"Oh, for f**k's sake, why not?" first to speak was Ace taking them all by surprise.
In a moment, Freyja went silent. Despite the pressure from their piercing eyes fixed on her, she was conflicted. Meanwhile, she pondered over if she should just come clean or try to calm them down first.
"Speak, Freyja, is not that hard," Blade snapped at her
"Maybe now she would rather scream her lungs in the sheets with that bastard rather than explaining she liked it so much she couldn't say no," Aris commented, mocking her.
"It's not that!" Freyja's face turned pale as she regained her composure. Aris's mockery got the best of her. For them, it was simple while she was in turmoil.
"Before I tell you why I can't reject him, you all need to promise me you won't lose your s**t, and you won't do anything stupid," Freyja said in a demanding tone, picking up another cigarette.
They all nodded in response, and their focus now turned entirely on what she will say next. Compared to a moment ago, when everyone was beaming with anger, now silence filled the room.
"As you all know, my parents died in a staged car crash," Freyja started speaking a little nervously, breathing in the cigarette smoke like her life depended on it.
Once again, the boys nodded simultaneously.
"And you already know our investigation pointed to one culprit, Arawn Loke," she continued, her tone getting bolder with each word.
"We already know all of this hurry and stop biting around the bush," Blade said, annoyed by her stalling.
Freyja gave him a stern look to shut up and puffed on the cigarette again.
"We found out what he gained after murdering your parents," Freyja said, pointing at Blade and Axel, "but a missing bit you didn't know brought us to a dead-end each time we were looking into mine's murder. That has always posed a question for you all, but I knew the answer already. At the same time, it made no sense for you why he would murder two lowly omegas for no reason. And it made even less sense that I was so afraid of being discovered while always pretending to be human. So this is what you don't know…" Freyja paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to say it, but there were no right words for this "my name, my real name I should say, is Freyja Mørke." her voice was hoarse when the name left her lips after so many years.
At the sound of her name, their eyes widened in shock. Of course, the mere mention of her name could tell them what she was about to confirm, but they still wanted to hear her say the words. Hence, they stayed silent, giving her the room to speak the words aloud.
"My father was Alpha Anubis Mørke, and my mother was Luna Frigg Mørke. Without their deaths, Arawn would've never been Alpha. The rest, you already know it. But, apart from this, everything I ever told you was exactly how it happened." Freyja's voice was trembling with sorrow after speaking those words.
After hearing what she said, Blade kicked her desk, furious, while Axel sent his half-empty glass into the wall. Ace's eyes were now pitch-black, burning with anger while Aris looked at her disdainfully.
"How did you think of hiding this from us?" Axel shouted at her, hurt filling his eyes.
"That is your rightful place Frey, why haven't you told us sooner? We would've helped you get that cunning bastard out of the pack and send him straight to hell," Blade said, his voice laced with anger and pain.
"Hell? That's too good for him. Leave the jerk to me," Ace said, now in his almost fully instated demon form with a thick black smoke enveloping him and his eyes pitch black.
"Now, now, why would you be the only one having fun?" Aris said in a malevolent voice before taking a sip of his drink calmly.
At the scene unravelling in front of her, Freyja was speechless. That was precisely why she skipped on those details. Despite their suspicions about how Arawn became Alpha, they couldn't find anything that showed he murdered the late Alpha, partly because there were no traces. However, she also tempered with some clues that could point right at her identity during their investigation.
"This is exactly why I haven't told you," Freyja said in a calm tone and took a sip from her glass.
"I don't care if I am the Alpha of Crimson Moon or not. Of course, I knew you would support me, but I also knew you might end up doing stupid things to put me in that place and could end up getting hurt. I wanted to know all of you safe, so I hid my identity," she continued, seeing how the men were now hell-bent on her taking her rightful place.
When they heard her say that, they all growled in frustration.
"Come here, love," Axel said, bringing her again in his arms. "We know you thought about us, but it's not fair to you to be living in hiding when you should be the pack's leader. Besides that, have you thought about the pack members? You know his true self better than anyone. Do you think he is any less cruel to them?" Axel continued, now caressing her hair.
She did, and she was sorry for the longest time, but then she always made herself believe they could handle themselves. Given how, by the time she was strong enough to challenge Arawn, they were already under his leadership for years.
"I still don't get it," Blade said, making them all turn to him "this just gives you more reasons to reject his son as your mate on the spot. Why would you jump in bed with him?" he asked when he saw their questioning faces at his remark.
"She needs to say her full real name to reject him, dumbo," Aris said, scrunching his nose at the latter.
"And?" Ace asked, now confused as well.
"And, if I were to say my full real name to him, what exactly would have stopped him from running to his father to let him know a child he knew died 22 years ago is alive, well, and his son's mate?" Freyja said, straightening her back.
The four men in front of her fell silent at that question. They finally understood why she said she couldn't reject him. After that, they all stood there in deep thought, sipping on their drinks for a couple of minutes.
"Seduce Hades and marry him," Aris said sternly. His statement broke their train of thoughts.
"What???" they all jumped from their seats, shock and confusion all over their faces.
"Think about it. Despite Hades not knowing you are his mate, he still felt the pull of the bond when he was around you. If you still keep the act of being human but seduce him into marrying you, you will be in the best position to expose his father and get him sentenced by the elders. Then, you can do as you see fit after that, as he cannot oppose the pack's rules that ancestors made," Aris explained his logic. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer type of thing," he added.
"So, you're telling her not only to befriend the enemy but to jump into the dragon's lair and fully take advantage of what she finds in it," Ace said, thinking it didn't sound like a bad plan, but it could be perilous.
"Precisely," Aris confirmed.
"It could end up badly. What if Arawn senses her or, even worse, recognizes Freyja on the spot," Axel said, worried Freyja might not make it out if she stepped in the pack.
"Maybe we could get in with her," Blade said, an idea forming itself in his head.
"Can we just take a moment, please?" Freyja said, turning all the attention on her. It was like they forgot she was in the room. "A moment ago, you blew a fit that I have to reject him. But now you're planning my wedding. So what should I wear, guys? A black dress that says, 'here to f**k all of your lives?'," Freyja said in a bitter tone, lifting her arms in the air.
At her comment, they all started laughing. She was right, though. They jumped from rejecting Hades to marry him in the blink of an eye. But that didn't mean it wasn't a decent plan.
"You have to admit, it's a somewhat good idea for the dress," Ace said jokingly.
"At least she is honest from the start," Axel added
"And now we are talking fashion. How did I befriend you again?" she asked, rolling her eyes at them.
"You love us exactly for this, darling," Blade said cheekily to her
"Yeah, I'm calling Luke. He needs to save me," Freyja said, laughing.
"How's the normie doing?" Axel asked curiously.
"He's doing well. He has his own records house now, and he has signed some of the most popular singers nowadays," Freyja answered while dialling Luke's number.
She hurried Luke over to her office, but she didn't give him a reason for the rush. When he entered her office, he was in full panic mode. She never called him randomly to rush to her office so late at night unless it was an emergency and something awful happened. While hurrying in, he threw the door open, but the moment he saw her, shock took over his body. Freyja was on the floor, on top of Blade, pulling his arm and having a victorious look on her face. Besides them stood Aris scoffing in displeasure while Axel counted to see if Blade will overpower her or submit, and Ace cheered for her. Luke couldn't believe his eyes. First, he thought he may have crashed his car in his hurry and now was dead. At once, he felt a surge of sadness at the thought but then seeing them overwhelmed him with happiness. Freyja lifted her head and, seeing the tears forming in his eyes, and smiled softly. Immediately catching her lack of attention, Blade overpowered her, and now she was under his power move. Freyja tapped the floor, calling the game quits, and Blade helped her up but still gloated at his win.
"You're not dreaming, and you do not see things," she said to Luke, seeing how he was rooted to the spot.
"It's real?" Luke asked, his voice barely leaving his lips. He feared that if his voice were any louder, they would disappear.
"We're back, man" Blade's large hand slapped his back in a friendly manner
"And now we know who the female in the group is," Aris said, pointing at the tears that escaped Luke's eyes
"Not really, I think we just got 2," Axel said, remembering how Freyja also cried.
"But how, what happened, where were you," Luke asked all the questions at once, not wanting to miss any.
Same as before, the boys just shook their heads, dismissing questions about what happened.