Chapter Fourteen ~ The truth

Tristan Cole

I brought my paw down as hard as I could, slashing it across her exposed belly. My claws went through her skin like butter, and blood sprayed into my face just as she let out a blood-curdling scream.

I knew that I was taking it too far, but I was furious, and I couldn't stop myself. I had to show her that I would not allow her, or anyone else to attack my Freya, their future Luna. She needed to be punished and she needed to know that her behavior was completely unacceptable. She also needed to learn her damn place.

Freya was my mate. No matter what anyone else said, and whether the pack likes it or not, she was the one that I had chosen to spend the rest of my life with. If certain people within the pack couldn't accept that, then they needed to be reminded that I was their future Alpha, and that they needed to show me and my Luna some respect.

That wolf might have thought that she would be a better mate for me, or a better Luna for the pack, but that was far from the truth. They would all see one day that I had made the right choice. I knew in my heart that Freya was perfect for me and she was perfect for the pack.

The wolf that was laying on the ground in front of me, bleeding and beaten, would be a stark warning to anyone that thought that they could attack Freya, and challenge her for the Luna position.

I raised my paw again ready to slash it across her face. She would have permanent visual message to show any other female wolves in the pack, do not challenge my Luna.

"Tristan, stop!" The deep rumbling Alpha voice of my father boomed.

I brought my paw back down to the ground with an exaggerated huff.

I knew I should have slashed her when I had the chance, I moaned to myself.

"Tyler. Clara. See to Amber and make sure that she's okay," my father ordered my brother and mother, while he pointed to the little black wolf that was now unconscious and bleeding out onto the ground.

They nodded and quickly ran over to Amber. My mother knelt down beside her and gently stroked her face. When she lifted her hand away from her face, Amber began to shift back into her human form.

Oh crap! Maybe I did go too far.

I felt a little bit guilty. Shifting back into your human form involuntarily, or while unconscious was never a good sign. It usually meant that you were seriously injured or dying.

Maybe she lost too much blood? Did I hit an artery? I don't think I did, did I?

Panic began to set in.

"Quickly, take her back into the house and call the pack doctor," my father shouted at my brother.

"Yes Alpha."

Tyler gently scooped up Amber. He had one arm under her knees and the other was holding her back. She was so limp, her arms and head just hung down towards the ground. Her head swung while he carried her lifeless and blood-soaked body back towards the house.

"Amber!" I heard a deep voice cry out.

I glanced up and saw her father, Beta Dylan, running towards her.

"What the fuck did you do to her Tristan?" Another voice screamed out at me.

It was Landon and he was charging right at me. He crouched down mid-run and began to shift, his bones snapping and resetting at record speed. He was a very fast shifter, probably the fastest we had in the pack, much faster than I was.

He will be a great beta one day.

I watched him finish his extraordinary shift. He was a black wolf just like Amber, but he had light brown mixed in with his neck fur. All of the Wade wolves looked very much alike, all black with the same amber colored eyes. He let out a howl into the sky then charged at me faster.

Thank God I am already in my wolf form.

I gripped the dirt with my claws and pushed forwards to charge at him too. A loud thunderous clap echoed throughout the woods, making the birds scatter into the sky, when our bodies collided with amazing force. He snapped his jaws at me and bit a small chunk of flesh out of my neck.

Whoa, he's super-fast!

I jumped around to his side and charged at him again. This time I'd managed to head-butt him in the ribs, making him fall to the floor and slide along the grass. I lunged forwards to sink my teeth into his neck and he shot up, trying to dodge me, but I managed to latch my jaws onto his front leg. As soon as I felt his fur touch my tongue, I bit down as hard as I could.

Crack

I felt the bones in his leg shatter and break underneath my teeth. He let out a high-pitched yelp, then dropped to the floor in a heap.

"Enough!" My father bellowed in his Alpha voice.

I stopped immediately then turned around to look at my Alpha. I lowered my head to my father in submission, then turned it to the side slightly to see what Landon was doing. I watched as he collapsed a couple of times while trying to stand up, but he was stubborn, and managed to push through the pain. He eventually steadied himself and stood on three legs, holding his fourth leg slightly off the ground. He bowed his head to our Alpha, then collapsed back onto the grass.

I had the utmost respect for him, he was a damn tough wolf that was for sure. Hopefully, he didn't hold a grudge, and let all that has happened, get in the way of his future duties as my Beta.

"Shift!" My father commanded us both.

We obeyed and began to shift back into our human forms. I glanced over at Landon while he shifted and watched him as he moved his arm down by his side. I could see that his arm had deep puncture wounds in it, from where I had bitten him earlier. Each puncture mark was pooling with blood, and then the blood began to run down his arm and drip onto the floor.

I felt a little bad, I knew I was just defending myself, but I also knew that he didn't have a clue as to why I had attacked his sister. He was defending Amber, and I was protecting Freya. He wasn't at fault. He was just looking out for his little sister.

"Right, we are going to talk this out. Not fight each other like animals, understand?" My father said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

My dad was an impressive type of man, he had a strong and very muscular frame. He also had an authoritative persona and his very presence commanded respect. I looked a lot like him, we both had dark blond wavy hair, and he wore his quite long like I did. Tyler and I both got our eyes from our mom though, as our dads were light green in color.

"Tristan, explain to us what happened here, and why you attacked Amber," he demanded.

"I don't know how it happened, Dad. Amber's wolf came out of nowhere and full on attacked Freya," I quickly explained to my father.

"What? Why would she do that?" Landon hissed at me.

"I just said, I don't know!" I barked back at him.

"Stop!" My father yelled at us, and we both shot our heads around to look at him, then he snapped, "Tristan, carry on."

"So, Amber had Freya pinned to the floor. Freya threw Amber off of her, then..." I went to carry on, but my father abruptly cut me off,

"Wait. Freya did what? How the hell did she manage to throw a wolf?" He asked me in shock, and I just shrugged at him in reply. "What did she do next?" My father asked, his eyes filling with fascination.

"Well, she had a sprained ankle from falling over shortly before, so she tried to stand but couldn't. She changed her tactics and began to defend herself," I recalled.

"So, she's a quick thinker huh?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, Amber then charged at her. She managed to evade her and wrapped her arms around Amber's neck. She choked her and dragged her face first into the ground," I paused to take in a deep breath, and both my father and Landon stared back at me, urging me to continue.

"She swung her legs around her and jumped onto Amber's back, but Amber quickly shook her off," I said as my father listened intently with a smirk on his face, while Landon had a look of confusion mixed with anger and shock.

"Then what happened?" My father asked.

"Freya got distracted with me shifting for the first time in front of her, and Amber took that as an opportunity to pin her to the floor again," I paused when Landon scoffed.

My father growled shooting him a furious look for disturbing me. Landon whimpered and showed him his neck. I laughed at him then carried on with my recount.

"Amber tried to bite Freya's face, but Freya held her back by her neck fur. Cassie then tackled Amber to the floor, and you know the rest," I said while I glanced up at Tyler carrying Amber into the house.

Landon was glaring at me. His nostrils were flaring, and I knew that he wanted to jump me again. If my father hadn't had been standing right in front of us, I'm sure he would have attacked me again already.

Then there would be two badly beaten Wade wolves in the Dr's clinic, I chuckled to myself.

"Landon, go into the house and check on your sister," My father ordered.

Landon turned his attention to my father and replied compliantly,

"Yes Alpha."

"Get the Dr to check your arm too while you're at it," he demanded while turning away from him to look at me again.

Landon bowed his head to my father, then threw me a this isn't over sideways glance. He held his arms behind his back and the blood was running down his arm. It dripped onto the floor as he walked away. I turned around to check on Freya, and I saw that Cassie had shifted back into her human form. She was knelt down beside Freya, holding her hand and stroking her hair. I sighed with relief that someone was with her.

"Sounds like you have an extremely smart and impressive mate, Son. She will make a fine Luna for you and the pack. Once you turn her," my father said as he put his arm around my shoulder.

"I'm not turning her," I corrected him in a hushed voice while still staring at my beautiful Freya.

She looks just like a sleeping angel.

"What are you talking about? You have to turn her Tristan. If you don't, then you know you two can't stay together, right? She will be a sitting target for any female wolf who wants to become Luna, and you know the pack will never accept a human as their Luna. I have told you this before, Son. You have no choice."

He held my shoulders and turned me toward him. I kept my head down as I replied,

"Then, I will renounce my future role as this packs Alpha. Tyler can be your Alpha instead."

My father grabbed my chin, and roughly lifted it up to make me look at him.

"No! You will be Alpha. I will not let you abandon your pack, your family. It is a long-standing tradition for firstborn Cole sons to become Alpha," he growled at me.

"No, Dad. I will not!" I shouted back at him while ripping his hand away from my face in anger.

"You will turn her Tristan, or you will leave her. That is a direct order." He commanded me in his Alpha tone.

How I disobeyed a direct order from him, I don't know.

"No. I will not risk her life. You know the risks dad. Only a handful of humans were ever strong enough to survive the transition. Most died horribly, and I refuse to lose her like that!"

A wolf isn't supposed to be able to refuse a direct order from their Alpha. It kinda shocked me, but I guessed it was because I was getting stronger and stronger the closer my Alpha ceremony got. His face didn't react at all, and it stayed stern as he replied,

"You're a fool son. She will make a strong and fine Luna for this pack. I'll say it again. You have two choices Tristan. You either turn her, or you leave her. If you don't choose either one of those, then I will turn her myself," he said in a casual tone, then calmly turned around and began to walk away.

I stood silently as he walked away. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. I was hoping he had changed his mind, and would let me renounce my Alpha position, but he hadn't. Without even turning around to face me he shouted,

"I'll send the Dr down for Freya, once she's finished with the other two."

With that said, he carried on walking back up to the main house.

"Tristan? Why does he want you to leave me?" I heard Freya ask in a sleepy and quiet voice.

"Oh my God baby!" I shouted and ran over to her.

As I knelt down by her side, she tried to get up, but she was still too lightheaded. Cassie and I helped her into a sitting position, then we both placed our hands onto her back to keep her upright.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asked her in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, I think so. My head hurts and my ankle. Oh, and my butt," she said as she lifted her butt cheek up to rub it.

Cassie and I burst out laughing.

"Hey, it's not funny, it really hurts you guys," she whined.

I chuckled and then softly kissed her head. She looked up at me, then back down at the floor.

"Is that why you won't turn me? Because it could kill me?" She asked in a very low voice.

"Yes."

"I'm glad you're okay, Frey. But I think I should leave you two to talk," Cassie stated, before kissing Freya on the cheek, then stood up.

"Were you the blonde wolf that saved me?" Freya asked Cassie.

"Yeah," Cassie replied with a soft smile.

"Thank you."

Freya ushered with her arms for Cassie to bend down.

"Any time sweets."

It looked as though Freya had finally realized that Cassie was naked. She tried to hug her one way, and then another. Eventually she gave up and just patted Cassie's shoulders. I laughed and so did Cassie. Both of us were used to seeing other members of the pack naked. It didn't faze us at all, but poor Freya had turned bright red with embarrassment, and it was so darn cute. Cassie stood up to walk away, and as she did, she shouted out,

"and besides, I needed an excuse to kick Amber's ass."

We all chuckled while she walked back towards the main house.

"So, the little black wolf was Amber?" Freya asked me.

"Yeah," I replied while taking her hand into mine.

"Oh no. Is she Okay? You didn't. You didn't kill her, did you?" She said quieter and quieter until the last bit of the sentence was almost inaudible.

"No, of course not. Although, I might have if my father hadn't have stopped me," I said as I looked into her eyes with slight regret with how far I had gone. "Why are you worried about her anyway? She attacked you for no reason, remember? She doesn't deserve your sympathy."

"It wasn't for no reason Tristan. I think she thought she was protecting you. She must have seen me push you across the grass."

She glanced over to where I'd landed. I had completely forgotten about that. With all that had just happened. I thought that Amber was challenging Freya for the Luna spot. Although Freya did have a good point. If Amber had seen Freya push me like she did, then she could have thought that she was saving or protecting me.

"Well. Even so, she shouldn't have attacked you like that. It's against our rules to attack any humans and she knows that. Well, unless they're hunters, but we haven't had any of those around town since Tyler was a baby. And to be honest, they're not exactly human from what I've read in our pack's journals."

She looked deep in thought.

What she could be thinking of?

I hoped that seeing me shift for the first time and slash Amber open right in front of her, hadn't made her want to leave me and run for the hills. I thought it would be best to open up and tell her everything. Keeping secrets really hadn't worked out great for me.

"Shall I take you inside? It seems like I need to explain a few things, huh?"

I got up off of my knees and brushed the grass off of them.

"Yeah, I think you do," she said with a chuckle.

"Okay, you ready?" I asked her as I slipped one arm under her knees and the other around her back.

"Yup," she replied, while popping the p, then placed her arms around my neck.

"I love you always," she said as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Forever be mine," I replied, before kissing the top of her head.

I carried her into our new home, ready to tell her everything.

"Oh, one thing I did forget to ask you."

"Yeah? What's that?" I asked her.

"Why the hell are you all naked?���

I giggled while I walked us through the front door. With that bang to the head, she must have forgotten seeing my clothes rip to pieces when I shifted.

"Well, you see..." I stopped talking instantly and inhaled deeply through my nose.

I could smell a familiar scent. I scanned the room quickly and my eyes focused on the coffee table. Sat on top of it were a large bouquet of red roses. I placed Freya down on to the couch.

"Aww, when did you get me those Tristan? I don't remember them being there earlier."

"I didn't, and they weren't," I replied sharply.

I picked up the card that was placed in front of them.

"Then who are they from, Tristan?" She asked, but I couldn't answer her, I was too focused on reading the note. "Tristan, what does it say?" She yelled in frustration.

I turned to face her, and I knew my eyes were jet black by now. I didn't mean to, but I glared at her with pure anger. My nostrils flared still taking in that familiar scent.

"Tristan, answer me!"

I snapped back at her and snarled out the words,

"I will see you very soon, You will be mine, Freya Rose."

Freya Rose

Tristan carried me into the pool house, and I spotted a bunch of red roses. Instant panic consumed me. They were the exact same flowers that the mystery guy from the school was holding. I tried my best to play dumb, because I hadn't told Tristan about the guy yet. With everything going on, I didn't want to worry him any more than he already was.

He set me down on the couch and moved over towards the flowers to investigate, and I played along with my charade. But when he read out the note I couldn't play along any longer. Fear smothered me, and I gasped for air. I couldn't catch my breath and it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.

"Freya, breathe, please," Tristan said in a panic.

My body began to convulse, and my eyes glued themselves shut. I tried to open them but my whole body was no longer my own. It went stiff and rigid but continued to shake. I was screaming on the inside, but nothing was coming out. I felt so frightened and helpless.

What was happening to me?

Tristan rushed over to me, then delicately lifted me up and squeezed himself behind me. He held me from behind, with my back pressed up against his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around my own, stopping me from hitting myself, while riding the convulsions with me. He calmly gave me directions to follow,

"Right. Freya listen to me carefully. I need you to focus on my chest, and you need to breathe in time with it, okay?"

It was almost impossible, but I did as he commanded and began trying to follow his breaths. I was breathing a lot faster than he was at first, but in time I began to be able to slow my breaths and join his rhythm.

"In, and out. That's right baby, you're doing great," he praised me.

With his arms still embracing me tightly, I could feel the comfort from him seeping in through my skin, and my convulsions began to ease. My breathing finally normalized, and I began to calm down.

I knew now that the mystery guy was real, and that he was connected to my mom's blood on the mirror in my house. My heart began to race again as the realization hit me, he was a vampire and he was stalking me. I hoped to God that it had nothing to do with why I had been changing lately. If my dreams were real, and that vamp was messing with my head, was I turning into a vampire? I took in a deep breath then spoke in a hushed voice,

"Tristan, I think it's about time I told you the truth!"