyrie and Freya being related.
But before he could reply, Flint’s attention jolted, pulling our awareness to what he’d just caught sight of…
new figures spilling from the back of a pickup truck.
The temporary lull created by Freya and the Denraider alpha’s conversation shattered as Dryden stepped forward from his witch allies. His presence alone radiated the kind of dominance that had made him a force in supernatural politics for decades.
Shit.
“Ambush!” I roared, but the warning came too late.
Freya, Zak, and Brielle weren’t just facing Denraider’s probing attack anymore — they were caught between two coordinated forces.
Dryden’s witches had used the chaos to position themselves perfectly.
The air shimmered with illusion magic that had hidden their approach until they were close enough to strike.
“Where the hell did they come from?” Heath raged.
Dryden’s voice boomed across the field, enhanced by magical amplification. “If you surrender the hybrids, the rest of you can live!”
“No!” Flint howled.
The moment Frost Fang saw the witches, they snapped into action. Most of them had joined us to fight the coven just a couple days ago. They surged forward to seek their revenge without waiting for Flint’s orders, while the enemy witches raised a shield and started preparing spells.
Three-way chaos erupted. Denraider. Dryden and the Ashworth Coven. Our forces.
What had been a successful diversion became a combined assault on our most vulnerable position. Kevin and his wolves had cut them off. Freya, Zak, and Brielle were trapped in the clearing, separated from Flint and the rest of us by hostile forces on both sides.
“I thought they were waiting for the rest of their coven,” Zak ground out as he helped his fellow hybrids create a shield.
Heath moved to reposition with the Bloody Dawn, but they were too far out. They would need to follow Ironwood through the pass before they could reach the battle.
Through the enhanced awareness flowing through our bonds, I tracked the battlefield with perfect clarity from my packmates’ eyes. Every ally’s position. Injuries before they were reported.
And through it all, the Bonded link pulsed with something I’d never felt before. Not individual fears or separate determinations, but collective resolve binding us together.
“Fall back toward Flint,” I ordered Zak and Freya through the link. “He can cover you.”
“Their reinforcements haven’t arrived yet,” Torsten chimed in.
With the help of bloodthirsty Frost Fang wolves, Flint fought his way toward Freya, cutting through Denraider wolves with brutal efficiency. Relief spiked through me as he reached her side, positioning himself between the hybrids and immediate threats.
“Stay behind us,” Flint ordered Zak and Freya.
Frost Fang circled the hybrids, keeping them safe for the moment.
Now that they had them, I commanded through every pack bond and link I could access, “All forces, fall back to the walls!”
But the Frost Fang pack bond wavered with hesitation — a split second of uncertainty — fractured loyalty still plaguing us. It might just get them killed.
“Move!” I snarled, putting everything I had into the alpha command.
This time Frost Fang obeyed, but their delay cost them. My old packmates, wolves I’d sworn to protect, crumpled under a magical assault, and all I could do was watch.
On the north side of the city, the Moonblessed wolves with Hugo and Idori fell back with me to the gates, leaving behind a dozen Denraider wolves, most of them injured, all but two of their alphas dead.
Through the enhanced awareness flowing through our bonds, I tracked injuries mounting among our forces. Frost Fang wolves caught between Denraider claws and witch magic. Moonblessed wolves wounded fighting more dominant, violent Denraider wolves.
“Zak, I need healing priority on you three, then the Frost Fang wounded,” I directed. “Flint, cover the retreat.”
Their responses came not as words but as immediate understanding, while our forces pulled back toward Moonblessed’s protective walls, a fighting retreat that cost us ground but preserved lives. I rushed inside with Hugo, Idori, and the Moonblessed wolves.
“Maybe we can let Denraider fight the Ashworth Coven after all,” Zak snorted.
In wolf form, I raced through Moonblessed, anxious to get to the south side so I could fight alongside Freya, Zak, and Flint. While Moonblessed returned to their city, I passed our den in a flat-out sprint since the streets were still clear.
“I’m coming to join you,” I called out, not caring that I was the one breaking formation.
Through Flint’s eyes, I caught sight of the first Ironwood vehicles to break free of the southern pass, coming in at full speed.
They immediately opened fire, surprising both sets of enemies.
A witch fell as the spray of bullets tore through his neck and chest. Two Denraider wolves yelped in anguish as they collapsed.
Kevin howled a strange howl out across the battlefield, his voice carrying clearly. It wasn’t a howl of victory, more like a signal.
Now caught facing down both Ironwood and Dryden’s witches, Denraider forces began to withdraw.
“They’re pulling back?” Rowan’s voice carried confusion through the link. “That’s not… they don’t retreat. Ever.”
Through Torsten’s ravens, we watched the enemy formations reorganizing at a safe distance.
“Tactical regrouping!” Kevin announced with his alpha bark. “Seems there’s more than a few stray mages to hunt. We’ll be back with proper numbers to deal with a full coven.”
Then his gaze found Freya where she stood with Flint, Zak, and Brielle, now surrounded by Frost Fang wolves.
“I’ll convince Lydell to bring your sister-cousin-whatever next time, so she can see us defeat you,” he snarled. “She can watch you die before we finish her too.”
Freya’s confidence crumbled, self-doubt flooding through the bonds with devastating intensity.
Her mental voice dripped with anguish. “It was so stupid of me to confirm his suspicions! What if they hurt Valkyrie because of me?”
My heart ached for her, but what grabbed my attention was how her crisis of confidence affected more than just the Howling Echo.
The moment her confidence wavered, I felt the entire network of connections between us shudder like a spider web losing tension.
Not just the Bonded link — something larger, more encompassing.
Our allies’ resolve faltered alongside Freya’s in ways that had nothing to do with the tactical situation.
My first instinct was to comfort her, to shield her from the weight of responsibility.
But something held me back — the recognition that treating her like she still needed protection would only undermine the very growth that made her so powerful.
My paws struck the ground as I raced toward her, but in the meantime, I reached out through our mate bond with steady confidence.
“You made the right call, princess. We drew them away from Moonblessed, learned the truth behind their strategy, and kept our people alive. That’s what leaders do. And yes, sometimes we even make mistakes. But even that won’t stop us.”
Freya’s spine straightened, her confidence beginning to rebuild. And as it did, I felt not just our pack but our entire alliance grow stronger through some broader connection I couldn’t fully understand.
The wavering network of bonds solidified, becoming something more resilient than before. I wasn’t sure how I sensed it, but I knew. And though I needed to watch my path through Moonblessed, I couldn’t help trying to see through Zak, Flint, and Freya’s eyes.
That triangulated awareness made what happened next all-too clear.
Dryden’s voice boomed across the battlefield, enhanced by magical amplification and backed by the full force of his alpha authority.
“SURRENDER!”
The command washed over all the assembled wolves, his alpha bark magnified beyond what should have been possible. Through the bonds, I felt and saw shifters drop to their knees, wolves fall to the ground, their bodies betraying them as the compulsion took hold.
For a moment, my view shifted to Torsten and what his ravens saw… Denraider had already pulled back enough to avoid being affected by Dryden’s command, leaving only our wolves at his mercy.
Zak collapsed instantly, his beta nature offering no protection against the overwhelming alpha dominance. Beside him, Brielle’s wolf form also pressed low to the ground, her entire body language screaming submission.
To my shock, even Flint and the Frost Fang alphas around him bared their throats under Dryden’s magically enhanced alpha command. So, too, did the Ironwood reinforcements. Dryden had managed to drop them all.
A single alpha’s command should never have contained so much power. Not over wolves from different packs, especially not other alphas. Yet, the instant response from our allies made it clear this was so much stronger than an ordinary alpha bark.
They all remained down, magically forced into an unnatural, magical submission.
But it was Freya’s reaction that stopped my heart.
My mate — my fierce, powerful, unbreakable mate — seemed to crumple. Her white wolf form pressed to the earth, her head lowered in submission, every line of her body suggesting complete capitulation to Dryden’s command.
Was the coven magic reinforcing Dryden so powerful that it even overcame Freya’s resistance to alpha commands?
“No!” The word tore from my throat, startling the Moonblessed wolves around me.
Only then did I realize I didn’t run alone — Hugo and Idori raced alongside me.
“What happened?” Hugo projected his alpha voice.
“Denraider pulled back because Dryden and the Ashworth Coven showed up,” I explained, knowing we wouldn’t make it in time to help.
Not while Dryden had them all helpless at his feet.
“The witches somehow amplified Dryden’s alpha command, because he managed to drop everyone, even the Frost Fang and Ironwood alphas. Even Freya…”
With the others pinned by Dryden’s command, Heath and the Bloody Dawn raced to reach them, too far away to have been affected by Dryden’s order. They at least had a hope of reaching the enemy before I could.
Then I noticed something peculiar through the network of bonds that connected us: Freya still felt…
strong. The connection between us pulsed with steady power, not defeat.
Her presence in the Bonded link remained bright and fierce, contradicting what viewpoints from various eyes told me — Zak’s, Flint’s, the ravens, and now Heath’s.
He and the Bloody Dawn had only just reached a good vantage point, still too far away to reach the camp before Dryden might spirit away our mate.
The sight of her from Heath’s eyes, her body pressed low to the ground while Dryden approached with triumphant satisfaction made my vision tinge red with rage.
Not mine — Heath’s. His father was approaching our mate with the cocky smirk of a victor whose every plan has come to fruition.
Dryden’s laughter carried across the battlefield all the way to Heath at the walls. “Finally. The great Howling Echo, brought to heel by proper authority.”
He reached Freya’s prone form, his confidence absolute. Around him, his witch allies moved to stand watch over the other submitted wolves while their witchfire burned with lethal intent.