Accepting Fate (Moonlight Trials Series #3)

Chapter 18

Chapter 18



Nathan’s POV

I was walking through the camp with a purpose. Freybelle’s words last night had truly cut deep, and I knew that despite everything I had said she still believed I would let her leave this pack without me. This morning, she had woken up her old annoying self but worse than usual. Everything was a joke or amusing. I knew she was masking her normal feelings, and it was Luna Sylvia’s fault. I stormed into the pack house to be greeted by Jack who was on a call to his mate.

“Hey, Nathan, Alpha’s looking for you.”

“Good.” I growled, not holding back my anger. Jack looked worried and immediately said goodbye to his mate before catching up to me.

“Woah, calm down, whats wrong?” He asked, knowing me well enough to know I was truly pissed off.

“You know exactly what is wrong, Jack. You were there for the conversation after all.” I hissed thought my teeth at him, taking the steps two at a time to the top floor or the four floored building.

“Youre joking right?” He stepped in front of me before I could start taking the next set of steps. “Youre taking a witches side over the Luna?” He asked and I had to look him up and down.

“I mean, it’s no more surprising than you taking half your time worrying about a different pack, is it?” I asked and smiled to myself as his face turned red. Good, it was about time someone pulled him up on it.

“That’s different and you know it.” He spluttered, blocking my way as I tried to move around him.

“It really isn’t, your loyalty is to your mate, rightly so…” I said, wondering if he would get the drift. I saw his eyes widen as realisation dawned on him.

“She is your f*****g mate?” He whispered. “The alpha was right.” He looked disgusted. “Jesus. Are you going to reject her? Is that why you’re so angry?” I had to look at him for a few seconds to see if he was serious.

“Jack… You’re serious? I’m mad because our Luna threatened her. Said the only reason she would be keeping her life is because she is helping us. She doesn’t have to help us, she wants to. We repay her by throwing her out into the wilderness, alone after she helps. That’s harsh even for us!” I snapped.

“Shes a witch! She deserves worse than that.” Jack snapped and for some reason I saw red. I was throwing my fists before I knew it.

Freybelle’s POV

I was in the back garden of Nathan’s house, gathering the few plants I could, due to it being nearly winter. There were mostly dead plants but the few that were still alive were ready to dry out. I was lucky that Nathan had grown a small selection of flowers and plants in memory of his mother who loved to garden. As I cut the ones I needed, such as mug wort, alfalfa, comfrey and dandelions I was giving thanks to the earth but also to his mother. Hoping she could hear me from the afterlife.

Id also managed to find some lavender and mug wort around the edges of the garden, creeping in from the forest. I also knew he had herbs in the kitchen such as sage and mint that would help. Then there were only a few more things I needed besides some candles, a mirror and the right time of the moon for both rituals.

I had gone back inside, shrugging off my jacket and boots when I heard a pounding at the door. It sounded panicked so I rushed to it.

“Is everything ok?” I asked, my voice shaking as it was none other than the Alpha stood there. “Sorry Alpha.” I bowed my head to him.

“I need you to come with me, right now.” He demanded and although part of me wanted to refuse, I knew it wouldn’t do Nathan any good if I did. I grabbed my boots and coat, putting them back on again before following him to the pack house.

“Why didn’t you tell my Luna or me that you and Nathan were mates?” He growled angrily without looking back at me. I was shocked.

“Well, I don’t really understand it. Witches don’t have mates. Then Nathan told me the mate bond between us was different than he had been taught. It wasn’t as fierce or quick, so I didn’t know if it was true. Ive been researching it where I can but there’s no answers…” I answered honestly as we walked.

“But you still left that detail out.”

“Yes, but only because I knew it might cause issues for Nathan.” I looked to the floor. “Especially as I will be leaving once the problems have been dealt with and Nathan will stay here. I figured t didn’t matter.” He clicked his tongue in his mouth, and I could feel he was holding back something. “Why is it important? Whats happened?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.

“Nathan and my Beta ended up in a fight over you. They’re both in the infirmary.”

“WHAT?!” I shouted, my worry now extending further. “Why would they do that? Nathan wouldn’t… would he?”

“He would, hes hardheaded and done worse. I believe he was sticking up for you…” I tried not to smile. Maybe he would leave with me one this was all over but then the thoughts of that were instantly cleared as the Alpha turned to me. “I don’t know what you’ve done to him, but once you’ve outlived your usefulness, I will absolutely make sure youre gone.” He snarled into my face, his hot breath hitting my nostrils as I tried to control my anger at the way he was speaking to me. Instead, I bit my tongue. I needed to see Nathan.

“I haven’t done anything to him. May I see him? And your Beta. I would be happy to heal them both if they allow it.” I said instead, keeping my eyes to the floor so as not to antagonise him.

“We are heading there now, luckily, they will need no healing. Werewolves heal fast and they only have bruises and a few broken bones.” I gasped at the thought of a broken bone. Maybe werewolves did heal quick but even then, surely it would take weeks for them to heal. I didn’t ask further questions though and just followed behind the alpha.

We arrived at the infirmary and immediately all eyes were on me. As I had told Nathan, the stares and whispers around me were deafening. None of them trusted me and if they knew why the Delta and Beta had fought, they would hate me even more. It hurt to understand why they felt like that when all I wanted to do was prove I wasn’t like that and scream and shout at them that I was different. But being able to see both sides of the story meant I kept quiet, accepting their hatred and stares. I was guided into Nathans room.

“Stay here.” The Alpha commanded and slammed the door behind me. I could have sworn I heard the door lock but instead the vision of Nathan in front of me made me run to his side.

“Nathan?” I whispered, hoping he was awake. He fluttered one eye open and smiled.

“Hey” He said, and I resisted the urge to slap him.

“Why did you get into a fight over me!” I snapped, not truly angry but annoyed he would cause issues in his pack over me.

“Jack said some awful things about you, and I wouldn’t stand for it.” I frowned.

“Nathan, you can’t beat people over that.” I sighed and grabbed the chair from against the wall, pulling it up to his bed and grabbing his hand. “If you did, then I’m afraid you’d end up fighting the whole pack.” I saw his eyes shift in colour as he spoke to Blaze.

“Id do that for you.” I frowned again, not wanting to hear this when in a few weeks I intended to reject him and ride off into the sunset.

“You can’t. These people are your family. I’m just a witch you picked up on the trail.” I laughed bitterly. As I held his hand, I was concentrating on feeling his pain but if he was in any he wasn’t displaying it.

“Who has said that?” He growled.

“No one needs to. I see the way people look at me and how they speak about me. Your Alpha and Luna hate me, and I understand, I do. My family tortured your luna, killed your Gamma and countless others no doubt. I don’t blame them for fearing me and placing their hatred onto me.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. I heard deep breaths for a few minutes and was amazed to see the purple bruise on his cheek disappear. My mouth fell open in wonder. The Alpha wasn’t joking when he said it was quick. Before Nathan opened his eyes again, I threw the covers off him. “Where did you break bones?” I screamed, both excited and in awe.

“A rib and a finger but they’re healed now.” He said, pointing to his chest and showing me his left pointer finger.

“Already? How?” I said, amazed as I grabbed his previously broken finger and felt for breaks. He chuckled and sat up.

“Werewolves heal fast. Our counterparts help us so its like we have two immune systems. Its one of the perks of being one.” He chuckled and flexed his muscles.

“How is Jack?” I asked. I felt anger flash through him.

“He will be fine, the asshole.” He answered with a deep rumbling in his chest. I didn’t dare ask more questions and just nodded.

“What happens now? I imagine your Alpha is mad at you. He was livid when he got me. Also, he knows were mates by the way. I told him…” I bit my tongue, almost admitting the rejection. “I told him we still hadn’t figured out why the bond wasn’t strong, so we felt no need to tell him yet.”

“I will deal with him. It doesn’t matter if were mates or not, what Jack said was out of line even for him and he deserved that punch. It’s been a long time coming that he received a wake-up call about his role as Beta.” I bit my lip, not wanting to say anything to make his mood worse or to bad mouth his Beta but after what Nathan had told me, I couldn’t disagree. We were sitting in silence, thinking about everything whe the door was unlocked. Alpha Fenn walked in with the Luna and a few other wolves, I assumed one was a doctor and another a bodyguard of sorts.

“You locked us in?” Nathan asked, angrily.

“Shes clearly a danger…” The Luna answered and Nathan glared at her. I turned to him, hoping he saw the pleading in my eyes. I didn’t want him to piss off his leaders, they were his friends.

“She is not a danger.” Nathan growled. “She’s here to help us. She doesn’t have t do that.”

“Is she?” Alpha Fenn asked, staring directly at me and I frowned at him. “Shes influenced you so much that you’ll fight with Jack, someone who is not only your superior but also your close friend. You held back information from me, your alpha but also one of your closest friends and finally, she was seen collecting things in your garden this morning. She said she would send us a list but hasn’t yet.” I went to answer but I felt a hand on mine ad looked at Nathan.

“Let me ask you a few things, Alpha.” Nathan said, the word Alpha, rolling off his tongue with bitterness. “Has your Beta been a Beta for the last few months? Can I really call him my superior when Ive been picking up his slack? He hasn’t been my friend in a long time and now he definitely isn’t when he is calling Frey horrible names and putting her down. Then, you accuse me of holding back information, sure, I didn’t tell you, but only because I knew you would think it was influencing my decisions. It isn’t. I won’t explain again why Frey is willing to help but she is and she is pure and honest.” The bitterness and anger in his voice were getting deeper and I worried. I put my other hand over his, hoping to pass some cooling thoughts to him. “As for the collecting, you know she needs things. I had the list to give you before Jack acted like a fool. Its in my jeans. The other things she collected form my garden that I grew for my mother, saving you the trouble of finding them when she can do it herself. Those things, I’m sure, she can explain away, and they mean no harm to any of us. I don’t grow poison, Alpha…”

“Nathan…” I heard a warning tone from the Luna, but the Alpha held his hand out to her. Then there was a sigh.

“I want to talk to Nathan alone.” Alpha Fenn said before ushering everyone out of the room. “Freybelle, stay with John.” I looked at the presumed body guard and nodded.