We somehow made it out of the territory without being seen, which completely surprised me with how many patrols they send out all the time.
That's how we got to Ashton's pack lines. Make it into the pack grounds without incident and have Ashton introduce me to his pack? Yeah sounds easy right? I thought so too but ya know - I never knew how wrong I was.
Which is, in the end how I found myself circled by twelve wolves with me and Ashton both in the middle in our wolf forms.
I'm eternally grateful that Ashton stood protectively in front of me, otherwise there's no chance I'd look menacing enough for them to even give me a second glance before they kill me.
I stood behind Ashton with my back turned to him so our tails were touching as I watched the wolves behind us.
They were all growling with they're ears back while Ashton had his ears up and was snarling at them all, showing his long teeth.
I found myself not even thinking about the wolves surrounding us but Ashton's wolf. I had found myself admiring his wolf while he protected me earlier because of its sheer beauty.
His wolf was pitch black with a white circle around his left eye and a stripe running from the circle to the base of his ear.
I've honestly never seen a wolf as beautiful as him, even if that sounds cliche I don't give a fuck.
Usually people would say the pure white wolves are the prettiest or maybe the pitch black ones are, but even though Ashton's wolf is pure black except the one white stripe I found myself thinking his will be the most beautiful wolf I've ever seen. Again, I don't care if that's cliche or even if I'm only thinking such a thing because I'm his mate but it's still the truest sentence I've ever told.
I shake myself from my thoughts when I hear Ashton let out a deadly growl that makes all the wolves cower.
I watch stunned as Ashton looks around at each wolf making sure they've submitted to him.
Each wolf slowly lowers they're head as Ashton passes them with his eyes.
Ashton turns and nudges me with his nose to tell me to walk before he turns back around and walks through the barrier of wolves.
I internally smile when he snarls again at one of the wolves to my right that growls at me when I pass.
I get that I'm an intruder to them but come on it's not that big of a deal... Right?
I huff quietly and follow behind Ashton with my bag in my mouth as he leads us through the woods.
I figured out a long time ago that those were Ashton's pack members, like come on it's not hard to know, so I wasn't surprised that they submitted to Ashton.
It took us about 15 minutes to get to the pack house I'm guessing with how many people were outside walking around. When we got there he led us inside - still in our wolf form might I add - and up the stairs.
I'm sure it was easy with how big Ashton's wolf was but he managed somehow. His wolf took up the entire hallway though.
He stopped in front of a door and nodded his head with a snort out of his muzzle. I took that as a sign to walk in so I did and used my snout to close the door behind me.
I heard Ashton snort again but eventually he walked away.
I walked into the bathroom just as extra precaution and shut the door before shifting and putting the clothes on.
I chose a tight-ish tshirt and an oversized hoodie and paired it with a pair of leggings and mismatched socks - cause ya know, who cares about socks these days?
I rummaged through the drawers and cabinets until I found a brush and brushed through my hair until it was its natural straight way.
I check my appearance before I walk out and find that I look ok, I guess.
My naturally tan skin had a few dirt splotches on it that I wash off quickly, my blonde hair was in desperate need of a shower but I decided to take one after I talked to Ashton, and my blue eyes had a dull tint to it that looked like I had many nights without sleep.
I looked like shit.
With a sigh I zipped my bag up and walked out of the bathroom and sat it on the bed before walking to the door and peaking out.
I tip toe into the hallway and to the top of the stairs.
I'm just about to tip toe down the stairs when a voice nearly made me fall down instead.
"What are you doing?" I scream and jump 10 feet in the air before spinning around with my hand pressed to my chest.
"Ashton! Jesus!" I slap his arm as hard as I can for scaring me which only causes him to laugh and me to glare at him.
"Sorry, didn't know it would scare you so bad." He smirks at me but I keep up my glare, not talking.
"Alpha! We need you down here for a second!" I turn and see a middle aged guy standing on the bottom step of the stairs looking up at us.
He's cute for a guy about 35 years old maybe? He was tall with a young face - with our slow aging it makes him look about 23 or 24 - with a day's worth of a stubble marring his handsome face. He has a well built body that looks like years of going to the gym did him well.
"Thanks James." Ashton's voice sounded tense and when I turned around to look at him I'm proved right when I see his clenched jaw and hard eyes.
"Are you ok?" I tilt my head and unconsciously place my hand on his arm. I jolt slightly at the sparks that fly through my hand and up my arm. I'm still not used to this.
"Yep, fan-fucking-tastic." And with that he walks past me and down the stairs. I stand there staring at where he previously stood, trying to process why he was so upset.
It was obvious he was upset like come on you would have to be blind to not see it, I just don't know what it was that made him so mad.
Maybe someone said some bad news through the mind link? I guess that's what it was...
With a sigh I turn around and walk down the stairs that Ashton led me up earlier.
When I reach the bottom I don't see Ashton anywhere so I walk into the living room off to the side where a bunch of people are standing around.
"Hey, do we know you?" A girl about my age, maybe a couple years older, walked up to me. She seemed friendly so I smiled politely at her.
"Umm no, I'm a friend of Ashton's." She nods and introduces herself.
"I'm Miranda, that doofus's mate, sadly." She mutters the last part gesturing to the same guy who called Ashton down here earlier at the stairs with an eye roll making me laugh a little.
"Ashton just went into the kitchen with Nora so I would look there for him, unless you want to hang out with us?" She gestures to the people behind her and I notice there's about an even mixture of guys and girls.
Probably mates.
"Umm, I'll hang around for a bit I guess. If that's ok with you?" She smiles brightly and tells me its wonderful before leading me over to her friends.
"Guys this is - wait I don't know you're name." She giggles slightly at the discovery and I politely give them my name.
"Madeline." She smiles before restarting her introductions.
"Ok, guys this is Madeline, Ashton's friend. Madeline, this is Jeremy and his mate Terry-" she points to a bear and a really pretty girl beside the bear. I'm going to call it a bear because of how big he is.
"That's Peter and his mate Mari-" she points to a muscly guy that's probably the gamma and a girl that looks literally exactly like Miranda. She proves my suspicions right when she says they're twins.
"And that's Xavier and his mate Alex." This time she points to two guys that I can't help but smile at. It's cool when you see two guys or two girls as mates, it's rare that they accept each other.
I smile and wave at all of them which they return with they're own greetings.
They continue on with they're conversation, including me occasionally which makes me smile.
They were talking about some hunting trip they wanted to have when a sharp pain hit my chest, knocking the breath out of my lungs.
I press the heel of my palm against my chest trying to ease the pain but it only gets stronger.
My knees give out and I crumple to the floor a slight scream leaving my lips from the pain that's how spreading throughout my entire body.
"Madeline?! Madeline!" I hear the group trying to talk to me and asking what's wrong but I can't talk.
I scream again and try to push myself off the floor but it only hurts more so i stop trying.
"It... Hurts..." I manage to get out before I scream again and go into a fetal position.
Another sharp pain, this one worse than all the others, hits me making everything go black. The pain stopped thankfully though, so I welcomed the black with welcoming arms.
~~~~~~~~~~
Oh my god! Hey guys!! Ahhhh I finally updated after - what was it? 4? 5 days? Ugh, I'm so sorry for anyone who might have been waiting for an update, not many people read my book so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm just talking to myself but whatever 😂 I really am sorry though but with all the exciting things happening it's hard, as I've mentioned before.
But guess what?!? I made VARSITY!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh!!!! I'm so happy!!! I tried out for the volleyball team - I didn't think I'd make it - but I made varsity!!!! Ugh sorry I'm a little happy 😊😂
Anyways, I hope you're enjoying and I plan to update tomorrow if everything goes to plan - which knowing my luck it won't...
Hope you all are having an amazing day, if you are maybe you could spare a vote and comment, maybe a follow? To make my day even better? Haha spread the love!! 😊😊
-Skittles 💋
When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.