Harsh Awakening

Freya's POV

Three days of stale bedroom air hit my face as I shoved Gael's door open, marched straight to his mattress, and ripped the heavy comforter right off him. "Gael, on your feet! Now!"

"Quit it! Get out of here!" He let out a miserable groan, lunging forward to snatch the fabric out of my grip and yanking it back over his tousled hair. "Just let me wallow in peace!" came his muffled voice from beneath the covers.

"Not a chance!" I snapped back, planting my hands on my hips. "You've been rotting in here for three whole days. You aren't spending another morning buried in this bed when we're due on the training grounds. Skipping out again is off the table!"

"What's the point? My mate sure as hell doesn't give a damn!" he shouted through the fabric.

I drew in a slow breath to steady my temper. Another second of this and I was going to lose it, grab him by the scruff of his shirt, and haul him downstairs by force. My patience had completely run out.

"Gael," I said, dropping my tone as I lowered myself onto the edge of the mattress beside his curled-up frame. "You're letting this rejection bury you alive. Plenty of other wolves have taken that blow, accepted how things turned out, and kept living."

"Yeah? Give me one name," he shot back, shoving the edge of the blanket down to glare up at me.

Crap. Walking into a conversation about my own rejection with Gael was the absolute last thing I was ready to do today.

"You know what I mean—plenty of others," I muttered, pushing myself back up onto my feet.

Gael gave an exaggerated eye roll and yanked the covers right back over his head.

"Don't think I missed that!" A low growl rumbled in my throat as I pointed toward the adjoining bathroom door. "Up, right now, and get dressed for drills. That is a direct order, beta!"

He stayed completely still under the sheets, openly blowing me off. That was the final straw.

Bending down, I fisted my hands into the thick edge of the comforter and gave a hard, merciless yank, sending both the bedding and Gael crashing onto the floorboards with a heavy thud.

"Ow!" he hissed, wincing as his hand flew up to rub a tender spot on his skull. "What the hell was that for?"

"For blowing off a direct command from your Luna!" I barked down at him. "Now haul your sorry ass into that shower!"

Half an hour later, Gael finally stepped out into the corridor dressed in workout gear, and the two of us headed down toward the training field together.

"Well, look who it is," Beta Silas—Gael's father—called out the second we came into view across the dirt yard. "So our future beta finally bothered to poke his head out of his bedroom?"

Silas served as our pack's Beta, answering only to my father as second-in-command. Standing an imposing six-foot-nine with a thick mane of dark hair, he fixed us with pale, icy blue eyes that always made me feel like he was seeing straight through my skin.

Instead of answering, Gael crossed his arms over his chest, let out a loud, theatrical sigh, and rolled his eyes skyward. Infuriated by the blatant disrespect, Beta Silas let out a thunderous snarl and charged forward.

"You've been skipping drills for days!" Silas bellowed, his voice booming across the open field. "You are a complete disgrace right now. What is your excuse?"

Gael didn't bother offering a word, simply tilting his chin up to stare defiantly into his father's furious face.

"Good morning, Beta Silas," I cut in quickly, wedging myself right between the two of them a split second before Silas could snap and beat his son senseless. "Sorry we're running behind schedule today. What regimen do you have lined up for us?"

Silas narrowed his eyes, his heavy gaze shifting slowly from Gael to lock onto my face.

"Tracking drills and live sparring," he ground out through clenched teeth. "Right after you run ten miles on two legs."

Behind my back, Gael let out an annoyed huff, and I whipped my head around to shoot him a sharp look to shut up.

Was he actively trying to get himself killed today? He knew damn well his old man would never back away from a physical confrontation.

"Sounds great," I said, plastering a bright smile onto my face as I grabbed Gael's arm and shoved him toward the trailhead for the ten-mile loop.

"You really should've stepped back and let him lay into me," Gael muttered bitterly once we were far enough down the dirt path to be out of earshot. "Even if it only lasted a couple of minutes, taking a beating would've made me feel something for a change."

"Stop talking like an idiot," I snapped, shutting that down immediately. "Just keep moving so we can knock this run out before your dad decides to tack on extra laps. Just thinking about the mileage is wiping me out."

We almost never ran a full ten-mile circuit without shifting into our wolves, which made it obvious that Beta Silas had tailored this morning's workout specifically to punish us.

Just over an hour later, we stepped onto the padded mats of the sparring ring, and it took me less than two minutes to sweep Gael's legs out from under him and pin his shoulders flat.

"I tap out!" Gael called, going completely limp underneath me.

"Quit throwing the match like that!" I hissed down into his face. "Push back and fight me!"

Normally, a round between the two of us went hard for way longer than two measly minutes. I could only pray that Beta Silas hadn't been watching closely enough to catch how pathetically Gael was performing today. If Silas took this back to my father, it was going to create a massive headache for me when the time came to officially step up as Luna.

"Right, like you have the slightest clue what being rejected actually feels like," Gael spat, shoving me off his chest with a sudden burst of anger. "Just back off and leave me alone!"

"You know I can't do that, Gael," I replied, catching my balance. "You're my best friend and my Beta. When you're hurting like this, I feel it too."

"Save it, Freya," he muttered, pushing himself up off the mat and dusting off his knees. "I'm heading inside to wash the dirt off."

Watching him walk away left an awful knot in my stomach. Had one broken bond really just cost me my closest friend for good?

"What's eating him lately?" Finnick, one of our top pack warriors, asked as he walked up beside me, watching Gael hurry toward the locker rooms. "Guy looks like he's carrying a ton of bricks."

"His head's just scattered today," I covered quickly. "He'll shake it off soon enough."

Once I wrapped up my own cool-down, I headed into the women's locker room and rinsed off under a quick hot shower.

Stepping back out into the main hallway afterward, I spotted Gael backed up against the wall, locked in a heated, low-voiced argument with his father.

Oh, Goddess, what now?

"Beta Silas, is there a problem here?" I asked, keeping my voice even as I walked right up to them.

"None at all," Silas replied, though he shot a blistering glare at his son before looking at me. "We just got everything straightened out."

"Good," I said slowly, noticing how Gael had schooled his features into a flat, unreadable mask. "In that case, the two of us will get out of your hair."

I reached out to grab Gael's wrist to pull him along, only for him to give a slight shake of his head and take a step back out of my reach.

What the hell was going on between them?

"Freya," Beta Silas called out, pulling my attention sharply back to him. "The Alpha has requested to see you."

"Yeah, I'm aware," I answered easily. "Dad and I have lunch on the schedule this afternoon."

My parents had just gotten back late last night from traveling to a rival pack's territory to finalize a peace treaty.

Silas took a heavy step toward me, every trace of emotion wiping clean off his face. I hated it whenever he put on that stone-cold expression—it was a guaranteed sign that something bad was coming down the pipeline.

"Allow me to be clear—he is waiting for you inside his office as we speak," Beta Silas said evenly.

"Wait, you mean right this second?" I asked, caught completely off guard.

"Yes, immediately," he confirmed, his pale blue gaze turning frostier by the second.

"Alright, then," I said, turning slightly. "Gael, come—"

"He is staying right here," Silas cut in sharply, stepping into my line of sight to block his son.

My brows pulled together in genuine shock. Silas had never overstepped like this with me before.

When I glanced past his broad shoulder, I caught Gael giving a visible shudder where he stood.

Had Finnick gone behind my back and reported Gael's terrible showing in the ring this morning?

"He has zero business trying to intimidate you like this," Lyra snarled inside my head, her hackles raising. "Put him in his place—you outrank him."

My wolf was dead right. Rolling my shoulders back, I drew myself up to my full height and locked onto the older wolf.

"With all due respect, Beta, my own beta comes with me," I stated firmly. When Silas parted his lips to argue, I threw a hand up between us, cutting him off before he could make a sound. "If my father, the Alpha, bumped our meeting up on short notice, then as the future Luna of this pack, I have every right to bring my Beta into that room. Whatever this is clearly matters, and I have no doubt my dad would expect Gael to be present."

Silas clenched his teeth so hard a muscle bulged along his jawline, a dark spark of fury flaring in his pale eyes. Clearly, he hadn't counted on me pulling rank to shut him down.

After a tense beat, he gave a stiff, jerky nod and stepped out of the way.

Without wasting another breath, I snagged Gael's hand and towed him down the corridor past his fuming father. I knew whatever had made my dad summon me like this had to be serious, though I had zero clue that stepping through his office doors was about to blow my entire life wide open.