His Lost Mate

Chapter 3

Freja

I didn’t mean to fall asleep but I was exhausted. I didn’t mean to make it rain either; that just happened. I’m usually good at controlling my emotions because I know how it can affect Mother Nature. Ares didn’t seem to be phased by it though. Maybe he is more accepting than I thought he was.

“Did you sleep well?” I turn and he’s sitting in a chair by the couch. “Yeah, how long was I asleep?”

“Not too long , about an hour or so,” he says and shrugs. He’s reading a book. “What are you reading?” I ask.

He tips the book up so I can see the title. He’s reading Shakespeare. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “Is it good?” I ask.

“I don’t know, I haven’t gotten too far into it. I just picked it up because it was on the coffee table. Do you like Shakespeare?”

“I’m more of a Poe fan,” I admit.

“Me too. What’s your favorite?”

“I would probably have to say The Raven. What’s yours?”

“The Tell-Tale Heart,” he says.

“That’s a..” before I can finish the front door opens and Alaric holds it open. A beautiful woman walks in and smiles at him. Ares gets up and walks toward the foyer to greet her, “Hey mom, how was..” she swats at his hand and says, “Italy was great, move outta my way.” I’ve moved to the entrance of the foyer just behind Ares.

She stares at me for a moment and then she cups my face in both hands, “Oh, sweet Freja.” She pulls me to her and engulfs me in a tight hug. Almost too tight. I hear her sniffling and wonder if she’s crying. This really is a hugging kind of family. I put my arms around her. It’s kind of weird. It’s sad that I’ve never really hugged anyone before. There was a girl from my pack that would sometimes check on me if I had a bad day, or at least worse than the normal. She would hug me sometimes and tend to my wounds that were too bad to heal quickly.

Ares’ mom releases me but keeps her hands on my forearms. “You look just like your mom,” she tells me. I look at Alaric for a second and smile back at her. “That’s what I’ve been told. I was also promised pictures of her and my dad.”

Alaric sighs, “I haven’t forgotten. Be patient, little one.”

“Freja, my name is Lily. Your mom was my best friend. I miss her dearly. I will tell you whatever you want to know about her. And your father too. They were so dear to our family.”

“Thank you, I want to know everything. I know nothing about them. I was under the impression that my parents were omegas. Boy was it a shock to find out they were king and queen of the shifters,” I laugh nervously.

“Omegas?! Who told you that?” She asks.

“My alpha,” I say quietly.

“You can forget everything your alpha ever told you. It’s all lies,” she tells. “Now, let’s get some lunch and I’ll get the albums out to show you pictures.”

We all sit in the kitchen and eat lunch. Lily is telling us about Italy and what her sister has been up to. To my surprise, Lily’a sister is not a shifter. “Wait, your sister isn’t a shifter? How’s that possible?” I ask.

“Anna is not my biological sister,” Lily says. “She was adopted. My parents actually found her in a dumpster as a newborn.” Insert foot into mouth. All I can say is, “Oh.” I have a knack for saying the wrong things. Ares puts his hand on my leg to calm me. I guess he can feel my anxiety. I smile at him and mouth thank you to him. He nods his head. He really is sweet.

When we finish eating lunch, Lily takes me to a room and grabs a few photo albums. She finds a picture of my parents on the day of their ceremony. I take the picture and look at it closely. They’re right, I look almost identical to my mother. In the picture, my dad is looking at my mom while she is looking to the camera. The love is his eyes is something I could only dream of. A drop of water hits the picture in my hand and I realize that I’m crying. I whip at the picture, then at my eyes.

Lily comes to my side and says, “Aren’t they beautiful?” She swipes at a lone tear on my cheek. “They were so in love. I envied what they had.” I look at her confused and she continues, “Every relationship has it’s ups and downs, Freja.” She and Alaric seem to be a good couple but I don’t know them very well. Hell, I don’t know them at all. But they way they look at each other and speak to one other; they look like they’re in love to me.

We spend a couple hours going through album after album. She tells me about just about every picture she shows me. Some she couldn’t quite remember. There was one picture of both of our families. It was taken a month after I was born. My mom was holding me while she sat in a chair. A young Ares stood next to her with his eyes glued to me. Alaric and Lily stood behind my mom and my dad on the other side of her. They all looked so happy. They were happy because they had no idea what was ahead of them.

Ares

We ate dinner at the pack-house with my parents and then we went to my house. My mom couldn’t get enough of Freja. They say in study for hours going through pictures and laughing like a couple of little girls. I’m not sure I want to know which pictures my mom showed her of me. I shudder at the thought.

When we get to my house I show Freja to the room I have set up for her. Like the room she stayed in last night, it has a big picture window. It overlooks the back yard and the pool. She looks at the pool and scrunches her nose. I chuckle, “You know, my dad’s right, you do need to learn to swim. I could teach you. It’ll be fun.”

“Oh yeah, drowning is fun,” she says sarcastically.

“I won’t let you drown. Pinky-promise,” I hold out my pinky and she takes it in her hand. “I will think about it.”

“We have visitors at the north border,” Harrison says in my head through the pack link.

“f**k,” I say out loud.

“What’s wrong?” Freja asks.

“We have visitors,” I say through clenched teeth. “At the border,” I grab her hand and walk to the door, “I need to get you to the pack-house. You’ll be safe there.”

“What is happening? Who’s at the border?” She stops and yanks her hand back.

“Who do you think?”

“Derrick,” she whispers. I nod and her eyes widen in fear. “Why is he here?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out, but I need you to be safe.” I reach out for her and she grabs my hand. We run to the pack-house. I make sure my mom knows that if anything happened to Freja, I was going to hold her responsible. It sounds shitty, I know, but she’s my mate. Nothing is going to happen to her.

I meet my father and Sampson at the north border of our pack lands. There’s three wolves pacing on the other side of the fence and I can tell which one is Derrick. My blood turns to ice when he stares back at me. He shifts and says, “Give her back to me now and I’ll let you all live, including her.” I growl deep in my throat. My father holds his hand up to stop me from lunging at Derrick.

“No, she is not your pet,” my father tells him. Derrick growls low and walks closer to fence. “You have no clue what you are doing. You don’t know what she is, what she can do,” he says, his teeth clenched. “She is an abomination to our kind! She needs to be taken to the council and dealt with.” I watch as my father jaw muscles twitch and he smiles at Derrick. I feel his alpha aura rolling off of him as he says, “LEAVE!”

“You’ve just signed your death certificates,” he says and is force to leave. My father’s alpha aura is the strongest I’ve ever felt. Derrick has no choice but to obey his command. He shifts and takes off with the other two mutts back to their land.

“What else did he have to says?” I ask.

“Not much, he waited for you get here to demand Freja. His claims are ridiculous; she’s not an abomination. You know that right, Ares?”

“Of course I know that! She is a gift from the Moon Goddess. The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes,” I say, like I’ve said that phrase a million times. Although I am curious as to why Derrick thinks she needs to be dealt with by the council. Why wouldn’t he have brought her to council already? He doesn’t want to bring her to council. He wants to continue his torture games. He’s a sick and sadistic bastard. He’s the one that needs to be dealt with.

As if he was reading my thoughts, my father says, “He will be dealt with tomorrow son.”

“What about her parents murder? Did you ask him about that?”

“No, I have a plan for that tomorrow. Don’t worry Ares, I will find out exactly what happened,” he says. We start walking back to the pack-house. I’ve seen my father angry. But what he is now is beyond that. I can see the rage in his eyes. Freja’s parents were his and my mom’s best friends. More than that; they were like family. I nearly killed him when he found them in the forest. He made a vow then that he would find whoever killed them and make them pay. He’s searched for answers for a very long time and any time he would get some kind of clue, the trail would go cold. Same with searching for Freja.

We were actually hunting when my he caught Freja’s scent. When I scented her my world turned on it’s axis. My father had to command me calm down. I want led nothing more than to find her and claim her then and there. I think he knew who it was before we even caught site of her. Like he knew her scent from when she was a baby.

When we are back at the pack-house my heart is racing. I have to see her, make sure she is okay. I rip the back door open and storm through the house. I find her in the study with my mom looking at the photo albums again. She looks up at me, worry in eyes. She stands and I stalk over to her. I can’t help myself when I grab her and wrap my head around the back of her neck. I press my lips to hers and she gasps a little then moans into my mouth. She wraps her arms around my neck and I wrap my free arm her waist, holding on for dear life. My heart feels like it’s going to explode. I slip my tongue into her mouth and moans again and it goes straight to my d**k.

I release her neck and twirl my fingers in her long hair. She whimpers and I pull back and open my eyes. Her eyes are filled with lust, and I know they match mine. Gold specks swirling with her blue and amber eyes. Her wolf is fighting her for control again. I kiss her on the forehead and a throat clearing pulls us out of our trance. My mom is standing behind a desk, “What happened?” She asks.

“Nothing, just empty threats from a worthless piece of s**t,” I say, staring into Freja’s eyes. She’s so beautiful. I haven’t had a chance to really look at her and study her face. She has light freckles that go across her cheeks and nose. She has a small scar just above her left eyebrow.

I dip my head and kiss the scar. “You ready to go home?” I ask and she nods. My father is in the doorway and give me a stern look. “We need to talk.” I sigh, and we head for his office. “Freja needs to know what she is and I don’t trust anyone to hear any of this,” he says and sits behind his desk and grabs a file. He hands it to Freja.

“What’s this?” She asks.

“Open it.” She opens the folder and scans the first couple of pages and hands it to me.

“Are you going to bring me to the council?” I whip my head to her and she looks terrified.

“No Freja, you are special. A blessed wolf. One of only a handful in our world. You were given a gift by the Moon Goddess, Selene. Your emotions are tied to nature. When you were angry earlier today, you caused the rain and wind. It’s amazing the power you have. But you will have to learn to weld that power. Learn to control your emotions,” he says.

“I usually can. Something just snapped. Knowing that Derrick could have, most likely did kill my parents..” she trails off and closes her eyes. I can see she is trying to control herself. Taking deep breaths, in and out.

“It’s okay,” he reassures her. “As you know, there are shifters that don’t think your kind should be alive. Why Derrick kept you alive is a mystery to me. What I do know is that I will do everything I can to protect you. I promised your parents I would. They knew something in our world was happening. Blessed wolves were being taken down. We couldn’t figure out who was behind it, but now I am sure of who it is,” my father looks at me, “And I’m pretty sure Derrick confirmed that on accident.”

I see red. I am furious. The council. The f*****g council! The leaders of the shifter world. The ones who bring law and order. They orchestrated the murder of Freja’s parents.

“The council,” Freja says quietly. “Why? What do they have to gain from killing their own people? How are they even getting away with? Surely, not all of them think I’m an abomination.”

“Not all of them. Not to my knowledge. I have a friend on the council. I will see if I can reach out and see what he knows,” my father says. “Right now, though, I have a challenge to prepare for. Why don’t you two go home and let me have some alone time with my mate.” He wiggles his eyebrows and smiles at my mom.

“Gross,” I say.

“Goodnight son, Freja.”

We walk toward the door and I kiss my mom on the cheek. Freja gives her a hug and we leave. I’m glad to see she’s getting more comfortable. We walk back to my house in silence. I’m still angry at what I just learned, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to stop the council. Freja grabs my hand. I look down at our hands and smile. Her touch is calming.

We reach my house and I stand on the porch and face her. I grab her hands and put them around my neck. She looks into my eyes and it’s like she can see straight to my soul. I rest my head on her forehead for a moment and she kisses me. “We’re going to figure this all out. I did not escape the devil for nothing. We were brought together for a reason Ares.”

I sigh and say, “I know, I just can’t see the solution yet.”

“Maybe you’re not supposed to. We’re not meant to know everything all the time. That would be boring don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

She kisses me again. This time it’s deeper. More hungry. She pushes her tongue into my mouth and I growl low. She moans. I have to stop this before it goes too far. She’s not ready for me to take her to my bed. When I do, we won’t be leaving for at least two days. I can’t do that right now, I have to be with my dad tomorrow for the challenge.

“Freja,” I break the kiss and say.

“Sorry, I just needed to kiss you again.”

“It’s okay, I don’t ever want to stop kissing you. But there’s a lot going on right now and I don’t think you’re ready for me to take you to my bed.” I caress her cheek with my thumb and kiss her forehead. “We need to get some sleep, it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

Freja

Kissing Ares does something to me. His lips are soft and smooth. And his scent is intoxicating, don’t get me started on how handsome he is. My wolf has been fighting me for control all day. She wants to jump his bones but he’s right, I am not ready for that. I’ve never been with a man. Surprisingly, Derrick didn’t let any of the males from my pack to touch me. Not in that sense anyway.

I lay in bed restless for hours. The challenge between Alaric and Derrick is looming. I just want it to be over. I want all of this to be over. I want a normal life, but I know that will never happen. Not with everything I know about the council. Derrick threatened to bring me to the council multiple times. Especially when I was being “stubborn and hardheaded” according to him.

I fall asleep around three o’clock in the morning. It’s not a very restful sleep though because I have nightmares. The same nightmares every night. Derrick holding me under water until I pass out or running through the forest while the pack hunts me. It’s the psychological trauma that haunts me.

When I wake up Ares is laying beside me, his hand on my stomach. He’s only wearing grey sweatpants. He looks so peaceful. My eyes travel down and roam the ridges of his muscular stomach. I’m about to reach out to touch him when he shifts in the bed and wakes up. He looks at my outstretched hand and furrows his brow. “What you doing with that hand?”

“Uh, we’ll, I was going to touch your stomach. So much muscle,” I wave my hand over his abdomen. I feel my face get hot and I know I’m blushing. He’s my mate, I can touch him if I want. He grabs my hand and runs it down his chest and abs. I laugh and swat at him but he hops out bed. I see that he is hard and blush even more. “Better get used to it baby, this is all yours,” he says as he refers to his body with his hands. I’m going to be in a forever state of blushing around this man.

“Don’t stay in bed all day, we’ve got an alpha to take down,” he says and walks out of the room. I let put a ragged breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. I get up and shower and get ready for the day. I’m going to need to talk to Ares or maybe his mom about clothes. I don’t feel right wearing his sister’s.

We eat breakfast on the patio. The air is crisp and smells like fall is approaching. When we are done eating we head to pack-house to meet Alaric. He looks calm; confident. Ares told me his father is very skilled in combat. I hope he is right because although Derrick may not be the best fighter, he is smart. And he cheats. Any chance he gets. But if Alaric can piss Derrick off enough, he’ll be like putty in his hands.

It’s a long drive, then walk to the clearing where the challenge will take place. Sampson is standing beside Alaric and two other men stand behind them. Ares and Alaric didn’t want Lily and me to come but we insisted. They argued with us but eventually caved. Lily is much better at arguing than I am. And she is fierce, not to be taken lightly.

Derrick finally shows up with about half of the pack. He eyes immediately find me and I involuntarily shudder. Ares grabs my hand and Lily puts hers on my shoulder, both calming me. “Don’t worry, he’ll be dead soon,” Alaric whispers back to me.

Alaric walks to the center of everyone. They’ve formed a giant circle with Alaric and Derrick meeting in the middle. “So how did you do it Derrick? How did you cover your scent? How were you able to sneak up on and kill the two most powerful shifters in history?”

Derrick laughs and says, “The most powerful? That’s debatable. Are you ready to die and do you want to talk all day? I’ve got stuff to do.”

“I’m always ready,” Alaric barely finishes before Derrick leaps toward him and shifts midair. He swipes at Alaric’s face with his claws but misses. Alaric sidestepped him and punches him in the ribs. I hear the crunch and cringe.

Alaric doesn’t shift. He just keeps sidestepping Derrick. I can tell Derrick is getting aggravated but that’s exactly what Alaric is aiming for. You make mistakes when you’re angry. Derrick lunges for Alaric again, this time swiping his claws across his abdomen. Blood starts to soak his shirt and

Lily tightens her grip on me. I put my arm around her. I can only imagine what she is feeling right now. Her mate is in a fight to the death right in front of her. Maybe we should have stayed at the pack-house, I think to myself.

I’m pulled from my thoughts when Alaric throws Derrick toward us. He looks at me dead in the eyes, snarling and then he whips back around. He roars loud and takes off full speed for Alaric. Alaric braces himself and lowers into a crouch. He swats at derrick again. He’s toying with him like a cat would a mouse. He’s getting him exactly where he wants him. Pissed and reckless. When Alaric has had enough he shifts and barrels into Derrick. They’re rolling and snapping at each other’s neck. Derrick somehow gets out of his hold and shifts back to his human. Alaric follows suit. Derrick has taken on much more damage than Alaric. He growls and says, “I should have put her down like I did her parents when she was a baby. She’s just like her mother was. An abomination!”

Alaric’s body goes rigid and so does mine. Ares holds me as I struggle to stand. My head is spinning and I know I’m not in control of my emotions. Rain starts pouring down. Thunder and lightning light up the sky. I can barely hear Ares yelling for me to calm down. I just get out of his hold when Alaric lunges for Derrick so fast I barely see him move. He grabs derricks throat and rips it out. Derrick falls to the ground and Alaric roars.

My knees the ground, clutching my chest. It burn so bad. I’m screaming and tears run down my face. It feel like my body is burning on the inside. Ares is in front in seconds trying to comfort me. He’s talking to me but I can’t hear what he’s saying over my screams. He grabs my face and says, “It’s okay, it will be over soon. Your alpha is dead. You link to him is dying. It’s okay. Just breathe baby.”

I look around and the other pack members are all clutching at their chests too. Some are crying. Some actually look relieved. Like serving their alpha was killing them. The pain in my chest and the burning starts to subside and Ares lifts me in his arms. He walks back to the car we came in. He puts me in the front seat and buckles the seatbelt. I’ve since gone numb. I knew Derrick had to have killed my parents. But hearing him say was like having my heart ripped out.

I can’t control myself right now. The rain and hail beat down on the car. I’m not sure how Ares can even see to drive but somehow we make back to his house. He lifts me from the car and carries me inside. He brings me to his bedroom and sets me on his bed. He goes into the bathroom and I hear the shower start. My mind is blank. I can’t think of anything. It’s like my brain fell out back at the clearing. I’m being carried again into the bathroom. He set me down and undresses me. He pulls me into the shower. As soon as the water hits my back I start to cry again. This time I cry for my parents. And I cry hard. My whole body shakes.

I cry into Ares’ chest for what feels like forever. I don’t want to feel anymore. I want to be numb again. The feelings hurt too bad. Ares is still wearing his clothes so I lift his shirt up and over his head. “Freja,” he struggles to keep in control. I want him to lose it. I undo the button of his pants and pull down the zipper. “Principessa..” I push his pants down and he steps out of them. Most shifter don’t wear understand and he is no different. It’s just easier if you have to shift on the fly.

“Freja, you don’t want..” I put my fingers to his mouth. “I want to forget. Just for a little while. I don’t want to feel what I’m feeling right now. Help me forget Ares, please. Please just make me feel good.”

His control snaps and he lift me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and his mouth finds mine. It’s not a light kiss. It’s greedy and hungry. Like I’m his last meal and he’s starving. He pushes my back to the wall. He trails kisses down my to my neck and I moan. He growls low in his throat and nips at my neck with his canines. I feel him at my entrance. I moan again, his control slipping further and he pushes into me to the hilt. “Fuck..”

It hurts for a moment. He looks into my eyes. I nod and he starts to move, stretching me as I adjust to him. He pulls out and then pushes back in slowly. His lips swallow my moans. He feels so good. The water spraying on us makes it more sensual. My hands are in his hair and he’s trailing kisses from my mouth to my neck and to chest. He takes a n****e into his mouth. I start to feel a warmth low in my belly. It spreads further down and then exploding and I moan loudly. Ares..,” I say breathlessly.

“c*m for me baby. You feel so good, I’m not going last long,” he moans and it turns into a growl. “I want you to c*m again.” He grabs my breast with his free hand and sucks my n****e into his mouth again. It sends little electric sparks straight to my c**t. “Mmm, Freja, you’re clenching on my dick.”

My moans turn to whimpers as he continues his slow thrusts. “Faster, Ares, please move faster.” He obeys and thrusts faster. I feel my orgasm building up. I arch my back. His mouth finds the soft spot on my neck, my marking spot. I moan and growl. He nips the my skins and inhales my scent. I’m so close. He strums his thumb over my c**t and I c*m again. Hard. Ares’ thrusts become erratic and then he stills and lets out a long, low growl.

He kisses my lips and sets me back down. He cleans me off and then cleans himself. We get out of the shower and Ares wraps me in a towel, dries my hair, and carries me to his bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out but not before he kisses my forehead. I hear him say, “I love you, Freja. Sleep well.”