Chapter 23 - Freya #2
In wolf form, Gage and Heath raced ahead of the rest of us through Moonblessed heading toward camp, eager to check on our packmates.
The others surrounded me, as though aware I was puzzling through something and needed the time to think.
From time to time we waved and acknowledged our Moonblessed allies, but the city was alive with its own hungers and needs now, shifters bustling around to attend to their own business.
“Flint,” I said as we left the walls behind, “during the battle, did you feel something… different?”
“Yes. You pulled more power than I’ve ever felt from all of us. I didn’t even know we had so much to give you.”
“I felt it too,” Rowan rumbled from up ahead as he led the way in wolf form.
“More than that, though?” I asked. “Like, sensing each other?”
Zak nodded eagerly. “It was incredible.”
Flint nodded. “No hesitation, no confusion. Just… knowing. Yes, I felt it. It’s part of why it was so terrifying… I could feel Zak’s magic beginning to ebb as he tried to hold the shield over Rowan and Heath.”
Zak added, “And it was like our minds were linked in a way that went beyond the Bonded connection. I knew what everyone was going to do before they did it.”
At the camp, our allies had already cleared the battlefield of bodies.
Frost Fang refugees, Ironwood survivors, Bloody Dawn fighters, Midnight Path shifters, and Moonblessed guards all worked together to rebuild the tents and shelters that had fallen.
The sight filled me with hope, but also reminded me of the challenges ahead.
Tor took my hand. “The way you linked us together like that… it’s something I once read that only the most powerful astrals could accomplish.”
“Astral?” I asked.
Tor’s expression grew thoughtful. “Among Odinswolves, an astral is a leader who summons loyalty rather than compelling others to follow. Odinswolves don’t have hierarchy or dominance to contend with, so they called their leaders astrals. Blessed by the stars to lead.”
“My ancestors believed in similar leaders,” Flint added. “Moonmarked wolves still speak of guides who could unite tribes without conquest. Powerful medicine women.”
Seeing nothing suspicious and that the camp was well secured, Rowan shifted back to human form. He donned clothing from his sling bag as Tor spoke.
“But what we felt during the battle was something more. Something I believed was only legend.” His ice-blue eyes met mine.
“It’s called the pack mind, Freya. If mastered, it becomes a profound connection where all participating individuals become like one mind inhabiting many bodies.
Complete merging of thought and action.”
I pictured a swarm of bees I’d once watched as a child — thousands of tiny bodies wheeling together in the air, no single obvious signal, just a shared impulse that made them turn as one. A hive mind.
“That’s what I felt,” I said quietly. “Like I could sense everyone’s intentions, their actions before they even consciously formed the thought to move.”
“Pack alphas experience that to a degree, don’t they?” Zak asked.
“Not even close,“ Rowan answered. “A pack alpha only senses the stronger emotions of the pack, when someone is in danger, sometimes their surroundings in some situations.”
Tor agreed. “The pack mind can become a complete unity of consciousness.”
Zak was practically vibrating with excitement. “We should practice. If Freya can master this ability…”
“She could unite entire packs into a single, cohesive force,” Tor finished. “To move as one, without words, without commands.”
“That sounds… like mind control,” I said, shuddering.
Tor shook his head. “Each person chooses to enter into the pack mind, and when to leave it. It’s not forced control, but shared experience.”
The possibilities were overwhelming, but also intriguing. I would want to be sure it was fully consensual, but through our new link, I could feel all my mates’ interest and curiosity. They wanted me to try to develop this skill.
“Let’s try something small first,” I ventured.
Zak grinned and winked. “That’s our good girl.”
“Try to open our minds to one another,” Tor suggested.
Slowly, carefully, I began opening their minds to each other, just as I’d done subconsciously before using the Bonded link.
Doing so felt ridiculously easy — Zak, Tor, Rowan, and Flint mentally jumped to it.
What was harder was keeping Heath and Gage out of it, now that we were all so tightly bound together.
In my mind, I imagined a tapestry that the five of us grabbed, stretching it between us while leaving Gage and Heath alone. Once I imagined the five of us in place, I turned my attention toward what we might try to do together.
Then I envisioned all of us finding a stone from the ground to pick up. No sooner had I thought it than five hands reached down and snatched up five individual stones.
I gasped then closed my eyes, reaching out with my Odinswolf abilities.
Smoothly, I told myself.
I imagined all of us holding the tapestry in my mind with one hand, while the other hand held the stones. The sensation was incredible. It wasn’t so much that I read their minds, but rather that I sensed their intentions. And through me, they could feel each other.
I could feel the sandy stone held in Zak’s hand as easily as I felt the smooth stone in mine. The jagged rock in Rowan’s hand contrasted with the tiny pebble Tor had picked up. Flint held the heaviest of the five. And all of us sensed the others just as easily as we sensed our own.
“Now,” I said without opening my eyes, “throw your stones.”
I gave the intention of the five stones all landing in a circle, and our stones flew through the air, landing with soft thumps against the cold earth.
When I opened my eyes, the five stones landed in a circle, each moved to the right of the person who had held it.
Tor’s tiny pebble had landed in front of Rowan, Rowan’s jagged rock landed before Zak, Zak’s sandstone fell in front of my feet, my smooth stone landed in front of Flint, and Flint’s heavy rock landed in front of Tor.
They were all spaced equidistant apart in perfect formation.
“Holy shit,” Zak breathed.
“We did it.” Flint stared at the pattern in amazement.
“My lightning bolt,” Rowan’s voice held wonder.
Tor’s wide grin made me shiver as his approval washed over me.
“Again,” I said, feeling more confident. “But let’s try something different.”
I wanted it to be something useful, not just randomly throwing rocks. So, I looked around camp, trying to figure out how we could best help our friends and allies. In my mind I imagined each of us gathering firewood and then stacking it, but in a more… artistic pattern.
This time, when I opened up our connection, the coordination was fluid and natural.
Rowan shifted into his wolf form, his powerful jaws carrying larger branches.
Flint arranged the base of the structure, ensuring we had a good foundation.
Zak used small bursts of magic to strip bark in decorative patterns.
Tor’s artistic eye guided the overall design.
We each separated and went our own ways to find more wood to bring back, each arranging it with a shared pattern firmly in mind.
Although we sometimes called out greetings to our friends and allies along our routes, the five of us worked in silence when we came back together to the growing stack of firewood.
When we finished, we had arranged the pieces of wood by color to create a galaxy-like spiral within the stack from darker to lighter, with smaller kindling arranged around the edges. It was beautiful in its simplicity — and completely impossible for five people to coordinate without speaking.
“That’s incredible,” a familiar voice said behind us.
We turned as one in perfect synchronism to Brielle.
Her uncanny green eyes took in the artistic wood arrangement and our expressions. “What in the Grandmother Moon’s name was that? From a distance, it looked like some kind of interpretive dance.”
Zak’s grin was radiant with pride. “Our pupil Freya is forging something new. A confluence of power no coven could imitate.”
Flint explained further, “We did all of this… without speaking a word to one another. Not even through our Bonded link. Like we all hear the same song and knew the steps.”
Brielle’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s… that should be impossible. Even a coven of witches working together would have to communicate to create something like this.”
“It’s because she’s more than a witch,” Tor said firmly. “She’s an Odinswolf. And she has guardians who trust her enough to let her pull on their minds.” His hand brushed Flint’s shoulder in a brief, approving squeeze. “Especially this one.”
“But it only works with your Bonded?” Brielle asked.
Tor shook his head, then looked at me. “I believe Freya can do more. This might even give us a strategic advantage in our coming battles. Want to try to bring Brielle in?”
I nodded, though I was already feeling the strain. Carefully, I extended the connection to include Brielle.
At first, my head throbbed with the effort of pulling in someone outside of our bonds.
But then I remembered Brielle was mine, too.
After all, she’d given her loyalty to me, and I’d unknowingly brought her into my coven.
Once the thought occurred to me, connecting to her mind felt easier.
As a member of my coven, sustaining the connection with her was almost as easy as with my mates.
It was invigorating, terrifying, and utterly exhausting all at once.