CHAPTER 5

The following morning when I got up at 5am I went for my usual jog around the territory but I was stopped as I was running around behind some houses by someone singing out my name. 

“Asher.” I said as I slowly stopped. Asher stepped out from the side of his house, looking like he had slept in the yard chair that night. 

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked. 

“Jogging. What the hell are you doing?” I asked. 

“Dad and I got in a fight last night so I slept out here. I didn’t want to see him.” He said. 

“So, you slept in the yard.” I said. 

“Yeah. Pretty much.” He said as he slowly got up and walked over to the fence. I just shook my head at him and tried to tame his bed hair. 

“You shouldn’t have to sleep in the yard when you fight with your father.” I said. 

“I know. He doesn’t kick me out. I choose to sleep out here. Even he calls me crazy for doing it. And a stubborn teenager.” Asher said. 

“Well, I have to agree with him on that.” I said. 

“Do you jog like this every morning?” He asked. 

“Pretty much.” I shrugged. 

“How far do you go?” He asked. 

“Around the whole territory. It takes an hour and a half. It’s a good workout. You should try it some time.” I said. 

“No thanks. I’m fine.” He said. 

“Suit yourself. I have to keep going.” I said as I started jogging off.

“I’ll see you at the diner again?” He sang out. And I turned around while still jogging and I gave him a thumbs up. 

When I got back to the house mom was getting ready for work and I got a glass of water. 

“I’ll be home late again tonight. There’s still plenty of lasagna in there so you don’t have to cook tonight. We can just heat that up as leftovers.” Mom said. 

“Alright. Why are you going to be so late again?”

“Because the doctor that is already working there is from the dark ages. He has absolutely no idea of how to run a proper hospital. Everything is just put in places that makes no sense.” She explained. 

“So, you’re rearranging the entire hospital?” I asked. 

“Yeah. Pretty much. And I am not keeping the nurses back because most of them have families and lives to get to. So it’s left up to me.” She said. 

“Alright. I’m not complaining. I was just wondering.” 

I went upstairs and had a shower and I got dressed and I put everything in my bag for school. I closed my door, making sure that my mother was downstairs and I put my current phone on the desk while I opened the drawer and I pulled out another phone. 

I turned it on and I saw that there were dozens of missed calls and messages. A lot of them were from Brayden who was really worried about me. Saying that I need to let him know that I’m safe. 

He was my trainer and I knew that he cared about me, but there was a reason why we left in the middle of the night. And he would have seen that our clothes were gone, which meant that we ran away. And I listened to one of his voice messages. 

“Savannah. I know that you and your mother thought that you needed to run away. But I wish you would call me and just let me know that you’re safe. Please just let me know that you’re okay. You don’t have to tell me where you are. Just please let me know that you’re alright. That’s all I ask for. I miss you. You know how I feel about you. You weren’t just a fling to me. You were more than that. I wish you would have trusted in that. I know that we’re not mates, but I don’t care about that. We were good together, even if we couldn’t tell anyone about us. Please, just call me.”

After I listened to the message I turned the phone off again, in case it was being traced. I wouldn’t put anything past Calvin to try and find where mom and I are. He would have his best trackers out looking for us right now and the thought of that alone scared the hell out of me.

I gathered myself up and I put the phone away and I gathered all of the homework that I managed to finish last night so I could leave the house and head for the diner. 

I wasn’t sure what time Asher was going to get there, so I took my book with me again. But surprisingly, he was there before I even got there. I guess he didn’t go back to sleep after I saw him this morning. 

I don’t blame him, once that sun hit him this morning then he would have been boiling outside on that lawn furniture. 

I sat at the counter with him, like we did yesterday and again there were only a couple of other people in the diner. It’s the way I liked it. Not too many people staring at the new girl in town. I seemed to be the attraction at the moment. And I really hope that it wears of soon because I’m already sick of it. 

“So, what are you eating this morning?” Asher asked. 

“Just coffee.” I said. 

“You can’t jog for an hour and a half of a morning and only have coffee for breakfast.” He said. 

“I did yesterday.” I said. 

“I don’t care. I’m ordering you some food.” He said. 

So when the waitress came to the counter, he ordered for both of us and I just shook my head. I didn’t need him ordering for me, but if it made him feel better then I guess I would do it. But I didn’t want this to be a recurring thing. 

Something that Asher is going to find out about me pretty soon is that I am a very independent person. And I don’t like choices being made for me. I can do that on my own. It was a great trait to have, but sometimes, people didn’t like it. Especially coming from a woman. 

“Do you have anything planned for after school?” Asher asked. 

“That depends on how much homework they decide to throw at us today.” I said. 

“Yeah. There is that. But I’m sure that you will have a little bit of spare time. There’s a place that I want to show you in town.” He said. 

“I guess I could check it out with you.” I said. 

“Awesome. It’s pretty private. At least it will be this afternoon.” He smirked at me. Which really made me wonder what the hell he had in mind for this little outing. And how disappointed he was going to be when he found out that I don’t have sex with guys that I’ve only known for two days. 

There are a lot of things that I will do, and I might seem a little crazy at times, but that’s not one of them. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a virgin. But I don’t have sex with guys that I’ve only just met. That’s the way I’ve always felt about it and that’s the way it’s going to stay. 

That day at school went the same as yesterday. I hung around with Asher and his friends. Paris and her friends kept giving me evil looks, but I don’t think they were game enough to do anything after I beat Asher fighting yesterday. I had a feeling that he was the one to beat around here and I managed to do that. So they knew that I could handle myself. 

And after school Asher and I left together and we headed towards the woods. 

He wouldn’t tell me where we were going but we walked far into the woods and he would tell the patrols to go somewhere else for a while. 

We finally got to a river that was flowing at a reasonably slow pace and I looked around at the surroundings. It was gorgeous in this part of the woods. I wouldn’t have known that it was here unless Asher brought me here. 

“What do you think?” He asked. 

“I love it here. Do you come here a lot?” I asked. 

“Not a lot. Only on the really hot days.” He said, taking his shirt off. 

I watched him for a moment while he jumped into the water wearing only his shorts and I smirked at him while I slowly took off my clothes and I jumped into the water in my underwear. 

“Oh my god. This water is perfect.” I said. 

“I knew you’d like it.” He said. And I turned to look at him and he was just staring straight into my piercing blue eyes, slowly coming closer to me. 

He put his hands on my waist without breaking eye contact and I didn’t either. 

“What do you think you’re doing Asher?” I asked. 

“What does it look like?” He asked. 

“Well, you should probably know that I don’t have sex with a guy that I’ve only known for two days.” I said. 

“You get straight to the point. And I never said anything about sex.” He said. 

“I’m sure if I look under the water, you are thinking about sex.” I said. And I could see him blush slightly. But instead he pulled me closer to him and he slowly closed the gap between us and kissed me. Slowly and passionately. And I wrapped my arms around his neck. 

“What the hell is going on here?” A booming voice said from behind me. And I quickly turned around to see Alpha Kane standing there, glaring at us. 

I didn’t feel what I expected to feel kissing Asher. I always thought that it would be something a lot more special and magical. Maybe I’ve been wrong this whole time about Asher. That was soul crushing.