Chapter 2

Freya's POV

Freedom was so close I could taste it.

But as I was running, I felt it — a presence, a shift in the air. Something, someone was here.

Ahead stood a figure, eyes glowing red with crimson and bloodlust. My heart leapt to my throat and my brain screamed at me to stop and turn back.

Turn back. Turn back.

Freya, turn back!  

But I didn't.

I loomed near and my stomach dropped.

No. No, no, no.

“You’re leaving?” Xaden said, his muscular body blocking my path.

His menacing, red eyes locked onto mine, unreadable. His shirt was torn, a streak of blood was smeared across his face and I stared. None of it was his own. I'm sure.

He took another step and I instinctively reeled back. He probably sensed my fear and took another step back. And for the first time in my life, when I looked at him, I didn't see arrogance, not cruelty or rage. His gaze had melted into something softer, something different. It was something I had never noticed before.

“You were going to leave,” he said quietly.

“I…” he held mine and I couldn't speak. But he took a step closer and finally spoke. “Yes. I was leaving.”

A flicker of something crossed his face. Regret? Amusement? I couldn't tell which.

He sighed and raked his hand through his hair. “You really don't know how to make things easy, do you?”

I stiffened. Was he trying to stop me? Was he going to kill me?

He ran his gaze all over me from head to toe and arched a brow. “You don't even have a weapon.”

“Doesn't mean I won't try.” Those words left my lips before I could stop them.

He let out a short laugh, the sound almost genuine. “Gods, I never knew you were this stubborn.”

“I’m surprised as well.” I said with a small smile.

Suddenly, his amusement faded and was replaced by something far more dangerous. “Freya, I'm sorry but you can't leave.”

I should've been scared out of my mind. I should've been terrified but I wasn't.

“I can't leave?” I took a step forward, his face a few inches from mine. “Watch me.”

I turned on my heels and ran, but before I could take a step, he moved. And he was fast.  

Too fast.

His strong hand gripped my wrist, yanking me back and I struggled.

“Let me go!” I screamed, fighting to get free but he was stronger. Far stronger.

“Xaden…” I hissed, my breath coming in ragged gasps. “Let. Me. Go.”

“I can't.” He murmured.

My face was drained of colour. “Why not?”

His grip around my wrist tightened, his expression unreadable.

“Because,” he said softly, “I think we're on the same side.”

My stomach flipped. What?

Before I could get an answer, the world tilted as something hard slammed into the back of my head. Sharp pain exploded through my skull and my body slumped to the floor.

The last thing I saw before the world went dark was Xaden’s expression. It was unreadable but he knew what lies beneath those red glowing eyes — pure, seething rage.

Falling only meant one thing : Death.

The wind roared in my ears and my stomach plummeted as darkness swallowed me whole. Xaden's grip on me was unyielding, his arm locked around my waist as we plunged towards the icy depths below.

Then — impact.

Cold.

Bone crushing.

A force so violent it knocks the very air out of my lungs.

Water closed over my head, its chilling embrace sending shock waves around every nerve in my body. I fought against it, my limbs sluggish, the weight of exhaustion and pain dragging me down.

Swim.

The instinct burned through me. My legs kicked, my arms flailed, but the current was too strong. It pulled at like with invisible hands, whispering promises of silence and darkness, and promising an end to life.

No.

I forced my body to move, breaking the surface with a gasp.

Air burnt my throat as I wheezed, coughing and sucking desperate breaths. The world spun. I barely managed to keep my head above water.

Xaden.

Panic sliced through me. “Where is he?”

Before I could search, another wave crashed over me, sending me spiraling back into the icy waves. My body hit something solid and pain exploded in my leg and then everything went black.

I woke up to a deep, throbbing ache.

It radiated from my right leg, the leg I had hit on the rock upon impact, a reminder of the brutal fall. My body felt like it had been trampled by a thousand stampeding wolves, every muscle in my body screaming in protest as I shifted with an aching groin.

The ground beneath me was damp, like something covered in a thick layer of moss. Faint light trickled through the trees overhead, painting the world in dull shades of green and gray.

Where the hell was I?

A sharp scent curled around me, cutting through the damp earth and fresh rain. It was intoxicating — rich, warm, lavender and wildberries.

My breath hitched.

Lavender and wildberries?

My wolf, the part of me that I hadn't felt in years, suddenly stirred.

Oh my God's.

A violent shudder ran through me. My pulse pounding as my senses sharpened, my entire being had been locked onto the scent like a predator hunting its prey.

I inhaled softly. Lavender and wildberries?

Panic flared in my chest and I scrambled to my feet. I tried to stand but the pain seared through me, sending me crashing back down with a strangled curse.

“Son of a bitch.” I curse, sucking in deep breaths.

I needed to move. I needed to see the mate my wolf had been howling over.

The scent pulled at me, irresistible and maddening. I linked forward, my heart hammering in my chest.

I pushed through the dense foliage, my fingers brushing against damp leaves, wanting to see who my mate was.

I trudged into the clearing and then —

I saw him.

Xaden.

He laid immobile a few feet away, his body sprawled on the forest floor.

His shirt was torn, revealing the hard lines of his chest, smeared with dirt and blood. But blood wasn't the only scent wafting in the crispy air. There was something else.

An oddly familiar wrapped around me like the air did.

That scent — His scent — struck me in the lungs and I froze in shock.

“No,” I shook my head. “No. This couldn't be happening.”

I forced myself closer, telling myself I had hit my head harder than I thought.  My heart pounded so loudly it drowned out the rustling leaves, the distant chirping of birds.

The scent of lavender and wildberries mingled with blood thickened as I got closer.

It took one second to realize the scent was coming from him.