CHAPTER 5

Freya’s Pov

No! I shut my eyes as hard as I could to subdue the pain and find a way to get up. I touched the wall and gently stood up while trying not to get back up.

Right, just when I got a chance to start afresh in the park, someone already wanted me dead. I opened my eyes slowly. I could feel warm liquid fall down my face, blood I suppose.”

I cracked my next and looked up. Damn, I wasn’t wrong. It was Rylan who pushed me. He had a pretty smirk on his face as he walked down the stairs to meet me.  I stood up straight, ready not to show my fork of weakness.

“Hey,” a feminine voice whispered in my head. 

I looked around. It was more scary than Rylan who was coming down with an evil smirk. I sighed and turned back to Rylan, he was taking his time.

“Hey,” the voice said again but this time it was louder. 

“Who are you?” I whispered and took a step away.

“You tell me,” the voice said back. “Quick, pretend to be blind, get some blood in your eyes.”

I didn’t wait. I turned around and touched my forehead. My hand was damp with blood so I quickly covered my face with both palms covered in blood. I took another step and fell intentionally.

“Help! Help!” I yelled.

My yelling was enough to scare Rylan but instead of attacking me, he came to my aid. He touched me and started shouting for help. He gathered me in his arms and carried me to the bay.

Once I was in the bay, he left. I saw a quick light while my eyes were closed. I see Rylan stabbing Gina with a stake. I felt a rush of pain and suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe again. 

I gasped and opened my eyes. Alaric was beside me holding my hand and a bunch of other people too with worry in their faces. 

“Hey,” the little voice said again. “You are blind, remember?”

Oh, right. I don’t know why I am pretending but it felt like the right thing to do. Stretching my hands forward like I was looking and searching for something, I said, “What is going on?”

“Gina?” Alaric said. 

“Where am I? Why can’t I see?” My voice was trembling. Whispers filled the room and some people were sent outside.

“Gina, what do you mean? I am right here. Look at me.” He turned my face to him but I kept a dominant gaze. 

“Alaric…is that you?” I found his face using my hands. “I can fill you…why can’t I see you?”

Alaric broke down in tears as he pressed hard on my hands. “How did you fall so much that you lost your eyesight? Gina, I just got you back and things are already going wrong?”

The only feeling I could feel at the moment was sadness. The tears fell out on their own accord and this reminds me of how I had always wanted Rowan to treat me.

The thought only made me sadder than I was. Alaric sat on the bed and hugged me.

The hug went on for as long as I could remember.

“Alpha Alaric, we need to proceed with the matting ceremony. It has to happen, you know it. I am very sorry.”

Alaric sighed and pressed his lips on mine so hard. He took my hand. “Are you still willing to be my mate?” I could see his tears.

I nodded and wiped off my tears. I touched my head, it already healed. 

I took his hand and he led me back to the room. He instructed the maidens to dress me up for the ceremony. After dressing up, they carefully led me to the matting hall. There was no roof, and enough space to see the moon. The only source of light was the reflection of the moonlight around the mirrors that were carefully placed around the hall to divert the moonlight around to create enough light.

At the center of the hall was the moon fountain. I never really got to see one. It is said that enormous power is this fountain, waiting patiently for the purest of heart and purest of soul to take over it and watch over the affairs of the wolves on earth. It is more like a Selena on earth.

I stood by the fountain and held on to Aleric’s hand while the elder chanted rites. The moon became brighter when it was time to dip my head in the water.

I don’t like water. I took a deep breath when they dipped my head in the water. The moment my head touched the water, I was filled with a kind of sensation…very powerful…very overwhelming. A huge longing for Alaric filled my body and soul but there was something else, something I couldn’t explain. 

My head was brought out of the water and my body started to shift. “What is going on?”

“Relax, you are changing to your wolf,” Alaric replied.

Only if he knew I had not done this before by myself. The sounds of bones cracking and adjusting, the pains at the joints, and how terrific and terrifying it felt at the same time couldn’t make me think of anything else.

After the shifting, I could see in my wolf’s vision, sharp and clear. 

I felt like I was in a cage deep inside my wolf. This must be how it also feels when it is inside. 

We moved to meet Alaric’s wolf and that was when I felt a true meaning to love. The first time love would indeed be reciprocated to me but I couldn’t let my Haida down too much, Rowan was just as plain as Alaric.

We knotted our tails and howled. His red eyes and my blue eyes glowed in a beautiful fireburn. 

“Now you know who I am,” my wolf said. It caught me off-guard but it was pleasing to know I have someone to guide me. “What would you like to call me?”

“Are you Gina’s wolf or my wolf?”

“You never really had one. I am both, I am you.”

After shifting back to our human form, Alaric kissed me after grabbing my waist. “My wife.”

He pulled me into his embrace. My heart was overflowing with joy until my eye caught a glimpse of Rylan at the far end of the hall. He was deep in thought and his eyes were fixed on me. I didn’t fix a gaze so he wouldn’t know that I was pretending to be blind. 

His face looked like he was still seeing a ghost like he was bloodthirsty and wanted to kill me a second time. That would be the fourth attempt of murder on me. Let’s say two were successful.

I tried to take him off my mind but it was really hard to do.