Chapter 4
Freya's POV
I look into his deep-set eyes and suddenly smile.
"Okay."
Three days later.
Frostpeak's nightclub.
Grayson sits in a VIP booth, swirling a glass of expensive whiskey.
Lila sits obediently beside him, peeling grapes for him.
"Grayson, you're really not going to deal with Freya?" one of his friends asks, testing the waters.
Grayson gives a cold laugh and throws back the drink in one go, his face full of scorn.
"Deal with her? She's the one who wanted to be difficult. Who's she got to blame but herself?"
"A place like the Fringe doesn't even have decent heat. That rogue can't even take care of himself, what's he going to give her?"
He scoffs. "Just watch. Give it a week, tops, and she won't be able to take the hard living. She'll come crawling back to me in tears."
"But..." the guy hesitates, then pulls out his phone and opens something up.
"I was just scrolling the pack network, and I saw a notice on the mate registry."
He slides the phone across to Grayson.
"Freya... she actually registered as mates with that rogue. Kade."
"What?!"
Grayson bolts upright and snatches the phone.
Right there on the screen is the official posting from the wolf marriage system.
My name sits next to Kade's, and underneath, in bold red, the words bonded mates cut straight into Grayson's eyes.
"That's not possible!" Grayson slams the phone down on the table.
"Grayson..." Lila flinches and reaches for his hand.
"Get off me!"
Grayson shakes her off, his eyes bloodshot with fury and disbelief.
He can't believe I actually had the nerve to marry that worthless rogue.
In Grayson's head, I'm always the one trailing behind him, quietly giving everything, showing up whenever he calls and disappearing whenever he's done with me.
He thought handing back the engagement, leaving the pack, all of it was just me trying to get his attention. Just me throwing a fit.
He thought all it would take was crooking a finger, and I'd come running back, grateful, the way I always did.
But now I've actually gone and tied myself to another man.
"Get the car!" Grayson growls through his teeth.
"Grayson, where are you going?" his friend jumps up.
"The Fringe!" Grayson kicks the coffee table over in front of him and storms out. "I want to see who gave her the guts to do this."
The night air is cold and sharp.
A black sports car tears through the run-down streets of the Fringe and stops in front of a crumbling apartment building.
Grayson kicks the car door open and storms up the stairs with a few guards behind him, kicking in the flimsy wooden door.
The room is cramped and narrow, lit by one dim hanging bulb.
I'm sitting at the table, a cup of hot tea in my hands.
Kade stands behind me, toweling off his wet hair. His shirt's off, revealing lean, hard muscle and scars crossing his skin.
We both turn at the noise.
Grayson stands in the doorway, staring at Kade's hand on my shoulder, then at the fresh mark on my neck, his eyes bloodshot, like some animal that's lost it completely.
"Freya!" Grayson's voice comes out like it's being dragged through his teeth.
I set down my cup and look at him, calm.
"Alpha Grayson, breaking into someone's home is illegal."
"You're citing the law at me?!" Grayson storms in. "You actually went and mated with this piece of trash? Have you lost your mind?"
"Isn't this exactly what you handed me?" I say, my mouth curling, voice dripping with mockery. "What, having second thoughts now?"
"Me, second thoughts?!" Grayson looks like I've hit a nerve, his voice jumping up a notch.
"I think you're disgusting! Just to get back at me, you'd stoop this low with some filthy rogue!"
He lunges forward, reaching for my wrist.
"Come back with me! Reject the bond with him!"
But before his hand reaches me, another hand, strong and unyielding, clamps down around it.
Kade steps in front of me, his voice ice cold.
"Alpha Grayson, you come at my mate snarling and grabbing. Doesn't that seem a little beneath you?"
