Chapter 22 - Rowan #2
Heath chuckled, reaching down to play with Freya’s clit. “Let’s even the scales.”
Freya’s back arched immediately, her pleasure spiking as Heath’s skilled fingers worked her sensitive flesh. Flint leaned over to lick his mate mark on Freya’s left shoulder, the touch making her inner walls clamp down around Zak with a desperate moan.
“Neither of you come yet,” I commanded with alpha authority in my voice.
Freya rode the edge of pleasure, her eyes boring into mine, as if daring me to tell her she could come now.
But Zak… only my command kept him restrained.
“Fuck,” he gasped, his hips stuttering as his control broke. He would have come without permission if he’d been able to.
Through our bonds, he reeled with the eroticism of my absolute dominance, which turned me on even more. I never knew using my alpha power in bed could enhance pleasure, rather than taking it away.
“That’s it,” I growled, my wolf rising to the surface as I established a rhythm that drove Zak deeper into Freya with each thrust.
When Tor moved closer, his eyes held a question. “Shall I claim you where your bite marks me?” he asked, gesturing to his bicep where my bite mark stood out against his pale skin.
I shook my head, a surge of unexpected vulnerability rising through me.
“No. I want it where everyone can see that even alphas submit to their mates.” I tilted my head, exposing my nape — the same place where I had marked Freya, where Tor had claimed Gage and Flint. “Here.”
The thought of Tor licking and biting that mark in the future when he took me from behind sent a jolt of anticipation through me that I couldn’t deny.
Tor’s hands settled on my shoulders, strong and steady. “My feral mate,” he murmured, his breath hot against my skin. “Fierce and untamed.”
When his teeth sank into my nape, claiming me as his, the sensation pushed me off the brink. My climax hit with the force of an earthquake, my hips jerking roughly as I filled Zak with my release.
The mutual mate bond locked into place, immutable, eternal. My once-feral wolf, who had survived alone for so long, who had resisted civilization and hierarchy, submitted willingly to this Odinswolf’s claim, even though he was no alpha.
This wasn’t about dominance or submission in the way other wolves understood it. The wild part of me that had never fully integrated with pack life found kinship with Tor’s wolf. We were both outsiders who had found our place in Freya’s circle. And now we had just become each other’s mates.
But being aware of my new bond with Tor also reawakened my awareness of other bonds. I felt Zak’s desperate need, his body tightening around me even as he was forced to obey my earlier command not to come.
“Hold it,” I managed, breathless but stern as I slipped out of him. “We’re not done with you yet.”
Zak whimpered, his entire body trembling with the effort of restraint as he remained buried inside Freya. The sight of him — our powerful witch reduced to begging with his eyes — made my spent cock twitch.
Freya’s delicate fingers teased Zak’s nipple piercing while Heath teased her clit, taking them both to the edge over and over. Gage positioned himself behind Heath and slowly, gently entered his second mate. Heath groaned, no doubt still tender from having Tor inside him.
“Mine,” Gage growled into his ear, and Heath’s pleasure at that single word washed over us all in the Bonded link.
When I’d first joined the Howling Echo, I remembered how puzzled I’d been by how carefully Gage maintained distance from Heath despite their obvious connection.
Now, those same hands that had once pushed Heath away pulled him closer.
The mouth that had once repeated his father’s poisonous beliefs now whispered words of devotion against Heath’s skin.
My wolf rumbled with approval at the sight of our pack alpha finally finding peace within himself.
My hand found Zak’s throat in a possessive grip that caused him to rise slightly. The adjustment created more space for Heath’s fingers between Freya’s legs and allowed Flint to palm her breast from his place opposite Heath.
Tor captured Zak’s mouth in a deep kiss as the hybrid continued thrusting into Freya, his movements growing increasingly desperate. When Tor broke the kiss, he pulled back and met Zak’s gaze.
I watched as Tor’s eyes flicked back and forth, peering into Zak’s. Something passed between them, and I leaned forward as though that would help me better sense the clues. In the Bonded link, Zak’s uncertainty hit me abruptly. But Tor eased it as fast as it appeared.
“Your magic called to me in our dreams,” Tor said in a low voice. “I’ve searched for mates for years, but never did I expect them to be as strong as you are.”
Zak’s doubt began to fade, replaced by something warmer, more certain. But still we all waited, watching.
Tor’s large hand palmed the side of Zak’s head, and he let his thumb brush over one of his ear piercings. Zak shivered in desire.
“In you, I see possibilities I never imagined. Now tell me what you need.”
Zak gaped at him, as though still processing the fact that Tor wanted him as much as Zak wanted Tor.
“He’s going to want it rough,” Heath suggested, his voice strained as Gage established a rhythm behind him. “Really rough.”
Tor studied Zak’s face. “Is that true? Even though I’m not an alpha?”
“Please,” Zak gasped. “Yes.”
Tor’s gaze dropped to Zak’s pierced ears, a slow grin spreading across his face. “I know just what you need.”
Zak moaned, his hips stuttering.
“Freya,” he pleaded, “do you want me to come, love?”
Her eyes glittered with mischief, lightning crackling in her irises. “Not yet. Your mates still have plans for you.”
Zak’s whimper sent a bolt of fierce satisfaction through me. My wolf preened at the sight of our beta mate so thoroughly undone, so completely at our mercy.
“Look how desperate he is,” Flint observed, his steady voice a counterpoint to the frantic energy filling the room as Tor circled behind Zak.
“His whole body is shaking,” Freya added, her fingers tracing the trembling muscles of Zak’s chest above her.
“Please,” Zak begged, his voice breaking. “Please, my mates. I need — I need to—”
Tor slicked up and pushed into Zak, stretching the beta out on his thick cock. “They got you ready for me.”
“Yes, please, yes.” Zak let out a sob, but through the mate bond, I felt his fierce pleasure at his emptiness being filled once more.
I caught Tor’s gaze over Zak’s shoulder, a silent understanding passing between us. This was what made having multiple mates so intoxicating — the ability to drive each other wild, to push boundaries together that we couldn’t alone.
Without warning, I twisted Zak’s nipple piercing brutally while Freya pulled on his other one.
The hybrid’s back arched, a strangled cry escaping his lips.
Then I bit down on my own mate mark on his body, making him cry out in pleasure-pain.
His body jerked between Freya and Tor, overwhelmed by sensation, desperately hanging on the edge.
“Come for us, Zak!” I commanded just as Tor leaned forward, his teeth lengthening.
Much as he had done with Freya, Tor bit the upper shell of Zak’s ear, capturing the metal piercings between his lips.
The genius of his choice struck me immediately — from now on, we could lick and play with those piercings, activating the pleasure from Tor’s claiming bite, driving Zak wild with just a touch.
Zak’s entire body convulsed as he emptied himself inside Freya, his release triggering her own climax as Heath and Flint continued their attentions. Freya let out a long, lingering cry, her entire body tensing, milking Zak’s pierced length.
With Zak and Freya’s climax hitting us all, I almost didn’t notice Heath’s desperate need rising.
With Gage thrusting inside Heath, he rode the edge.
Flint surprised us all by reaching to stroke Heath’s neglected length.
Heath came with a shout, his release painting Freya’s breasts as the feedback loop of sensation overwhelmed us all.
Gage roared as he filled Heath from behind, his control finally snapping at the cascade of pleasure flowing through the Bonded link. If I hadn’t just climaxed, I might have without anyone touching me again.
Our combined bonds seemed to short out for a moment, the intensity making all of us lose our collective minds.
As we all caught our breath, I found myself looking forward to countless nights like this — the seven of us finding new combinations, new ways to drive each other wild, each of us giving and taking until we were all completely sated.
Zak collapsed forward onto his forearms over Freya, his body still trembling with aftershocks. “Thank you,” he sobbed, his voice raw with relief and pleasure. “Thank you all… so good…”
I claimed his mouth first, my kiss hard at first, then going soft, a silent promise to fuck him as hard as he wanted and take care of him after.
Tor pulled out ever-so-gently. His kiss with Zak was soft and reverent, his eyes bright.
Freya pulled him down to lay against her, her arms wrapping around him protectively.
I moved closer, eager to give and receive physical contact after such intense pleasure. Tracing my fingertips near my mate mark on Zak’s shoulder made him tremble.
“You okay?” I asked. “We were rough with you.”
“Amazing,” Zak sighed.
Meanwhile, Flint’s tenderly smoothed Freya’s hair back from her flushed face. “How are you feeling, moonbeam?”
“Perfect.” She smiled. “Absolutely perfect.”
The contentment settling into my bones was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
My entire life had been spent searching for belonging, first with my birth pack, then in the wilds with my wolf family, and finally with the Howling Echo.
I’d never expected to find one mate, much less three.
Or to mate anyone other than a wolf shifter.
And to think that two of them were witches…
Freya traced the half-moon tattoo on my shoulder, her eyes glowing with the same lightning mingling with witchfire that had destroyed our enemies. Others might fear her, but I never would.
My powerful, amazing lightning bolt.
Tor watched Freya’s fingers moving over my tattoo and said, “Six stars around the moon, our constellation, just as it was meant to be.”
Freya looked at each of us in turn, her gaze holding such love that it stole my breath. “This is our strength — not just the power we wield separately, but what we create together. What we become when we’re whole.”
I sensed her immense satisfaction, her Odinswolf more powerful now that she had gathered her star-bound mates, her witch half more powerful with all of her Bonded, and her whole being more complete for the love we all shared.
She hadn’t just brought us together but helped us weave new bonds between each other in ways none of us had imagined when we were scattered and exiled.
“Puppy pile?” Heath asked playfully, lightening the mood.
Heath shifted first, his silver-white wolf curling protectively against Freya’s legs.
I let my own wolf rise to the surface, bones reshaping.
Freya laughed softly and buried her fingers in both our coats as Gage stretched out along her other side, staying in human form so he could drape an arm over her waist and rest his hand on Zak’s hip.
Tor lay on his back, one hand touching Freya as though he couldn’t bear a moment without her.
We all crowded around our Odinswolves, and Flint slid down to pillow his head on Tor’s thigh.
The most patient of our alphas had quietly claimed his snow wolf, the same way he’d once claimed Freya — with steady presence instead of loud declarations.
Zak wriggled closer until he was half on my wolf’s back, half sprawled across Freya’s stomach, mumbling something about “the comfiest pillow”.
His hand reached out to tentatively touch Flint, who laced their fingers together.
One by one, exhaustion claimed us. Breath by breath, the room went still. No one kept watch. Our allies would figure out the patrol rotation.
Wrapped in our mates’ warmth, we drifted into sleep. Whatever threats waited beyond these walls would have to face all seven of us together.