Chapter 29 - Flint
Flint
The return to camp should have felt triumphant. We’d found Freya’s sister alive and unbroken, witnessed her freedom secured by her own mates. But the bittersweet ache in Freya’s chest bled through our bonds, making my own heart heavy as we approached the main alliance camp.
I stayed close to her side, sending waves of comfort and support through the mate bond.
“You did the right thing, moonbeam. You let her choose her own path.”
Her answering gratitude warmed me, though the sadness remained.
Then I caught sight of what waited for us at the camp’s perimeter.
Seeing it through Tor’s ravens still hadn’t prepared me for how the Elder Forest’s massive convoy sprawled across the southeastern approach — dozens of vehicles arranged in defensive formation, hundreds of shifters milling around as our allies faced off against them, murmuring amongst themselves.
Tension radiated from everyone, old instincts screaming danger.
Gage’s calm command flowed through the pack mind. “Easy. If they meant to attack, they would have done it while we were busy with Denraider.”
Freya shifted back to human form and donned clothing from her sling bag while the world seemed to hold its breath. I followed suit along with the rest of her mates.
When she strode forward, her shoulders were back, her chin raised, completely unafraid.
Thanks to the pack mind that Freya had extended to our entire force once more, I knew what was about to happen just before it did.
As one, every wolf in the pack mind dropped to one knee.
Moonblessed. Midnight Path. Ironwood. The newly merged New Dawn pack. The newly formed Celestial Alloy. And yes, even some of the Elder Forest wolves. They all respectfully went down on one knee before my mate.
“Creativity spotted some of them on the sidelines, close enough to witness the fight with Denraider,” Torsten explained.
Pride surged through me so powerfully I thought my chest might burst. This was the moment I’d known would come from the first time I’d seen Freya, battered and broken in that clearing. The moment when everyone else finally saw what I’d always known.
She was meant for greatness.
Freya was stunned, her snow-blue eyes wide as she took in the sea of kneeling shifters. Through our bond, I felt her instinct to deny this reverence, to tell everyone to stand, to insist she was nothing special.
“Let them honor you, moonbeam,” I sent gently. “You’ve earned this.”
Her hand found mine, squeezing tight.
An Elder Forest alpha stepped forward — a weathered wolf with silver streaking his dark hair. He moved with the careful grace of someone who’d survived by reading danger before it struck.
“They tell us you are called Radiant Freya.” His voice carried across the clearing, respectful and wary in equal measure. “Our scouts watched your battle from the ridge. We’ve never seen packs move like that.”
“I am Freya,” she answered, voice clear and proud. “Who are you and why have you come?”
He bowed his head to Freya, not Gage. “I am Wendell, acting for the Elder Forest pack alpha. My grandfather is too frail to travel. He sent me with a message: we are not your enemies.”
Gage’s growl rumbled beside me. “Dryden belonged to your pack. He sold wolves to witches, broke shifters away from their animals.”
Wendell’s jaw tightened. “We know. That’s why we came. We tracked disappearances for months before we found a mass grave on our eastern border. Thirty-one bodies all in human form, all twisted and mangled as though they suffered horribly before they died.”
Horror rippled through the crowd like a physical wave. I felt it echo through the pack bonds of every allied pack, each one processing the magnitude of Dryden’s betrayal.
“The New Dawn knows that kind of violation,” Artemis said, her voice steady. “The witches tried to do the same to them.” She gestured, and several former Frost Fang wolves pushed forward to stand beside her — including Fern.
I felt a surge of pride when my littermate spoke up. “They tortured many of my packmates, keeping them from their wolves. If not for Freya and Zak destroying the curse stones, my packmates would have lost their wolves forever.”
Wendell’s gaze swept the alliance. “Dryden betrayed all of us. You killed him?”
“He’s dead,” Heath said flatly. “Killed during the witch attack.”
The scents of relief and fury flared off Wendell. “Good. He deserved worse.”
The raw hatred in those words made several nearby wolves flinch back. I studied Wendell’s face, his scent, reading the truth there.
“Dryden’s death was justice, not murder,” I said quietly. “He was a traitor to all shifters, not just Elder Forest.”
“Our pack is massive, decentralized.” Wendell frowned. “We didn’t notice the disappearances at first — a wolf here, a wolf there, all from different towns and cities within our territory.”
“I tried to root them out,” Rowan growled. “But Dryden must have stayed one step ahead the whole time.”
“I overheard my father plotting,” Heath admitted. “But I didn’t have enough proof to go to Elder Forest alphas before I needed to leave.”
Wendell nodded. “I understand. By the time we realized the pattern, Dryden had already fled south to Colorado.”
“To the Ashworth Coven,” Zak supplied.
“Yes. We tracked him as far as the border, but we couldn’t cross into witch territory without starting a war against witches we weren’t prepared to fight.
” Wendell’s jaw clenched. “When we heard Denraider was on the move, we knew things had to change. Eventually, Denraider would have tried to go straight through us to annihilate those witches.”
“That’s why you refused to let them cross your packlands,” Tor guessed.
Wendell nodded. “And we cleaned house, making sure anyone who worked with Dryden was unawares, still loyal to the pack.”
Heath’s voice was rough when he spoke. “My father was a bastard. I’m sorry he hurt your packmates.”
“You’re not responsible for his crimes,” Wendell said firmly. “We know that.”
The tension in Heath’s shoulders eased slightly, and through the bonds I felt Gage’s hand find his, offering silent support.
An Elder Forest alpha — younger than Wendell, with nervous energy radiating from her compact frame — stepped forward. “We watched the battle from the ridgeline. None of us could make sense of what we were seeing.”
Wendell gestured at the gathered wolves, his gaze sweeping across the different pack tattoos.
“You all have different pack bonds. Different pack alphas. So, how did you move as one? The coordination was… impossible. No pack should be able to do what you did, let alone multiple packs working together.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the Elder Forest wolves. I could see the hunger in their eyes — not for conquest, but for understanding. They’d witnessed something that challenged everything they knew about pack dynamics, and they wanted in.
Freya looked to Tor, and we all felt her silent request just before she voiced it.
“Torsten, would you share your wisdom so all can understand, even those who weren’t part of the pack mind?”
Tor inclined his head, ice-blue eyes grave. “To understand the pack mind, you need to know what Freya and I are. Odinswolves don’t fit your hierarchy. We don’t answer to alpha barks, we take multiple mates, and our first shift comes late — not until after twenty-five.”
“And the rest of you?” Wendell asked.
“Our magic bound packs together in the old days,” Tor said. “Astrals led through connection, not dominance. Their gift was uniting many packs in a single purpose — in a single mind — without owning them. That’s what you saw on the battlefield.”
Tor’s expression softened as he looked at Freya, and the love in his gaze made my own heart swell.
“Unlike alphas, astrals cannot issue alpha commands, so they lead through wisdom, through connection, through the pack mind that allows multiple packs to work as one. Freya is our Radiant — our guide, the one who unites packs, a leader of leaders, above astrals and alphas alike.”
A flicker of doubt brushed the pack mind from somewhere in the crowd — a wolf wondering if any one person should hold that much influence.
Freya’s voice carried across the clearing. “The pack mind only works because each shifter chooses to be part of it. Not because I rule over them all.”
“You mean they don’t have to obey you?” the young Elder Forest alpha asked, surprised.
“No. The pack mind helps everyone understand each other better, even those from different backgrounds,” Freya explained. “Everyone works together because they see how it benefits the greater group.”
Her conviction flooded our bonds, and my pride in her grew even stronger. She understood her destiny now as a gift she could share.
Fern addressed them directly, her voice carrying the weight of the hard lessons she’d learned over the past months.
“It’s not like dominance. When I chose to join the pack mind, I felt something I’ve never felt under any alpha’s command — freedom.
The freedom to contribute my strengths while others covered my weaknesses. ”
“Even hybrids who aren’t full-blooded shifters.” Zak stepped forward, his dark eyes serious, “I was part of the pack mind. So was Brielle. We’re hybrids — half-witch, half-wolf. We don’t care about bloodlines or hierarchy.”
“And I myself am a hybrid,” Freya admitted. “Like Zak and Brielle. Creating a Bonded link with my mates was the first step toward understanding how to create the pack mind.”
Several Elder Forest wolves exchanged glances, and I could see the wheels turning in their heads.
This was so far outside their understanding of pack dynamics that they were struggling to process it.
They would come to see that no one treated Brielle, Zak, or Freya differently because they were half-shifters.
In fact, their magic had helped us again and again.