Right behind him, I can see the slightly aggravated face of his gamma, Garret. “I’m sorry, Lord Finn.” Garret furrows his brows. “I tried to stop him from coming, but he stuck to me like a tick.”

“Aw, aren’t we cute?” Marius smirks. “Everyone is always so happy to see me.”

“It’s not my problem, though,” Garret shrugs and flashes a grin toward Marius. “But yours.”

“Why’s that?” Marius asks, sounding a bit uncertain now.

“Celine asked Elias and me to come alone and make this a subtle visit to Finn and his mate.” Garret smiles sweetly. “Our alpha will be so happy to hear you did whatever you wanted again.”

Marius tilts his head, looking a bit torn now. “Shoot, I forgot to tell her!”

I can see Freya standing up curiously and coming closer. “You’re Marius, Celine’s mate?” she asks. When Marius nods, she looks curious. “The guy she needs the whip for?”

I stare at her, my eyes widening, while Garret breaks down, laughing at her words. I exchange a glance with Aurelia before we burst into laughter too. Garret wipes his tears away. “Maybe she has one for me too. My lune is hard to control.”

“Hilarious,” Marius grumbles. He tries to sound smooth and cool, but a hint of pink is gracing his cheeks now. “If I were you, I’d watch my mouth, Garret. I know for a fact that your mate isn’t playing around with his threats…”

Now it’s Garret’s turn to look scandalized. “What do you mean?”

“Here you have my second oldest brother,” I tell Freya while still grinning. “This made my day. Finally, payback for the years of him pranking me.”

Marius looks even more flustered now, and I decide to take pity on him. It’s not like he will ever be able to live down the story with the whip, anyway. That’s punishment enough. “Marius.” I take a deep breath to calm down. “This is my mate, Freya.”

“I’m happy to meet you, Freya,” he says with a smile before he glares at me. “I can’t say the same for my insufferable brother.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I say without meaning it.

Marius frowns before turning to my mate. “Did he tell you the story of how he got his first piercing and tattoo? He was fourteen and went to a witch coven, successfully convincing them he was sixteen. When he returned home, he tried to hide it but was found out. Dad almost had a heart attack. I swear the vein on his forehead was pulsating!”

“Oh, are we sharing embarrassing stories from our childhood now?” I retort, glaring at my brother. “Because I’m certainly not the only one who managed to make Dad almost explode. Remember that incident with the wine cellar?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t share that!” Marius frowns.

“Try me!”

Freya’s laughter pulls us out of our little quarrel. “You two are so funny together.”

Marius and I exchange a gaze. My brother looks amused all of a sudden, his humor winning over easily. I clear my throat, remembering why we are having this meeting today.

“Alright.” I take Freya’s hand. “I wanted you to meet Garret’s mate, a former member of Blood Snow.”

Freya’s eyes widen when Elias finally comes forward. He is a tall, athletic man and Moon Blood’s main tracker. With his sharp blue eyes, he always looks like he is on alert. Now that I know how shitty his pack truly was, I can understand his trust and anger issues more than before.

Elias reaches out his hand. “You’re Freya, aren’t you? My name is Elias. I left Blood Snow two years ago. I’m happy to meet you. And I apologize. I wish I had reacted earlier and made sure that asshole Colton would be removed.”

I feel bad for him instantly. It’s the reason Garret was wary about this meeting in the first place. When he met Elias, he was a rough and broody man, barely able to open up to his mate or accept that he was gay. He was traumatized.

Freya reacts fast. Instead of taking Elias’ hand, she hugs him. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.” She breathes out. “You set it all into motion. Without you, Ryllis and I might have already been dead, either by Colton’s hand or in the wilderness as rogues.”

Elias looks flustered. “I should have reacted earlier,” he mutters.

“No,” Garret intervenes with unusual authority. “You were dealing with heavy trauma too, and you didn’t even know you could trust me or your new pack. This is not your fault. All of this is Colton’s fault.”

Freya nods grimly and lets go of Elias. “I can’t wait for him to fall.” She furrows her brows before softening her gaze and looking at Elias curiously. “I don’t really remember you. I only know you won a competition against a warrior and got a warrior rank back then.”

Elias nods. “That’s basically what happened. I talked to Amaryllis yesterday, and she told me about the stuff happening in the pack house. Honestly, Freya, I didn’t even know most of the things that went on. I lived in one of the cottages close to the borders, and as a low-ranking warrior, I was never allowed at the pack house. It was just luck that Colton took me to one of the alpha summits where I met Garret.” He shakes his head, looking horrified. “The things Ryllis told me… it’s unbelievable… I wish I would have known.”

“Stop blaming yourself,” I tell him. “Garret is right. This is not your fault.”