CHAPTER 2

Ash POV

“What?!” I yell, surely my ears are deceiving me. I did not only get rejected but I am also leaving the pack. This does not make any sense. “You want me to leave?” My voice cracks as I ask the dumb question, I can’t leave, Grand Cresent pack is all I know.

“I will prefer not to repeat myself but yes, you heard me,” Conall replies. He glares at me with anger in his eyes, I have never seen him look at me like that before.

“I can’t leave. I understand if you don’t want me anymore…” After all who would want a wolfless mate, let alone as their luna? He is the alpha now, it is expected that his mate should be someone capable, not me who will hold him down.

My voice cracks a little, “I-I can’t leave the pack. Where will I go?”

“I don’t care, Ashton. You have two hours to leave the pack house and the compound. If I see you after two hours I will assume you are an intruder and you will be treated as such.”

My ears ring, and I still can’t believe what I am hearing. My eyes well up with more tears as it slowly dawns on me that I am no longer wanted. I have nobody else, nowhere to turn to.

It isn’t until I try to speak that I realize I am sobbing. I fall to my knees with my hands on my chest, I don’t know what crime I did commit but it must be grave for Conall to want me out of the pack. “I am sorry, Conall. I don’t know what I did but I am sorry and I promise it won’t repeat itself ever again.”

I turn to look at the rest of the pack members as I leave but none of them look back at me, the instant I make eye contact with them, they all turn their faces away. I understand that I have no friends among them but my brother was once the Alpha of the pack as my father was. Are they all willing to throw me into the wild?

“Leave Ashton!” Conall yells and his voice echoed in the foyer.

I shake in fright, not once in all the years I have known him did he ever yell at me. The tears are rushing down my face, I am sniffing so hard to avoid snort pouring down my nostrils.

“You are interrupting our pack meeting. If I have to tell you to leave again, you will be removed.”

I close my eyes, my thoughts are in shambles. I look to the crowd again, hoping there is anyone that can stop this madness but nobody makes a move. I see the Constance family in the corner but none of them will make eye contact with me. Only their daughter Jane glares at me.

I slowly stand to my feet, carefully so I don’t stumble forward on my platforms. I have enough humiliation for the day, I don’t think my soul will be able to handle another. I wipe my face and my mascara and eyeliner smear my hands. I must look like a ghost.

I wipe my hands on my dress and start the shameful walk the way I came. I walk up the stairs, holding the railing, it is the only reason I have fallen to the floor sobbing. I grip it tight as I take the stairs one at a time.

“As the Alpha of the Grand Crescent pack.” A loud cry erupts from the crowd. Conall chuckles, “Thank you,” he says. “As the Alpha of the Grand Crescent pack, I want to introduce you all to my mate.”

My hands on the railing tighten. Please let me leave before you break me further, I cry in my head. I will my legs to work faster so I don’t have to see this but my entire body is shaking and I barely have any control of my limbs.

“Your Luna.” As soon as the words leave Conall, my vision blurs and I know I am about to faint. I dig my nails into my palm, hoping the pain will clear my head. It does and I try to speed up.

He says her name but I zone it out, I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to see it. The crowd claps and he calls her to join him. The clapping continues, I am still right here but they are all pretending that I am not.

She chooses the stairs I am struggling to get off and walks past me. I close my eyes but I can’t stop the scent and it wafts all over me. She smells like him, all I can smell is him. He marked her, that is the only explanation for why she smells so strongly like him.

I bite my lip and taste blood as a fresh batch of tears fall out of my eyes. I run. Up the stairs. Not caring that I might fall but I know I can’t take one more of this. My heart can’t take it.

As I run, I turn my head to the right where Conall stands with his new mate. Just a glance but it is more than enough for me to see too much. She is beautiful. She looks older than I am, not by a lot but at least, she is two years older.

As soon as I am out of everybody's sight, I fall to the ground. I fold into a ball and I sob into my knees, snorting all over my fishnets but mostly just crying until my knees. I don’t know how long I lay there but I finally push myself up, I have to pack. I know Conall, he won’t give me more than two hours.

I push open the door of my room and pick out my clothes, there is a lot to pack but aside from not having time, I have nowhere to put them. I take only the necessities, clothes and shoes I wear often.

I pick up the framed picture of my family that is usually by my bedside table, it is the only one I have. My brother, nineteen, stands beside my parents who are seated on two different chairs with me on my mother’s lap. The picture was taken on my thirteen birthday.

I threw the picture into the bag, barely six months after it was taken, I lost my parents. I take off my outfit and toss it into the suitcase. This dress is a gift from my brother, there is no way I am leaving it.

I change into my sweatpants and sneakers. I wear a tank top and slip out of my room. I don’t know how much time I have left but there is no way I will leave without going to my brother’s room.

I push open the door and everything is still as it is the last time I was here. I smell him everywhere, there is also the faint scent of Conall but I ignore it. I jump on his bed and take a deep breath.

I curl in his blankets and I lay there for a while. I sit up and pull open the top drawer by the side of his bed. The first thing I see is his necklace, I am a little taken aback, Nathan never takes this off and now that I think about it, it wasn't on his dead body but at the time, I was too busy crying to notice. I quickly wear it around my neck, I know Nathan would want me to have it.

I check the bottom drawer but I don’t see it, the reason why I am in his room in the first place. “Fuck!” I say and kick the bed, it stings my toe. I shake my head, “I will figure it out when I get there,” I say out loud.

I go to the wardrobe and I pick four hoodies, I immediately wear one over my head, I need moral support. I hug the hoodie, it carries my brother’s scent. I kiss the necklace and I set out with the hoodies.

“What do you think you are doing?” A voice yells at me.

I jerk and scream in fright. I see Jamie, Conall’s close friend, my brother’s ex-best friend. They drifted after my parent's death, I never got the full details of why.

“Leaving,” I mutter and I keep walking.

“To where?” He asks and follows me.

“I don’t see how that is any of your concern. You should have been more worried about that before you kicked me out of the pack.”

“I did not kick you out of the pack.”

I turn around suddenly Jamie stops abruptly to avoid hitting me. “But you did absolutely nothing to stop it!” I yell at him. My eyes well up with tears and I turn around. “Now, if you leave me alone, I'll go back to packing.”

“I am afraid I can’t do that, Ash.”

I cringe at the childhood nickname, only my brother calls me that and he is dead. The last person I want to call me, Ash, is someone who is sitting by as I get kicked out of the only pack I know. “Don’t call me that.”

“I am sorry but your two hours are up and you are to leave the premises now.”

“I see,” my voice breaks, and I turn around. It is hard to keep a tough front when all I want to do is curl up and cry. I miss you, Nathan.

I walk briskly, push my door open and I pull out my suitcase. I step out the door and Jamie tries to take it from me. “What are you still doing here?!” I yell. “I heard you, I am leaving.”

“I am to escort you off the premises.”

I hate how distant he sounds. We aren’t the best of friends but he is like a big brother to me. “Why? Conall doesn’t trust that I will leave. He has absolutely nothing to worry about, unlike him I keep to my words.” I pull the suitcase from his grip but he does not let me.

“Please, Ashton. Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

His grip on the suitcase is hard and I know if I struggle any longer, I will burst into tears. I let it go. I squeeze the hoodies to my chest and raise my head high, I have humiliated myself enough, and I intend to leave here with my head high.

I walk ahead and I can hear Jamie dragging the suitcase, at least I don’t have to worry about the stairs. We get to the Foyer in no time but I want to stare at them as I leave, make this as hard as it is for me, for them.

I stop at the top of the stairs and do a quick scan, only the important families are left. I walk down the stairs staring at them. I stare at Conall too but he refuses to return my gaze. At least be man enough to look at me, I scream in my head but I don’t say a single word.

We walk out the front and there is a car parked directly in front. Jamie walks ahead of me and puts my suitcase in the trunk. I am hesitant but I don’t have a lot of options. I have no money, only loose change.

Jamie throws the back open and I get in, and the door closes. I huddle to the side. Jamie gets in and starts the car. “Where to?” He asks.

I swallow, “The old house by the edge of the border.”

Jamie doesn’t say a word, I am not surprised, he already knows that is where I will go to. He drives and I put my earpiece to my ears, the song I miss you by my favorite artiste starts to play. It is the last thing I listened to. I don’t bother to give the pack house one last look.

We drive for a while, the house is on the very edge. Though it is still in the Grand Crescent Pack territory, the rules around here are not too strict so intruders are welcome. I am an intruder now, it is still unbelievable.

The car stops and I don’t wait for Jamie before I get out of the car. Grass as high as my knees is the first thing I notice. I look around, there are grasses everywhere the house is covered by it.

Jamie gets out and pulls out my suitcase. He takes it to the front of the house and drops it on the porch. I don’t move from where I stand, I don’t want to.

“Is there anything else you would like me to do for you?”

“Leave,” I say.

Jamie bends his head, “As you wish.”

I wait until I don’t hear the sound of the car before I walk to the porch. I say a prayer and turn the knob, but it doesn’t open. “Dang!” I scream and kick the door, tears pouring out the corner of my eyes. This is what I was afraid of, and that is why I searched through my brother's drawers.

A pot of flowers catches my eye, a little odd. It looks like it was placed recently as it rests on the dust. I lift it and sure enough, there is a key underneath it. The relief I feel is intense and I immediately open the door.

I gasp, the inside of the house is much better than the outside but I am not interested in the interior, I lock the door behind me and make my way to the nearest bedroom. I throw myself in bed. It smells damp but I don't care.

I don't know how long I lay there when I hear a loud noise in the living room. I rush out to find intruders on the couch.

“Hi," the leader says with a nasty smile.