His Lost Mate

Chapter 4

Freja

I wake up in a field of flowers. I look around confused because I distinctly remember falling asleep in Ares’ bed. My mind replays our shower and my cheeks get warm. I smile to myself. I lay back and spread my arms over the grass and flowers. It’s eerily quiet. I don’t hear any wildlife; no birds or crickets. I jerk upright and stand. I’m still naked. Did I sleep walk? I hear rustling behind me and turn around to see this beautiful woman. She looks like a goddess. She’s wearing a white dress and a crown of flowers. She walks toward me but I’m not scared. I actually feel very at ease.

“Who are you? Where am I?” I start to panic a little, “Am I dead? Oh my god, er, goddess, did s*x with Ares kill me?!”

She laughs, “No, you are not dead. s*x with your mate did not kill you.” That’s a relief, but I still don’t know where I am or how I got here. “My name is Selene, the Moon..”

“The Moon Goddess.” I interrupt her. I interrupted a goddess. She going to hate me. “That explains why you look like a goddess. What am I doing here, wherever here is?”

“I had to come to you in a dream, Freja. It’s to dangerous for me to come to earth right now. And we need to talk about your future.”

“Too dangerous? Why? You’re a goddess. Our goddess. I don’t understand,” I say.

“You will, my child. We don’t have much time so I need you to listen. You have to take your place on the thrown. It is your birthright. You need to take over as queen of the shifters. Only you can bring the shifters back together. Shifters have strayed from their duties. I created you to protect the humans. But as the years have gone by, you’ve turned on each other. Hunting your own kind out of greed and hate.”

“How am I supposed to bring the shifters together. They hate me. They called me an abomination. They killed my parents! The council killed them,” I let out a sob and she whips my tears.

“Not all of them hate you. They’ve just lost their way. They’ve been following the wrong rulers. Freja, you have to go to the Blood Moon pack and take your place as their alpha and queen,” she says urgently. “A war is coming. You will need to be ready. Your mate will help you. He’s trained for this his whole life.”

“I can’t..” she waves her hand and it’s like my voice is gone. Rude. “You have to, my child. If you want to live in peace, and bring the shifters together again. Like it once was,” she looks sad. We are her children and we’ve failed her. We’re fighting each other for petty reason. Greed, power, jealousy.

“I’ll try my best, but what if I fail?” I ask. She places her hands on my shoulders and says, “ I have all the faith in you. You will be their savior.” I smile at her.

“Now, I have a surprise for you. I think you’re going to like it,” she smiles and steps aside. I look to where she is looking and I see two people standing at the edge of the forest. They start walking toward us. It’s a man and a woman.

“Who are they?” She just smiles and nods. As they get closer I start to recognize them from the photo albums Lily showed me. It’s my parents. I take off running to them. When we reach each other I wrap my arms around both of them. I’m crying, tears pouring down my face.

“Freja,” my mom says, “you’re so beautiful.”

“Mom! Dad!” I say. “I can’t believe you’re both here.”

“We don’t have a lot of time, we just wanted to see you and tell you that we believe in you. You are going to do great things,” my dad says. He whips away my tears and I hug him. I squeeze him tight because I don’t want him to let go. I start crying even harder. “It’s okay, baby girl. Everything will be okay. Just believe in yourself.”

I hug my mom, “Don’t be scared, you were made for this. You will have to learn to wield you power. It will all work out in the end. Like your father said, believe in yourself. And your mate. He is stronger than you know sweetheart.”

Selene appears behind them, “It is time to go.”

“No! Don’t take them away, not again,” I shout.

“Don’t worry Freja, you will see them again. They are always there in your dreams when you need them.” They all smile and their figures start to fade. I reach out for them but I can’t grasp onto them.

“No! Mom! Dad!”

“We love you baby girl,” my dad says before they disappear completely. I sink to the ground and cry into my hands. “Be strong Freja,” my mother whispers in my ear.

I open my eyes again and I’m back in Ares’ bed. I spring up from the pillow and Ares groans. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I had a dream. My parents. The Moon Goddess,” I trail off.

“What?” He says sleepily.

I tell him about my dream. Everything Selene told me.

“How am I supposed to take over as queen and alpha of Blood Moon? Just knock on the front door and say ‘hey, I’m the new alpha and queen of this pack’? I don’t think that’ll go over very well,” I say and dramatically flop back onto the bed.

“I probably wouldn’t do it that way. We need to arrange a meeting with the king and queen. That may be difficult though, they don’t like us too much.”

“Great,” I say sarcastically. “I’m going to need to learn how to fight, too. I’ve never trained a day in my life,” I say. Ares pulls me closer to him and inhales deep, running his nose up my neck. I shudder, we’re both still naked from last night. I feel him harden on the back of my thigh. “I’ll train you, it’ll be fun,” he whispers, then nips at my earlobe. Dammit, I’m never going to be able to get anything done around this man.

His hand snakes down my body, and stops to cup my v****a. His fingers part my folds and he slips one into my already wet entrance. I moan and arch my back. He growls in my ear. I shudder, goosebumps form on my skin. “You’re so wet, you feel so good,” his voice is dangerously low.

“Ares, mmm,” I moan his name. He turns me to my back and trails kisses down my body. Stopping at my hips, he lifts my leg and places hit over his shoulder. “I have to taste you,” he dips his head and swipes his tongue over my c**t. I arch my back and moan his name again. His mouth at my entrance and his eyes on mine, he drags his tongue up and moans. This sends sparks throughout my body. He continues to draw me closer to orgasm. It hits me and I swear I see stars. I rock my hips and he holds me in place. I feel another orgasm building, he slips another finger in and curls them. The motion tipping me closer and closer to my release. I throw my head back when his mouth covers my c**t and he hums and flicks his tongue.

I grab his hair and my hips rock as my orgasm rocks through my body again. “f**k, that feels so good Ares,” he chuckles, swipes his tongue once more at my c**t before rising to his knees. Placing my leg back down, he positions himself at my entrance. He hovers over me and dips his head to mine. He kisses the tip of my nose. I grab the back of his head and take his mouth. My tongue parting his lips and dueling with his. He thrusts into me and we both moan.

He rests one arm by my head and grabs my leg with the other, bringing it up to wrap around his back. His thrusts deepen, hitting just the right spot. His hand roams my butt and my thigh and then up to my n****e. He sucks my n****e into his mouth and I purr. He growls and kisses up my chest to my neck and jawline. This man knows exactly what to do to drive me crazy. I start to rock my hips to meet his thrusts. I feel myself clenching. “Don’t stop doing that baby,” he growls in my ear. I couldn’t stop even if I tried.

He slows his pace to achingly slow. I whimper and he laughs. He knows what he’s doing, dragging out my orgasm, building it up. He’s teasing me. I’ll make him pay for that later. “Dammit, Ares, please..” he thrusts hard and deep, interrupting my begging. He growls in my ear and says, “c*m for me baby.” And I do, hard.

My eyes zone in on his neck. My canines ache to sink into his soft skin. I feel them lengthen and I nip his marking spot, then sink my teeth into him. He growls as my mouth fuses to his neck. When I sink my teeth in further he grabs my head to hold me in place. His body goes rigid for a moment then he thrusts once more and stops. I feel his c**k twitching as he cums inside of me.

I pull my canines from his neck and lick at the wound to seal it, and he shivers. Goosebumps dotting his skin. He collapses beside me and pulls me on top of his chest. I can feel his heart pounding. It’s rhythm matching my own heart.

Ares

After Freja marked me we fell asleep for a couple hours. When she woke up she said, “I need food. And water. And coffee.” She gets up and I admire her body. She’s a little skinny but she’s still beautiful. She puts on my t-shirt and says, “I’m going to make breakfast. Want to come watch me make a fool of myself?” I laugh and get out of bed, put on some sweatpants and follow her to the kitchen.

She grabs a pan out of the cabinet and looks at me for reassurance. I nod and she gets eggs and bacon out of the refrigerator. She cracks an egg but a little too hard and the shells fall in the bowl. I walk around the island to help her she puts her hand up to stop me. “No, I’ve got it. I have to learn how to do this on my own. I’m 22, I should know how to cook for my mate and kids..” Her eyes go wide and she slaps her hand over her mouth.

“Did you says ‘kids’?” She shakes her head.

“You did. Why are you freaking out?”Nothing.

“You think I don’t want kids?”Still, nothing.

“Freja, I want kids. I love kids. I want a whole mess of kids running around here..”

“You do?”

“Yes. I do.”

“But, not now?”

“It’s probably not the best time, but if you want to start right now we can go back to bed and continue trying.” She hit my chest and laughs.

“I think with this upcoming war, we may want to wait a bit.”

“Yeah, I agree. It just kind of came out. I wasn’t saying ‘we’re going to have kids right now.’” She says, still flustered and trying not to mess up the eggs. I take the egg from her hand and place it on the counter. “I know you’re not saying that. We’re on the same page here. Kids are in our future. Calm down sweetheart.”

“You should never tell a woman to calm down. That’s a bad idea.” She laughs and picks up the egg and cracks it perfectly. “Now, go back to your side of the kitchen. I’m gonna cook you breakfast and you’re going to like it!” I put my hands up in surrender and walk back to the other side of the island.

She starts frying the bacon, trying to keep the grease from popping on her hands. She handles the eggs delicately so she doesn’t get anymore shells in the bowl. It’s cute, she’s adorable. I’ve noticed she hums to herself when she concentrating. I can feel more of her emotions since she marked me. She seems nervous and anxious. Typically during mating, the male will mark the female first, then she marks him. I hope she doesn’t think I’m mad because she marked me and I didn’t get to mark her yet. I plan to do so as soon as possible.

“Did the Moon Goddess say when the war would be?” I ask.

“Nope, just said that it was coming and that I need to be prepared. I’m going to need to start training soon. In fighting, and on how to be a leader and a queen I guess. Where do I go for queen training?” She asks jokingly.

“We can start your training today. You’ll have to ask the queen of England on how to be a queen, though. That’s out of my skill set.”

“So how do I know when the bacon is done?” She asks, poking at it and flipping it.

“When it’s just starting to get crispy, it’s done.” I tell her. I love that she wants to learn to do things for herself. I have no doubt that she will be a great leader, and mother someday. I need to introduce her to my pack soon, too. She meet the warriors today when I take her for training. That should be interesting.

When we’re done with breakfast, which was pretty good, we get ready for training. We meet up with the other warriors on the training field. “Listen up everyone,” I start, “this is Freja, my mate. She will be training with us from now on. Everyone pair up and spar. We will take our run after.” Everyone stares at me for a moment, shocked to find out I have a mate. They pair up and start sparring. Tomas, my future beta, walks over and shakes my hand.

“Congratulations, man. I didn’t think you’d ever find your mate,” he says and turns to Freja. “I’m Tomas. Nice to finally have someone put this asshole in his place.” I punch his arm but laugh.

Freja shakes his hand and chuckles, “Nice to meet you, too, Tomas.”

“Freja, I’m going to put you with Tomas today. But be careful, he cheats,” I say. She narrows her eyes at him. She looks nervous. I can feel her anxiety so I squeeze her hand lightly and kiss her temple. “It’s going to be okay, he won’t hurt you. And if he does, he’ll have to deal with me.”

“Don’t go too easy on her, I want to see what she’s got. I have a feeling she’s more capable than she realizes,” I mind-link Tomas. He nods his understanding.

Tomas gets into a fighting stance as I step away and watch the others, keeping an eye on Freja. Tomas takes it easy, a few little jabs here and there. Freja ducks and dodges his blows. One lands on her ribs and I cringe but she just takes it and swings her fist at his nose. Connecting with a crunch. I wince, that had to hurt. Oh yeah, she has more strength than she knows.

“Everyone except Freja and Tomas switch partners. And stop going easy on each other. Your attacker in a war will not go easy on you.” I walk around and help show different techniques. Correct form and whatnot. Two of the best warriors, Damon and Claire, pair up and begin to spar. Claire is ruthless but Damon is quick for a big guy. He’s in the gym almost every minute he’s not working and securing the perimeter. I like to spar with him because I know he won’t go easy on me just because I’m the alpha’s son and pretty much his boss.

I hear a thud behind me and Freja is on her back but she recovers quickly. She hops up and is in a crouching position. Tomas lunges for her and she sidesteps him and stomps on his knee and elbows the back of his head. She’s a quick learner, that’s for sure.

“Are you sure you’ve never trained before?” Tomas asks her.

“Nope, beginner’s luck?” She shrugs and he lunges again. This time he catches her around her waist and takes her down. She punches and struggles to get out of his hold but he has her pinned. I can tell she’s getting mad. I’m about to say something to him when I feel her aura. “Get off of me!”

Tomas jumps back and sinks to his knees, baring his neck to her. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. Everyone stops and kneels to her. She looks around and then at me. She has no idea what she just did. She used her alpha command on Tomas but everyone else felt it too. She stands up and walks to Tomas.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to..” she trails off and grabs his hands. “I’m sorry.”

I feel her aura falter and Tomas looks up at her and says, “Don’t apologize for who you are. Alpha is in your blood. Don’t be afraid of it, embrace it.” He smiles at her. “Don’t tell Ares this, but I think you could give him a run for his money.”

“I can hear you, dummy,” I say. “Alright, every shift and run the northeast perimeter.” They head for the forest and shift.

“She did very well for a beginner,” Tomas says to me. His nose is bleeding a little but it’s since healed from the break. “I’d like to see what she can do with Damon.”

“Who’s that?” She asks.

“The big one,” he says. Her eyes widen, “Oh, um, I don’t know about that just yet. I’d like to keep kicking your butt though,” she jokes.

Tomas laughs, “You’ll have to face him one day. He’s like the gate keeper before you can get to Ares. I’m going to catch up with them, keep them in line. It was nice sparring with you Freja, sorry for making you mad,” he winks and leaves.

“He seems nice,” she says as we walk to the gym.

“He’s alright, likes to joke around a lot but will definitely have your back when you need it,” I tell her. Tomas has had my back more times than I’d like to admit because I was a very dumb teenager. Everyone thinks he’s aloof and just coasts through life, but that’s not true. He’s very observant and smart, especially in a fight. He watches his opponent. Picks out their weak points and takes advantage of it. Rarely do he and Damon spar but when they do, they both end up bloodied and bruised.

As we get into the gym, I walk Freja over to the heavy bags. I want her to work on her striking. Her form is okay, but it could use some work. “I want you punch the bag,” I tell her, standing behind the bag and holding it in place. She makes a fist but tucks her thumb into it. I take her hand as she throw her fist toward the bag. “Thumb out. Don’t tuck it into your fist. Try again.” She punches the bag and it sways back a little.

“Put your body into, Freja. Punch it like you mean it.” She does what I say and punches the bag but it only sways a little move than her last hit. “Freja, I know you’ve got more in you than that. You broke Tomas’ nose. Now hit the damn bag. Picture Derrick’s face.”

She growls and throws another punch and nearly knocks me over with the force. “There you go! You’re strong, you’re a shifter for goddess’s sake.”

“What if I’m just like him? Hurting people for no reason. I don’t want to hurt people Ares.” She looks defeated. I take into my arms and rest my chin on her head. “The fact that you are worried about that just shows you are nothing like him. You have nothing to worry about sweetheart, you will be a great leader.”

I let Freja take a few more punch to the heavy bag before letting her take a shower. We need to meet my father and talk about what will plan to do with the members of her pack. I’m sure most of them will not want to take the blood oath and accept my father as their alpha, but some might.

Freja

Alaric was sitting on the couch in his office with Lily tending to a wound on side when we walked in. When his eyes met mine I started sobbing. I don’t know why, but seeing him hurt and bruised hurts my heart. I feel like it’s all my fault. Like maybe if I hadn’t escaped, he wouldn’t be hurt. I know he will heal eventually, but it looks really painful. He has gashes tearing down his side from the side of his chest down to his hip.

He puts his shirt on and hugs me, a little too tight but I don’t mind it. I’m starting to enjoy hugs. “It’s okay, I’m okay Freja,” he whispers. My sobs become a little more violent and he rubs circles on my back. I can feel Ares’ distress. I know he wants to comfort me but he just sits by his mother. “I’m sorry Alaric, this is my fault. I should have stayed in that stupid dungeon..” he shushes me.

“Don’t say that. This is not your fault at all. Do you know why ares and I were in that forest?” I shake my head. “I was looking for you. I knew I was close, I had a feeling you were somewhere close. This did not happen by chance. I knew finding you meant that Derrick was going to die, and I may be hurt in the process but I’m fine. It’s a scratch.”

“That is not a scratch. It’s a gash! I don’t know what I would do if you died. You’re not just my mates dad, you’re the person that saved me. I owe you my life Alaric.”

“You owe me nothing my queen,” he says and kisses my forehead. “You owe me nothing.” And with that I start crying more.

“Son, does she do this a lot?” He laughs and turns toward Ares. Ares stands and takes me in his arms.

“Not really, I just think it may be hitting her now. That she’s safe and has a family that loves her.”

“I’m a girl, girls cry!” I says and whip my tears. “Back me up here Lily.” She laughs but doesn’t say anything.

“What are we going to do with the new members?” Ares asks his father. “They’re not all going to want to submit to you.”

“They will be rogues then,” Alaric says.

“And the council? Did you notice Tasha was there last night?” Ares asks his dad.

“Yeah I saw her, she didn’t look took happy, but then again she always looks like she has a stick up her ass,” Alaric wrinkles his nose and I jump in. “Who’s Tasha?”

Ares puts his hand on my thigh and says, “She’s a council member. But I don’t know why she would have been there. The council doesn’t normally attend challenges. Maybe she was there because it was Derrick. And if he was working with the council and had information that would incriminate them, she would want to make sure that it didn’t get out.” He’s talking more to himself than the rest of us.

He has a good point. If Derrick was working with the council, they wouldn’t want word of that to get out to the rest of the packs. That could cause an uprising. “That’s what we need,” I whisper, “An uprising.”

Ares stops pacing and looks at me, “A what?”

“An uprising. Of all the packs, against the council. They need to know that the council was working with Derrick. Killing off the blessed wolves. If they find out what the council is doing, it could cause an uprising. It could be a push in the right direction.”

“We can’t just accuse the council of this without any kind of proof,” Alaric chimes in. The council has to have a hand in this. Derrick and his pack didn’t kill if blessed wolves on their own. We know some council members think they shouldn’t be alive. We know this, but that only goes so far. We need to get proof somehow.

“Do they know I’m alive?” I ask.

“As far as I know, no. It’s my understanding they are under the impression that you died with your parents. And Tasha didn’t seem to notice you last night,” Alaric says. “I need to call my buddy on the council.”

We settle on waiting to hear what Alaric’s council friend has to say before we make any big decisions. Ares takes me for a walk around the town. We bump into a few of his friends and he introduces me. I try to remember all of their names. They all seem very nice and excited that Ares has a mate, which I find a little strange. I’m not used to people being happy for other people. My pack was all about who could make who more miserable.

We come to the center of town where there is a gazebo. It’s decorated for fall and there are a few booths being set up. I see a fall festival sign and ask, “What’s fall festival?”

“It’s kind of like a carnival. We set up different booths with food and games. There’s even a hay ride. We like to celebrate in this community. Makes us feel more human I guess.”

“That sounds fun. When is it?”

“It starts next week and lasts a few days. On the last day we have a big bon fire. The whole pack gets together. The elder tells the story of the first shifters. I think you would really like it.”

“I would, it sounds really nice.”

A group of kids coming running from behind the gazebo, screaming and laughing. A little girl running behind the group stops and tugs on Ares’ pant leg. He looks down at her and she says, “Ares, they’re too fast. I can’t keep up.”

He kneels down next to her and says, “Aw, it’s okay Shelby, you can hang out with us. I’m just showing Freja around the town. Do you want to help?” Her eyes light up and she nods her head enthusiastically. He picks her up and we continue walking around, they show me the different booths for the festival. Shelby’s favorite is the snow-cone stand, obviously. We make our last stop at a bookstore and Ares puts Shelby down and she runs inside.

“Mommy, I made a new friend! This is Freja, isn’t she pretty?” She says to the woman behind the counter. “Yes, she is Shelby,” she says. “I hope she wasn’t a bother to you two.”

“Oh of course she wasn’t. She was very helpful with showing Freja around the town square,” Ares reassures the woman. “Freja, this is Shelby’s mom, Lisa. She own the bookstore.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you Freja. I heard talk that Ares found his mate. It’s about time,” she laughs.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” I tell her. “Shelby really is a sweet girl. She wasn’t a bother at all.”

“That’s good, I know she can be a little hyper sometimes.”

Ares chuckles and says, “She’s a wolf, don’t you remember what we were like when we were her age? We’ll get out of your hair, take care of our girl. Bye Shelby!” She waves at us as she reads a book. We leave the store and head back home.