Chapter 15

Freya Rose My heart sank. I had been dreading something like this, but I never thought Tristan's family would be pushing him to get rid of me. I saw them as my family too and I couldn't believe this was happening. I tried my best to hold back the tears, but one fell from my eye and gradually trickled down my cheek. Tristan wiped it away with his thumb then kissed my cheek.

“She’s not a phase mother. I love, Freya and you will not dictate to me who I can, and cannot be with. You want me to be with a she-wolf? Well, Freya will be one soon enough!” His voice boomed through the pool house.

He yanked my t-shirt aside to reveal my mark making Clara gasped at the site. One of the Alphas snarled, while another snapped at Clara, “You have wasted our time, Clara. This boy has already chosen his mate, his heart belongs to her. Only call us again if she doesn't make it through the transition.” My mouth fell open at his bluntness.

He didn’t waste any time and hastily left. The other two Alphas followed behind him, one stopping in front of me, to give me a hug.

“I wish you a safe transition. You will make a fine mate, a brave wolf and an even stronger Luna. I hope we meet again under happier circumstances. Goodbye, little hunter.” He squeezed me, then followed the others out of the door.

Tristan had heard what the Alpha said and grinned at me.

“I think it's about time you left too, mother.” Tristan scowled at Clara.

“I will not.” She stood up and growled at Tristan. “I am your mother and you will show me some damn respect!”

I stared in disbelief at the vein in her neck. As her voice got louder, the vein pulsated and bulged like it was about to explode at any second.

“You lost my respect the moment you went behind my back and came between me and my mate,” he snarled back at her while raising himself up to make himself fully heard.

“She is not your mate!” She screamed into his face.

I could tell she wasn't far from shifting, her eyes were pure black.

“She is. After I bit her, she felt the spark under her mark.”

His posture softened and his tone became calm. I think he was changing tactics and tried instead to change her opinion, rather than just yell at her. Shouting was only pushing her over the edge.

“What!? That's impossible. You can only feel that spark once the mate bond is complete. She's lying!”

She scowled at me, making me back up a little and hide behind Tristan's arm. I was sure that if Tristan wasn’t there, she would have ripped my hair out already.

“She is not lying. I didn't tell her about the spark, or any other details about the mate bond. She couldn't have known. Her reaction means that she is my mate.”

While arguing with his mom, he squeezed my hand to reassure me. Clara slumped down onto the couch in defeat and began to sob.

“This can't be. Why would the moon goddess give you her? Why would she be so cruel and give you a hunter? My poor son. She will be the death of you.”

She dropped her head into her hands and sobbed even more.

It was so uncomfortable. I didn't know where to put my face. She really did believe that I would cause the death of her son. I realized in that moment, that she was just a mother trying to protect her son. I glanced up at Tristan urging him with my eyes to go to his mother. He shook his head while furrowing his brow. God this would be a perfect time for me to have the mind link skill.

I plucked my eyes wide and tilted my head in the direction of his mom.

“Go.”

He sighed and let go of my hand. I walked away and headed upstairs to give them some privacy. I felt like listening in, but decided against it. I’d probably end up hearing a whole bunch of things about myself that I wouldn't like anyway. I entered the bedroom and turned the light out. I knew they had a lot to discuss and I didn’t want to drive myself insane wondering what they were talking about. So, I got into my bed, curled up in a ball and drifted off to sleep.

***

I stirred a little when I felt Tristan get into the bed behind me. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me tightly against his chest. The Tristan death grip usually bugged me, but today it made me feel safe and loved. He swept my hair aside and pulled down my t-shirt to reveal the mark. He softly purred into my ear while he kissing my mark. I wriggled and moaned lightly when it sent sparks surging throughout my body. I felt him smile against my skin, before he rested his head on his pillow and with a contented sigh, he fell asleep.

I had a really bad night's sleep, I kept waking up sneezing and having to blow my nose. Tristan woke up pretty much every time with me to keep me company. It was sweet of him and I kept telling him he didn't have to, but he insisted that this was his fault and he wanted to go through it with me as my mate. It was comforting that he was completely sure that I was his mate.

I, on the other hand, had some doubts. I didn't want to disbelieve him, but I just couldn't let myself get my hopes up until the mate bond was completed. When it was all over, I'd be able to enjoy it. I wasn't really afraid of dying. With everything I'd been through, I doubted that the moon goddess, or the Archangel's would have made me go through it all, just to snuff me out with the flu. I tried to sleep as much as I could, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I even woke up once when I heard a large thud. Tristan was moaning, so I opened my eyes and peered over the bed. There he was, rolling around face-first on the floor. He told me that I'd suddenly ascended with one of my sneezes and tossed him out of the bed with my wings. I couldn't help but laugh, even though I did feel sorry for the poor guy.

I awoke fully when I heard the front door close. The air was filled with the glorious scent of cooked bacon. oh sweet, I can smell again, whoop, I cheered to myself. I stretched and rolled over to get out of bed. I made my way downstairs and spotted Tristan in the kitchen putting a bacon sandwich on a tray. The tray had a little vase with a rose in it and a glass of orange juice. I looked around and saw that boxes of my stuff were sitting by the front door. I strolled around the couch and sat down.

“Hey, what are you doing out of bed? I was going to bring this lot up to you so that you could have breakfast in bed.”

He walked over to me and handed me the tray.

“Aww thanks, babe. I think the smell of the bacon woke me up.”

I lifted the bread and peered into the sandwich, making sure to fully inspect the bacon.

“Don't panic, your mom cooked it. She also drove your stuff over here for you too. I told her that you had the flu, so she helped me make you breakfast.”

I laughed and took a huge bite out of the sandwich. I was starving, and since I knew my mom had made it, I knew I wouldn't come down with food poisoning.

“You can smell again, has your flu gone already?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Mm-hmm,” I replied with puffed out cheeks full of food and a nod of my head.

He chuckled while wiping away a smudge of ketchup I had on my chin.

“That's amazing. In all the records of humans transitioning, they had it for at least three days. If not longer.”

He gazed at me in shock when I took another large bite of the sandwich. After I finished my sandwich, I gulped down the orange juice, then wiped my mouth before turning to face him.

“So, what have we got planned for today?”

“Um, nothing, Freya. I thought you were going to be suffering from the flu, so my plan was to look after you all day.”

He took my tray from me and carried it over to the sink.

“Well, I'm feeling fine now. I wanna go do something. Maybe we can go visit Cassie or something?” I suggested in a chirpy voice.

Tristan strolled back over to me and sat down. He placed his hand on my knee and apologetically said, “Sorry, Freya, we can't. If you're over the flu, then we won’t have long until the fever and hallucinations set in. It will be safer for you if we stay here.”

I sighed and dramatically threw myself back onto the couch like a sulky child. I understood where he was coming from, but I felt fine and didn't feel like being cooped up all day. “We can do anything you like here though. Maybe watch a movie, or take a swim, or...” He paused and shot me a sexy smirk.

I laughed at him and quickly climbed up onto his lap.

“What exactly do you have in mind?” I asked in a low and suggestive voice.

“It'll be easier if I show you.”

He grabbed hold of my ass and stood up, making me giggle as he effortlessly carried me up the stairs. We got into the bedroom where he promptly threw me onto the bed. After bouncing a few times, I propped myself up on my elbows awaiting his next move. He took his phone out of his pocket and played the song Pony by Ginuwine. My eyes grew wide in complete bewilderment when he began to dance. He'd never done anything like that before. Not that I was complaining. I practically began to drool when he tugged on the bottom of his t-shirt exposing his abs, before pulling it up and over his head.

While gyrating his hips, he tossed his t-shirt across the room. Giggling with pure excitement, I watched him dance for me. I couldn't believe he was giving me a striptease. He ran his hand all the way down his chest. Gliding his fingers over his abs and towards his crotch. All the while rolling his body from side to side in time with the music. His other hand joined the one already in front of his crotch and he began to slowly thrust his hips.

“Wooo, it's getting hot in here,” I squealed excitedly while fanning my face with my hand.

My skin was burning up, but I wasn't going to say anything, I was enjoying his show, way too much. He dropped to the floor, spread his legs, then held himself up with one arm. Turning his body slightly to the side, he glanced at me before he rolling his hips to grinding them towards the floor. When he smirked at me, my exaggerated grin grew even larger. He jumped back up and unbuttoned his jeans while swaying his hips to the music. Once his jeans were off, he bit his lip while sliding his hand into his boxers, then held onto his junk. He pulled his boxers down and stepped out of them, then strolled over to me. When he got to me, he yanked my legs apart and stepped in between them. After rolling his body up against mine a few times, he lowered himself down and held himself up above me. When he began grinding his junk into my crotch, I couldn't resist him anymore and roughly snatched his head down to kiss me.

“What the fuck, Freya!?” He growled at me while quickly pulling himself off of me.

He grabbed his boxers and put them back on, then abruptly turned the music off on his phone. He felt my forehead with the back of his hand while calling someone on his phone. “Linda, it's Tristan. Freya is in the second stage of the transition,” he announced in a panic.

Whoever was on the other end of the phone answered him, but I couldn't hear what they said.

“Yeah I know, it's progressing really quickly.”

The person spoke again on the phone. “Okay. Is there anything you can do to make it a little easier for her? At this rate the delusions and hallucinations won't be too far behind.”

Tristan finished getting dressed.

“Okay. See you soon and thank you.”

He ended the call and I just sat on the bed watching him as he strode out of the room. I huffed in pure horny frustration. I was looking forward to where that striptease was leading. Throwing myself back onto the bed, I huffed again and shut my eyes while I waited for Tristan to come back.

***

I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, it was dark outside.

“Tristan?” I called out while sitting up in the bed.

A low, vicious growl was all that replied. I could hear the creature’s claws tapping against the wooden floor as it came closer to me.

Tap… Tap, tap, tap… Tap… Tap, tap, tap...

The mysterious beast crept out of the shadows and into the bedroom. I could just about see its outline because it camouflaged almost perfectly with the darkness of the hallway. The thing edged further into the bedroom and I could now see it, as clear as day. The masculine and terrifying wolf was gently bathed in an ice-blue colored moonlight, that shone through the wall of glass behind me.

“Tristan?” I nervously questioned the wolf.

It pulled it's lips up and over a set of razor-sharp teeth then snarled at me. Holding my hands out in front of me defensively, I scrambled back on the bed. The gray beast lunged forwards snapping its huge jaws at me.

“Tristan. No. Please!” I cried out, but it wasn't backing down.

I had no idea what had gotten into him, had he gone mad? Wait, could this be one of those delusions, or hallucinations that Tristan was talking about?

There is no way in hell Tristan would attack me. I sighed with relief when I realized that none of it was real and that the wolf couldn’t hurt me. With a new-found sense of confidence, I crept forwards and held my hand out for him to sniff.

“Who’s a good, wolfy?”

It moved closer to me and sniffed my hand. He kinda seemed okay, so I moved even closer and tried to touch him.

“Argh! Oh my God.” I shrieked as the fiend sank its canines into my arm, easily piercing my skin like fork prongs splitting a juicy sausage.

I awoke to Tristan's frantic voice yelling at me.

“Freya listen to me! We might not have long before you pass out again. You have to keep fighting, if you get killed in the moon realm, you'll die in this realm too.”

I peered down at my arm and it was covered in blood, right where the big wolf had bitten me. My whole body ached, and I was burning up like I was in a sauna.

“I thought I'd have time to explain it all to you before the delusions and hallucinations started, but your transition is progressing much faster than we expected. Please keep fighting Freya, I Lov...” He declared in a panic but was cut off.

Everything grew dark again and Tristan melted away. I was still in our bedroom, but I knew it wasn't the real world anymore. I stood up and got out of the bed. As I made my way out of the room, a beam of ice-blue light surrounded me. I turned around and held my hand above my eyes like a visor. Squinting a little helped me to see the giant full moon was shining through the window. It bathed the room in glorious color and covered me in a light-blue spotlight. I moved to the left and the spotlight followed me. I left the room and sprinted down the stairs. It should have been impossible for the light to follow me through the dark house, yet it continued to stalk me, like it was a living being.

I fled the house and stood on the damp grass, just staring up at the unusual colored moon. It was stunning, huge and powerful looking. The spotlight coming from it started moving away from me and smoothly glided along the grass. It was headed towards the trees, but I just stood there watching it in fascination. It stopped by the tree line and something inside me told me to follow it. I began to walk towards the pretty ice-blue spotlight and as I got closer to it, it moved away. Although it only ever let there be a few feet between us. If I stop walking, it stopped moving. I pursued it all the way through the forest until it halted outside a cave. I instantly recognized the cave. It was the one that Tristan and I had been in yesterday. The light zoomed into the lair, brightening it up slightly. I went after it and entered the cave.

The spotlight had faded and instead dimly lit the cave. The walls were made of shimmering light blue rocks. In the middle of the small cave was a beautiful pool filled with ice-blue colored water. I went to take a closer look, and as I peered into the crystal-clear water, I saw that there was something sunken within its depths. It was brilliant white swirling lights like the swirling white circles that I had in my angel eyes. Watching the lights swirl and move around in the water was hypnotizing. Feeling the overwhelming need to touch them, I reached a hand out to try and catch them.

A hand burst out of the water, grabbing me by the arm and yanking me face-first into the ice-cold water. I held my breath as the hand dragged me lower and lower into the depths of the pool. As the light began to fade, my lungs filled with pressure and it wasn’t long before they felt like they were going to explode. Ignoring the excruciating pain, I held my breath long after the light had ceased to exist. The hand tightened its grip around my arm as it continued to pull me further and further into the darkness. I couldn't hold my breath any longer, and eventually exhaled. I tried my best not to inhale again, but my body’s natural reflexes kicked in, opening up my lungs as it searched for air. Darkness was all that surrounded me. I choked and gagged as a putrid black sludge began to fill my lungs. My stinging eyes grew wide as my body fought the urge to suck in more sludge. Before long, my nose was blocked and I frantically grabbed at my throat. As the last few tiny oxygen bubbles left my mouth, my eyes instinctively closed. All I could think of was Tristan. Slight sparks flashed within my mate mark and it began to pulsate. The pulses grew with intensity, getting stronger and stronger with every passing second.

Suddenly the brilliant spotlight I'd seen before, pierced through the thick dark liquid and connected with my mark. Heat scorched through it and I felt teeth bite into it just like when Tristan first gave it to me. A mix of pain and pleasure rushed through me as the warmth from it quickly swept over me, eradicating every last ounce of panic that I had. The light started to pull me through the black sludge, yanking me up until I finally saw the surface. I broke through the membrane of the pool and gasped for air.

The thick black sludge of the pool grew vine-like arms, that tugged at my legs trying to pull me back down. The light kept ahold of my mark and heaved me faster and harder through the air. There was a hole in the cave's ceiling allowing the light to pluck me right out of it, and into the sky.

Up and up we went, until we were side by side with the stars. I glanced up at the light and its trail led all the way to the moon. It pulled me a little further, then gently dropped me down onto the moon surface. The ground was soft like sand and glistened in the light. It was warm beneath my feet and the whole thing had a hazy gray-blue glow. I picked up some of the sand and held it, before letting it delicately slip back through my fingers.

“Beautiful isn't it?”

I looked up, and coming towards me was the most magical woman I had ever seen. She had an ice-blue glow surrounding her body and her bright white hair. As she got closer to me, I could see that her eyes were clear blue with tiny gray specks. She had very pale white skin, and was wearing a stunning white gown like some sort of ice Queen. She stood in front of me, urging me to speak, but I was in complete awe of her that I couldn't find any words.

“Ah, Freya Rose. I have been waiting a long time for you. There is much that we need to discuss my child. My name is, Selene and I am the one my beloved wolves call their, Moon Goddess.”