4: Pay Your Own Debt

FREYA'S POV

Kade scoffed at what he clearly took for spoiled-rich-girl nonsense. "Freya, drop the attitude. I know you look down on the Redwood pack but we're the ones climbing our way back up! If you don't want the bond, just say so!"

"Kade! What is wrong with you?" His mother's hand cracked across his arm.

Their pack was on its knees. Without Everhart backing, she and her son wouldn't have anywhere to run the pack from at all, they'd lose their territory outright.

"Mom, don't. I'm just telling the truth." He didn't even try to hide his contempt.

My parents' expressions shifted at the exact same moment. Whatever polite mask they'd been wearing dropped clean off.

So this is what he's actually thought of our daughter this whole time.

I'd been gentle, devoted, never once acted like the heir of a pack twice the size of theirs. I'd never looked down on the Redwoods.

And this wolf had just insulted me to my parents' faces.

My father's voice went cold. "It sounds like your son doesn't want this bond either. I think we should end it here."

"Alpha Everhart, Kade is only being immature, please don't be upset. I'll have him apologize properly. Besides—" Kade's mother turned to me, anxious. "Freya's always cared for him, hasn't she? They must have just had a fight. Isn't that right, Freya?"

I answered calmly. "Aunt Redwood, you're mistaken. Kade and I have known each other since we were pups, that's all. He told me himself at the door that he doesn't like me and will never mark me as his. I feel exactly the same way. That's why I'm here, to formally end the bond between our packs."

"What?"

His mother went white. Kade just stood there, stunned.

He knew perfectly well I used to look for reasons to be near him. So how had I suddenly agreed to break the bond, without a fight, the second he said the words first?

My parents looked equally blindsided. I'd been stubborn about this bond for years, refusing every attempt they'd made to talk me out of it.

"We won't be staying for dinner. I think it's best for our packs to keep their distance going forward." I stood, crossed to my parents, and said, "Mom, Dad. Let's go."

Looking at them across the table, my eyes burned.

In my last life, it was exactly this stubbornness that had let Kade turn around and destroy the Everhart pack once he had the power to do it. He never forgave them for what he saw as an insult wrapped in charity. The great Everhart pack, condescending to save the failing Redwoods.

Once he was strong enough, wiping out the family that had propped him up became less like revenge and more like relief, as far as he was concerned.

A wolf like that had never deserved a single thing we gave him.

The second I was out the door with my parents, Kade's mother struck him across the face. "What are you standing there for? Go bring her back! Do you understand what happens to this pack if she walks away?"

That got through to him. He bolted after me. "Freya!"

He caught my arm until my father wheeled on him. "Kade Redwood. You're the one who said you didn't want her. What exactly are you doing with my daughter's arm?"

Fury simmered under his skin, but he swallowed it. "Alpha Everhart... I just need a moment with her."

"It's fine, Dad." I met his eyes. "I'll say what he needs to hear. Wait for me in the car."

My parents hesitated, afraid I'd soften. I gave them a look steady enough to send them back to the car without me.

"What do you want to say?" I asked him flatly, once we were alone.

He pulled me into a corner, out of the crowd's line of sight, and asked, low, "When you said you wanted out, was that anger talking, or did you mean it?"

"I meant every word."

I looked at him without a flicker of the old feeling in me anywhere.

He frowned. "Is this about what I said tonight? Or because you almost drowned and I went for Ivy first?"

"It's because I don't like you, and I don't want to be your mate. Is that simple enough?"

His temper snapped. "Freya. What is your problem?"

"You're the one who said you didn't want this bond, Kade, and yet here you are, chasing me down. Is it because you know your pack doesn't survive without a Everhart mate? You keep saying I look down on your family, but you're the one who can't stand your own name. You'll take every bit of help we've ever given you and resent us for giving it. That's not pride, Kade. That's a double standard."

"You—"

Whatever was left of his composure cracked. He could see exactly how little I thought of him, and it clearly rattled him more than he expected.

His face went red. "Fine, Freya. You said it. Don't come crying to me later."

He started to walk off, then turned back, sharp. "Even if you offered yourself to me for free, I still wouldn't want you."

My jaw tightened.

"Stop," I said.

He turned, smirking. "What, having second thoughts?"

I smiled right back, tipped my glass, and threw the whole drink in his face.

"You're a disgrace."

He froze mid-blink. I didn't spare him a second look before I walked out of the hall.

Behind me, I heard him grind out my name like it physically hurt him. "Freya Everhart."

My parents hadn't gotten back in the car when I went outside. The second they saw me coming, some of the tension left their shoulders.

"Sweet Freya. You don't regret it?" my mother asked.

I shook my head, then looked at my father. "Dad. Are we still backing the Redwood pack financially?"