Ashly and Alex walk for five minutes in complete silence. Ashly doesn't even realize it when she walks them around the same area twice. "I have to rest already," Ashly sighs. The Alpha looks over at his unoccupied hand and notices that it's slipped underneath his jacket, pressed against his arm. Maybe he shouldn't be making Ashly walk this much. But he also wants Ashly to have some fun; maybe next time he will insist she change her wolf form so they can go into the forest. Speaking about wolves, Alex never saw his mate wolf. Only five minutes later, Ashly spots the Shadow Pack house and begins walking toward the driveway, dragging Alex behind her. Before they go in, Alex stops her and reaches up to wipe the tears off her rosy cheeks, warming her up in the process. Alex can see how Ashly is shivering because of the cold; he feels bad making her come out here with him when it's so cold. When they open the door and walk in together, the family is eating again. The married couple doesn
The two end up looking each other in the eye again. Alex now holds his mate's face with both his hands, and he leans in and kisses her again and again, making Ashly feel like she is in heaven. It gets even better when they separate and their faces are still only a few centimeters away, and Alex's gaze switches repeatedly from his mate's eyes to her lips and backs up again. "Let's take this slow, okay? We need to know each other better for now, as Ashly and Alex, not as Alpha and Omega," he admits. Ashly didn't say anything; she was not in the right state of mind to say anything. She still smiles until her dimples show, which makes her even more beautiful. - The next day, Alex holds Ashly's hand at the hospital. Or just say Ashly grabs her partner's hand in the middle of a checkup and digs her nails into his palm so hard that they bleed, but Alex doesn't care because he can heal in just a second. When they go back to the pack house, both Rose and Seth welcome them and ask them about
When everyone met up that night at the dining hall of the hotel for tea, Alex looked irritated, and Ashly made sure to steer clear of him. As Ashly was putting salad on her plate, giving the chips a sad, longing look, a sharp jab in her ribs made her jump and yell, nearly dropping her plate in the process. She turned to give the culprit an irritated glare and found herself face-to-face with a smirking Alex, but the smirk didn't hide the anger in his eyes. Ashly sighed in resignation. "What, Alex?" Ashly asked her Alpha, her voice full of annoyance, as she turned back to the buffet to continue filling her plate with healthy food. She tried to eat healthier because, when they were on the plane, she tended to eat a lot of crap. "You can't just call me a liar and then walk off, Ashly," Alex said angrily, poking Ashly's side harshly again, making her plate tip and a bunch of lettuce fall from her plate. Ashly half growled and half exhaled. "Fuck it," she muttered, moving over to the chip
The local club was humid and full of bodies of Alphas, Omegas, and Betas. Ashly could feel skin all around her as she moved in time to the beat, the crowd grinding on one another and not noticing the omega smell in their midst. Monika had wandered off to get a pint, chatting happily with some red-haired lass at the bar when Ashly had last looked over. Ashly took a long pull from her glass of juice before pressing the cold glass against her forehead in hopes of some kind of relief from the heat. She sighed when it didn't work and quickly put her hands to the bottom of her vest, tugging it up and off of her body to the sounds of catcalls and cheers from both men and women around her. She grinned, feeling buzzed and liquid from the five glasses of juice with a drop of alcohol mixed on them; she'd already downed in quick succession. When a fit man came up behind her and slid his hands to Ashly's hips, Ashly rolled her eyes and ground back against her, enjoying the feel of someone else's b
As Ashly expected, Monika and Rose were still waiting anxiously outside her door. One look at her furious and red lips, and they yelled in shock, both of them running up to his to check her face, and Rose shot worried looks at the room door until Ashly rolled her eyes. "I didn't kill him, Rose. Go check on him if you're worried; he's probably standing like an idiot," Ashly said sarcastically, and Rose rolled her eyes and smirked but quickly went into Ashly's room to check. "Can I use your shower?" Ashly asked Monika calmly, but even Ashly heard the simmering anger in her own voice. Monika nodded silently and led the way back to her room, where Monika handed Ashly a towel before leaving her alone in the shower. She slipped off her clothes and stepped into the shower, turning the water hot and taking a deep breath. Ashly stood and let the water drench her, her hair trailing down her neck and over her face in a curtain of straight brown that she didn't have the energy to push back. A st
During meeting time with some of America's biggest pack, Alex smiled at Ashly a lot, and Ashly laughed and blushed when others teased them for being stuck in the hounymmon phase even after more than one year. She laughed a lot harder than usual, and they touched at every opportunity. They knew that these moments would be used as evidence by their annoying sisters and friends of their'relationship', but they didn't really care. They were enjoying things between them while being easy for the moment. They had no idea that after the meeting, the rug would be pulled sharply out from under their feet. They'd run off the hotel as soon as they could, all of them smiling, and Ashly and Alex were walking so close that their arms brushed with every step, and Alex had come to a sudden stop. When Ashly saw Alex's face go from shock and masked disappointment to a big, false smile that didn't meet his eyes, she looked around to see what had caused it, and she felt her stomach drop. There was a beaut
"You need to let go. You need to ignore him when he does things like flirt and touch you, and you need to live your own life. Maybe shagging two hot guys hadn't been the best of plans, but going out that night and having fun had been a good start," Rose said with a roll of her eyes at the mention of those two hot guys. "To be fair, I didn't go out with the intention of doing anything; I just got offered one," Ashly said diplomatically. "Wow, Ashly, you are really something." Rose grinned, and Ashly smirked, finally starting to feel like herself again. "How do you fall out of love with someone?" Ashly asked Rose softly, and she was aware that her eyes were filled with desperation, but she just didn't know how to start. "I honestly don't know, Ashly. I'm sorry that I can't help," Rose said, knocking her forehead against Ashly in an affectionate apology. Ashly realized that for a little while she'd become withdrawn from the others; there was too much going on in her head about Rose an
When Ashly woke up, she refused to get out of bed, telling herself she deserved to hide for a little while. But she was rudely exposed by Monika, who opened the door and shoved her grinning face into Ashly. She snapped back, nearly poking Ashly in the eye. "Morning sister," Monika sang at her, and Ashly flipped her off, hiding under her covers. Monika ripped the covers back again, then laughed. "Ashly! There's a bitchy girl on here; you didn't think to put on pajama bottoms." "Piss off, Monika," Ashly sighed, but she got up anyway, wrapping the sheet around herself until she found her grey sweat pants, slipping them on, and wandering over to the breakfast area. When she saw Alex, she noted with sadness but not a lot of surprise that Alex refused to meet her eyes. Ashly decided then that she was going to act like what Alex had done last night was no big deal, that it'd just been a bit of casual fun, even if her heart was still aching over it. "Morning," Ashly called out with a mock c