Chapter5

#Chapter5

As morning approached, the sun began to engulf my room, causing me to let out a frustrated groan. Closing my eyes tightly, I pulled my blanket up and over my head in an attempt to shield myself from the blinding light.

I barely slept; my mind raced all night from everything that had happened the previous day. Thoughts of the battle surged through my brain, Mikael’s death, the Dead pack retreating, but mostly I thought about Alpha Cain and our encounter. I thought about how attractive he was, how his closeness made me wet and caused tingles to shoot through my whole body. I thought about his words, his threats and especially how he had let me go, but not before telling me that we would meet again; what did he mean by that? Also, why did he want to propose a treaty? That was the biggest unanswered question.

Pushing aside my endless thoughts, I got up from the bed and headed for the bathroom. First, I took a nice long shower, washing everything away. I then got out, brushed my teeth and hair, then proceeded upstairs to join everyone for breakfast.

I entered the kitchen to find mom and Adela cooking breakfast; they noticed my presence and looked at me. “Good morning, sweetheart.” Mom said with a smile.

“Morning, mom,” I replied.

Adela just looked at me and gave me a half-smile. I could tell she was still feeling very emotional regarding yesterday’s news; she has always been such a passionate person at times. I am the opposite. I nodded at her, then went into the dining room to join dad and Gunnar.

They were sitting at the table talking, but they ceased their conversation as soon as I entered and looked at me.

“Morning, dad, Gunnar,” I said in a grumbly tone. Gunnar, just looked at me and grunted; he is not a morning person, something we had in common.

“Good morning Freja, how did you sleep?” Dad questioned.

I rubbed my face and inhaled a deep breath. “Ok, I guess.” That’s an understatement, I thought to myself.

Dad didn’t reply, just gave me a curt nod. Then, after a few moments of silence, dad broke the tension in the air and raised the subject that we all dreaded.

“Later today, we will hold Mikael’s cremation; the sooner we can send him off, the better. I have spoken to a few warriors, and they are working on assembling his pyre; once it is finished, we will gather everyone at the river for the ceremony.”

The look on my father’s face as he spoke was heartbreaking, I knew this was very hard for him, and it was taking everything in him to keep his composure.

Gunnar remained still, staring down at the table, unmoving and silent.

I looked at dad. “Is there anything that you need me to do?” I felt as though it was my obligation to help.

He cleared his throat. “Yes, could you help your mother and sister with preparing the food for after the ceremony, please? The whole pack will be there, so there are many mouths to feed.”

“Yes, of course, I can. Anything else?”

He sat there silent for a moment and then shook his head. Mom and Adela walked in with breakfast just then, which was perfect because I was starving.

We sat there enjoying our food; very few words were spoken between us, but it was still nice to just be with them. Except for Gunnar, he kept stealing my food, and I swear, I was two seconds away from biting his damn hand off and then smacking that grin off of his face with it. I love him but also hate that big buffoon.

After finishing breakfast, Gunnar and dad left to go to the main hall to prepare for Mikael’s cremation. I helped mom and Adela clean everything up from breakfast and prepare the food for the after ceremony gathering. Dad had a few other pack members come to help with the food, which we were thankful for as we had so much to do and very little time left.

We worked together in the kitchen almost in complete silence; it was uncomfortable and made me want to run. It was lunchtime now, and we were close to being done, thank fuck! I needed out of this kitchen. As we continued to work away, we heard the front door open and close. We all whipped our heads towards the door only to see that dad and Gunnar were back.

I turned around, and dad came into the kitchen. “The funeral will begin at 3:00. Is everything ready?” He asked us.

“Almost dear, we just have a few more things to finish up, but we will be done by 3:00.” Mom informed him with a smile.

Dad nodded, placed a kiss on her forehead and left the kitchen. Gunnar remained in the room, standing there watching us, with a devious look on his face. He constantly snuck into the kitchen and stole food whenever mom was cooking.

I looked at him with a brow raised. “Is there something you want, Gunnar?” I asked, suspicion lacing my tone.

He smiled like he was so innocent. “Nope, just.....observing, yup, observing.” Gunnar nodded his head rapidly.

The man was definitely up to something; I continued working and kept a close eye on him. Finally, he stalked over to mom, lightly nodding his head, humming along, with his lips pursed out, acting as if he was just looking. Then, when mom turned to grab something, he snatched some of the cookies on the counter and bolted like a mad man.

I pointed my finger at him. “Aha, I knew it! Thief! Get back here.” I hollered at him.

Gunnar dashed out of the kitchen and out the back door, laughing like a maniac. But I was close on his heels; I ran up behind him and leapt onto his back.

“I knew you were going to do that, just observing my ass! Now give the cookies back.” I demanded and attempted to reach around him and snatch them back.

Before I knew it, he shoved the cookies in his mouth and groaned in satisfaction. I got down from his back, and he turned to face me with a massive smile on his face. I stared at him wide-eyed and mouth gaping.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You are such a pig!” I said, groaning at his behaviour.

He smiled at me with that shit-eating grin of his “Yea, maybe so, but it was worth it.” He laughed.

I shook my head at him. “That’s it! You are banned from the kitchen.” I declared.

Gunnar stared at me with shock. “That’s not fair! You can’t do that to me Freja, you’re breaking my heart,” He said with a pouty face and clutched his hands to his chest.

“Don’t give me that look; you did this to yourself!” I huffed and crossed my arms.

His brows shot up in surprise. “Oh really, we will see about that.”

Gunnar then began to walk towards the house, no doubt to the kitchen. I started following him, trying to cut him off. “Oh, no, you don’t.” I bellowed out.

He picked up his pace, laughing like the maniac that he is. Gunnar looked over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at me. “Catch me if you can, loser.”

I jumped on his back again, covering his eyes with my hands, in an attempt to stop him.

Gunnar then stopped, and his shoulders slumped. “Really? Have you forgotten that we are wolves, right? We have a superior sense of smell, so I don’t really need my eyes.” He beamed proudly.

“Yea, but it distracted you.” I giggled.

He then reached up, gripped both of my hands together and held them together tightly before using his other hand to tickle me, knowing all too well that was my weakness.

A shriek of laughter rose from the depths of my belly. “No…...Gunnar……stop it……no more.” After a moment, I finally wiggled my way free, only to fall smackdown on the ground.

He looked down at me, roaring with laughter. I narrowed my eyes and gave him a, I’m going get you for that, kind of look, but before I could exact my revenge, dad came outside looking rather annoyed.

“Enough with the horseplay, the both of you, and get inside, now!” He boomed.

Gunnar straightened himself and looked towards dad. “Yes, sir.” He said quickly.

After dad went back inside, Gunnar turned to me and extended a hand to help me up, giving me a comforting smile.

I sighed. “How is he doing?” I asked.

Gunnar looked down at me, raising a brow. “How do you think?” He scoffed, “He lost his Beta, his friend, Freja. He won’t admit it, but he is struggling to deal with it.” His face held a saddened expression with that last sentence.