The Four Mates of Freya Rivers

The First Two

Jax

I whistled a happy tune as I tied my shoes, ready to run out before dawn and get a surprise going for Freya. I sent off a text to Cora as I exit my apartment, telling her that I was already on my way to the pack house.

I rush through the houses, passing by my parent’s place and giving kissing my mom’s cheek. I moved out when I turned 18, much like every single werewolf in our town. It was tradition in our pack, which very much symbolized children’s stepping into the independence of adulthood. I moved out of my parent’s two story cabin, and moved into an apartment much closer to town proper.

Cora, although being the Beta’s second child, chose to move into the same building as me. She was offered to move into pack house, on same wing as the officer’s families just on the second floor. But she’d said she wanted to experience real independence. And then Freya, since she was the Alpha’s daughter, chose to stay in the same wing she grew up in. Just on the floor below their parent’s room.

“Give Freya our greetings, alright?” She says as she waves me away.

I ran across the woods, following the path that led to the pack house. I entered through the kitchen door, knowing that the house and groundskeeper has already gotten up for their jobs. They leave this door open during the day, because at the heart of our territory, this is the safest place in town.

I smile at the cook as she prepares the food for the breakfast table, but I grab half of her station as I prepare a special breakfast just for Freya.

She’s turning 21 today, and a lot of people are going to be coming over to celebrate with her. So I might as well take this time to celebrate when it’s just us.

Goddess, I could already feel my heart beat faster.

I remember the first time that I’d seen her. It was the first day of preschool and I was nervous about making friends. Then in comes this girl with long dark pigtails, not afraid to look everyone, even the adults, in the eye. I remember thinking that’d be hard to befriend. But then the teacher directs her to the seat beside me. Then as she walks towards me, she flashes me the brightest smile that made my little boy heart skip a beat. This girl wasn’t like the other girls I’ve met.

And through the years, I’ve marvelled at how right that first impression was. Freya is the kindest person I’ve ever met, and she loves her family and this pack fiercely. She’s tough, never lets a loss in any of our sparring training get her down. And she’s severely loyal. It’s one of the things I love about her.

Goddess, I don’t really know when exactly I started falling for the girl who has slowly become my best friend. But I knew for a fact that I was indeed in love with her on the evening before my 12th birthday. I was feeling a little low after a bad day at training, after Chase had landed me on my ass round after round of sparring. She snuck me into her parent’s wing of the pack house and to her favourite balcony. We sat there under stars, talking s**t about Chase, and eating the chocolate he’s hidden in his room. As it turned out, Freya was good at sneaking in and out of other people’s rooms too.

And as the night went to a close, I looked at her – a tiny smear of chocolate stuck in her teeth, her hair still dishevelled from a whole day of training, her beautiful olive skin a little toasted from being under the sun. I looked at her, and I just knew. Goddess, my heart would leap out of my chest for her if it could. It probably would, if she asked.

Look at me, in love with my best friend who sees me nothing more than exactly that – her best friend. It tears at me some nights, but simply being around her every day was worth any of it. I’d take whatever she gives me. And besides, when she started getting interested in other guys, I had fun scaring the hell out of every single one of them. Only one had gotten through me – that dipshit, Archer, from camp – and he broke her heart. That promise of offering her his head on platter is still out there in the world.

It’s the same feeling every time she flirts with other guys or sneaks off with them during parties. That’s why I’ve also tried venture out into dating – of course, these other girls can’t even hold a candle to Freya’s brightness. It was worth a shot, trying to see if I could maybe feel the same things for other girls. But no luck

When I turned 21 two months ago, I was even hopeful of waking up and hopefully finding my mate in the pack. But again, no luck.

Today, she’s the one turning 21. And there’s a large part of me hoping and praying that she could be my mate. And when I say praying, I literally mean it. For as long as I can remember, I’ve prayed to the Moon Goddess almost every night. I prayed that she’d be the one, and promised her that I’d do everything in my power to fill her with love for the rest of our lives.

Jeez, it might be corny and sad, but I don’t care.

In the kitchen, I make my mom’s famous scrambled eggs while cooking some bacon in the oven. I talk to the cook, charming my way to convincing her to help me make the fresh orange juice that Freya loves. After making a pitcher that she places in the fridge for the meantime, she leaves me in the kitchen to set up the breakfast table.

I hum to myself as I get her plate ready, grabbing the toast and putting butter on them. She ought to wake up any minute now.

“Quick bite before your run, Silva?” An annoying voice calls to me, using my surname. I looked up and find Chase walking towards the kitchen island. This morning though, he doesn’t look like he’s gearing up for training. Today he’s wearing dark pants and a white shirt.

I don’t answer him and continue what I’m doing, carefully plating the eggs. My wolf just turns his head, dismissing his presence with indignation. He’s still pretty upset about all the burpees he made us do yesterday. So ignore him it is, until he grabs a slice of toast and I was too slow to stop his ass.

“Hey! That wasn’t for you!” I said, pushing him out of the way to make more toast. I wasn’t gonna give Freya breakfast with only one slice of toast. My girl deserves better than that.

The stoic expression on his face doesn’t change as he chews, casually regarding the breakfast I’ve made. “Making our birthday girl breakfast, eh?”

“Shut up, Chase.” I said, turning back around to finally pour that glass of orange juice. Just waiting for the toast, and I’ll be off.

“This is sad, Jaxon.” He brushes off the crumbs in his hands before crossing them over his chest. “I thought you’d get over your merry little crush on the Alpha’s daughter by now. Obviously that’s not the case.”

“I don’t have a crush on Freya.” I said, turning around and leaning against the counter, narrowing my eyes and giving him all my attention. It’s not exactly a lie. It wasn’t technically just a crush.

“Well, you could’ve fooled me.” Now he’s got that judgy eyebrow scrunch going on again. Then he narrows his eyes as he tries to get a read on me. “And yet you’re here, making her a nice birthday breakfast, and hoping to the Goddess that when she wakes up, you’ll imprint on each other.”

Fuck. He got all of that with just a look? Or am I just really that easy to read?

I shake my head at him, trying my best to brush it off with a scoff, as I went for the toast that has finally finished.

“Do you think when she’s Alpha, she’ll need an alpha consort like you?” Chase asked, his tone laced with innocent curiousness. “You can’t even really stand your own ground in the sparring ring.”

That’s it.

I whirled around to face him, my wolf suddenly getting annoyed and ready to throw hands. We hadn’t faced off in the sparring ring since that day before my 12th birthday. And boy, does he love reminding me of it.

“It’s been almost ten years ago. I was just a scrawny kid.” I growled. I’ve obviously filled out over the years. With my extra attention to training, I’ve grown to be the best in class by the time graduation rolled around. But of course by that time, Chase was already a training officer. “We can try going at it again. I think you’ve been sitting too relaxed as a trainer, Chase. Might be rusty now.”

This brings his wolf forward too, his eyes momentarily flashing. It’s a werewolf thing, I guess. They hear a challenge, they’d never back down. “Did you just challenged me, Silva?” He rises to his full height, only about an inch taller than my 6’3 stance, so we’re just about eye to eye right now.

Telling him to set a time and place was right on my tongue, but suddenly this mouth-watering lavender scent reaches my nose and I start salivating. Chase starts to say something too but he stops as well, like he’s also smelled that wonderful scent wafting towards us. Before I could even start to look for it, I hear steps rounding the corner and a gasp of breath. A gasp that had strings attached to my heart before I even turned to look.

It’s Freya, looking frantic…

Our gazes meet and my heart instinctively climbs to my throat.

Mate. Mate. Mate!

My wolf was going mad inside me, wrecking everything and yelling at me to grab her and kiss her and never let her go. And yet all I could do was look at her, so f*****g beautiful in the daylight. With her long wavy black hair, golden brown eyes, and that deliciously tanned skin. All I could do was marvel at her. Because she’s my f*****g mate.

Thank the Goddess.

I thought to myself just as Chase spoke beside me. “I f*****g knew it.” He’d said, and before I could even move, he’s taken the space between them, grabbed her and kissed her.

“What the f**k!” I yell, moving before I could even think about it and push Chase away from her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I move to put Freya behind me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He pushes me back. “What makes you think you can pull my mate away from me?”

“Your mate?” I yell. “She’s mine!”

The wolf was rumbling under my skin, ready to shift for the sole reason of possessiveness. I don’t care who he is, he kissed my mate. He basically signed his death sentence.

Chase was as angry too, I could obviously see it. His wolf was just simmering right under his skin. Ready to jump out at any time.

This could easily get real nasty, real quick. But we both heard a soft whimper that came from Freya, and it instantly made us turn towards her. The anger and possessiveness quickly being replaced by concern.

“Frey…” I started.

“You both…” She stammered, her teary eyes bouncing between me and Chase. Her hand moves to press down her chest, as if trying to calm her frantic breathing. While the other moves to touch her lips. My girl was getting paler, the rush of blood to her cheeks earlier getting flushed out by her too shallow breaths. “But the both of you can’t be… I can’t possibly have two...” She begins and fails multiple times.

I take a step forward, wanting to hold her and calm her down in my arms. But she steps away from me. “I-I’m sorry.” She says, before making a break for the kitchen door and straight to the woods.

I called after her, but she was too fast gone. Needing only a moment to calm down, thinking that it wouldn’t be too aggressive if I ran after her, I prepared to move. But then Chase started to speak.

“Did she just say the two of us?” He wonders, making me turn around to look at him. What the hell was he talking about? “Did you just imprint the mate bond on her too?”

Then I started to recall it a little clearer now, her reaction, her words. The way she looked too overwhelmed between the two of us. “Wait, did you?” I asked.

He crosses his arms over his chest again, deep in thought as he nods.

Fuck.

No wonder my girl looked overwhelmed. She was nervous yesterday about finding her mate. What more could she be possibly feeling when she wakes up and has two?