Chapter 28 - Torsten #3
“Of course I did. You’re my sister,” Freya said, fierceness back in her tone. “And make sure I don’t have to come rescue you from these idiots.”
“Maybe we are idiots,” the wiry male huffed. “Or maybe you’re stalling on purpose.”
Freya arched an eyebrow. “You rushed Denraider’s heartland with just three men. It’s definitely option one.”
“They took her to the battlefield,” the big scarred one protested, as if that explained everything.
To me, it did. Flint and I exchanged a glance. We would have done the same if Freya had been captured by the enemy and put in the path of danger.
“Let’s go,” Callan insisted, putting the conversation to an end. “We have more Denraider wolves to kill.”
Callan moved to Valkyrie’s side again, unable to help himself. His hand closed around her wrist. She glared at him again, but didn’t pull away.
“Only as far as the border,” Valkyrie growled at him, reminding him of some ongoing argument we’d walked into.
“I understand you have to go with them,” Freya said to her sister. Then she gestured to Gage beside of her. “I, too, once made a deal with alphas for my protection.”
Callan smirked as he murmured to Valkyrie, “They see you as someone to be protected. We see you as someone to be unleashed. Come with us and discover who you’re meant to be.”
These three offered her something more than we ever could.
Her own power. Her own destiny.
“I won’t be your captive,” she growled. “I’m done with being held against my will.”
Callan smirked. Before anyone could argue with him, he bent and swept her off her feet. He didn’t sling her over his shoulder like a sack. He gathered her against his chest, one arm under her knees, the other around her back, cradling her.
“I know.” Callan’s voice went soft for the first time. “But you’re tired. And I haven’t finished killing wolves for what they did to you.”
“Put me down,” she snapped, more out of reflex than true anger. “I can walk on my own.”
“You’re barefoot.” He didn’t relent. “And I like holding you.”
The restless one shifted closer to their flank, still in human form, eyes never still. The scarred guy took up position on the other side. Between the three of them, anything that came for Valkyrie would have to get through a wall of teeth and rage.
“Keep her safe,” Freya called, voice like a thrown blade.
“We will,” Callan said without looking back. “Or die trying.”
“You’d better,” Gage growled. “Or we’ll come for you.”
The gray-eyed alpha actually smiled at that. “I’d expect nothing less.”
There was something in his tone that suggested he knew more about us than he should — about Odinswolves, about astrals, about packs that didn’t obey tradition. But whatever mysteries he carried would have to wait.
They disappeared into the trees, my ravens taking to the sky to shadow their retreat. Through Realm’s eyes, I saw the moment Valkyrie stopped bracing as if every touch would hurt, and her body finally relaxed into Callan’s arms.
She might not have chosen them. But some part of her recognized them.
The clearing fell silent except for our breathing and the distant croak of my ravens circling overhead.
“Did I do the right thing?” Freya whispered.
My Odinswolf sight flared, overlaying the world with shimmering threads of magic. Three faint lines, thin as spider silk, ran from Valkyrie to each of the men carrying her away.
Until they claimed one another, those bonds would stay fragile, unfinished. Just as my own bond to Freya had once been, before she drew me fully into her circle. Thanks to the seven-body mind we still shared, the others saw it too.
“Mate bonds,” Zak breathed.
My breath caught in my throat. This was my vision coming true, just as I’d foreseen days ago. These three dangerous men weren’t kidnappers.
They were hers. Whether any of them understood it yet or not.
Another image slammed into me — Valkyrie’s future stretched ahead like a dark river: shadowy fights, enemies who would seek to chain her power, moments when she’d need every ounce of her mates’ lethal skills to survive, a crown of cold stars burning above her head while her mates ringed her like a living shield.
Every step on that path would be paid for in blood.
Like Freya, she was meant for more than survival. She was meant to become something extraordinary.
“Freya.” I reached for her through the bonds, sharing the magical sight with them all. “Do you see it?”
Shock poured through our connection as all my mates beheld the vision of starbeams illuminating Valkyrie and these three men.
“Fate binds these strangers to her,” I said, stepping closer to Freya. “She needs them, Freya. Just as you and I need all of them.”
I gestured at our five mates who stood around us, all of them either watching Valkyrie disappear or looking between Freya and me.
“She’s found them,” Freya said gently, her certainty flooding our bond. “Her mates. Just like I found you. Just like you found me.”
Rowan dipped his head as the fight drained out of him. “If that’s true, then it makes sense. The pack always comes first, even before blood.”
Gage’s voice was gruff but gentle when he said, “She’s free of Denraider. That’s what matters.”
“Sometimes the hardest part of loving someone,” Heath said quietly, “is letting them walk into their own destiny — even when it looks like danger.”
Gage grabbed Heath’s hand, then Zak’s, as he looked at Freya. “Ready to go back, princess?”
She started undressing, and the rest of us followed suit, stuffing our clothes into our sling bags.
Through Wisdom’s eyes, the world beyond this clearing snapped back into focus.
A convoy crawled along the road from the southeast. Trucks in a massive convoy approaching Moonblessed from the southeast.
Elder Forest. Heath’s father’s pack, coming for revenge.
“Wait,” I called to the others, letting them see what my ravens saw.
Elder Forest should be attacking our allies by now, overwhelming our exhausted fighters with fresh forces and superior firepower.
They weren’t.
They’d stopped, engines idling, shifters in human form standing around their vehicles like they were… waiting.
“What are they waiting for?” Heath asked, tension knifing through the bond.
“It doesn’t matter why,” Gage said, voice turning all business again. “We need to get back. Now.”
As one, we shifted and raced back toward the skinny trail leading to the top of the cliff face.
Fear for our people, our allies, crashed through us all like an avalanche. We’d left them, and now they faced a fresh threat while we were miles away in enemy territory.
“Go,” I said to Gage, Heath, Flint, and Rowan. “You’re faster without us. Get back and coordinate the defense.”
Gage’s eyes met mine, then Zak’s. “Protect her. Keep each other safe.”
“Always,” Zak and I said in unison.
The four alphas exploded into motion, their powerful forms barreling up the trail one by one.
“Maybe they just want to talk,” Freya said hopefully. “Don’t shoot first and ask questions later.”
“If Elder Forest wants a meeting, they’ll get it,” Gage promised. “But on our terms.”
By the time Freya, Zak, and I made it to the top, the four alphas had already disappeared into the forest, leaving us far behind.
Guilt pricked my wolf. We’d left our people to finish breaking Denraider while we chased one woman across the border. It would have tasted like betrayal if they hadn’t all pushed us to go.
Freya began pulling on the bonds between us, siphoning off magic and power.
“The alliance needs their radiant,” Flint warned Freya. “They need to see you’re alive and whole.”
“Don’t strain yourself,” Zak warned, knowing Freya was gathering power from the seven of us for something.
“Help us,” I growled at Zak.
If Freya thought she could create the pack mind from this distance, who were we to stop her?
Just as he had during the battle, Zak helped me steady Freya, keeping her tethered to her body as we raced through the forest.
I let myself fall deeper into the net of connections between us. Freya followed drawing energy from all sides, her magic rising like a storm over a valley.
In the space of a heartbeat, she reached across miles.
The full pack mind surged back to life, flooding with the thoughts and senses of our allied packs.
Thatcher and Lee locking down the prisoners.
Gabriel’s Celestial Alloy holding the southern approach in case Elder Forest tried to surround the camp.
And Astrid’s massive bear looming, facing off against Elder Forest.
“They want to speak with our leader,” Astrid reported, voice threaded with both amusement and wariness.
Artemis added, “We explained we’re all separate packs, each with its own pack alpha.”
“But they knew,” Thatcher said. “Their alpha asked who we all answer to. I don’t think he knows the terms Astral or Radiant, but…”
“He knows you exist,” Gabriel finished.
“They’re waiting at the border of our packlands,” Hugo said.
“Then let’s not keep them waiting,” Freya said.
We watched through the eyes of dozens and dozens of shifters, all wary around Elder Forest. They’d tripped our wards, and our sentries had relayed word back to the main camp about the size of their convoy.
Our people hadn’t been taken off guard, but the seven of us still felt badly for abandoning them.
“You didn’t abandon us,” Brielle growled, reminding us that the pack mind went all directions. “These boneheads told you to go.”
“Did you find your sister?” Shante asked.
“Yes,” Freya said, her emotions a tangled web of relief, sadness, hope, and anticipation. “She’s okay. Now I want to make sure the rest of you are, too.”
“We’ll be here,” Bretton said. “They obviously don’t plan to attack.”
Up ahead, we caught sight of four massive shapes waiting for us along the path we needed to get back. The bonds hummed between us and them.
“We’ll escort you, Astral Freya,” Flint said formally.
“Since apparently we’re in no rush,” Heath said.
Zak chuckled and butted heads with him, falling into place to one side of Freya as I took the other. Our alphas fell into step ahead and behind us.
As we ran back toward Moonblessed, Realm tracked three larger wolves towering over a smaller white wolf moving deeper into Oregon’s wildlands in the other direction.
Through Wisdom’s distant sight, I watched Elder Forest’s convoy maintain its strange vigil at the border. Waiting.
For Freya.