"Lisa, leave us!" she spoke in a low growl.
"Oh, don't make her run; she is pretty," the man playing with his gun said while winking at Lisa one more time and smiling playfully.
At his cheeky remark, Lisa's heart almost skipped a beat, and she blushed lightly.
"Out, now!!" Freyja's voice roared from across the room. Immediately, snapping Lisa out of her fantasy with the silvery-blue-haired man, and she scraped out of the room.
Freyja got up from her seat casually, then walking straight to the redhead. She punched him in the face so hard he rolled over onto the couch from his pose.
"You son of a bitch," she roared, shaking the building before she fell helpless on the couch with her hands covering her face.
At her sudden reaction, the men started laughing.
"I told you she's going to punch you," the elegant man staid towards the redhead who was collecting himself from the floor.
"Yeah, but I didn't expect our girl to grow so strong," the redhead said, cradling his jaw.
"Or this emotional," the black-haired man replied, now a worried look splashed across his handsome face.
"I thought… I thought…." Freyja tried to speak between her sorrowful sobs.
"We're fine," the silvery blue-haired man replied, taking her in his arms in a long-overdue hug.
"Yeah, have you ever seen a dead devil" the purple-haired man replied in a low sarcastic tone.
After hearing his remark, she started laughing. Suddenly, she felt like she was 17 again.
Freyja was never a girly girl, seeing how she didn't like most of the stuff other girls liked. Therefore, she would often end up hanging with boys in school. Given the mystery surrounding her, she was a marginalized child. Most of the other kids would either avoid her or make fun of her because she was different. What made her an easy target for the other kids was that she lived deep in the forest with a mother who would never show her face to the world. And even when she would come to school, however rarely, she was using cloaking spells to make herself look older and dress so modestly everyone would think she's a beggar.
For a time, when she was younger, it bothered her. Back then, she barely got to play even with guys, which was only because she was extremely good at any sport, so everyone wanted her in their team. But, when she reached high school, things have changed. Soon after entering high school, she met this bunch of outcasts just like her.
The redhead was Blade. Ironically or not, knives were his favourite weapons, and he had an entire collection of swords and knives. He loved everything pointy and sharp enough to make someone bleed. Along with Axel, the silvery-blue-haired guy, he was a werewolf, and both could get psycho. While one had a passion for blades and the other for guns, this duo was literally deadly if you pissed them off. Even though their tempers were similar, their characters were in complete contrast. While Blade was introverted, disliked being around other people and hated small talk or any talk at all, Axel stood at the opposing pole. Axel was extroverted, a natural-born playboy. He loved making girls blush and toy with them. Most of the time, Axel was cheerful and easygoing but could lose his temper quickly.
The black-haired guy was Ace. He loved tattoos, piercings, drugs, cigarettes and whatever there is and you supposedly shouldn't do. Despite that, he looked regular daily to blend in; he was a demon. Every time he gets angry, his true form emerges, and the whites of his eyes turn pitch black, leaving only the bright red frightening glow in his sockets, and two long tails grow from his back. While in his demon form, he had no problem chewing you whole. For the rest of the time, he was laid back and had a sad aura around him. Actually, he just gets really bored with humans.
The most elegant one was Aris. Given he is a powerful black magic wizard, he always composed himself and displayed no emotion. While he is friendly most of the time with them, he would never miss a chance to make a sarcastic comment.
Because they all had similar fates to her, from the first time they met in high school and until they turned 22, they were inseparable. They bonded over their similarities and, apart from causing havoc wherever they went, they helped each other investigate the mysteries surrounding their fates. Most of the digging she made into her parent's death was with the boys by her side.
Blade's and Axel's fates weren't just similar to Freyja's. Given that their parents were killed, they united to find out the truth about their murders. Because of the boys' young ages and inability to understand anything, the killer speared them, leaving them in an orphanage. The three of them revealed that the culprit in all the murders was the same one.
Ace's story differed from the other three, with his parents vanishing one day, and no matter how much they looked into it, they couldn't identify any trace of them being dead or alive. That was one mystery they never got to solve. While in Aris's case, because his mother was a lowly white witch that became pregnant with a dark wizard outside her coven, the coven shunned her and sentenced her to death for her mistake while they dealt with her "offspring," leaving him alone in an orphanage.
Apart from the five friends and their stories, Luke was also in their group. His parents abandoned him in an orphanage at birth, and he made the outcasts group by being a volatile boy with a short temper. But, because he was human, they agreed telling him the truth about the supernatural world would just put him in danger unnecessarily. Hence, they meticulously kept him in the dark.
For the longest time, the group just investigated mysteries, had fun and spent time together. But one day, after countless dead ends, Blade announced to her and Luke that the four of them will leave and join the military service. Back then, she thought little about it, as she knew they were impulsive and was sure they will come back. For a time after they left, she and Luke had kept in touch with them they would write to each other, call each other and video conference, but one day the replies stopped. With no more letters, no return calls, no anything. Entering a whole panic state, she used all her resources to investigate what happened to them, but she couldn't reveal anything after countless attempts. The only thing she found out was that they were involved in a highly classified op, and from there, everything was radio silence. She didn't want to believe her friends have perished, but after a couple of years, it was what she ended up thinking. Now, seeing them alive and well in front of her made her want to scream and kill them for real, but she also desperately wanted to just hug them and cry in relief.
"You did well on your own, hotshot," Blade said, scoffing at her and looking at the view from the window.
"Well, you all have left me. I had to do something, didn't I?" Freyja replied, still in Axel's arms. She didn't want to let go of him in fear he'll vanish.
"Top 3 groups in the five realms and one of the richest people in them, that is not doing something that is mocking us all," Axel said jokingly.
Standing up to straighten herself, she suddenly recalled all the questions that haunted her.
"What happened to you guys?" she asked, her face becoming blank
They all shook their heads, not wanting to talk about it. Despite knowing no human war or mission could cause that type of scar on Blade's face, she dropped it. Given neither wanted to speak about it, it had to be something awful. And, eventually, they will tell her when they feel ready.
"More important, what happened to you?" Aris asked in his emotionless tone
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused
"We all know you wouldn't look for a security detail if the threat was human. So who is after you, Frey?" Ace explained to her, still looking at the unlit cigar in his hand.
His explanation brought her back to reality, and why they were standing in front of her. Since she felt someone watching her, she knew she needed protection, as whoever followed her was not human. She hung her head in defeat, pulled some glasses from a cabinet in the library and opened a hidden compartment where her stash of drinks was. At the same time, she took a bottle of scotch and an ashtray from there, sat them all on the coffee table and then threw herself on the couch, lighting a cigarette. Then she told them everything. At the mention of her finding her mate, the boys felt a surge of pain crossing through their bodies. Still, after a few seconds, they were thrilled to hear that, thinking she could live a fulfilled, happy life. But, unfortunately, the happiness didn't last long as anger and sorrow took over the joy when they heard who he was.
"You need to reject him right away," Blade stated from the window
"I agree with Blade. Frey, you can't accept him" Axel, who in general was more easygoing, was now looking at her strongly opposing.
"Both of you back down a little. She didn't finish" Ace jumped in to save her.
"What is there to finish? She will reject him, and that's it," Aris said calmly, like the whole situation was simple.
For them, it was simple, but not for her. Since she discovered they were supernatural, she felt like it's only fair for her to admit she, too, was a wolf. But despite admitting she was a wolf to them, she still kept her identity a secret. She never told them her real name or that her parents were the former Alpha and Luna of the Crimson Moon Pack. The reason behind her white lies was their tempers. Although she knew that once they found out who she was, they would support her with all their might to regain her position and lead in her father's place. What she feared was them pushing her to do so. In that case, she felt that would just put all of them in unnecessary danger, and she didn't want that. Now, though, it seemed impossible to carry on and not tell them the reason she can't reject him.
She sighed deeply
"Ace is right. I haven't finished," she spoke in a blank tone, feeling lost.
For now, she told them the rest of the story that involved Hades. She will tell them everything if need be, but she decided to just keep to the narrative.
"So not only you didn't reject him, but you slept with him, almost revealed yourself to him, made a business deal with his company, and now you think he has someone from that dreadful pack following you. Hence, you decided to once again not reject him, but hire a security detail to keep him at bay," Aris commented in a profoundly mocking tone.
"Why in the world did you not reject him on the spot?" Axel asked what she feared the most.
They now fixed all their attention on her, waiting for an explanation, and she wanted to make herself disappear.
"I… I can't," she said in a voice barely audible.