Chapter 10 - Torsten #4
Rowan rubbed along my side, then used his huge head to push me over. As soon as I was laying on my side, he moved around behind me, curling his massive alpha body around mine, his black fur enveloping my white coat.
“Are you seriously spooning me in wolf form?” I laughed, thankful we had the Bonded link to communicate even though we weren’t truly mate-bonded yet.
“Got a problem with it?” Rowan challenged.
“Of course not,” I said, laying my head down on one of his paws.
“The vision,” he said quietly, his voice brooking no argument. “What did you see?”
I told him about the three strangers and their hunt for vengeance, the certainty that Valkyrie’s rescue would come from an unexpected source.
“So she’ll get free,” he said finally, his voice rough with emotion. “But not the way we planned.”
“Not yet,” I agreed. “But soon. Before the month and the year end, just as you promised. The vision was clear about that — she will walk free.”
I shifted slightly, hyperaware of how his larger wolf form curved around mine.
“And these three men… you have no idea who they are?”
“Her mates,” I said with certainty. “And no one can stand between an Odinswolf and their star-blessed mates.”
He tensed behind me, but didn’t reply.
Garreth and Grayson both rode on their haunches, their heads up and alert for threats as we traveled to the second vehicle we’d left behind. When we reached the big SUV, Garreth and Grayson hopped out to drive it along behind us on the neutral highways.
“You’re holding back,” I observed as Gabriel navigated the winding mountain road.
Rowan’s voice was rueful, tinged with something that might have been regret. “I want you to meet Freya first. Once her wolf acknowledges you, accepts you as her mate—”
“You’re worried she won’t?”
“You bear the rune and the tattoo,” Rowan said. “I know she will.”
Then his hesitation didn’t make sense, but I would abide by his wishes.
“Then I can wait,” I said, though every instinct screamed at me to claim him here and now, to mark him as mine before anything else could go wrong.
The silence between us stretched, comfortable despite the weight of unspoken attraction. Though he remained touching me, there was a reservation in Rowan’s body that I couldn’t quite understand.
Our wolves knew each other as mates. I had to hope he would eventually warm up to me. As an Odinswolf, I’d always expected to have multiple mates. Perhaps he was still coming to terms with that idea.
The drive toward Moonblessed territory passed in a blur of highways, mountainous terrain, and valleys cut through by rivers.
“Tell me about before,” Rowan said suddenly, his mental voice curious through the Bonded link. “Before you started dreaming of Freya.”
“What was my life like?”
“Yes.”
I considered how much to share.
“Lonely,” I admitted. “I spent years searching for others like me. Other Odinswolves. I even traveled to Europe when I was in my teens, convinced I’d find answers there.”
“Europe?” Rowan’s interest sharpened. “That’s... not exactly next door.”
“My mother arranged it, knowing that the Snow Moon pack wouldn’t understand why I couldn’t shift.
She’d heard rumors of Odinswolf communities in Scandinavia, old bloodlines that might have preserved more of our heritage.
I spent two years there, studying with an old mentor who knew the ancient ways. ”
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Some of it.” The memory brought both satisfaction and sorrow. “I learned about our history, about why we’re resistant to alpha commands, about the sacred number seven. But the communities I’d hoped to find… They were gone. Hunted to extinction centuries ago.”
Rowan’s mental voice carried understanding. “So you came back.”
“My father died in Snow Moon. That’s what brought me back. My mentor died not long after. Aside from my mother, I was alone.”
“And your mother?”
“She died after we abandoned Snow Moon. I couldn’t shift yet, and rogue alphas killed her in the wildlands.”
Rowan nuzzled my neck for a brief moment and a surge of sorrow and protectiveness washed from him through the Bonded link. “When Denraider cast me out, my parents disowned me.”
“So, you understand what it’s like to be cast out and lose everyone you care about.”
“All too well,” Rowan answered. “I gave up on shifter society and fell in with a pack of real wolves. Then my wolf family were killed by witches who thought they were shifters. I thought I would be alone forever, at that point. The Howling Echo pack took me by surprise. My wolf instantly chose them, even before I was sure I could trust them.”
I wanted to say, Like how your wolf instantly chose me? But I knew he wasn’t ready to hear it.
Instead, I asked, “Tell me, if you didn’t want to join a pack, what did you dream of, all those years in the wildlands?”
Rowan was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn’t answer.
“Running. Being free to run without looking over my shoulder in the wildlands, without wondering what horrors the next sunrise would bring.” His voice grew rougher.
“And yes, I did dream of having a pack that chose me instead of casting me out.”
“And now?”
“I never dared to dream I would find a mate who would want me for me.” His admission was barely a whisper in my mind. “I’m not sure what to dream for now. What about you?” Rowan asked. “What do you hope for?”
I thought about it, letting myself imagine beyond just reaching Freya.
“I want to pass on what I learned in Europe about our heritage. Help Freya, and other Odinswolves if we ever find them. And…” I hesitated, then forged ahead.
“I want to be something more than just the strange wolf who doesn’t fit the hierarchy, but someone who contributes something valuable. I want to be useful.”
“You already are,” Rowan said with surprising firmness. “Your ravens, your knowledge, the way you fought… you’re not just useful, Torsten. You’re necessary.”
The way he said my full name, with such certainty and respect, perhaps even admiration, made heat pool in my belly. “Thank you for saying that.”
“Besides,” he added, and I could hear the smile in his mental voice, “someone needs to keep Freya from getting too full of herself now that she can strip wolves of their shifting ability.”
I laughed. “I have a feeling that’s going to be all of our jobs.”
Rowan’s contentment flowed through the link. “Good thing we like a challenge.”
The easy camaraderie between us felt natural. This was what I’d been searching for without knowing it — not just romantic love, but true companionship.
Rowan understood the weight of being different, of being cast out, of finding family in the most unexpected places.
Whatever happened when we reached the others, whatever complications awaited us, this moment felt like a promise. And I knew it was only the beginning.
Through the Bonded link, I felt the distant presence of the Howling Echo, their relief at our success mingling with anticipation of our arrival. Freya’s joy blazed brightest of all, her happiness at having her mates safe and on their way home.
“Almost there,” Rowan murmured to them.
“We’ll be here,” Flint promised.
After years of wandering, of searching, of believing I was the last of my kind — I was finally going home to Freya, my Odinswolf mate.
Together, we would see how long it took the rest of my mates to recognize a second Odinswolf as theirs.
The complex bonds between us all would soon strengthen our pack.
And I couldn’t wait to get to know them all.