Freya offered, “One day, you won’t have these lingering doubts about our worth. I know why you do, but it annoys me. Things were supposed to be very different in your life, and it irks me it was allowed to be altered in such a way.” Umm ok?
Addison linked, “Wow. He’d marry you before you were marked.” I replied, “That goes against a serious tradition for Alpha’s of how things go.” Addison snorted, “Who cares?” I did… because it meant a lot to me, but I knew that wasn’t what she meant.
I did know I wanted to marry him… this was just so different from how I thought everything would go down. When I thought we’d be happy I thought my family would be there… then in my dreams where he agreed to give us a chance… our mating ceremony was small.
I knew that my family wasn’t going to come… I’d invite them… but I knew they wouldn’t come… and it would be small, so we didn’t offend anyone… so... this was all different. I’d planned to personally ask Jason to just watch from the house or over a live stream…but this was totally different…which was good…but I needed to get the original picture back.
I noted Xander’s sincerity was flowing up through me from my foot. Why was that getting stronger? Freya answered, “Because I am getting stronger.” Sure... that made... sense. I guess. Dylan kept rambling then dropped what felt like a literal bomb on us all.
I gaped at him when he just casually announced Claudia Harden had planted flowers around here. Dylan Frost absolutely knew how Haley felt about Claudia. I knew how Haley felt about Claudia… and I wasn’t alive to see it. I’d just heard people talking about it.
I glanced at Haley. I told Freya, “Oh she’s mad… like really mad.” Freya snorted, “She is and Thor is locked up.” Oh boy. To my complete lack of surprise, Haley blew up about the Claudia garden. Eric looked astonished.
Freya said, “He nor Thor remembered she planned the garden.” Good to know I’d been correct in my assessment of him seemingly searching his memory to remember if what Dylan had said was accurate. After several minutes he paled. Uh oh. Dylan was clearly right.
I linked Jason, “That seems bad.” Jason snorted, “Bad? We should get out of here before the storms blow in. Sometimes they last for days.” I bit my lip because I knew Haley could control the weather so Jason might be right.
Haley popped away. I linked Tristan, “That garden is toast. If Haley was a Fire Fairy… I’d say it would be up in flames. Since she’s an Earth and Sky Fairy though… the garden is so done… like down to the roots… done.” Tristan agreed, “You are right.”
Dylan happily teased Eric about the garden until Wesley popped him out. Xander used that as a way to cover our exit. When we got to his room, he seemed surprised about my reaction to him wanting to marry me but my stance had logic to it.
We hadn’t discussed it. Freya chuckled, “He’s told us he wants to marry us.” During sex… and leading to it… that wasn’t the same. I’d heard plenty of promises made in the heat of the moment that were never kept. Pack life meant you heard things. I heard a lot of mates swear they were done cheating …they lied.
Xander reiterated that we could marry whenever we wanted. Part of me wanted to jump on that. The other part wanted something about us to be normal. Especially considering so far… nothing was traditional or normal with us.
Freya snickered, “I hate to burst that bubble of hoping for normal things, but we will always be different.” I questioned, “Why? Once I’m marked… we will be like every other Alpha and Luna. Well… I mean we fight really well but still.”
Freya laughed, “No that’s not it.” I guess she was back to being cryptic. Or maybe my wolf was referring the Resistance piece of it all. Freya chuckled, which said that wasn’t it either. My wolf urged, “Let’s agree to start planning the ceremony like mate suggested.” That I could do. There were details I didn’t want to think about or decide yet. Like my dad being alive to walk me down the aisle.
I kind of thought if Xander didn’t reject me that I’d have Hendrick and Mason do it. That was a remote thought to me though because I believed my mate would reject me. It was just the small part of me I allowed to hope and dream sometimes… now my dad was here…..alive…and he could do it.
Did I have him walk me down the aisle? I’d probably regret it if I didn’t… Dang it... Haley was right. I did need to speak with someone about all this. Xander said he needed to go downstairs. Great... I totally needed to be left alone with my thoughts right now. Freya teased, “Wow. You can’t even lie in an internal monologue.” I gasped, “It was sarcasm.” Freya asked, “Was it?” Yes! My mate popped out.
I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes. I demanded, “Don’t think, brain.” That wasn’t working I was already contemplating all my feelings and how other people probably felt. I felt Xander’s anger intensely before I felt him control himself.
I asked Freya, “Good lord. What now?” Freya admitted, “I don’t know yet, but you didn’t want to think about certain things involving our mating ceremony. At least this distracts us.” I questioned, “Do you know about my dream I keep having?”
Freya was quiet for a while then answered, “I do.” I pressed, “Do you know what it means?” My wolf was silent. Eventually she answered, “I know more about it than you do. I do not know why no one shifted or used their other powers they have.”
I questioned, “What do you know about it?” Freya explained, “You’re not ready for those answers yet. I just need a little more time to get stronger. Then we will have some serious chats with mate.” That sounded good. Freya snorted, “You really can’t lie in your own inner monologue.”
I grumbled, “Yes, I can.” Freya told me, “It’s not a bad thing.” Ok? Agree to disagree. Lying to myself convincingly would be great. I was about to question her further when Xander linked me asking me not to come downstairs.
Umm… what? I hadn’t planned on going downstairs. Now... I felt like I should go…because he was clearly downstairs. I reasoned with myself as I opened the door to our room that the stairs leading downstairs... was not technically going downstairs.
Freya snickered, “How Fairy of you.” I argued, “It’s logic, not mischievousness.” I tiptoed my way to the stairs and halfway down before I sat down in the middle of one stair. Freya warned, “If mate wasn’t so angry, he’d notice we were on the stairs. I just wanted that stated for the record.”
I snorted, “Unless you were helping hide us from him.” Freya acknowledged, “That’s true. He does smell us according to Oden.” I asked, “And how did you hide us from Xander and Oden?” Freya didn’t say anything. Of course not.
Ugh! You know what? I needed to focus because I felt Xander calming down, but something was off about it. I realized itwasn’t his own calm. Maybe TJ was helping him. How did I know that? I linked Freya, “Don’t even say you can’t tell me. I already know that you know the answer but won’t tell me.”
Freya snorted, “Soon, you will know.” I sighed, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” It only drove me partially crazy as a Beta pup. That thought nearly choked me again. My mom linked, “Melanie, are you ok? I just had this sense you needed me.”
I whispered, “I’m a Beta pup.” Mom was emphatic in her response, “Yes, you are.” I admitted, “Sometimes that takes me aback because… for… years… people tried to convince me I wasn’t… and…”
Mom cut me off, “You are a Beta blood.” I acknowledged, “I am.”
Mom continued, “Drake is your dad in every sense. Just like you’ve only been with Alexander, I was only with your dad. I never would’ve hidden it from you if something happened on my heat. I would never let you wonder.” I knew that… it was just so hard down in Black Path to hold onto that truth.
