Chapter 33 - Freya #2
“It will be,” I assured her. “Astrid’s packlands are a sanctuary. She protects shifters who are looking for better lives, giving them the freedom to make their own decisions without caging them.”
“Why would they help us?” One of her alphas stepped forward — Callan, I realized, his mental projection carrying the cold calculation I remembered from our first meeting.
I turned my attention to him, meeting his challenging stare with calm certainty.
“Because she’s my sister, and I am the radiant over all the packs.”
“We won’t trade one pack’s chains for another’s,” another alpha growled, and I identified him as the scarred one, who carried the weight of past betrayals.
“Good,” Gage’s authority flowed across the distance between us, alpha speaking to alpha. “The Astral Packs coordinate defense and freedom, not obedience. No one will demand that Valkyrie or her mates submit to them.”
“After her heat, you all choose your own paths,” I added. “Join us, ally with us, or go your own way. The Astral Packs don’t keep packmates against their will.”
“We protect each other,” Heath added, his tactical mind recognizing their potential. “Just as you protect each other. Common enemies, common cause.”
The restless one’s energy spiked with interest. “Denraider’s still out there. Scattered like roaches, but not destroyed.”
“Then we finish what you started,” Rowan’s feral satisfaction blazed through our mental link. “Together or separately, but we finish it.”
The scent of surprise wafted from them.
“No one will look down on you for your past. In the Astral Packs, strength comes in many forms,” I assured them.
“Even for a slave?” My sister’s words were weighed down with decades of shame and self-doubt.
“Especially for an Odinswolf who survived,” I replied fiercely. “Who kept her power and her spirit no matter how your enemies tried to break them. You’re magnificent, Valkyrie. Your mates know it, and so do we.”
The lightning along her fur flared brighter, and for a moment, I saw past the wariness to the woman she might become — proud, powerful, surrounded by mates who would kill and die for her. It was a beautiful sight.
“We should go,” Callan said, though his mental voice carried less hostility than before. “After the massacre we’re leaving behind, we need some distance from Denraider territory.”
“Stay in contact,” I requested of Valkyrie. “Dreams, if nothing else. You don’t have to face this alone anymore.”
The scent of Valkyrie’s gratitude washed over me, wordless but profound. Then she was stepping back, returning to her protective triangle of dangerous males who closed ranks around her with possessive care.
I hoped soon I would get the chance to know all of them. To spend an afternoon hanging out with my sister with nothing but time on our hands.
“Thank you,” she said simply. “For coming for me. For giving me choices.”
“Always,” I promised. “You’re my sister. That bond can never be broken.”
The four turned east toward Midnight Path, powerful forms disappearing into the shadows between trees. I watched until they were gone, my heart full of hope and pride for the woman who’d survived the unsurvivable and emerged unbroken.
“She’ll be fine,” Flint’s gentle certainty touched my mind. “Those three will take care of her.”
“And she’ll take care of them,” I agreed, turning back to my own mates. “Now let’s finish our run.”
Six wolves moved into formation around me, their love and devotion flowing through our bonds like warm honey. We’d started this journey as outcasts and exiles, three broken alphas and one rejected hybrid. We had changed each other’s lives, and, in so doing, had helped change so many packs.
“Where to, moonbeam?” Flint asked.
I lifted my muzzle to taste the wind, catching scents from all directions.
“Everywhere,” I replied, my wolf spirit singing with possibility. “These wildlands belong to us now.”
With one thought, we exploded into motion, seven wolves racing across snow that sparkled like crushed diamonds under the moon. Our paws drummed against ground that had once meant death and exile, now transformed into the neutral territory that connected our allied packs.
The cold air burned in our lungs as we ran, but it was the burn of a future we’d fought to claim. Our howls rose into the star-filled sky — not the lonely echoes of outcasts, but the triumphant song of protectors claiming their domain.
Through the pack mind, I felt my mates’ absolute contentment, their joy at this simple pleasure of running together under our own sky. We ran on through the night, seven wolves who’d found each other against impossible odds and transformed a continent in the process.
“The first full moon of the new era,” Torsten’s voice carried satisfaction and promise. “But not the last.”
“Many more to come,” I agreed, already looking forward to next week when my own heat would arrive.
We still needed to choose which pack would have the so-called honor of hosting us for my first heat as astral, though I suspected we would rotate through the packs for each year’s heat season.
The moon shone overhead, blessing our path as we raced toward whatever adventures awaited the Astral Packs and their protectors. Behind us, the final chapter of an old era closed. Ahead, infinite possibilities stretched like starlight across the snow.
“We were all outcasts once,” I said. “Now no one can ever tear us apart.”
An aurora poured across the night sky as if the universe itself acknowledged the truth of my words. Silently, my mates’ absolute agreement warmed me with their commitment to the future we would create together.
We had found our home — not on any packlands, but in each other. Our wolves would forever dance together, in moonlight and in dreams.