Chapter 5

FREDRIN

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The bloody shirt hadn’t moved. It lay exactly where I'd left it, on the coffee table at the center of the room. The blood had dried into a rusted copper stain.

I’d gone out, forced myself through the activities of today, sat through conversations that floated above me, and now I was back, alone, in my room, sitting on the single sofa, glowering at the shirt.

“You’re still not going to tell me whose blood that is?”

My tight voice echoed in the silence that buried the room.

A snicker rolled through my head. Low at first, then it grew louder and louder until it became a laughter so dark it crawled beneath my skin.

“Did you kill the wolf?” The word scraped out of my throat.

‘Does it matter?’ Gedon, my wolf, said, bored.

Tightness seized my chest.

“Do you know what’s at stake?” I gritted, “If he belongs to a pack.” I gulped. “You’re going to start a war.’

Gedon yawned. ‘More blood for me then.’

My phone vibrated, pulling me out of the conversation.

Mother.

My stomach dipped, my eyes hanging over the screen, my thumb freezing over the answer icon.

“You’re not going to pick dear mummy’s call?” Gedon asked with a sardonic drawl.

Of course, he always found it fun. My mother’s call that always came every single month, always asking the same question that always had the same answer.

Dragging down a thick, reluctant swallow, I answered. 

“Hello?” Her voice carried its usual warmth. “Fredrinn, you there?”

“Yes.” 

“Have you learned how to control your wolf?” 

Silence. 

On the other end, she let out a long, weary sigh.

“In a few months,” she continued, “You'll be taking your father’s seat, leading the pack. What do you think would happen when the elders–or the other faction vying for your father’s seat–find out you still lose control?”

I shut my eyes. “They probably call me feral and exile me.” I tried to tease.

Big mistake.

“Fredrinn.” Her voice sharpened. “You think this is a joke?”

Of course, I knew it wasn’t. A heretic, possessed, that's what they’ll deem me. And there was only one punishment for a sin far greater than ferality, execution.

She hissed, “If you don't care about your neck, what about your sisters?”

That annoying chill–one that first came when Gedon awakened in me–pooled at the base of my spine.

“They fear you, Freddie.” A pause, and I could hear her swallow. “We all do.”

My eyes slid back to the blood-soaked shirt on the table, my chest tightening.

“Jessie’s awakening ceremony is the next full moon,” she said, her pitch tight like she was forcing her voice to stay low. “She’s been telling everyone you’ll be there. ”

 My body locked in place.

“She was very young then.” Her voice grew thinner. “She doesn’t remember what happened that day.”

Another suffocating pause, and then she added. “But everyone does.”

My stomach lurched, my fingers tightening around my phone until my knuckles ached.

“I was just kidding.” A lump lodged itself in my throat.I can control him.”

My mother went silent, and then she huffed a small laugh. “Are you serious, Freddy?”

“Have I ever lied about something like this?”

“Jess will be so happy.” The cold in her voice thawed. “And April. Neither of them has really had you around these past few years.” 

Another happy sniff. “Let me call and tell them the good news.”

The line disconnected, and I lowered my phone. For several seconds, I didn’t move. Just tipped my head back against the chair, eyes closed. 

I had to do it. I had to do it.

Someone has to fill in my father’s shoes, and that someone was me.

‘I remembered the last one.’ Gedon’s voice slithered back in. ‘April’s was…entertaining.’ A low sardonic chuckle followed. ‘I wonder if this one would be more fun.’

Heat surged into my chest, and my grip on my phone tightened.  Crack–spiderwebs fractured and crawled across my screen beneath my hold.

‘You can’t even control your anger.” Amusement curled around every word. ‘Yet you insist on controlling me.’

I ignored him. I had a month before my lie came due.

 But this…the shirt. 

Gedon had made it painfully clear he wasn't going to answer a damn question. 

From the scent, I knew it belonged to a wolf. But everything else was a question. Rogue or pack. Alive or dead. Enemy or Ally. One wrong answer could not only stain my name, but tear Alliances that my father had bled to uphold.

And only Scott might be able to help.

After dropping a text in his DM, I headed out to the hallway. Barely taken three steps when the heavy click of the front door unlocking echoed through the quiet house.

“Scott,” I called, already speaking before I reached the living room. “I need you t—”

The words died as my gaze landed on Liam, standing beside him, dropping a duffel bag. 

I had almost forgotten about the mark on our wrist…about whatever Gedon had done.

Those light brown of his eyes met mine for a fleeting moment before drifting away.

Gedom stirred with…hunger. The same suffocating hunger that surfaced at the scene of blood.

‘She’s here.’

Cold spread through my chest.

‘Stay away from him,’ I warned.

‘You think you can stop me.’  A slow laugh echoed through my skull. 

Grinning, Scott rotated his head between Liam and me. “Liam's going to be crashing here for a while until he sorts his hostel out.”

‘This is going to be fun.’ Gedon said.

A still smile formed on my lips. “Cool.”

“Oh shoot,” Scott muttered, “I need to fix something. Wait here,” he said to Liam before dashing into his room.

The moment the door closed, I closed the distance between us, shooting him a glare.

“I thought we agreed on distance.” My voice, a dangerous whisper.

Liam’s head snapped towards me, and I froze.  I wasn’t seeing that softness that he always had when he stared at me.

“You think I packed my bag and thought, ‘You know the best place to live now? Living with Fredrinn?’” 

There it was. That familiar grumpiness. 

Liam always sulked over the smallest thing for hours. Apparently adulthood hadn’t fixed that.

The corner of my lips almost lifted. “I wasn’t accusing you,” I muttered, exhaling. “Just…I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

Liam crossed his arms tighter and threw his face away. “Does my plate look empty to you?”

My heart plummeted, my thoughts stumbling over each other. Of everyone Gedon could’ve dragged into this, it had to be Scott’s younger brother.

Almost thoughtfully, my hand raised, curling around his wrist. “Did it hurt?” I asked, voice lower than I intended.

His breath caught, then he turned away. “No.”

Before I could inspect the mark further, the door burst open, Scott walking in. 

Instantly, I withdrew my hand, while Liam snatched his scarf in place.

Completely oblivious, Scott rubbed his hands together. “We can head to the room now,” he said to Liam, before throwing him a light punch in his upper arm.

“Ouch.” Liam rubbed the spot.

At the same instant, pain flared in my upper arm. Sucking a sharp inhale, my hand flew to my upper arm.

‘Well, that's new.’ Gedon spoke.

If Gedon felt it, then I couldn't have possibly imagined it.

Scott blinked at Liam, who was still whining. “Dude, I barely touched you,” he laughed, punching him again.

The second his fist collided with Liam’s arm, I grabbed my own arm, fingers digging into my muscle that physically felt sore.

Gedon whistled in my head—an amusing one.

‘Gedon, explain this.’ I spoke to my wolf, watching Liam and Scott disappear into the hallway.

His scoff vibrated through my skull. Do I look like I know what’s happening?’

A beat passed, and he spoke again.

‘I’ve seen wolves share thoughts. Seen wolves share instinct.’ His voice was quieter now, almost thoughtful. “But pain…”

His low chuckle scraped my mind.

‘Now, that’s new.’

This wasn’t possible.

Shaking my head, I followed after, leaning against the threshold.

I watched them…him.

A stupid thought hit me. No…surely not. But before I talked myself out of it, I dug my nails into my skin, twisting it as hard as possible.

“Ow.” Liam hissed, rubbing the exact spot I had pinched on my skin.

Scott looked over. “What?”

“I… I don't know.”

‘Again—harder this time,’ Gedon’s amusement rolled through my chest.

And I did it again, just an incher higher on the same arm, my pulse hammering in my ears.

Liam flinched, his hand gliding up to the exact spot. 

A beat, and his eyes lifted, straight to me, then dropped to my fingers still digging into my arm, the colors draining off his face.

Behind him, Scott kept talking, while Liam and I just stood there, his eyes fixed on my arm, mine locked onto the mark hiding beneath his scarf.

If Gedon didn’t know what happened, then what the hell happened last night?