Chapter nine: mine, even in shadows

Finnick pov

I used to think I knew what loyalty meant. That my pack would always stand by me. That love could protect the people I cared about. But everything changed the night Freya disappeared.

She didn’t just leave. She was taken.

Kade, Alpha of the Hollowfangs stole her. He tricked her with promises. Promises to help her control her powers: shadows and the strange energy of the moon. I don’t know if she followed him on her own or if he pulled her in somehow. But she left. And when she did, it felt like the moon itself had gone dark.

For weeks, I searched everywhere. Through forests, rivers, caves, any place where she might be. I followed the trail of her magic, asked rogues for clues, begged the stars for help. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

Then, one night, I found something. A raven landed near me. It was dying and in its beak was a message.

'She’s stronger now. You’re too late.' 

Kade.

I tore the note apart. I didn’t believe him. I won’t ever believe that it’s too late to save her. I gathered the few wolves I could trust and made a plan. We would go into the Hollow fang ruins, where Kade was hiding and bring Freya back.

I thought my Beta, Rowan, was with me. He had fought beside me for years. I never questioned his loyalty.

That was my mistake.

As we got to the cliff of the cornerstone, near the ruins, I felt a strange pressure in the air. A wave of power. Cold, silver blue. I knew exactly that feeling.

Freya.

She was alive. Awake. Strong and rising.

But just as I was about to step forward, Rowan slide in front of me.

“Don’t do this,” he said, his eyes mean and dark. “She’s the Cursed Mate. She’s dangerous.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You bring her back, and you’ll destroy everything.”

Then he attacked me.

His claws sliced into my skin. I tried to fight back, but the pain pushed me off balance. I fell off the edge and crashed into the trees below.

Darkness swallowed me.

When I woke up, I was frozen and bleeding. But I didn’t care. I had to look for her.

I followed her energy burning deeper into the ruins. The air thick with magic, like it was alive and healthy. And there, in the middle of a stone room, I saw her.

Freya.

She stood in a circle of gleaming moonlight, with shadows lurking around her feet like they were protecting her. She looked stronger. Different. Beautiful, but dangerous.

And Kade was right beside her.

“Finnick,” she said softly.

Her eyes met mine, and my heart broke. She looked like the girl I loved, but also… not.

“Freya,” I said. “Come back. Please.”

Kade laughed. “She’s seen the truth, Finnick. She knows what she is now.”

“What truth?” I asked.

Freya lifted her hands, and the shadows rose. They formed pictures in the air, symbols and images I didn’t understand. A two-faced wolf. A bleeding moon. Fire burning the forest.

“There’s a prophecy,” Freya whispered. “It says the Cursed Mate will either save the packs… or destroy them.”

“No,” I said. “That’s not true. It's not who you are. You are not a curse! You’re mine freya.”

She looked at me. Her eyes filled with tears. And for a moment, I saw the Freya I remembered.

But then Rowan walked into the room, with Kade’s soldiers behind him. He pointed at her.

“She’s a threat. End this now.”

Freya looked scared. The power around her shook the ground. The moonlight above us grew brighter. I tried to run to her, but Kade blocked me.

“She has to choose,” he said.

Freya took a deep breath. Then, instead of attacking anyone, she blasted the ceiling above us. Rocks fell. The ground cracked open beneath her feet. A strange, glowing light shined up from the hole.

I tried to reach her.

“Don’t do this!” I yelled.

She turned and stared at me one last time.

“I love you,” she said. “But I’m not strong enough. not yet.”

And then she let herself fall into the light.

I screamed her name. The ground closed up. She was gone.

Kade and Rowan had escaped. And I was left alone in the ruins.

But I could still feel her magic in the air.

She was alive.

And if the prophecy is true, if Freya really is the Cursed Mate then she might be the one who decides the future of all the packs.

Or their end.