Page 47 of Marked for the Pack

Gage passed by several trees until he reached the edge of the forest. When he turned to face me, I realized he was standing beneath an apple tree. I smiled, and his eyes lit up, pleased I’d noticed.

Then Heath and Flint came up on either side of me to take my hands.

“Kneel,” Gage commanded.

Heath and Flint held me steady as I dropped to my knees before the pack alpha. Clenching my thighs together, I tried to remind myself this wasn’t a sexual thing. But after last night… it felt like Gage had unlocked the floodgates or something.

Heath groaned beside me, and Gage chuckled before getting serious again.

“Freya, do you swear loyalty to the Howling Echo pack?”

I repeated the words I’d said the day we made our deal. “I willingly give the Howling Echo my loyalty. I promise to serve the pack.”

“And the pack will serve you,” Gage responded. “And do you pledge to put your packmates ahead of all others, even your own blood family?”

I took a sharp breath. I didn’t know my family, but now that I knew more about these alphas, I wondered if they’d sworn to dothe same. When I glanced up at Flint, his unwavering gaze told me he had. He’d given up his place in Frost Fang for his sister’s sake, but now he gave the Howling Echo his complete and total loyalty.

Knowing that gave my inner wolf a sense of belonging and peace. I might never know my family, but these men had become important to me. And now they were becoming my pack. Family. Safety. Connection. All things I’d yearned for since I was old enough to understand I was different.

“I do,” I answered. “I belong to the Howling Echo pack and will always put my packmates first.”

“And we pledge our loyalty to you, as your packmates,” Heath and Flint said simultaneously.

This pack may not have cared much for tradition, but they knew how this was supposed to go, and they were leading me through together, step by step.

“Now you must swear loyalty to me as your pack alpha.”

Gage’s words from yesterday seemed to echo in my ears.Before you can join the Howling Echo, you need to learn to obey your pack alpha.

And just like yesterday, I shivered, but looked up at him. “I pledge my loyalty to you, Gage of the Howling Echo, as my pack alpha.”

“Good.” He smirked down at me, then slowly unzipped his jeans.

My eyes watched his hand slide lower, and wetness coated my inner thighs. I realized what he was doing when I caught the heat building in his gaze. He was intentionally teasing me.

He must be thinking of yesterday, too, when he’d forced me to my knees and made me suck him off. Every fiber of my being wanted an encore performance, but that wasn’t why we were out here, I reminded myself.

Still, the sight of Gage’s hard length made me clench my legs together tighter. He let his pants fall and then took a step back to give himself space for the shift. In seconds, a massive wolf stood before me, looking me straight in the eyes.

With me on my knees, the massive alpha wolf towered over me. From this angle, I could see his white underbelly and legs. Dark gray fur crowned his head.

Only then did I realize I was staring, mesmerized, into his golden gaze, when I should avert my gaze before my new pack alpha. With the other two still holding my hands, I dipped my head, causing my long hair to fall in front of my shoulders.

Then Heath presented my left arm, turning my wrist until it was palm-up. He held my elbow to extend my left arm forward toward Gage, who had previously bitten the guys on their left forearms. After this, I would carry a matching bite mark from our pack alpha. I steeled myself, my ab muscles tensing in anticipation.

“It will only hurt for a moment,” Flint reassured me from the other side.

I hissed when the wolf’s powerful jaws encircled my left wrist, but Gage bit down gently, fully in control of his wolf. His fangs broke the skin, and blood pooled around his lips for a moment before he licked the wound clean. As soon as he did so, the pain disappeared like it had never happened.

As Gage shifted back, I looked down at my forearm. A circular bite mark decorated my wrist at last. I’d been jealous of Wilder and Willow for so long for getting the chance to be accepted among the Ironwood pack, despite their poor rank in the hierarchy. Ironwood had never given me the chance.

But when Ironwood cast me out, the Howling Echo had been there to take me in. Not enthusiastically, at first, but even then they’d done more to protect me than Ironwood ever had. Andnow… they’d given me a place to belong, something I’d longed for my entire life.

I closed my eyes, sensing something unfamiliar in the back of my mind. My wolf’s ears perked up, and she stood up. I sensed her excitement… and then I could sense… Gage. His strength and power extended to me, sheltering me. Any other wolf shifter I met would know my pack alpha was a powerful, dominant wolf.

But then I remembered that Ironwood packmates had mentioned that Jameson could sense when they stepped out of line, and my heart rate spiked. Gage’s presence was instantly there in the back of my mind, reassuring me.

Strong hands lifted me up onto my feet. I opened my eyes as Gage pulled me into his arms.

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