Chapter 17 - Gage
Gage
The moment that Tor and Freya claimed each other and Zak bit me, the entire world went white.
While Freya and Tor’s mate bond bolted through our connections, Zak’s bond to me locked tight around my ribs. Every new connection slammed into place simultaneously, and the pack reshaped itself yet again, as it had done so many times since Freya’s arrival in our lives.
Freya opened the Bonded link wide, pouring her joy, pleasure, and ecstasy into all of us, giving us a taste.
My wolf rumbled, as satisfied as if he were the one buried inside her.
The stretch of Tor’s thick cock, the fullness, the perfect pleasure of his bite on her and Zak’s on me had my hips jerking up into Heath’s mouth.
My release spilled down his throat as my body bowed up, overwhelmed by it all.
“Mine,” Tor growled as he licked Freya’s ear clean, and the possessive satisfaction in his voice sent an unexpected shiver down my spine.
Tor had waited years for his mate. Then he’d found her, but he could only have her in his dreams. After being blocked and delayed by Denraider for weeks, the massive Odinswolf had traveled across dangerous territory to reach us, had risked everything to find his mates.
None of us could have stood between them any longer. And now, finally, he kneeled over her, his claim forever marked on her flesh.
“Yours,” she agreed, tending to his shoulder with equal devotion. “Always yours.”
Zak likewise moved to clean his bite on my bicep, his tongue gentle against the fresh wound. Our mutual mate bond settled into place like it was always meant to be there.
“At last,” he whispered against my skin, and through our new connection, I felt his overwhelming gratitude, his relief at finally being completely accepted.
Heath collapsed beside me, both of us breathing hard as we recovered from the intensity.
I had never imagined having another mate, especially not a male one, but my relationship with Heath had been a long time coming.
It had taken me years to see what had been right in front of my face all along.
But this thing with Zak… it felt shocking for the sudden intensity of my feelings toward him.
It was as though being with Heath had opened up the dam inside me, allowing me to feel everything more fully and strongly than I’d ever allowed myself before.
Through my bonds with Heath and Zak, I could also feel the mutual mate bond between the two of them. It was a sensation I’d grown familiar with — I’d felt it every time one of the others had claimed Freya. But feeling it for Heath and Zak didn’t fill me with the jealousy I expected.
Zak deserved to feel cherished, and Heath deserved all the love he’d been denied for so many years.
When Freya and Tor pulled apart, Freya’s voice was full of wonder.
“Look how the bonds glow, Tor.” Through all our bonds, I could feel not just Freya’s connections to all of us, but the growing web of bonds between the rest of us as well.
Her new Odinswolf mate was still buried deep inside her, his ice-blue eyes soft with wonder as he gazed down at her. Something about the sight — his careful strength, his obvious reverence for what he’d been given — made my wolf stir with interest.
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Beautiful.”
My alpha instincts demanded I check on both of them after such intensity. “How do you feel?” I asked, focusing first on Freya despite the unexpected urge to check on Tor as well.
“Fantastic,” she answered immediately, her voice dreamy with satisfaction.
I turned to him next. “And you, Tor?”
As he caught his breath, he seemed to test every new sensation in his body and our bonds before he spoke. His confident deliberation was unexpectedly appealing.
“Amazing,” he answered honestly, meeting my gaze directly. “My wolf is ecstatic after searching for his mates for so long.”
I appreciated the simple honesty in his words, the way he didn’t try to downplay his emotions or put on a show of alpha bravado. He felt no need to prove himself through posturing, and I found his quiet strength pulling at my wolf’s attention.
Freya cupped his face with infinite tenderness, her eyes soft with silent understanding. The love flowing between them was profound, but more than that — I could feel how her presence anchored him, how his steadied her in return.
Watching them together, feeling how their new bond settled over the entire pack, I realized something that should have unsettled me but didn’t: Tor wasn’t just Freya’s mate anymore.
He was becoming something to all of us.
And my wolf was more than ready to explore what that might mean.
I padded out to the bathroom, wetting some washcloths and then ringing them out.
As I did so, I flexed my right arm, studying the fresh bite mark on my bicep.
With Heath as my witness, I’d once bitten my own left wrist to start the Howling Echo.
Now a mate’s mark sat above my elbow on the other arm, impossible to ignore anytime I wore short sleeves.
On Heath, Zak’s secret claim marked a spot the rest of the world would never see, but we would all get to enjoy again and again.
I had no doubt our new marks and these bonds would last a lifetime.
I brought the damp washcloths back to the bedroom and passed them to the other alphas. Rowan tenderly cleaned up Freya. To my surprise, Flint took the cloth I’d given him and used it on Tor. And Heath and I attended to Zak.
Around the room, the magic we’d worked on each other still showed. Heath’s second ansuz rune glowed faintly on his cheekbone, a mirror to my own new mark. Zak’s face now carried two runes on each side.
I claimed space on the bed beside Heath, watching as his eyes drifted closed, clearly content to bask for a minute. Everyone did the same until Zak interrupted the peace by bringing his palm down in a sharp smack right over his mark on Heath’s ass.
Heath jerked and groaned into the pillows. “Fuck, Zak.” His voice came out half-protest, half-moan. “Now I understand why you chose that spot.”
Zak’s grin was pure trouble. “After where you marked Freya,” he flicked a look at the bite mark on Freya’s breast, “it seemed only fair I pick a place that makes you think of me every time someone’s behind you.”
With her eyes still closed, Freya’s laughter rippled through the room, warm and loose. Even Flint snorted, pressing a kiss to her hair. Heath shot Zak a glare that didn’t fool anyone. His wolf’s satisfaction still came through the Bonded link, smug and pleased under the sting.
The room settled into a lazy tangle of limbs and shared warmth, laughter fading to quiet breaths and the low hum of contentment along our bonds. Underneath it, an older tension tugged at me.
“I’m sorry,” I told Heath privately along our bond.
He curled tighter around me, lips brushing the edge of his bite mark on my shoulder, sending another shiver down my spine.
“For what?”
“For making you wait so long to claim what was always yours,” I answered honestly. “For keeping you as my enforcer and my best friend, and nothing more, when my wolf wanted this the whole damn time. I was just too blind to see it because you’re a man. And then…”
“And then having the courage to claim Zak so quickly?” he guessed. “I’m not mad about that, Gage. I’m proud. I’m glad you finally see we all belong together.”
“But I kept you at arm’s length for years…”
“I’m not denying we need to make up for lost time,” he growled in my mind, his alpha side rising. “Which is why we need to kick Denraider’s ass so roundly that they know never to come back. Then we’ll have all the time we need.”