3: I Don’t Like You, Freya

FREYA'S POV

School let out, and I walked out through the gates with my bag over one shoulder.

Ivy waved from a cluster of girls not far off. I didn't want to bother, but she jogged over anyway. "Freya, are you waiting for a ride home too?"

"Doesn't Freya usually just walk?"

"Yeah, why would someone be picking her up today? On a scooter, maybe. Or a bike."

The laughter that followed was exactly as grating as I remembered.

At Lincoln Prep, everyone got sorted the moment they walked in, which pack, which bloodline, how much land your family controlled.

In my last life, once the weight piled on, I'd walked to and from school every single day out of shame, and it never once helped. Instead, people decided my family must be poor. The story going around was that I was some distant, low-ranked cousin of the Redwoods, only allowed into the academy because Kade's family had pulled strings.

Not one of them ever learned, before graduation, that I was the actual heir to the Everhart pack.

"Don't talk to her like that. I know Freya's family isn't well off, but there's no need to be cruel," Ivy said, taking my hand like she was protecting me. "Freya, why don't you just ride with me? I'll have my driver drop you home."

I pulled my hand back, frowning. "No need. My family has a car."

I knew exactly what she was after my address, and an audience for whatever car her "family" sent.

"Freya, don't start bragging. If your family owned a car, why would you walk every day?"

"Exactly. Ivy's family drives a Porsche. You'll never afford one in your life, so don't be ungrateful."

The other girls looked at me like something they'd scraped off a boot.

That was when a car pulled up to the gate and every head on the sidewalk turned at once.

"That's a limited-edition Rolls-Royce. You couldn't buy that with money alone."

"Whose is that? Does anyone here actually own that car?"

The driver stepped out, walked straight past all of them, and bowed his head slightly to me. "Miss Everhart. The Alpha sent me to bring you home."

"Understood," I said.

Ivy's whole crowd went silent.

"Freya? How could that be Freya's—"

"Who even is she? How would her family have a car like that?"

"Ivy, you two are close. Do you actually know anything about her family?"

I felt the heat of Ivy's stare on the back of my neck as I got in. A global limited edition — she had to be doing the math on what that would cost against her family's Porsche, and coming up humiliated.

Wasn't Freya supposed to be Kade's poor country cousin?

Through the rearview mirror, I watched Ivy's "father" pull up in the Mercer family Porsche to collect her. Next to the car I'd just gotten into, it looked like a toy.

My driver glanced at me, puzzled. "Miss, I thought you didn't like drawing attention."

"I've changed my mind. From now on, I want a car picking me up and dropping me off every day. The flashier the better. A different one every time, if you can manage it."

He grinned like I'd finally come to my senses. "Miss, you should've said that years ago."

I was the pride of the Everhart pack, spoiled and doted on since I was a pup. I'd been meant to study abroad, but the betrothal to the Redwoods had kept me here instead, sent to Lincoln Prep to build something with their heir.

The truth was, my parents had never wanted this match. The Redwood pack's decline had been obvious for years, the Everharts wouldn't have looked twice at a bond that weak if it weren't for the promise made between our grandparents.

"Is there a dinner tonight?" I asked.

"Yes. About your bond to the Redwood heir."

"Good."

I remembered this dinner perfectly from my last life. My parents had planned to break the betrothal that very night, only for Kade's mother to dig her heels in and insist on the match anyway. Kade hadn't wanted it either, but he couldn't defy her. Without Everhart backing, the Redwood pack would have collapsed within six months.

Back then, I'd been soft enough to feel sorry for my childhood almost-mate's family falling apart, and I'd agreed to the bond the day we graduated.

I wouldn't be that foolish twice.

The car stopped outside the Four Seasons, and I stepped out just as Kade arrived at the entrance.

We were in the same uniform, and somehow it looked like two different outfits entirely. At a hundred and eighty pounds, mine hung off me all wrong. My face was still fine underneath it all, but no one looking at me would ever have guessed I was meant for someone like him — tall, cold, carved out of granite.

He'd clearly been waiting for me on purpose. The second I was close enough, he said flatly, "Freya. I'm warning you now. I don't like you, and I will never mark you as mine."

"Same."

That made him frown.

He wasn't stupid. He'd noticed the way I used to look at him back then, the little schemes, the effort. He'd known and said nothing, mostly out of pity.

But he had zero interest in me.

So hearing me say I didn't want him either threw him off balance for exactly one second before he scoffed it away, deciding it was just wounded pride talking.

Inside the private room, my parents were already seated. Kade's mother sat alone — his father had passed years ago — dressed in every piece of jewelry she owned, which somehow only made her look cheaper. The second Kade and I walked in, she rushed over and took my hands like I was something precious.

"Freya, look at you, you've slimmed down already, and you're even prettier for it!"

I remembered exactly what kind of wolf she was. She'd start planning the mate-bond dowry and property split before the ink was even dry, and once it was hers, she'd live out the rest of her life in comfort off Everhart money, comfortable enough to show up, fully dressed, at Kade and Ivy's wedding one day.

I pulled my hands free. "Aunt Redwood, I've actually gained ten pounds since we last spoke. Let's just get to the point tonight."

That knocked a flicker of embarrassment across her face.

Kade, standing beside her, bristled. "Freya. How dare you speak to my mother that way."

"I'm just stating facts, Kade. Why are you in such a hurry to defend her?"