"Are they all coming?" The voice of Julian Lancaster shot through the house, the boy staring as Freya set the big table in the dining room that the family never used unless they were entertaining guests. "Freya, if they all come that is too many people!"
"Jules, if they all come it's only twelve people." Julian's eyes widened, watching her like she was crazy. "The table holds twenty people, Julian." Freya patted his head, walking back to the kitchen to where her mother and father were cooking, moving through the kitchen in such a grace that used to amaze Freya. Her mother and father were mates that even Claire Andersson said she was jealous about, seeing as Freya's mother and father were both wolves.
"It makes them closer, there are so many things they can do together. They can shift together, run together, hunt together. Noah and I, we are close but we can never run and hunt together, young Freya. We will never get to run all night, only to wake up besides each other at sunrise in some meadow."
Freya remembered Claire telling her this after Freya asked why Claire had been jealous. But now that she had been with someone, lived with someone, she can understand why someone would be jealous of the chemistry her parents had.
"Are they all coming, Mama?" Julian asked, sitting on the counter as he watched his mother washed tomatoes.
"Noah, Claire, Kol, Mathias, and Idris are coming. Keiran and Wren are on patrol. They also didn't want to come." Freya let out a small laugh, looking at Kristyn as she grabbed the bread.
"That makes three of us." She muttered, grinning as her mother looked over at her as she tossed the tomatoes into the salad. "Mom, you know Kol and I don't talk anymore. It's not something that will change over night." Freya whispered to her mother, glaring at Julian as he tried to listen. The boy rolled his eyes and grabbed the forks, going back to the table as Kristyn turned to her daughter, placing her hands on Freya's shoulders.
"What happened between you and Kol happened, but it doesn't mean that it is the end of you. He made a mistake, he feels-"
"Mom, he said he didn't want me as a mate. How is that something I can forgive him for?" Freya turned and started walking out of the room when her mother grabbed her wrist, turning her back gently.
"Freya, you need to talk with Kol and figure this out. Your father has agreed to something long ago that-"
"Kristyn." The two women looked over to see Greyson standing in the doorway, his eyes on the girls as he buttoned his cuff-links.
"What did you do, daddy?" Freya asked, her brow furrowed as her father adjusted his shirt before pulling on his jacket. Greyson was quiet for a moment, frowning as Kristyn raised an eyebrow at him as she stood behind her daughter, arms crossed as she waited for him to explain.
"Tonight is a dinner that Noah and I planned since before you and Kol were born, honey. Just, please, behave and be civil." Greyson kissed his daughter's forehead before smiling sadly, making her stomach sink as she frowned.
"You promised me off." She whispered, stepping away from her father. "You promised me off to him before I was born." Freya watched as her father looked away, looking down at the ground.
"Freya-"
Freya turned away from her parents, walking up the stairs to her room. Closing the door to her bedroom as she stepped inside, the girl let herself fall onto her bed as she grabbed a pillow, covering her head with it. After laying there for twenty minutes her phone started to ring, making her groan as she reached for it.
"What?" She snapped, not looking at the caller ID before answering.
"Hello?" Sitting up, the girl looked down to see that it was Alec. Letting out a small sigh, Freya closed her eyes as she brought the phone back to her ear. "Freya, is everything alright?" There was worry in his voice, she knew that he was probably thinking the worst since she had been ignoring his calls since she left.
"No, everything is not alright, Alec." She whispered, rubbing her hand over her forehead.
"What's wrong? Do you need to come home? Do you need me to come-"
"No, everything is fine. I'm just stressed with school and work." The thought of Alec coming to Chapel Hill with Kol being someone she was sworn to sent a chill down her spine since she knew what that meant in the pack. It meant that she was off limits. Sure, she was his mate. But everyone knew that Kol Andersson rejected Freya before she had shifted, everyone knew that she had left to find a life away from the man who humiliated her. But to be promised to the next Alpha was something she was not able to run from. If she were to leave, her whole family would pay the price if she did not pay for the agreement her father made to Noah Andersson.
"Alec, listen. I think it would be best if you didn't call anymore. I'm not coming back, I am staying in Chapel Hill." She sighed, pursing her lips as he remained silent. "You need to let me go." Freya hung up the phone, letting it fall onto the bed beside her before she ran a hand down her face. Letting out a deep sigh, Freya pushed herself up from the bed before she walked to her wardrobe. Opening it, she looked for the dusty rose dress Claire had given her a year ago. It was a knee length dress, the fabric was so smooth as Freya ran a hand over it before the girl pulled it out of the closet.
After a quick shower, Freya blow dried her hair and let it hang down her back as she looked at herself in the mirror, slowly beginning to do her makeup. She put nude eye shadow on her eyes, followed with eyeliner and mascara before she finally walked out to her room. Taking off her robe, the girl lathered herself with shea butter lotion before she pulled on her undergarments before she pulled on the dress, zipping the back swiftly before the sound of a car pulling up into the driveway made her walk over to the window. Looking down at the driveway she saw Noah and Claire, the man kissing his wife's head as he helped her out of the car. Her eyes looked over as she saw Mathias walking around to where his mother was, his sister following as her eyes shot up to the window, the pale grey irises boring into Freya's before Kol ushered his sister forward, his gaze on Freya before he looked away, shaking his head once as he said something to Idris.
"Freya, come welcome our guests!" Her mother called, the sound of her voice made something squeeze in her heart as she grabbed her nude heels. She sat down and slipped on the shoes, looking at herself one last time when a knock came to the door.
"I'm almost done." The door opened and she stopping moving when she saw it was Idris, looking at the girl as she came into the room and closed the door.
"Freya, it's been a long time." The woman's voice was soft like Claire's, though there was an air of maturity about her. Idris looked around the room before her eyes landed on the still-packed suitcase, her lips turning into a small smile before she looked at the younger girl in front of her. "I just wanted to come up here to make sure you were okay. The last time I saw you was when Kol rejected you." Idris was right behind Freya, fixing her blonde hair as she watched Freya stare at her reflection.
"I'm as okay as I can be, Rissa." Idris's gaze met Freya's and she frowned, crossing her arms as she watched Freya pin her hair out of her face.
"So you know why we came then?"
"Dad told me that him and Noah made an agreement before Kol and I were born." Freya turned and crossed her arms, shrugging as she looked at her friend. "What else am I supposed to think? It doesn't take a genius to figure out I'm promised to Kol."
"I know you don't want to be with him, so I get that the last thing you want to be is promised to him. My brother is an idiot and he just so happened to do something stupid that day, but I think you and my brother forget that there is only one way to escape being mates. If he really wanted to reject you, Freya, he would have found you after you shifted or you would have found him." Freya looked down at the floor, frowning as she listened to Idris. "So do you really hate him? Because I know that neither one of you sought each other out."
Idris patted Freya on the shoulder after a moment of silence between them before she walked to the door, turning as she held her hand out to Freya. The girl took it, allowing Idris to pull her alongside her to the stairs. Everyone was standing there talking with each other when the girls began walking down the stairs, turning as they heard the sound of shoes hitting the wooden steps.
"Is everything alright?" Claire asked, stepping towards her daughter when Idris smiled.
"Yes, mom. She's just finishing getting ready. She's just a little tired, seeing as today was her first day back in class and at the office." Claire nodded, patting Idris's hand before Claire patted Freya's cheek. Freya looked over everyone in the foyer, her skin prickling as she looked towards Kol when Noah stepped towards her.
"Freya, how very lovely to see you." Noah smiled down at the girl, moving forwards to hug her gently.
"It's good to see you too, Noah." Freya responded, returning the hug as he patted her back before stepping away, Claire grabbing the girl's hands as soon as her husband let go.
"I knew that dress would look beautiful on you, I am glad you decided to wear it tonight my dear." Freya smiled at Claire, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she slowly began walking towards the dining room.
"I knew you would want to see the dress. I love it, thank you very much." She whispered, smiling wider as Kol's mother placed a kiss on her cheek before Kristyn walked into the room.
"Supper is ready everyone." She announced, smiling as she took in the sight of her daughter. "Freya, you look beautiful." Freya thanked her mother, hugging her gently before she walked into the dining room to see that Julian, Laurel, and Mathias were already sitting at the table.
"Wow, Freya! You look so pretty!" Laurel exclaimed, smiling as her sister ruffled her hair.
"You too, kid."
"Freya, why don't you sit beside me." Claire suggested, patting the seat between her and Freya's mother, who was looking at her with a sad smile. Freya sat between the two women and looked up with a blank expression when she saw Kol sitting between her father and Idris as Noah sat at the head of the table. Kol gave her a small smile before he turned his head, looking at his father as the man reached for food.
"Please, everyone. Dig in otherwise I will eat all of Kristyn and Geryson's food myself." He muttered, taking some steak onto his plate. Everyone began to fill their plates but Freya watched as Noah took food from the plates, placing them on Claire's plate out of habit as she watched him gently, a small smile on her face as she sipped her wine.
"So, Freya, how was your first day working at the office? If your father gave you a hard time, you better tell me. I'll put him on extra patrols." Noah teased, grinning as he looked at Freya. "Without your mother." He added, causing her father to roll his eyes.
"Today was good working in the office, it was nice to work. But I do have a question." Freya watched as Noah looked at her, giving a small nod as he swallowed his food. "I was in class and I noticed something. My Sociology professor is an outsider. Why is he here?" She heard Idris chuckle before Noah nodded, looking at Claire as she cut her steak.
"Your professor is an outsider, yes. But he is no stranger, he is a member of the Eastern European Pack. Work brought him to the states and I owed him a favor, seeing as he had been kind to us before in the past." Noah stated gently as he watched Freya process his words, her eyes falling on Claire as the woman continued to eat. "So, how have you been? Did you have a nice time during your vacation?" Noah asked, watching as Freya tilted her head, hesitating as she looked towards the boy across from her.
"Yeah, I had a good time. I traveled with a friend, I was actually just coming back from Greece when I came back." She answered, sipping on the wine.
"Right, I seem to remember Adrian mentioning that." Her mother smiled, looking over at her daughter. "Freya actually brought me some things she and Alec found on the beach, honey." Greyson looked at his wife, watching as she smiled but her smile faltered as she realized when she said. Freya only gave a nod and began to eat some of the salad, her hair standing on edge as she felt Kol's eyes shift to her.
"Oh, isn't that the boy who came to your graduation?" Idris asked, smirking as Freya shot her a glare. Letting out a sigh, Freya nodded before she straightened in the chair.
"Yeah, he was someone I met during my college tour in Manhattan. We traveled, had a small fling. It's over now, he didn't support me coming back so I decided to end it." Freya glanced at Kol, watching she he slowly chewed his food, his eyes hard as he watched her. They continued to eat as Claire began to talk, trying to change the subject as she noticed how tense both of them were. After a while most of the food was gone and everyone sat there for a second, letting the food settle before Noah cleared his throat.
"So, shall we discuss the real reasons we are all here?" He asked, looking at Greyson. Freya watched as her father glanced towards her before standing, looking at his Alpha with a nod.
"Follow me." He said to which Noah, Claire, Idris, Kol, and Freya stood. Mathias, Julian and Laurel ran off as they talked, leaving the adults behind as they followed Freya's father. Kristyn grabbed her daughter's hand as she smiled at her daughter, guiding her into Greyson's office. Kol was sitting on the couch beside the armchair where his mother sat, his elbows on his knees as he started at the ground. Idris stood at the fireplace, her eyes looking at flames. Freya pulled away from her mother, leaning against the bookshelf farthest from her father and the Alpha, crossing her arms as she watched them look for papers in the folders that had been pulled from the dossiers.
"First matter, we all know that our previous keeper of the dossiers, Marge Eskel, passed the past month. Idris has been keeping them, but I have talked to your father and we wanted to ask if you would like to keep the dossiers for the pack since you've returned to us." Noah looked at Freya, a small smile on his face as he knew she liked to wander through the dossier archives when she was in school.
"I would love to." Freya nodded, watching as he gave a quick nod before he flipped through a different file.
"Okay, that is wonderful. Idris will have to show you everything, but that I will leave up to her to discuss with you. Let us talk about the second and main reason were are here." Freya leaned again the shelves behind her, watching as her father handed the Alpha a paper before he looked down at the ground. "As you all know, the Lancaster family has always been tied to the Andersson family. Ever since we came here we have been close, but when Greyson and I were in school we traced it back and saw that we were never tied to each other by blood." Noah stated, laying documents on a paper the two men did when they were in school. "We made a blood promise that we would be the first to do it if we had a son and daughter. Imagine our surprise when we had Kol and then you came two years later, Freya." The Alpha looked at her, smiling as he sat on the arm of the chair his wife sat in. "We were even more surprised when Kol told us not only were you his mate, but that he had rejected you. But, as we all know, neither of you went through the full process of rejecting each other as mates after Freya's shift. Am I right?" He asked, looking between the two. They nodded and he let out a small sigh, grabbing Claire's hand as he looked at Greyson.
"I know this is hard for you, Freya. But a blood oath-"
"A blood oath is unbreakable, I know." She murmured, looking out the window as she shook her head. "If it is already something that we have no choice in, why are we here talking about it?" Freya asked in a low voice, frowning when she saw Claire wince and a flash of hurt run through Kol's face.
"There are things that need to be done, and you both needed to know about this. Most importantly, we have all decided to wait for you guys to decide when you are ready for the ceremony." All of the parents in the room nodded and Freya looked at Kol, seeing that he was looking at the fire as he listened to his father. He stood suddenly, running a hand through his hair as he looked at Freya.
"Follow me." Everyone watched as he left the room, leaving the door open for the girl to follow. Shaking her head slightly before straightening, Freya turned and followed Kol out of the office and they walked out of the house, leaving everyone in the office without answers.