Freya’s POV


    75%


    Finished


    By the time the meal ended, Lana looked like she’d lost a year off her life. The tension across the table had been thick enough to chew.


    Ss Whitmor rose smoothly, his shadow falling over me. “Let’s go.”


    I didn’t hesitate. “Alright.”


    After all, I had made an agreement with him. While in Ashbourne, I would see to my personal matters–but the rest of my time was bound to his protection. His safety, until the deal was fulfilled.


    I turned to Lana. “Lana, you and Kade-”


    Before I could finish, Kade’s hand wrapped firmly around my wrist, tugging me back. “Freya, where are you staying tonight? I’ll take you home.”


    The air shifted instantly.


    “She stays with me,” Ss cut in, voice low and edged withmand. His hand closed around Kade’s wrist, prying mine free. “Your hand, ckridge–release her.”


    Kade’s jaw tightened, his wolf shing in his eyes, “And if I don’t?”


    Ss’s smile was nothing but lethal promise. “Then if your wrist shatters in my grip, do not call it injustice.”


    A sharp growl coiled in Kade’s throat. “Try me. See if you have the strength.”


    The air thickened like stormclouds ready to burst. My wolf bristled, sensing the fight about to detonate.


    “Enough!” I yanked free of Kade’s grasp and then pried Ss’s fingers from his wrist, shoving them apart. My voice came out low and sharp, wolfmandced in it. “He is my friend. Harm him, and I will not forgive you.”


    Ss stilled, dark gaze unreadable.


    I turned back to Kade. “I’m staying with him. For now. I’m contracted to act as his guard.”


    Kade blinked. “Guard? Did he threaten you?”


    “No.”


    “Then why?”


    “I can’t tell you.” The words were clipped, but he knew what they meant. Some tasks were bound by oath and secrecy.


    He nodded after a pause, epting what I couldn’t say. “Then I won’t ask. But tomorrow is the burial. Your parents will beid to rest at the Stormveil Primal Hall. I’ll be waiting outside the gates for you.”


    The grief swelled sharp in my chest. I swallowed it down. “Alright.”


    I turned to leave with Ss when Kade suddenly pulled me into his arms.


    I froze. “What are you doing?”


    75%


    Finished


    “Nothing,” he murmured, voice raw. “Just… you’re still the same, Freya. Still the one who protects the people you love.”


    The memory hit me hard. Snowbound roads. His fever burning high. My body carrying him across the drifts, lungs heaving, whispering through my teeth, “Hold on. We’re almost there. I won’t let anything happen to you.”


    The weight of him. The ice in my veins. And yet the fire in my chest, burning brighter with each step.


    Sometimes, a heartbeat was all it took for a bond to spark.


    And now, his voice was steady, absolute: “If you ever face danger–de or fire, blood or death–I’ll be there. I’ll follow you into it all.”


    My throat tightened. If Ss was my storm, then Kade was my anchor–and yet…


    “I don’t need saving,” I muttered, forcing lightness into my voice. I ruffled his hair like I had years ago. “Now let me go.


    Reluctantly, he released me.


    But when I turned, I caught Lana staring, wide–eyed—not at me, but at Ss. At the way his eyes had narrowed, dark fire locked on the sight of Kade holding me.


    Jealousy.


    The word burned through me, startling as it was. Ss Whitmor, Alpha of the Irond Coalition, heir of power and legacy–jealous? Wolves like him didn’t need to covet anything. And yet….


    I brushed the thought away. Surely I’d imagined it.


    We returned to the vi in silence. I was halfway to my room when Ss’s voice halted me.


    “If I had broken his wrist tonight, Freya–what would you have done?”


    I turned, startled. His eyes gleamed with something more than challenge.


    “I would never let you touch him.”


    “I only said if.”


    “There is no ‘if.” My words came sharp. “I won’t let you harm him.”


    Hisshes flickered, gaze pinning me. “You protect him because he was yourrade–in–arms?”


    “Is that not reason enough?<b>” </b>


    “You’ve both left the Iron Fang Recon Unit.” His voice hardened. “The field, the battles, that’s over.”


    “Even so, he is my war–brother,” I snapped back. “If danger fell, I could entrust my life to him without


    13:16 Tue, Sep 2 GM<b>. </b>


    hesitation.”


    For a long moment, his stare burned into me. Then his voice dropped, low and quiet.


    “And me, Freya? If danger fell… could I be the one you entrust your life to?”


    Send Gifts


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