Page 107 of Marked for the Pack

“As your pack alpha’s mate, I command you to turn back. Leave me alone.”

Both wolves whimpered, but when I backed down the trail, neither of them followed us. I hadn’t asked for Gage to share his power with me, but I would use it if I had to.

As I traveled along the path, I kept looking over my shoulder, but I sensed no one else. Still, I began to feel foolish. It didn’t seem likely anyone would be waiting for me at the clearing — it was only a dream.

Just like it was a dream to think I could stay with Gage and be with Flint and Heath. He’d been afraid that my mark on his face would undermine his authority as pack alpha. If the Frost Fang pack smelled his enforcers on me… Which would be worse in their eyes? Mating a half-witch, or allowing his packmates to have their way with his mate?

But if the woman in my dream really did wait for me in the clearing… maybe she could help me break the bond and erase the mark on his face. Gage had ordered me to figure out how to do that, after all. I flinched at the memory — I hadn’t wanted to be bit and claimed like that, but the thought of breaking our bond had my wolf whining in distress and my heart clenching with anxious sorrow.

The dream still clouded my head, making me foggy and sluggish. It made the forest feel surreal as we walked along the path, as if I were still dreaming, though I knew I was awake. I glanced over at Flint, only to find his gaze remained fixed on the path ahead.

When he noticed me staring at him, he gestured for me to go ahead of him on the narrowing path. His confidence in me — thefact that he would follow me on my quest even if it might turn out fruitless — filled me with gratitude. I could always rely on Flint.

In only a few more minutes, I burst free of the trees. I gasped when I saw a woman standing in the tall grasses ahead of me. Hope filled me at the thought of meeting my family.

The woman regarded me with deep blue eyes that seemed to glow with power in the morning light. She kept her short brown hair cropped close to her head in an effortless pixie cut. With a blue and gold sweater, black slacks, and chunky boots, her modern style disarmed me and left me off-balance all at once.

Much like Brielle, her appearance didn’t scream ‘mage.’ Even without the knowledge from my dream, I might have guessed she was family from my witch half. Something in the shape of her face reminded me of my own.

Her lips curved up in a welcoming smile when I approached.

“I’m so glad to finally meet you, Freya,” she said in an oddly scratchy voice.

“Same,” I said. “But who are you?”

“I am Pandora. Your father, Preston, was my brother.” Her smile fell when she used the past tense. “Come, walk with me.”

“Pandora and Preston?” I wondered aloud. “I thought only wolves named their litters with the same first letter like that.”

Pandora snorted. “Our parents —your late grandparents — had a ridiculous sense of humor, considering we weren’t even twins. In fact, we were born a year apart.”

I recalled Ingrid mentioning that mage offspring weren’t born in litters like wolves, and since the two of them weren’t twins, it was probably considered strange that their parents had named them like wolf pups.

Pandora started walking away — in the opposite direction I’d come from. I didn’t want to go any farther from the den than we had to, but she had more answers about my past… I couldn’tlet them slip through my fingers now, not when I was so close. I could walk with her for a ways, then turn back.

When I glanced over my shoulder, I was reassured by Flint’s calming smile. He would protect me no matter what happened. I had nothing to fear as long as he was here with me.

Suddenly I felt like a jerk for not introducing him.

“Pandora, I should also introduce you to Flint, one of my… packmates.”

I’d almost said mates, but technically Gage was my only true mate… at least until we could figure out how I could take multiple mates like my mother had. Maybe Pandora would know something useful that could help.

“Of course, dear,” Pandora said dismissively.

Flint and I exchanged a look, but he just shrugged.

When we reached a rocky outcropping in our way, Pandora began to circle back the way we’d come. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“My parents always had an unhealthy obsession with wolf shifters,” she said, all traces of friendliness fading.

The disdainful way she said it showed how little regard she held for shifters. My stomach twisted into knots, wondering how she felt about me, her half-breed niece.

“It didn’t bother them when Preston fell in love with a wolf shifter, even when they learned she was already mated to wolves. They still accepted her completely.” Her lip pulled back in a disgusted snarl. “I never did.”

Pandora obviously hadn’t liked my mother, and that made me wonder why she’d come here. My senses were on high alert as we walked, but I wasn’t ready to put my tail between my legs and run just yet. While she was in a talkative mood, I should get as much info from her as I could.

“I thought mages took multiple mates, too,” I said, not understanding why she’d made it sound so bad that my mother already had two other mates.

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