Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Freja laid with him, threading her fingers through his hair, admiring her mate.
After laying beside him for an hour, she figured out how to sneak away and take a shower.
Finding a shirt of his, she put it on, tying it into a knot at her side.
She also managed to find a pair of his shorts that had a drawstring, which she pulled as tight as it would go, since they were too big.
Looking herself over, she shrugged. It was good enough.
She wanted to get a bit of fresh air. Honestly, she was a bit hungry, too, but that could wait.
She really just wanted a few moments on her own.
Rather than leave through the house, though, she opted for another way.
She knew she would run into someone for sure if she went through the pack house, so she walked out onto the balcony and glanced down.
It was two stories high, but that was nothing for a werewolf or a vampire, and she was both.
She hopped down, landing easily on her feet.
She felt more nimble and was impressed by her increased agility.
It felt like she was even stronger than she was the day before.
She grabbed her hair tie and pulled her hair up.
Her auburn hair now out of the way, she looked out over her surroundings and headed toward the woods behind the pack house.
There was a pavilion right behind the house, too, where it looked like the pack gathered at times.
The area was fairly quiet. She could hear wolves training in the distance.
Freja felt relaxed as she walked through the shade of the trees, birds chatting happily above her as the sunlight rippled through the leaves and danced over her skin.
A cool breeze made the leaves rustle slightly and the sound of water trickling played on her ears.
This place felt different, and she felt connected to it. She was their luna now.
“Hey, who are you?”
Freja turned and saw a couple of guys walking her way.
They looked to be sixteen years old. They were young werewolves, but it didn’t seem like either of them had their wolf instincts.
She realized they must not, or else they would be training with the others.
Without their wolves, they weren’t able to sense who she was.
She looked at them with little interest and redirected her gaze ahead of her, feeling slightly annoyed.
They were her pack members now, but dealing with young, hormonal, territorial puppies was not her thing. Unless she was slitting their throats …
“Hey! He asked you a question,” the other boy said in irritation, noticing the woman ignoring them.
Freja let out an annoyed sigh, and her green eyes glared at the two boys. She didn’t want to give off a bad impression of their new luna, but she was still trying to adjust to being around people. She hated feeling annoyed.
“Hey look, it’s the wolfless duo.” Another boy walked up with a few of his lackeys in tow.
Freja wanted to whine in frustration. Where’s the sandbox where these puppies can go play? Toss them a few puddle jumpers and let them go in the deep end of the pool. Anywhere but where she was trying to have a moment for herself.
“We won’t always be wolfless. Then you’ll be sorry.”
“You don’t even know how to make a cat sorry.”
Freja rolled her eyes. So lame. The other boy and his lackeys walked closer and looked at Freja. Her green orbs stared at them in irritation. Their eyes widened and they looked down at the ground. At least there was one good thing about them having their wolves.
“You’re—You’re—You’re …”
“Annoyed,” Freja said tersely. The boys tensed up and looked at the ground nervously. They kept their heads lowered as they slowly began to back away.
Freja sighed in annoyance. Why was she even bothering?
“Wait.” Her voice could have frozen hell over with the icy sound that came from it.
“I think in the future you may wish to rethink teasing those who haven’t shifted yet.
Don’t you?” She was trying to have a teachable moment here, but she sucked at it.
She didn’t converse enough to be good at it.
While what she said sounded nice in her head, her tone came off like ‘bother them again, assholes, and I’ll rip your throats out’.
The boys yelped slightly, nodding as they tucked their tails and ran.
Freja furrowed her brows and frowned. She rubbed her forehead and sighed.
This was why she avoided people. But it was hard to do that as the new luna.
Good, they should run for the hills. We deserve this much respect, Ember said matter-of-factly.
Boundaries Ember, remember? Freja scolded her wolf, who slunk back into her mind’s depths.
No peace anywhere … not even in her own mind.
She looked over at the two boys who were still standing there, their faces clearly confused, not knowing what just happened.
She could see they were a bit uneasy now, seeing how the other boys scattered.
“HEY!” a booming voice roared. “Get back to fundamentals.” The snarl grew closer with each heavy stomp.
“Sorry, Caden,” the boys said in unison and took off running.
“Lavatory duty for a week, boys!” Caden yelled after them, chuckling as he heard them groan. He turned his head and grinned at Freja. “I just love being the one handing out the discipline instead of receiving it. Welcome to the pack, Luna. I’m Caden.” He reached his hand out, beaming at her.
This one seems friendly enough, Freja thought, offering him a small smile with her hand. His handshake was firm, and it made her feel comfortable. He was confident, and she appreciated that about him.
“It’s Freja, please.”
“Well, Freja …” Caden looked her over and frowned a bit. “Come with me. You look to be close in size to Rosa and Susan. We can find you something better to wear than that. Those bottoms are barely staying up. I can’t believe Hunter let you walk out like that.”
Freja tilted her head and gave him a crooked smile. “Hunter’s taking a nap.” She bit her lower lip as she listened to Caden chuckle.
“He isn’t going to be too happy when he wakes up then.” Caden grinned and offered his arm out to her. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” he said, seeing her hesitation. He heard the grumbling from her stomach and frowned. “Sounds like he hasn’t fed you either. Come with me. I’ll get you all fixed up.”
Freja blushed in minor embarrassment as she let Caden lead her to a house in the distance. He opened the door. “Rosa, love! I brought the new luna with me. She needs clothes and food.” He chuckled as he watched Rosa come into view.
“Oh, you are beautiful,” Rosa gushed as she took Freja’s hands. “Come with me. I have the perfect outfit for you to wear.”
These people were crazy. They were doting on her and being close to her so casually. They weren’t afraid at all. Everyone was afraid of her. Everyone but this pack of crazies.
Freja walked out of the room. She had been dressed up like a doll.
She was wearing a white blouse with a pleated green skirt, which was shorter than she liked.
How was she supposed to move in this thing without exposing her bum to the world?
There was no way to fight in it, either. Very impractical.
Caden whistled as she walked out. “Rosa, honey, don’t you think she looks too good?”
“She’s perfect.” Rosa smiled as she motioned for Freja to come closer, setting a sandwich in front of her at the table. “I didn’t know what you liked … I hope this is fine. It’s ham and cheese. Caden’s specialty.”
“Thank you. This is great,” Freja said as she greedily ate the sandwich.
Sam and Susan walked in as Freja finished the last bite of her sandwich. “I see mom was playing dress up. You look amazing, by the way.” Susan walked up to Freja and took a seat beside her.
“Too amazing for Hunter’s liking, though, I’m sure.” Sam knew his possessive alpha would be grumbling knowing other males could see his mate’s exposed thighs.
“Utter nonsense. You werewolves are too darn possessive. She has beautiful legs. Let her show them off. If I had legs like yours, I wouldn’t wear anything but short skirts,” Rosa said with a sigh.
“What are you talking about? Your legs are gorgeous.” Caden walked behind Rosa and pulled her into his chest.
“Your children are present.” Susan groaned and turned her head.
“Well, how do you two think you were made?” Caden grinned.
“DAD!”Susan and Sam yelled together.
Freja burst out laughing, holding her sides as she continued to laugh at the warm family. She felt completely at ease, shocked by how natural this all felt.
Sam and Susan felt a bit embarrassed and gave Freja a cheesy grin. “Sorry. Dad can be blunt like that,” Sam said with a sigh.
“What are you talking about?” Freja calmed down enough to be able to answer.
“I like how genuine you all are. It’s nice to be around people who are transparent, without hidden motives.
” She could feel how open and unguarded they all were.
She wasn’t used to this. If someone was nice to her, they generally had an ulterior motive.
It was always like that, except here. It was refreshing, and she was enjoying it.
“So those pups from earlier … will they get their wolves soon?” Freja asked as she sipped her drink.
“Oh yeah, they’ll get them. We all shift at different times, but that doesn’t mean anything. Take Sues here. She’s seventeen and doesn’t have her wolf yet. But she will make her appearance soon,” Caden said as he nodded to his daughter.
Freja looked at Susan. “Do they give you a hard time about not having your wolf?”
Sam growled angrily. “If anyone dared, I’d shred them.”
Susan giggled. “So, the answer is no. Not with my brother being the beta and me being close with the alpha.”
Freja frowned slightly. “It seemed like those pups from earlier have been getting picked on. I guess not everyone gets protected from it.”
“Who’s picking on them?” Sam asked as Caden’s eyes darkened hearing this.
“A few others showed up who had their wolves. They were about the same age. I heard them call them wolfless, and the two boys seemed a bit on edge. Seems like they have to deal with them often.” Freja looked up, noticing the two men seemed irritated.
“I didn’t know. If only they would have mentioned it.” Caden frowned and sighed.
“I’ll deal with the issue, Dad. We need to keep a better eye on the younger pack members and keep them in line.” Sam frowned, certain he was failing.
“Why not have Hunter give an alpha order? Ordering them not to make fun of others?” Freja thought this seemed like a sensible suggestion.
Caden smiled and shook his head. “That’s not the way we do things around here.
Alpha orders are absolute, but we prefer to leave it to free will.
We don’t want anyone to feel restrained and ordered around by the alpha.
Some things are worth the order. It helps keep everyone in line.
But for something like this, we prefer to see everyone’s nature.
We want to see who naturally complies and who are the problems. It helps with the ranking system we have in place. ”
Freja appreciated this. It was different from what she had pictured in her head. She thought alphas just barked orders to their pack. Well, maybe some did, but she was glad it wasn’t like that here.
“The only orders Hunter has really given lately were at the Alpha meeting. And in that situation, it was a bit necessary. We have a war coming,” Sam said with a shrug. Freja nodded her head in understanding.
“Where is Renee at?” Rosa asked Sam, noticing his mate wasn’t attached to his hip.
Sam pouted. “She’s having a mother-daughter day with Merida.”
“Oh! We should do that, too, Sue Sue!” Rosa said in excitement.
“Okay, Mom.” Susan giggled.
“From a distance, would you mind showing me which wolves you saw picking on the others? I just want an idea of who I need to keep a closer eye on. I might even double up and have Winston and Adam watch them, too.” Sam kept thinking back about the wolves being picked on and related the situation to his sister’s, which made his blood boil.
“Sure thing. I may have scared them a bit. I mean, I didn’t mean to. I’m not really good at coming off as the nurturing type, I guess.” Freja gave Sam a crooked grin.
Sam chuckled. “They’re your pack members, too. You can discipline them if you feel the need to.”
Freja held her hands up as she walked to the door. “No, that’s okay. I would like to get myself acquainted with how things are done around here. Hunter can handle the discipline for now.”
“Bye, dear. It was nice to meet you.” Rosa waved at Freja.
“Hunter needs to address the pack soon and introduce everyone to you.” Caden winked at Freja, and she paled slightly as Sam shut the door.
“Don’t worry, Freja. There’s nothing to it. Just a simple introduction and a picnic.” Sam smiled, seeing the tense look on her face.
“Yeah, I’m still working on the crowd thing. But I want to follow protocol, too, so I’ll manage.” She wanted to do right by being Hunter’s mate, and even though he would hold off for her, she wanted to do what was necessary. A picnic wouldn’t be that bad, right?
Sam led Freja through dense brush to a large training field. “Do you see any of them there?”
“In the back. The small group in the back right. It was them.” Freja felt like a snitch. She wasn’t the tattletale type. Of course, she didn’t need to be. She usually dealt with things on her own, but the way she normally dealt with things wouldn’t be appropriate.
Sam nodded his head. “Those were the ones I had in my head. Thank you for the confirmation.” He looked at Freja. “So, what are you doing walking around alone? And does Hunter know where you’re at?”
“I just wanted to take a quiet walk. Have some time to process everything.” Freja smiled and tilted her head. “Guess that can’t happen in a werewolf pack. And I left while Hunter was taking a nap.”
Sam let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “He isn’t going to like you walking about alone. I’ll walk with you, if you still want to walk.”
Freja giggled. “It’s really silly. I’m basically a demon assassin. And I’m even stronger now than I was just a couple of days ago. I’m pretty sure I can handle myself.”
“Oh, you don’t have to convince me.” Sam winked at her. “How about I show you around our little village here?”
Freja nodded. “Thank you. That sounds nice.”