Now that group has reunited, at least they had to catch up and have some fun after such a long time. Seeing that both Blade and Axel had weapons on them, Freyja thought they attract avoidable trouble. Hence, she had the boys hide their weapons. Because she felt ok with what she wore, Freyja didn't stop by the villa for a change of clothes.
When the group arrived at the entrance of Escape, they became the talk of the town in a second. Girls were googling their eyes at the boys and envied her for being surrounded by all those handsome men, while the other guys present would immediately turn their wishful looks away from her when they saw the five men surrounding her.
Luke and Axel were the jovial ones, winking at random girls, giving them butterflies, and smiling playfully. Meanwhile, Blade was her human shield. He glared at any man that dared to look at her for a second too long. Because of his mysterious and sad aura, Ace attracted unwanted attention, which made him uncomfortable, while Aris kept his usual stone composure, not even blinking towards other people.
Finally, when they entered the club, the same man from the other day walked them to the booth she always requested. The moment the server came to take their order, the party started. From drinking games to challenges and moments of recollection, they made up for the lost time together. They all missed each other dearly and had a lot to talk about. For a night, she forgot about her worries. Because she stopped caring about what will happen tomorrow and just enjoyed herself, and that was something she desperately needed.
At Crimson Moon castle, Hades just arrived from his endless day. This dreadful day was a day full of meetings and ruthless negotiations with contractors and partners that were all trying to get out of contracts. Because the company was in poor shape, he barely could convince them to stay, or at least most of them. The ones he persuaded all had ridiculous demands and wanted to take advantage of his Group's poor condition. Right now, he wished so badly the black-eyed girl would be there with him to comfort him, but he knew that was a sweet dream. Still, he desired her more than anything. After taking a quick shower, he headed to his study to deal with some pack issues. He had barely taken his seat in front of the desk when a very furious Jake barged in. As soon as Jake walked in, he punched the wall before taking the seat across from Hades.
"Give up on her, man," Jake said, now hanging his head with a disdainful look on his face.
"Why?" Hades asked curiously
"Because she doesn't fucking exist," Jake said, gritting his teeth, all the anger and frustration from a moment ago resurfacing.
"Are you saying I slept with a ghost?" Hades asked sarcastically.
"Honestly, a ghost would be easier to track down. At least a ghost would have been alive at some point," Jake replied in a defeated tone.
Seeing how Jake looked so defeated and hearing his words, he only became more intrigued by her. He poured Jake a drink, and now he wanted to hear everything. Jake took the glass and bottomed it in a second, then started pacing like a madman.
"All connections used up. So I tried to follow her. The woman gets swallowed by the earth and is nowhere to be found. So after that, I tried tracking anything from her past. Well, that was so fun. She doesn't have one. It's like this woman woke up yesterday, turned 21, started a business, and became successful. Even after becoming successful, there is nothing to dig up. She doesn't have one thing to tell you more than just reading business insider's interview with her," he sat again down on the chair, "I never saw someone this careful and good at hiding."
"Why do you think she is hiding something," Hades asked. He suspected her as well, but wanted to hear Jake's thoughts.
Jake shook his head
"Not hiding something, she sure is doing that, but she is hiding from something or someone," He replied, tapping Hades's desk, and you could tell by the look on his face Freyja intrigued him as much as she intrigued Hades.
"Hiding from someone?" Hades said, a glimpse of confusion and shock on his face.
"Yeah, and she is a pro at it. I have no clue who she is hiding or running from, but whoever that person is would look straight at her and not know is her," Jake added, pouring himself another drink.
This stirred a couple of ideas in Hades's head. What if that is why she refused him so adamantly? Could she have done that to protect him from something, that silly girl, he didn't need protection. A soft smile appeared on his face, thinking about it.
"Where is she right now?" he asked, dying to assure her she didn't have to worry about him.
"You have as good of an idea as I do," Jake snapped at him. Before he could say she vanished in front of him, an angry Liam appeared in the room.
"Who pissed you off?" Jake asked, pouring a drink for Liam and handing it to him.
"I have a feeling the same one who sent you into a fit of anger," Liam replied, taking the drink from him. He could hear Jake from the entrance screaming his frustration.
"Topic of the day," Jake laughed bitterly.
"What did she do to you? You adore her," Hades asked, furrowing his brows at Liam.
"Adored her until you pissed her," Liam added, bottoming his glass and pushing it on the table for a refill.
"She had me run around like a headless dog all day. Collect that, do this, come to the meeting x, you didn't bring y, run to the other part of the realm, get something useless that she could've mailed. Oh, you brought it? I don't need it anymore. Go to the other office, bring documents that don't exist, and hand me 300 reports that we would normally collect from the team managers at the end of the year today. I am her site manager, but she made me her lackey, assistant and threw all her anger on you, at me," Liam added, now leaning lazily on the other chair in the room.
"I think you did that all on your own," Hades said, pointing out how he cornered her at the club the night before.
"She couldn't be mad at that, could she?" Liam asked uncertainly, the question more directed to himself than the other two men. "Oh, I am so screwed," he added when the realization hit him.
"Sounds like it" Jake patted his back pitifully. "Where is she, though?" he asked, remembering how Freyja lost him almost immediately.
"At Escape, I guess, she had a rough day herself, so she is blowing off steam at the club or blowing off steam at home, but my money is on the latter as she left with a group of men as per last text Lisa sent me," Liam said dismissively.
"A group of men?" Hades asked, anger rushing through his body
"Yeah, not sure who they are. Lisa said she left with five men that could as well be models or something," Liam said in the same dismissive manner. When Lisa texted him, he was too exhausted to care, and he was just happy he could leave. What he didn't realize was that he just poured gasoline on the fire.
Hades stood up so fast he almost flipped his desk over
"We're going to Escape," he announced in a loud, angry growl
Jake and Liam had to blink twice to snap out of the shock at his sudden outburst, but then followed him to the car. This was the first time they saw him so adamantly after a girl. In the past, he always dismissed all females that tried to get to him. Occasionally, he had a one-night stand with some random she-wolf, but he got rid of them as fast as he picked them.
On the road to the club, Hades drove like a madman. When they arrived at the club alive, both Jake and Liam were surprised. Entering the club, Hades started searching for Freyja with his eyes. When e found her, she was dancing intimately on a slow song with a tall blue-haired man. That sent Hades a sudden pain in his chest when he saw how peaceful she looked in his arms. It should've been him, not that tool, he thought, rage overflowing his body. He went straight at them, ready to snap the guy's neck if he so much as looked at him wrong, while Jake and Liam heeled him. He grabbed her arm, and with almost too much force, pulled her to him. The sudden move stunned Freyja, making her lean into him to steady herself. Identically, the scene shocked Axel, and he searched her eyes quizzically. When she realized who pulled her from Axel's arms, her face went pale, then anger filled her body.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Freyja roared, her tone as frightening as her face. She was now staring straight into Hades's eyes, pinning him to the spot.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hades growled back at her, not letting her intimidate him.
"Whatever I want, Hades," she said in the same tone, purposefully stressing his name.
In a matter of seconds, the other men stood right beside her. While Axel's hand instinctively grabbed the spot where a gun was hiding, Blade had one hand on one of his knives and the other on the small of her back. Meanwhile, anger twisted Ace's face, almost losing control over his transformation, and Aris cast a minor spell under his breath and sneakily kept a small, dark orb of magic in his hand. Last, Luke, sensing the group's animosity towards the man, had now taken a fighting stance.
"Shit," Jake muttered under his breath, recognizing the men. After that, he tried to stay as out of sight as he could.
"Hades, we should leave," Liam tried to calm Hades, sensing that apart from one, neither of the men standing around Freyja was human.
"They should leave," Hades growled in his Alpha voice, shaking the club
"Sorry mate, we came here first, and she is with us, so you leave headfirst or head last, your call," Blade said in a calm tone.
Too calm, Freyja thought. Taking a glance at the surrounding men, she knew this will not end well. So she raised an arm, signalling them to step back.
"If Mr. Loke wants the club for himself, he can have it. So we're leaving," Freyja said, gritting her teeth.
"You're not leaving anywhere with them" Hades's voice was now almost inhuman.
Is he that crazy to change into a wolf in the middle of a club full of humans, she thought.
"You don't have the right to tell me to do anything," she matched his voice, anger taking over her.
They were having a standoff in the middle of the club when a powerful light shone on Jake's face, who was still trying to stay as hidden as possible. At the sight of him, Axel's gun flew from its hiding spot, now pointed straight at Jake's face. Blade had one knife at his throat. Now entirely changed into his demon form, Ace squeezed the man into a cocoon with his tails. In contrast, Aris had the other two men trapped in a statue spell so they wouldn't interfere and froze the humans around so they wouldn't see or remember anything.
Freyja watched the scene, not fully understanding what was happening. She knew why the guys were acting like that towards Hades, but she couldn't figure out why they reacted towards a man she saw for the first time.
"You bastard," Axel let a loud growl.