His fearless Alpha Female

Chapter 22

"Good thing I didn't." Ashton says, making me giggle.

"Why didn't you?" I ask, very curious all of a sudden.

Ashton smirks. "Well if I told you, that would also be giving you the answer to why I chose you." I open my mouth and let out an offended gasp.

"And hear I was thinking that I would I get all the answers." I say sarcsticly, making him chuckle. God he's so cute!

"Ok, come on. It's time to head back, the last thing we need to get sick." Ashton says, making me pout annoyed.

"You know after a while, you kinda forget it's raining." I state.

Ashton looks at me. "No." He says with a sarcastic smile as he shakes his head. I jump down, and hit him in the arm.

He takes my hand and starts leading us back. Well it was fun while it lasted. After about a minute of walking, Ashton's phone starts ringing in his pocket. We stop, and I watch him answer the phone.

"Hello?"

A small silence until Ashton's eyes go wide. "What?! Where?!"

"No that's impossible we were close to there!" Ashton says sharply, making me listen in on the conversation.

"I don't know Alpha, but it's bad." I hear, as I try to be very quiet.

"Who is it?" Ashton asks.

"My mate." I hear, and I watch Ashton freeze, with his eyes wide and his grip loosning on his phone.

"I'm on my way." Ashton says, before hanging up in a hurry and sliding it back into his pocket. He holds me by the shoulders and looks directly into my eyes. "Aspen, I need you to go home - lock all the doors and windows - stay locked in the bedroom - close any curtains you can. I'll be there soon, ok?"

Suddenly, my chest feels tight. I stare into his eyes and open my mouth. "N-no." I stutter out sharply.

"No. Aspen you don't have a choice, I need you to be safe and sound. So please, go home and do what I tell you!" Ashton says quickly, grabbing my hand and rushing off towards our house thats only two minutes away. He looks around frantically, making sure I'm in front of him as he holds me against him as if he was protecting me.

I stop, making Ashton shake his head and making his breathing go faster. "Aspen now is not the time to be stubborn! Please! Just go back home, this is not a situation you should be fighting!" He snaps at me.

"Tell me what's going on! Ashton! I need to know!" I say desperately, needing to understand what's happening.

"Someone was murdered, and is on the edge of our territory. I need to go, so please...go home." Ashton says with a begging voice, making me still shake my head.

"No. I'm coming with you, I don't care! You will not stop me, nothing you do will stop me! Do you hear me!" I hiss, making us share worriedly and sternly into each others eyes.

"No. Not happening." And on that, he turns away and runs through the forest, leaving me standing there upset, annoyed, worried, vulnerable. The rain starts coming down harder, and suddenly I have no choice but to follow. Ashton is th only one that makes me feel completely safe, and he just left me here. No! I will not stand for it!

I run after him, through the forest and the way he went. I remember him saying on the phone something about us just being there, so that can only mean that it's near the edge if his territory near where the road is. As I run, I wipe my face trying to block the rain drops from clouding my vision. About to turn right, I sudeenly get a strong scent of metal. Well blood to be specific, I stop and turn towards the smell. I look at the ground to also notice red liquid mixing with the rain that's streaming down ground. I slowly approach and follow to where to smell is, and as I go i notice that I am very close to the road.

As I keep on going, I notice Hunter and Ashton, but I also notice someone on the ground. She has brownish blond hair, almost exactly like mine. From the back, you would think it's me. I walk closer. "She looks like me."

Ashton whips around, along with Hunter. I notice Hunter's eyes are all red and he looks very miserable. Ashton glances at him, then comes towards me. He turns me around, so I can't look at the female on the ground. "What are you doing here Aspen?"

"You shouldn't have left me." I state.

Ashton sighs. "I know I'm sorry, but Aspen...when I say you can't handle it...this one...well it won't be easy on the stomach. So just don't look , ok?"

"Its fine Ashton, I'll be fine." I say, turning around. I notice Ashton looks uncomfortable, but his bad could it--

My eyes widen and let out a cry. I cover my mouth, and Ashton immediately covers my eyes, and brings my head to his chest so I can't look at her. That girl wants just murdered, she was fucking slaughtered. She has deep claw prints the seep into the back of her legs. Her back...Her back is ripped apart, you can see her spin. Her neck has a big wolf bite that I'm shocked her head didn't come off. She is the exact height of me, and from the back she looks like me. She's wearing clothes that I would wear, no doubt in my mind that - was supposed to be me.

Ashton strokes my hair, and again my eyes go wide. It as Hunter on the other ride of the phone with Ashton, it was him who told him about the killing where we were, and it it's his mate that suffered. No...It's all my fault. Tears start silently welling up in my eyes, this all my fault And no one can change my mind! I should have told Ashton it was Lana and this would have never happened! Now Hunter is at a lose and he's obviously destroyed. No doubt Ashton feels empathy for him, he was in this situation two years ago!

Now I feel trapped. I didn't want to tell Ashton it was Lana because I wanted to avoid him being crushed when he finds out she killed his family, but now look what happened! And I sudeenly have the feeling that Ashton wouldn't be hurt, he would be mad. So mad in fact that he would kill her, and I have no problems with that right now.

I pull away from Ashton, and I look at Hunter. He's staring down at his mate, and slowly a approach him. I take him gently on the shoulder, and he turns his head to look at me. "I'm sorry." Is all I manage to say.

Hunter shakes his head and brushes me off. Little does he know I didn't just say sorry, because of his loss. Ashton comes up behind me and takes my hand gently. He pulls me away from all this, and all I can do is just follow him. He gives one last glance at Hunter, then leads us back to the house.

When we walk through the front door, Ashton immeidtaly grabs two towels, and hands one of them to me. I take it with my eyes slightly shaky. In just cant get her slaughtered image out if my head, and knowing that it's all my fault, I can't deal with it right now. I head over to the couch and sit down, wrapping the towel around my shoulders, as I dry my face with my hands. Ashton walks over to me, and sits down next to me.

"Her name was Hannah," Ashton says, making the silence a little less tense for me. I look up at him, waiting for to continue. "She was very bubbly and optimistic. The opposite of my beta, but I think that's what attracted them to each other. She brought out a fun side to him, as he brought out a very sane like essence to her."

It makes me even more guilty and sad when he talks about her, and even her and Hunter. It doesn't help either when I realise ever minute that I ruined a family. I hold my face in my hands, making myself right now. As I protected Ashton's feelings, someone lost the love of their life in the process.

"When I first saw her, I thought it was you," it should have been. "It scared me, completely horrified me actually. I couldn't go through losing someone like that again, until I remembered that it wasn't me who lost someone, it was my beta. I felt his pain, I smelt it take over him, I saw the life in his eyes slowly disappear with Hannah." Ashton explains in a gentle, but almost guilty like voice.

I take his hand, and move closer to him. I lay my head on his shoulder, and we let the silence speak for itself. The rain from outside sets the mood with the silence, and all I can think about is how Ashton couldn't put the pieces together. It's like a puzzle - a really hard one. There are somethings that connect together, but you just need the right pieces to finish it, and I can tell...we're getting closer to the end of this puzzle.