Troubled Freya

Chapter One - Old Enough

✤ Freya ✤

“Why am I so different?” I asked as I looked at myself in the floor-length mirror that hung next to my oversized closet. This was a question that I would often ask myself. It wasn’t that I thought I was truly different, yet it certainly felt that I was different.

“Now why on earth would you ask such a question?” my mother, Laura, questioned me. I threw her a look of disbelief before going back to my reflection.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” I pointed at my long pitch-black hair that was so dark it even freaked me out. My silver eyes roamed over my facial features. I didn’t look different, yet I was often teased for the way I looked. My life hadn't been all rainbows and fairies. Life had been hard.

“Oh honey, just because you look different doesn’t mean you are different,” Laura stood up from my queen-sized bed and came to my side. “It is your natural beauty that shines through, Freya, wolves are intrigued and scared only because they have never seen such a wolf before,” she tried her best to explain it to me, but I had already heard this before. My so-called stunning features were supposed to be a blessing, not a curse. I glanced over at my mother and frowned, she didn’t look anything like me, her hair was so blonde it appeared white and her eyes were a rich dark brown. “Stop questioning yourself,” she added softly, and I was tempted to roll my eyes but decided against it. I didn’t want to be slapped upside my head. A famous move from my mother when she disapproved of something I did or said.

“Ahuh, sure,” I mumbled before turning away. I hated the fact that I looked so different. Worse, when I shifted into my wolf, the others would stare. It was said that only Alpha Luna’s fur was pure white, or silver, yet, somehow, I fell out of the bus with a pure white fur coat and I wasn’t anything special. It just wasn’t fair and being eighteen made me realize that something isn’t right. I went over to my bed and sat down. “Just be honest with me for once, am I your pup?” I asked her.

“You’ve asked me that question so many times already,” Laura complained as she joined me on the bed. “When are you going to realize that even if I didn’t give birth to you, you are still my daughter,” her words caught my attention and I immediately called her out.

“So, you admit it then? You didn’t give birth to me, did you?” I eyed her suspiciously and didn’t miss the small nod.

“It’s true, I didn’t, but that doesn’t change anything,” she told me. Little did she know that for me, it changed everything. It would never change the fact that Laura and Arion are loving, supportive parents, no, I wouldn’t change that for anything. I loved them way too much to throw them away, yet I still wanted to know the truth.

“Don’t you think that I am old enough to know?” I pushed, hoping she would finally talk to me about whatever she was obviously hiding.

“Possibly,” she said dismissively as she stood up to leave my room. “I’ll discuss it with your father,” she said before closing the door behind her.

“What are the chances of him actually saying yes?” I wondered out loud. I laid back and stared up at the ceiling. Since I wasn’t their daughter, did that mean I wasn’t in line to take over the pack? I sat up and rushed out of the room. I know she said she would talk to him, but I suddenly wanted to know where I stood in the pack. Without bothering to knock on his office door, I barged in, unannounced. He was sitting behind his desk with a pile of paperwork scattered all over. My father looked up at my sudden appearance and smiled.

“Freya, don’t you know how to knock?” he asked me before returning his attention back to the paperwork.

“Father, I want some answers,” I stated simply. Arion looked up at me with his dark green eyes and smiled.

“I wondered when you would demand some answers, take a seat Freya,” he gestured to a chair just across from him, but I declined the offer to sit.

“No, father, please,” I shifted from one foot to the other, too anxious to hear the truth.

“Don’t you think your mother should be present?” he asked lazily as he laid back in his chair. I shook my head, Laura was overprotective and would interfere with the conversation.

“She already admitted that she didn’t give birth to me, care to explain?”

“Do you truly believe you are ready for the truth?” he questioned me with raised eyebrows, and I growled out in frustration.

“Ever since I was ten, I have been asking for the truth, I’ve been patient long enough,” I sat down then, feeling somewhat emotionally tired and needed the help and comfort of the chair to support me.

“Look, Freya, even though your mother didn’t give birth to you doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you as her daughter. The same goes for me, even though I am not your father, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you as my own,” he explained. It seemed pointless and it felt like the Ferris wheel. Round and round we go. “Freya, stop overthinking things,” he added as if sensing my annoyance.

“Since I am not your daughter, then it means I have no right to take over the pack!” I shouted out abruptly, getting straight to the point.

“Well, technically no you have no right, however, I did officially adopt you,” he said softly. It was a touchy subject for him, I could see that, but it didn’t stop me from pushing him.

“That means that anyone can come and take over,”

“No, it doesn’t mean that,”

“Then?”

“Freya, you are of beta blood, not Alpha blood,” he said, and I wondered exactly what he meant by that. Did it mean my parents where beta’s in a pack? “However, you are my daughter and since there is no Alpha here among us, you will take over the pack,”

“But father!”

“Freya! Enough! I am not going to allow you to disrupt this pack with your questions. You will be the Alpha of this pack and that is final!” he stood up and went over to the window, looking out, I wondered why he was so adamant about it. Did the pack members not know the truth? Was he worried someone else would come and take over?

“What about my mate?” I asked quietly. He turned to look at me with a frown.

“When the day comes that you meet your mate, then you will know what to do,” he said. It was my turn to frown in confusion as I thought about his words. He was so very descriptive.

“How will I know what to do? What does that even mean? Why can’t you just tell me in plain and simple English? Why can’t you and mother just tell me the truth?” I let the questions flow until he banged his fist against the desk.

“I said, that is enough,” he hissed out. I knew how far to push, and I’ve pushed far enough. Standing up, I bowed respectfully and left his office in a hurry. The last thing I wanted to do was upset him further. I was still curious to know about my past but now I had to worry about my future. When I had turned sixteen, I had waited to see if anyone in the pack would be my mate, but I was very much disappointed to find that he wasn’t here. Saddened by that fact, I gave up. What if I didn’t have a mate? What if he was human? What if he was a she? I had so many questions in my mind yet no answers. One thing was still certain: something isn’t right. I would do whatever it takes to find out what the hell is going on. I deserved the truth and they couldn’t hide it from me forever. Stalking off to my room, I ignored the smiles and bows from the wolves in the hallways and closed my door behind me before throwing myself on my bed.

✤ ✤ ✤

“Freya, are you awake?” I heard her voice and I groaned out. “Ah, I hear that you are,” she said, and I groaned out again but louder. “Don’t be like that Freya,” she complained as I felt the bed dip slightly as she laid down next to me. I opened one eye and saw her looking down at me.

“What do you want?” I asked her.

“Are you forgetting about our plan?” she asked me as her forehead crinkled.

“I must have forgotten, refresh my memory,” I said as I opened the other eye.

“Ugh, you are hopeless Freya, are you seriously going to tell me you forgot about visiting our neighboring pack?” she questioned me, and I sighed. No, I had not forgotten. Just distracted. I pushed myself up and leaned against the headboard. Looking over at my best friend, I couldn’t help but smile. Holly was my only friend, the daughter of the beta and she always stood by my side, no matter what. I loved our childhood and I wouldn’t change a thing.

“Why are we going to sneak off to the neighboring back?” I asked her even though I knew the answer.

“Because the males there are to die for!” she exclaimed, and I giggled. She was right of course, the males there are quite delicious. We had spotted a few coming to talk to our fathers and had come up with a plan to sneak into their pack and check them out. “I mean, come on Freya, you have to remember right?” I shook my head as I sunk back down under the covers.

“Of course, I remember, I was just teasing you,” I said.

“So? When do you want to go?” she asked me as she pulled the blanket to reveal my face. I groaned, trying to pull the blanket back up to cover my face. “Freya!”

“Holly!” I whined back. We giggled and then I turned serious.

“Tomorrow the pack will be too busy with the monthly inventory, we can sneak out then,” I told her, and she nodded.

“Good idea, I’ll meet you at our spot at two,” she informed me before finally leaving my room after I agreed. I couldn’t help but smile thinking about sneaking off to go check out the males. It was going to be a lot of fun. Our neighboring pack, Dolomite, helped our pack, Dark Sky, quite a lot and although I had seen quite a few of the males entering and leaving, none of them truly appealed to me. I was waiting for my mate. I knew that a lot of the females still gave themselves to their boyfriends or partners even if they weren’t mates but Holly and I weren’t like that. Innocent right down to never been kissed. And being kissed by our parents or family doesn’t count. I turned over and hugged my pillow thinking about the possibility of meeting my mate tomorrow, what would the chances be of that happening?

✤ ✤ ✤

“Holly!” I whisper shouted as I saw her trying to sneak past a few pack members that were playing around in the woods. She heard me and dashed to my side, out of breath. “Why are you out of breath?” I asked curiously as I looked her up and down.

“I was being chased by Lulu,” I giggled when she told me that. Lulu is her older sister. Overprotective, bossy, nosey, and much more. I adored Lulu but she got on my nerves a lot with her ‘I know best’ attitude. As much as I had longed to have siblings, I didn’t envy Holly having an older sister and an older brother, Lucas. I grabbed Holly’s hand and we started running through the woods. Dolomite wasn’t too far and taking the short cut through the woods was the only way to make the trip without being caught. The closer we got to their border, the more excited I got. Holly never once let go of my hand and for that I was grateful. Even though I was excited, I was also very nervous. I didn’t want to get caught. I wasn’t prepared to take any chances.

“Hey!” Holly and I stopped in our tracks as the loud voice boomed out. “What are you two doing?” the voice called out.

“What should we do?” Holly’s voice echoed through our mind-link and I shook my head, I wasn’t sure what to do. The wolf that called out to us made that decision for us as he ran towards us. Not wanting to cause any harm or cause a scene we stood frozen to the spot.