Caspian POV
I sit by the table and pick up the cutlery as I prepare to dig into the meal I made. At this point, I am sure all I do is cook but since I don’t have anything else to do in this house and I don’t particularly hate it, I don’t see why I shouldn’t.“Why are you being so nice to me?”I freeze with the food halfway to my mouth. I have to applaud her timing, she never fails to catch me off guard. I bring the cutlery down as I try to find an answer that will make sure she finishes this meal with me.“Irrespective of how I look, I am a gentleman at heart,” I say. This isn’t true at all, I will never do this for anyone. I know I am only doing this to get her to like me and join my pack. It stings a little that she doesn’t trust me even though it is quite understandable why she doesn’t. I can see the disbelief written all over her face and I brace myself for her response. Her hair is tied up but a few strands have escaped, they rested on the sides of her face, and I want to tuck them behind her ears.“Still doesn’t explain why you are going out of your way to do this much. The fact that you are staying with me is something I can’t pay back.” She looks down as she finishes speaking.“I like to cook. Besides, there is no way I will leave a damsel in distress all by herself in such dangerous woods.”She raises her head abruptly, her face is all scrunched up in annoyance. “I am not a damsel in distress.” She says stiffly. “You definitely were when I found you.”“Are you saying you are going around helping every damsel in distress?”“I am not actively looking for but I am not going to leave a lone wolf by themselves besides, I am only here because you refused to join my pack.”“Why do you want me to join your pack?”I blink as I fight the urge to stab my food that was starting to taste ashy the more she asks these questions. I control myself, however, because these questions mean that I am getting somewhere.“I don’t particularly want you to join my pack.” This is a lie as I intend to fight any other pack that wants to take her in. “I just think it beats being stuck up in this house, alone.”She doesn’t respond, just takes another bite out of her food.“Why don’t you want to join my pack?” I ask.She stops chewing and her eyes dart from left to right. “No reason really. I am just not ready, it is hard getting kicked out of the only home you know.”“Why did you get kicked out? I don’t see you doing anything that would warrant you getting kicked out of your pack. Besides, you are so young, what about your parents?”She doesn’t say anything, just stares at me weirdly.“What?” I ask, wondering if I said something wrong or worse I have somehow smeared the food all over my face.“I just realized you are staying here without knowing anything about me,” she says, bending her head and fiddling with her food.“Well, technically it is not important. So, if you don’t want to talk about it is fine.” I definitely have things I don’t want to talk about.She stops and looks up at me without raising her head. She quickly brings her head down. “Most people will say it is. Besides, it is no secret. You asked about my parents, they died a long time ago.”“Oh, I am so sorry for your loss.” I genuinely mean this. I know what it is like to lose a loved one, especially one's parents. “Don’t sweat it, It was a long time ago.”“Still. How did they die?” I find that I am very curious about her.“Um…” She pauses and clears her throat. “That is the worst part, I don’t really remember. I just know we were attacked here.”“Here?” I ask, looking around in horror.“Yeah.”“And you don’t mind staying here?” I ask.She sighs, “As I said, it happened a long time ago and I barely remember anything. Also, I have nowhere else to go.” She says and fiddles with her necklace, I don’t think she is aware of doing this.I try not to bring up my offer again, I don’t want her clamping up on me. “Why were you chased out of your pack then?” I hope I am not bombarding her with questions but I can tell I will never get a chance like this again.“My brother died.”“Whoa, I am sorry about that.”“And my mate rejected me.”I choke and I start a coughing spree. “Oh my god!” She says, standing to her feet. She sounds alarmed, it is nice to have her worried about me. “Are you okay?”She shoves a glass of water in my face and I readily accept it. I really am dying. Her words were so unexpected, I swallowed my food wrong.“I am fine, thank you,” I say after finishing the entire cup.She touches my arm, eyes me warily, and sits back down.Where she touched me feels hot.“Your mate rejected you?” I ask, I am even more curious about this and I hope my coughing spree has not ruined the moment.“Yeah, barely a week after my brother’s death then he kicked me out of the pack.” She says this casually but I can see the pain in her eyes.Mate? I can’t comprehend this because I am certain I am her mate. Every hair in my body tingles just from sitting across her. My wolf literally wants to snuggle beside her and just breathe her in all day. Does this mean she has two mates or something is not right?“Why? That doesn’t make any sense.”“He got himself a new mate and maybe I am a reminder of something he wants to forget. I don’t know. Either way, I am here, and all that is in the past.”It has just been a few days, I know nobody gets over something like that that fast. However for me to say something like that will be to destroy the front she was trying to put up. I make a fist when I meet him, I want to put a dent in his face. It also means that I can’t tell her, she won’t believe me. Heck, even I think something fishy is going on here. “What about you?” She asks suddenly.I adjust in my seat, I was afraid of her asking about me but I know I can’t get away without telling her anything. “What about me?” I ask. She frowns but doesn’t back away. “What about your family?”“They are fine,” I say nonchalantly. This is true as my pack is my family now even though I know that is not what she means.She glares at me, “Your parents?”“My father died when I was young and my mother is gone too.”“Oh my, I am so sorry.”“It is fine, it happened a long time ago.”She raises a brow at me but doesn’t comment on my response. “Got any siblings?”“Yeah, a younger one.”“Really?” Her face brightens up and she leans forward. “What is their name?”“His name is Kay. He should be around your age.”“Huh, how do you know my age?” She asks.“Hmm, how old are you?”“It is rude to ask people their age.”“No, it is not. It is only rude if that’s the first thing you ask but I am really curious here. How old are you?”I frown, “How old do you think I am?”She brings her hand to her chin, “Twenty-four,” she says without hesitation. I am sure I look horrified. “Twenty-two. Don’t tell me I look that old.”“What is the difference?”“There is a difference!” I protest. “Two years is one too many.”“Yeah, two years is a long time.” She looks lost.“How old are you?” I ask.She smiles and says, “It is rude to ask a lady her age.”I glare at her, “Haha, very funny.”“I am seventeen.”“I thought as much.”She sneers at me, “ I know I look my age. Want me to help with the dishes?” She looks at the table as she asks.I study her face. I am tempted to say no as I don’t mind doing the dishes myself but I don’t want her to leave. “Sure.,” I say.She looks up immediately and smiles, I blink at the brightness, I am blinded. She jumps out of the dishes and picks her dishes. I follow after her and watch her drop it in the sink.I wonder if this means she will stop being hostile to me. I wonder if she trusts me a little. I know it is still too soon for that. However, I know I am a little closer to convincing her to join my pack as long as nothing goes wrong.Ash POVI scrub the plates, a little too hard. I can’t believe I just spilled my life’s history to a random stranger. He must have put something in the food to get me talking. I can’t believe I told him I was rejected.I can feel my face burning up. However, as soon as I started talking about my parents, I couldn’t stop. It is annoying because I can tell that he was listening, really listening and if I ask, he will probably be able to repeat everything I said word for word. This is so embarrassing.I felt bad earlier that even though he knew nothing about me, he still went out of his way for me. That's why I told him about my parents but then I overshared and now I'm just embarrassed."That's the last of them," he says behind me.I turn to look at him, he is wearing the apron again, it's hard not to look at him and chuckle. He is close enough to touch and I have to raise my head to look at his face."Thanks for letting me help.""I should be telling you, thank you," he says and takes
Caspian POVAll the hair at the back of my head stands just as I hear a crash in the living room. I stand up immediately and so does Ashton. I put my finger to my lip and call to her with my hand, she stands behind me and I make my way to the living room, making sure to cover her with my body.As soon as I stand by the kitchen door I know who it is immediately. Tyler, I can smell. I growl, on the verge of transforming. I feel my fangs grow a little."What are you doing back here, baby boy?" I say as I walk forward, putting some space between me and Ashton. I am glad when she doesn't follow and remains in the kitchen.The first thing I notice is that he isn't alone. There are about five other werewolves with him and I can sense a few more outside the house. I frown. What is his plan?"I am here to take what is mine?" He says as stands in the middle of the living room."Are you joking or perhaps you've got nuts? What part of the last conversation did you not understand?" My breathing i
Caspian POV"Leave Jamie!" She suddenly blurts out.My eyes widen at her outburst but it is nothing compared to the look of hurt that appears on Jamie's face. "I-I…" He starts to say but goes quiet."Thank you for your help. You have done enough. Now leave." She refuses to look at him as she speaks."I see. Caspian, can we have a conversation outside?" He asks, his eyes pleading that I speak with him."No, there is no need for that. I am sure there is nothing useful you can tell him…"I hold her wrist and she looks up at my face. Her eyes are behind a glass screen. I'm surprised the tears haven't fallen down her face. They look on the verge of spilling."Let me hear what he says," I say to her.She sighs and sniffs, "If you insist. Go wait outside," she says without looking back. "He will join you when I am done.""Okay," Jamie says and slowly walks away.The door closes with a soft thud and I feel Ashton shake a little. I want to hug her but I doubt she will appreciate that."Does i
Ash POVI wake up with a jerk, I check the time immediately and see that it is barely past six am. I am a little surprised as I did not fall asleep until past two last night.Well, I think I fell asleep around that time last night because as usual, I fell asleep on the living room couch, and sometime later Caspian brought me to my room.I stretch and get out of bed. My hair is everywhere, I bundle it up and tie it in a tight knot at the top of my head. I am anxious, this is an understatement. I am more than anxious, I am apprehensive, scared, worried, just name it.I still can't believe I am leaving. I didn't ask where his pack is located and to be honest, I would rather not know until I get there. I don't want to know what to expect because I am afraid I won't like it.I brush slowly, taking my time. My things are already packed up so I don’t have to hurry. I stare at my reflection as I try to convince myself that this is a good decision. Joining the Rogue pack could be my best decis
Ash POV“Will you stop being a grouchy wolf and accept her handshake?” Damien scolds and pulls Vi’s hand out of her pocket and stretches it out.I accept the forced handshake, it is better than just holding my hand out. Vi grips my hand, her handshake is firm. She pulls me closer to her and I force a smile out as I look to Damien for help.I can see her studying my face, she doesn’t say anything to me, she just stares. Suddenly she opens her mouth, “If you were going to join us why did you take this long to decide?” I feel the blood drain from my face. I don’t say anything, I don’t even know what to say to her. I look away, defeated.“Enough of this,” Caspian says as he steps out of the back of the car. “Let’s go.”Vi let go of my hand immediately and got into the driver’s seat. Caspian opens the backdoor and signals for me to go in. I nod and slowly walk into the car. Caspian slips in beside me. He has his eyes forward and looks so serious.“Next time you decide to throw a stunt lik
Ash POV"We are here," Damien says. The car barely stops when he throws the passenger door open. I try to open my door but Damien beats me to it. Caspian comes out of the other side just as I step out of the car.I swing my legs out of the car and my feet hit gravel, making a loud crunchy sound as I stand on my feet. I instinctively look at my feet to see ash pebbles littered all around, if I were not more curious about the rest of the surroundings I would have picked one.The car stops in the middle of a huge compound. The house we are in front of is bigger than I expected. I can tell immediately that this is the pack house as it is bigger than the rest.It isn't nearly as big as the pack house in Grand Crescent, the main house where I lived but it is better than I assumed. The house is a two-story building.There are two smaller houses on the sides of the house and before we stopped, I saw other houses scattered around on the way here. We were already in Rogue Pack's territory at t
Ash POVI wipe the sweat off my face, I can't comprehend why it is so hot. I am not even doing anything that strenuous, all I am doing is putting clothes in the wardrobe.I sit on the bed with a loud sigh, the ceiling fan is the only source of ventilation. I tried to open the windows but they must be sealed shut because no matter how hard I try to open them, they don't budge.I can't work in this condition, I am likely to end up unnecessarily exhausted from such simple tasks if I am not careful. My only option is to ask for help.I wince at the thought of this, it is bad enough that I have to leave the room but there is also the fact that I don't know exactly where Caspian is. I do know his room is next door but if he isn't there, then what else am I going to do?I frown as a thought pops into my head. I can mind-link with him. We have had enough interactions for me to be able to communicate telepathically with him but this thought makes me embarrassed.We have never had a reason to d
Ash POV“Want to join us for the evening patrol?” Caspian asks.I jerk my head upwards, “What does that mean?” “You know, we will run around. It is just an excuse to go wild in wolf form. It isn’t compulsory unless it is a full moon but it is a good opportunity to meet everyone.” He explains.I try to not let the horror show on my face as I realize that during the course of the days we spent together, not once did I mention that I lost my wolf. This isn’t good. I definitely can’t bring it up now and definitely not at the dinner table in front of everyone.I smile stiffly, “Not tonight, I just want to get some rest.” I stuff some food in my mouth, if I am chewing my expression should not betray me.“That is too bad,” Damien says. “It would have been nice to run with you.”I squint my eyes and nod my head but since my mouth is full, I do not attempt to talk. Kay doesn’t say anything and he keeps his gaze on his food while Damon glares at me and Claire looks indifferent.I can’t keep th