Freya tapped on the steering wheel as she drove through town, making her way to the border before she crossed into the neighboring town, Brekkenford Valley. While Chapel Hill was a town with two small cafes, a library, two bookstores, and an elementary school and high school, Brekkenford was a town that was slightly bigger than Chapel Hill. The buildings there were bigger, they had most stores, cafes, and their libraries were more heavily stocked with resources for the town bookworms who actually used the library. The middle school sat on the border of both towns, a mix of students from both towns mingled before they went their separate ways for high school. Most of the businesses located in Brekkenford were owned by families who lived in Chapel Hill, being made by some of the founding families when the two towns used to be connected before the pack came to America.
The Lancaster family was one of the families that owned a business in Brekkenford, which is why Freya was making her way into the neighboring town after dropping the twins off to their grandmother's house. One thing that always grew in abundance on her family's property in Upstate was maple trees, which her great-great-great-great grandfather turned into a business that has been in the Lancaster family for years. Now that she's home, Freya's father insisted that his daughter being to work to take over the family business, seeing as she is his first born and it will be passed to her one day.
As she pulled into the parking lot connected to the office she saw a black sedan sitting in the driveway, making Freya smile lightly as she got out of the car to see that Mrs. Andersson was at the office. It wasn't exactly shocking to see the woman, seeing as she bought syrup directly from Freya's mother and she had her paintings in the gallery, but to see Mrs. Andersson here made Freya feel both happy and uneasy as she and Claire were close with one another but the girl knew there would probably be another Andersson wolf with the only human member of their family.
"Freya! Come inside and say hello to Claire! She drove out here to welcome you back!" Freya heard as she got out of her car, turning to see her father standing at the door. Greyson Lancaster was smiling widely as he watched his daughter walk towards him, wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her head. "It's nice to have you home, your mother and I missed you." Freya smiled, rubbing her father's arm before he opened the door, gesturing for her to head inside. She walked in and looked around, her eyes landing on Claire standing there, though she smelt that she was not alone. Claire Andersson stood there at the counter with her youngest son Mathias, the pair talking when the bell above the door jingled. When Mathias turned towards the door, his face lit up as he saw Freya, having grown close to her before she left.
"Freya!" He wrapped his arms around her torso, his head resting on her collarbone as she looked down at him in shock.
"Mathias, when did you get so tall?" She laughed, ruffling his hair before he pulled away, grinning at her before his mother stepped forwards.
"Freya, it is so wonderful to see you again. I've missed you." Claire Andersson pulled Freya to her, rubbing the girl's back as she hugged her.
"Thank you, Claire. You look well."
Claire, despite coming from a family of wolves, was born without the gift, being born as a human. This led Claire to live a hard life. She had been an outcast, tossed aside by her pack before she was taken in by her husband's mother after she was found in the woods, left to the wilderness wrapped in a swaddle as she screamed for someone to find her. After she was taken in, Claire grew up alongside Noah Andersson in Chapel Hill. Noah Andersson had always been protective of Claire since his mother brought her home, but it never made sense to anyone until he had his first shift and she was the only one who could make him shift back. That was the start of their story, which would soon gift them with three sons and two daughters.
Despite growing up in the pack, Claire has always been a kind soul. This is why Freya could never say no to Claire Andersson about anything, even as she tried to distance herself from the Andersson family as much as possible. Claire was a second mother to Freya, though Freya has always talked to Claire about things not even Kristyn Lancaster knew. Claire was the one person in town that Freya hated to leave the most, knowing that Claire worried about her immensely as if she were her own daughter.
"I came to welcome you home, we are all glad that you decided to come back. Noah also told me to let you know that if you need anything, you can find him in the office at the University or you can always stop by." Freya nodded, taking Claire's hand before she patted the soft skin of her hand, thanking her gently when the door to the back room opened. Freya looked up as her mother walked out, holding bottles of maple syrup as she left the cellar where they held the produce, smiling and going to say something when she saw who was following her.
"Freya! Look who's here! Kol was telling me you saw each other today." Claire looked between Kol and Freya, pursing her lips as she watched Freya tense before she let go of the woman's hand as she moved away from Kol as he walked towards his family. "I was talking with your father and Claire and we invited them over for dinner tonight! Isn't that lovely? We haven't had dinner together since your sophomore year in high school." Greyson nodded, putting the jugs in bags as Kol placed himself at the counter as he crossed his arms, his eyes studying Freya's face as she looked at her mother.
"Mom, I do-"
"Come on Freya, I missed you and I am sure Noah would love to see you. Plus, we have a few things we need to talk to you about." Claire grabbed Freya's hand, smiling before Freya let out a sigh, pursing her lips before nodding. Claire kissed Freya's hand before she turned to talk to Kristyn and Greyson, though Freya looked at Kol to see he had a small smile on his face after seeing the effect his mother had on the girl. Freya leaned against the counter in front of the cash register, a good amount of distance between the two as she watched their parents talk, though he continued to look over at her.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" She asked, keeping her eyes on Claire as she played with Mathias's hair.
"You're talking to me now?" He asked, following her gaze.
"Just wondering if you developed a thing for stalking the girls in town while I was away, seeing as you were watching me this morning too." She retorted, grinning as he frowned, looking at her as he opened his mouth when his mother called to him, walking to leave the store.
"See you tonight, Freya." Greyson watched as his daughter looked away from Kol, shaking her head as he closed the door behind him.
"Are you antagonizing my Alpha's son?" Greyson asked as he walked towards his daughter, chuckling when her sharp eyes looked towards him. "You do realize you can't hate him forever, Freyfrey. He's your mate." Freya rolled her eyes before she crossed her arms, looking away from her father.
"He rejected me, dad. I'm not his anything." Freya muttered, pushing off the counter before she walked to the back of the office, looking for her mother so she could start working.