The Alpha's Prize
Chapter 3: Farewell

As morning approached, the sun began to engulf my room, causing me to let out a frustratedgroan. Closing my eyes tightly, I pulled my blanket up and over my head in an attempt to shieldmyself 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, butmostly I thought about Alpha Cain and our encounter. I thought about how attractive he was, howhis closeness made me wet and caused tingles to shoot through my whole body. I thought abouthis words, his threats and especially how he had let me go, but not before telling me that we wouldmeet again; what did he mean by that? Also, why did he want to propose a treaty? That was thebiggest unanswered question.

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

I entered the kitchen to replace mom and Adela cooking breakfast; they noticed my presence andlooked 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 emotionalregarding yesterday's news; she has always been such a passionate person at times. I am theopposite. 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 andlooked at me.

“Morning, dad, Gunnar,” I said in a grumbly tone. Gunnar, just looked at me and grunted; he is not amorning 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 tomyself.

Dad didn't reply, just gave me a curt nod. Then, after a few moments of silence, dad broke thetension 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 havespoken to a few warriors, and they are working on assembling his pyre; once it is finished, we willgather 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, andit 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 tohelp.

He cleared his throat. “Yes, could you help your mother and sister with preparing the food for afterthe 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 breakfastjust 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 justbe with them. Except for Gunnar, he kept stealing my food, and I swear, I was two seconds awayfrom biting his damn hand off and then smacking that grin off of his face with it. I love him but alsohate that big buffoon.

After finishing breakfast, Gunnar and dad left to go to the main hall to prepare for Mikael'scremation. I helped mom and Adela clean everything up from breakfast and prepare the food forthe 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 mewant to run. It was lunchtime now, and we were close to being done, thank fuck! I needed out ofthis kitchen. As we continued to work away, we heard the front door open and close. We allwhipped 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.” Mominformed 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 kitchenand stole food whenever mom was cooking

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

He smiled like he was so innocent. “Nope, just....observing, yup, observing.” Gunnar nodded hishead 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, actingas if he was just looking. Then, when mom turned to grab something, he snatched some of thecookies 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 onhis 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 demandedand 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 fromhis back, and he turned to face me with a massive smile on his face. I stared at him wide-eyed andmouth 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 myheart,” 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 andstuck 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 beforeusing 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 amoment, 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 getyou for that, kind of look, but before I could exact my revenge, dad came outside looking ratherannoyed.

“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 acomforting 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, hisfriend, Freja. He won't admit it, but he is struggling to deal with it.” His face held a saddenedexpression with that last sentence.

I looked at the ground, knowing he was right and that I had asked a stupid question. I sighedheavily and continued inside.

After finishing up in the kitchen with mom, Adela and the others, we headed to the main hall to seteverything up. We arrived at the hall, and it was packed already. Everyone was in mourning andcrying; the atmosphere was beyond depressing. I noticed Erik standing in the crowd, speaking withhis parents; he glanced in my direction and smiled. I smiled back at him and placed the food on thetables.

Once everything was prepared, we all headed towards the river to begin the funeral. On the edge ofthe river stood the pyre; it was breathtaking. The structure was built from oak wood logs, adornedwith Gracie oak flowers and personal items were scattered all over that loved ones had placed. Inthe middle was Mikael, wrapped in a black blanket accented with gold stitching; it was beautiful, hewas beautiful and was taken too soon.

Everyone gathered around as dad approached the pyre. He stood beside Mikael and glanced at himquickly before looking away; his features looked pained.

He then looked out at everyone gathered around. “Today, we are gathered here together, underunfortunate circumstances, to bid farewell to a dear husband, father, Beta and friend. Mikael waslike no other man I've ever met in my lifetime; he was patient, kind, and fought with the strengthand determination of a hundred warriors. But most of all, he cared for this pack. Mikael cared forevery one of us. He will truly be missed but never forgotten.” Dad choked up a bit throughout hisspeech, but he kept it together as best as he could.

After dad said his piece, Mikael's mate, Sarah, approached the pyre, tears streaming down her face.She looked to my dad with a half-smile; he kissed her on the cheek and then handed her the torch.Pack tradition was that the deceased's mate light the pyre and send them off to the next life. As sheapproached the pyre, more tears flowed down her face; it was clear that she was hesitant tocontinue because she knew this was goodbye and who could blame her? No one wanted to do this;no one wanted to say goodbye to the love of their life.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and brought the torch down, lighting the pyre on fire. Shestumbled back and clasped a hand to her mouth; dad came to her side, placing a hand on hershoulder and took the torch. Dad and Gunnar then pushed the pyre into the river sending Mikael offto rest and be with the Moon Goddess, Selene.

We stood in silence, watching as the flames consumed Mikael's body as he drifted down the river.Finally, after a few moments of silence, dad came forward, getting everyone's attention once again.“Now that we have sent Mikael to rest, we will now proceed into the main hall to celebrate his life.”Everyone slowly began to retreat back to the hall. Erik came to my side and gripped my hand as Istarted walking. He smiled at me, and I gave him a half-smile; I just didn't feel like genuinely smilingat that moment.

It had been a few hours now, and everyone seemed to be lighting up; people were laughing a littleand smiling, reminiscing all the good things about Mikael and the good memories that he gave us.Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a warrior approach dad and whisper something in hisear. His face went still, and anger was evident on his features. Finally, he got up and stormed away,with the warrior at his side.

I looked at Gunnar, who was watching as well. “Gunnar, What's going on?” I asked him.

His gaze remained on dad, and he just shook his head. “I don’t know, but I'll replace out.” He thenquickly got up and followed in the direction that dad left.

Hours passed by, and everyone was beginning to leave the hall to go back home. Mom, Adela and Istarted to clean things up, and Erik stayed to lend a hand. Thankfully, it didn't take us long to geteverything cleaned up, and before I knew it, we were finally back at home.

Shortly after arriving back at the house, we were in the kitchen putting things away when we heardthe front door burst open with a crash. We peered out of the kitchen to see dad stomping into thehouse, fury emanating off him; he didn't even glance at us; he just continued into his office andslammed the door shut, causing us to jump a little.

Gunnar entered the house a moment after, with a grim and infuriating look on his face. We allrushed out of the kitchen towards Gunnar, all of us wondering what the hell was going on.

Mom was the first to speak. “What is going on? What is the matter with your father?” Shequestioned.

Gunnars gaze locked with moms. “Alpha Cain was here.” He said through gritted teeth.

Everyone's eyes widened, and shock consumed us.

I raised a brow. “Ok, and? What did he say? What does he want?" I asked, becoming impatient; Ineeded to know, we all did.

He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “He came here to discuss the treaty, to discuss whathe wants in return for ending the war.” His nostrils were flaring, and his chest was heaving now.Something was wrong, and I could feel it.

“S0.....what does he want?” Mom asked hesitantly.

I could tell that he didn’t want to tell us and struggled very hard to stay calm. His remorse-filledeyes then focused on me. “He wants you, Freja.”

My eyes went impossibly wide, and a shudder of fear took hold of me, I opened my mouth to saysomething, but nothing came out.

"What! Please tell me that is not true?” Mom asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Erik stepped in front of me. “No fucking way, he’s not getting her,” Erik said growling.

“That is not your decision Erik, you will stand down and remember your position,” Gunnar said withferocity.

Adela just started crying and remained silent.

A million things were going through my mind; I didn't know what to do or what to say. Why didAlpha Cain want me? I couldn't go with him. I had heard the stories, he would use me, torture meand then.....no this can't happen, I won't let it and neither would dad, right?

I spun on my feet and headed towards dad's office without wasting another second. Before I couldreach for the door handle, Gunnar gripped my elbow. “Freja, I don't think that is a good idea rightnow.” He said sternly.

I scoffed at him, yanked my arm from his hold and proceeded into the office. My mouth opened tosay something but abruptly closed as I entered the room. I stood there taking in the sight beforeme; dad sat in his chair with his head resting in his hands while tightly gripping his hair. His officewas trashed, things were shattered into pieces, and papers littered the floor. He was hurting; thatmuch was clear. I shook my head and cleared my throat to get his attention.

"Dad, please tell me this is a joke?” I asked him calmly, not wanting to upset him further.

He slowly raised his head and looked at me; his eyes were pitch black, fury radiating off of him inwaves. “No, this is not a joke, Freja.”

My brows scrunched together, anger building inside of me. “Why does Cain even want me?” I asked,not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

Dad closed his eyes. “He says that you are his mate.” He replied through gritted teeth.

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