Chapter 23

Zac’s pov

I took the stairs back up to my room two at a time, that spy’s words ringing in my ears. Watching for new people. For anyone seeking shelter. It had to be connected. Freya and her daughter were new to this pack. If anything I needed to protect her.

While I stomped through the hallway, one of my guards stepped before me and bowed. At this point I was getting impatient because there was a gnawing feeling within me telling me that something was wrong somewhere.

“My alpha,” he bowed as I sighed.

“What do you want?” I asked impatiently, a growl escaping through my teeth. He felt it and looked down.

“I’m only here to ask how we would increase the border security. I was sent on behalf of general Marcus.”

“Marcus, that bastard,” I growled. “Look, how about we handle this later. Right now I have like a ton of things to do and not have enough time to listen to Marcus. I hope that’s enough for you.”

“But alpha,” he said with a straight face. “If we have more spies crawling around the pack, don’t you think we should set up a patrol and…”

I stopped listening after he called my name. I trailed off before my palms were hurting. Why were they hurting? What was going on?

Everything in me wanted me to rush to freya to make sure she was okay. I didn’t have time for this rubbish.

“Fine!” I shot out which jolted him back. “Do whatever you want. Set up a meeting. Get the crowd or the men to rally round and search for the spies. But stay the hell out of my way.”

He bowed as he stepped out of my way and I walked straight for my room.

I would need to talk to Marcus about him staying in my way. I didn’t need that kind of distraction when I was going for a mission. Right now, freya was my mission. I needed to talk to her and tell her that she should no longer be afraid of me and that she should not run away again as whatever her fears were I would help her conquer it.

Well I wouldn’t say it like that but it would be close enough.

I got to my door and knocked, trying to sound calm. “Freya? It’s me. I’m coming in, okay?”

Nothing. Not a sound from the other side. I wondered what was going on as I felt a hard knot tighten in my chest.

“Freya? Come on, open up. I just wanna talk. I’m not mad about the vase, I promise.”

Still nothing. Absolute silence. Too much silence.

“Freya, you’re starting to scare me. Open the door.”

I tried the handle. It was locked. From the inside. That cold dread from the dungeon came rushing back, ice-cold this time. Without another second of thought, I shoved my shoulder against the door. The old lock splintered with a loud crack and the door flew open.

The smell hit me first. Copper. Blood.

My eyes scanned the room. Empty. The bed was messy.

Where was she? I thought. And that was when I saw it. The window was wide open with pieces of the broken window scattered over the floor. The night air blew the curtains in as I saw broken pieces of a wooden chair and a rope tied to the leg of the chair that had broken apart.

My heart just stopped. Did she try to escape through a window? What the actual fuck!

Then I heard it. A tiny, terrified whimper. And then a grunt of pure strain, coming from right outside.

I moved without thinking. A blur of speed and I was at the window, looking down.

Oh, moon goddess.

Freya was hanging by her bloody fingertips from the shattered remains of the ledge. Zara was tied to her back with a bedsheet, screaming her head off, her little arms locked around her mother’s neck. Freya’s fingers were slipping, blood making her grip slick. They were seconds from falling.

I didn’t think. I just moved.

I jumped over the windowsill. For a second, I was falling too. I slammed one hand onto the solid part of the stone windowsill, my own grip biting into the stone. My other arm shot out and wrapped around Freya’s waist, yanking her and Zara hard against me.

I felt the broken glass dig into my arm but I didn’t feel it. I just held on. They were important to me.

“Hey, relax, I’ve got you,” I said when I saw her panicked and confused look.

Using my wolf strength, I hauled us up and we both tumbled into the room and landed in a mess of tangled limbs.

I could hear Zara crying in relief while freya kept gasping for air, her breath too ragged to be calm.

I started to feel my hands knitting together as I looked at it and found myself healing.

I looked down at the two of them on the floor. The stolen rope. The broken window. The sheer, stupid, unbelievable risk she’d just taken.

My body rages as I stood up and looked at her.

“Freya?” I called as she turned to look at me. “What the actual hell is wrong with you?”

She looked up at me in fear as she stood up to face me.

“They warned me about you! About your… your stupid obsession with that vase! I just… I just wanted to get us away. I thought you’d… you’d kill us for breaking it!”

I couldn’t control my anger as I turned and paced for a while before turning to look at her again. This again?! Really?

“Who?” I asked, my voice quiet. I wanted to know who was the bastard who had made her almost kill herself and her daughter. “Who told you that rubbish? Who filled your head with that?”

She shook her head, burying her face in Zara’s hair. “It doesn’t matter who! It doesn’t change anything!”

“It matters to me!” I let loose as ans shuddered. “Freya… that vase. It was empty. I’d just bought the stupid thing that morning when you were to start staying in there.”

She looked at me in confusion.

“Look, I was going to put daffodils in them. I saw them growing by the fence line. The yellow ones. I remembered… I remembered you always liked those flowers. The vase was for you. It was never for me.”

Everything in the room got silent except for Zara’s sob reducing.

“What are you saying?” She asked in confusion.