Chapter 24 - Gage #3
I raised my voice once more. “As your pack alpha, I hereby transfer my authority over the pack to my successor and heir. Let it be known that she is your new pack alpha, not me. Please acknowledge Pack Alpha Artemis of the New Dawn pack!”
The last thread between Artemis and me let go. The absence left a hollow space inside my chest, leaving me feeling lighter than ever.
Artemis gasped as the weight of hundreds of new bonds transferred to her, but she steadied herself quickly. Her eyes shone with power as she became the true pack alpha of the New Dawn pack.
Around us, every former Frost Fang and Bloody Dawn wolf felt the shift. The old bonds dissolved and reformed under Artemis’s authority. Some howled in recognition of their new alpha.
Now the only pack bond I held was for the Howling Echo.
Yet I was connected to each of my packmates in other ways now, thanks to Freya. Lately, the pack bond, Bonded link, and the mate bonds had become nearly impossible to separate.
Now that I was no longer responsible for Frost Fang, I could focus entirely on the Howling Echo, on my Bonded, on my mates.
Artemis met my eyes, raising her voice to be heard by all.
“Thank you, Gage. For everything. For taking the Bloody Dawn under your wing. For freeing Frost Fang from the witches. For trusting me with this.”
My voice came out rougher than I intended.
“Lead them well. Lead them better than I could have.”
“I will. I swear it.”
A familiar scent drew closer. Bretton stepped up beside us, close enough that only those nearest could hear.
“You chose well, alpha,” he said to me. “Your father and Garth would have clung to this pack until it broke in their hands. You started a new legacy for Frost Fang of alphas who protect the pack rather than rule it. I sense Artemis will be a strong, capable protector as well.”
Coming from him, it meant more than any cheer from the crowd. Bretton had survived all three previous regimes and never once pretended to respect them. If he approved, the pack would listen.
Artemis seemed to understand the weight of his approval. “Thank you, Bretton. I need you in my corner as much as Gage did.”
He dipped his head in deference to his new pack alpha. “Happy to serve, alpha.”
She turned to address her new pack, her voice ringing with authority and purpose.
“Wolves of the New Dawn, today we begin again. Our pack will not have traditional alphas. We are not Denraider’s castoffs. We are survivors — and from this day forward, we choose what kind of pack we will be.”
Artemis lifted her hand toward the gathered wolves.
“There will be no omegas here. Our mate bonds will not be sanctioned by alpha enforcers, but will be freely chosen by the mates themselves. We will hold pack runs on full moons for those willing and able to join us. We’ll build a council with wolves from every rank, and every voice will count.
We protect each other. We rise together. ”
Her gaze hardened.
“But first, we have a war to win. Denraider advances on us. We stand with the Howling Echo, Moonblessed, Midnight Path, Ironwood, and every ally here. We will show them the New Dawn always rises again.”
Howls of agreement rose from the assembled wolves. The sound was powerful, unified, full of hope and determination.
From the crowd, someone called out, “We’ll need new pack tattoos!”
Artemis grinned.
“Yes, we will. The New Dawn deserves its own mark. We’ll work on the design together in the coming days.”
More cheers erupted.
Freya slipped her hand into mine, and I squeezed it, drawing comfort from her presence.
“You did the right thing,” she said quietly. “Artemis will be good for them.”
“I know. It’s just… strange. Frost Fang was my home. Twice. Now it’s something entirely new.”
“New isn’t bad. New is necessary. The old Frost Fang was broken. The New Dawn pack has a chance to be something better.”
I nodded, then pulled her against my chest, resting my chin on top of her head. My mates and packmates sent me their wordless approval, appreciation, and comfort.
I wasn’t walking away from a pack into emptiness. I was stepping into the future with six wolves who refused to let me carry any burden alone.
Artemis shifted back to wolf form, and Jasmine, Gabriel, Garreth, and Grayson did the same. Their white Snow Moon wolves stood before her, and one by one, Artemis bit each of them on the foreleg, claiming them for the New Dawn pack.
Like the other assembled wolves, I witnessed the ceremony, but my mind drifted elsewhere. Artemis had this under control. Frost Fang — no, the New Dawn pack — was in good hands.
Frost Fang was my past. The Howling Echo was my future. And even we were evolving.
Because I wasn’t really our pack alpha anymore. The Bonded link and our love for each other made us more equal than any other pack. If anyone truly called the shots, it was Freya.
She didn’t command us but inspired us. It was more effective, in some ways, than anything I could do with an alpha command.
And now that we knew of the Odinswolf concept of astral leadership, it made sense. It made me proud of her, but no less protective. We’d defeated the witches, but our enemies were still more numerous than I’d like.
Denraider was moving too slowly. It itched like a burr stuck in my coat. They’d crossed borders, but now they were taking their time.
Through the Bonded link, Torsten’s ravens had been feeding us intelligence at regular intervals.
What they showed made my wolf pace beneath my skin.
Denraider forces were flooding in from all sides of their conquered territories — wolves from Oregon, from Washington, from the packs they’d subjugated over the years, all converging on our position.
It was a massive show of force. An army built on conquest and domination.
In a twisted way, it was a compliment. Lydell was taking us seriously enough to gather everything he had.
But something still didn’t add up. Why the delay? Why give us time to prepare, to solidify our alliances, to gather backup of our own? What were they planning?
When Jasmine and her mates shifted back to human form, their wrists bearing fresh pack marks, they were beaming.
And when Artemis looked back at us, it wasn’t to me. It was to Freya.
“We’re going to win this war,” Artemis promised, her eyes fierce. “Because we’re building something even better than the New Dawn pack. We’re going to build a world where packs can thrive in harmony and peace.”
Freya’s voice rang with quiet certainty. “We’ll build it together. All of us.”
Once, I’d tried to turn Freya away. Now I watched her take her place as a leader, and it made my heart swell.
Artemis’s expression grew thoughtful as she looked at Freya.
“We all saw what you did during the battle with the witches,” she said, her voice carrying genuine awe. “The way you channeled that lightning, broke their coven bonds, healed the shifters they’d cursed.”
Pride swelled in my chest. Artemis understood that Freya was the true power here, our unifying force around which all the allied packs united. Freya had become an inspiration to us all.
The new pack alpha’s grin grew fierce. “We’ve been talking about how we’ll need a different strategy to face Denraider. Their numbers are overwhelming. If we fight fang to fang in the typical pack war fashion, they’ll overpower us.”
“We won’t let that happen,” I growled.
“Of course not.” She paused, then added, “But I’ve heard Freya has been practicing something new. A skill that could turn the tide against their superior forces.”
Freya’s eyes widened slightly, surprised that word had spread so quickly.
“Indeed she has,” Brielle spoke up for the first time.
“As the leader of my coven, Freya has surprised me more than once. But what she practiced with me yesterday… Her ability to create a ‘pack mind’ is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
Freya brought me into something that felt stronger than any coven or pack bond.
It will be very advantageous in battle.”
Artemis’s voice strengthened. “Whatever you need from the New Dawn pack, you have it. When the battle comes, my wolves will follow you, Freya. If we can join your pack mind on the battlefield, we will.”
“Ironwood will do the same during the battle,” Thatcher promised.
I noticed his endorsement was more restricted than Artemis’s pledge for ‘whatever’ Freya might need, but as a pack alpha myself, I respected it. I knew Freya would never become a tyrant like Lydell, but trust had to be earned one day at a time.
“And Moonblessed,” Idori called. “Something tells me we’ll need every advantage we can get in the upcoming battle.”
“If that pack mind thing works with shifters other than wolves, count us in,” Astrid called on behalf of the Midnight Path.
Through the Bonded link, I felt Freya’s awareness of her influence expanding, settling into her like a mantle she was finally ready to wear. She wasn’t just my mate anymore, wasn’t just the center of our Bonded circle.
She was becoming something more.
As I watched Freya stand before Artemis and the assembled allied packs, I could sense something remarkable through our mate bond and the Bonded link.
The bonds connecting Freya to Moonblessed, Midnight Path, Ironwood, the New Dawn, and even lone wolves like Brielle burned brighter than any pack bond I’d ever seen through her eyes. Even in the daylight, this bond shimmered with starlight and possibility.
Through the Bonded link, I felt Torsten’s quiet approval, his lack of surprise at Freya’s unusual bonding power. Zak’s wonder mixed with understanding — he recognized this as something beyond coven magic or typical wolf bonds, something uniquely Odinswolf.
Freya inclined her head to Artemis with respect.
“Thank you. We’ll face Denraider together. Not as separate packs, but as one shared mind, focused on what we all care about most — protecting those we love.”
She sounded confident, but beneath it all, only her mates could sense her anxiety. She feared she couldn’t do it, that she would let them down. But all six of us bolstered her with our pride, our confidence in her abilities.
“You just need more practice, moonbeam,” Flint promised over the Bonded link.
“What should we call you, Freya?” Shante called from her place near Idori. “You lead, but you’re not an alpha.”
“She’s an astral,” Torsten answered. “It’s an Odinswolf term for our leaders, since our packs don’t follow typical shifter hierarchy.”
“Astral,” the word traveled through the crowd like ripples from a falling raindrop into a lake.
Pride swelled in my chest. My mate. My queen. My astral.
“Thank you for your trust,” Freya said. “But we still have much to prepare.”
Bretton was already moving through the New Dawn wolves, speaking low to small knots of betas and subordinates, directing them toward Artemis. Even without hearing his words, I knew the gist: ration counts, watch rotations, who reported to whom now. He’d never needed a title to keep a pack running.
As our allied packs prepared for battle, and the New Dawn pack found its footing under Artemis’s leadership, the sun climbed higher — a clear, bright day full of hope for the future.
But on the horizon, storm clouds gathered.
Let them come, I thought, my wolf rising to meet the challenge. We’re ready.