Ash POV
I am running through a field, I can't see what is chasing me but I know I can't let it catch me. The ground feels like I am running on glue and I have to pull out my feet with every step.I see Nathan in front of me and I try to reach him. He stretches out his hand and I do the same. As soon as I touch him, he dissipates. Simultaneously, the ground starts falling.I scream as I try to grab anything to hold on to. I see Conall standing over me, he is within reach but he doesn't try to help me. I scream out to him but he just laughs and watches me fall."Hey, hey! Wake up!" I hear Caspian call to me as he shakes me vigorously. "You are having a bad dream," he says.I open my eyes and his face is close to mine, I can see the worry in his expression. I am still on the couch. I must have fallen asleep during the movie."You are crying," he says.Am I? I don't think I am. I raise my hand to my face and it is wet. I am a little confused, I don't know when I started to cry. Suddenly, I feel my heart squeeze and I burst into tears.Caspian holds me to his chest and I grab the front of his shirt. I can't stop the tears, I can't stop my sobbing. I am crying so hard, I can't even be embarrassed.I don't know how long I cried on his chest. He holds me all through this and lets me cry on his chest. I am sure I have snot all over his shirt.I stop wailing at some point and my cries reduce to soft sobs. I eventually stop crying and he lifts me off the sofa. I wrap my hands around his neck and bury my face in his shoulder.I hear the bedroom door open and he walks in still carrying me. He drops me on the bed and carefully covers me. He brushes my hair from my face and wipes my face.His delicateness makes me want to cry some more. "Get some sleep," he whispers and his hand starts to pull away from me.I grab him without thinking. I really don't want to be alone. I have lost everything and I am so low, I don't mind holding a stranger. It will definitely beat sleeping by myself.He looks at me with a torn expression and for a second, I think he is going to decline. He doesn't and the relief I feel is intense. He slips in beside me and wraps his hands around me.I will take this fake sense of security, just for tonight. I am sure I am allowed to indulge. It has been a horrible day. Not once have I gotten the chance to relax.I got rejected by my mate, I got chased from my pack, the only place I know, my only home. I also discovered that the man I love didn't even wait for me to leave to find my replacement.I got here and got assaulted and told that my brother might have been murdered by someone I trusted with my life. For someone who's gone through this much, I am holding up quite nicely.Caspian's scent fills my nostrils, I snuggle closer. It is a comforting scent and his warmth helps ease my mind. Within minutes I find myself floating in and out of consciousness and soon enough, I fall asleep.I open my eyes and I am all alone in bed, the incident from the night before, a little fuzzy. I try to sit up and the worst possible headache sends me back to bed.I grab my head as I try not to scream in pain. I close my eyes, the light makes my head hurt. I curse as I wait for the pain to subside before I try again.I need to get out of bed, my bladder is full and I know if I spend another minute in bed, I will have nobody but myself to blame.I try again, slowly this time and my head doesn't feel like splitting into two. I sit up without incident and slowly get out of bed. Taking it one step at a time, I make it to the bathroom in time.I grab my head as I walk out of the bathroom. There are no drugs that I can take and even if I do find one, it will probably be long expired and the nearest store is miles away from here."Darn!"I will have to wait it out, to pray it doesn't get worse than this. It must be because of all the crying I did last night. I winced at the memory, feeling my cheeks burn up.I walk out the room door with my hand on my head. Whenever I try to bring my hand down, it feels as though my head will fall off.The living room is empty. I frown, wondering where he could have gone. I don't know when he left the bed but I vividly remember asking him to stay.I feel my face go hot. I can't believe I had been that low to ask a stranger to share my bed. A memory of his scent surfaces and I suppress it.I quickly make my way to the kitchen. It can't be that he left, he would have at least told me. However, I know nobody wants to babysit a whiny child. If the roles were reversed, I would be tired of myself already."I see you are awake," his thick voice calls my attention and I raise my head to see him by the kitchen counter slicing vegetables.I can't help the little smile that appears on my face. I realize I am genuinely happy to see him and I was really worried he may have left me."Yeah," I say softly, still holding onto my head.This is so weird, his huge frame against the small counter is funny and if I am not getting butchered by this headache I would be laughing. He is all huddled over as he leans downwards, slicing the onions. The already small kitchen knife looks even smaller as he holds it.He frowns, "Are you okay?" His voice is filled with concern.I start to shake my head and I am instantly notified that this is a bad idea as the headache increases. "No," I mumble and take a seat by the kitchen table.Caspian stops slicing the vegetable and walks towards me. I instinctively stiffen. I am not scared, I am just anxious. I remember now what happened last night. I am utterly embarrassed by my behavior but I am trying to pretend I don't recall.His gray eyes scan my face and I see there is a strand of hair obstructing his view. I want to whisk it away but only because it was annoying."Headache?" He asks, standing across from me. The table separates us."Yes," I want to nod but I know that wouldn't do me any good.He stretches out his hand and places the back of his palm against my forehead. I jump. He pulls his hand away immediately."Sorry, I should have warned you. I wanted to check if you were running a temperature or something but you are fine. I am sure aspirin would do the trick.""There's none available.""Are you sure?" He asks."Yes, even if you do find any, it will be expired." "Don't be so pessimistic. The house is stocked with food, you never know, there might be drugs too.""Good luck finding it." I know he is trying to be nice but the headache is driving me crazy and the last thing I want to do is have a conversation about whether or not there are drugs for me to use.His eyes darken and I see him clamp up. I instantly feel bad. He has been nothing but nice to me and I have been ill-mannered and rude."I already checked the bathroom of my room. There was nothing there.""Would you like some hot chocolate milk then? It will take a while before the food is ready." Caspian said.I blinked rapidly, his kindness bothered me. Surely, nobody can be this nice to you without expecting anything in return. Besides, I have nothing to give and I don't want to owe anyone."Yes, I will make it myself. You are busy." I said and jumped from the seat.Big mistake.For two full seconds, the world spins. I stagger, scrambling to find anything to hold on to. I grab the chair but it tumbles sideways and I am about to fall on my face.I close my eyes as I brace myself for the pain. All I can think about is how my headache would worsen.Ash POVI feel myself getting pulled in the opposite direction and my face lands on something solid. I immediately realize Caspian pulled me to his chest. I can't comprehend how he got to my side so quickly. Did he jump over the table?"Are you okay?" He asks, still holding me to his chest. I can hear his heartbeat, it spiked but now it was falling back to a regular beat.I nod, I am a little dazed and all that sudden movement just made my headache worse. I need a moment for my head to settle. I lean into him and he holds me."How's your headache?" He asks, his hand softly treads my hair."Significantly worse," I mumble into his chest."Eish… I am so sorry, I didn't have enough time to think.""It is fine," I say and take a step back and he lets me go. "Thank you, I probably would have ended up with a bruise and more headache if I had fallen on my face."I hold on to the table for support. I can instantly tell I shouldn't be moving around. I want to pick up the chair but I know my hea
Caspian POVI 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 t
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