3. Mate

"Did you forget? Mom has gone to a business party." Amber said, "With that woman, Sophy, of course."

Ashley suddenly stood up, "Today is first of March?"

Amber nodded and Ashley spoke, "Do you think mom would be at the party right now?"

Amber blinked, "Well, mom said that she was going to the office first."

Ashley suddenly stood up and that shocked Amber, "Wait? What are you doing?"

Ashley looked at her sister, "Help me get dressed."

Amber stood up as well, "Why? where are you going?"

Ashley smirked, "I am going to the party."

"What? why so suddenly, you refused when mom had asked you first and that's why she had to go with Sophy, then why are you so suddenly... "Ashley tightly held Amber's arms and shooked her, "Amber we have no time left I need to go to the party, or my dream will come true."

Ashley remembers that in her last life everything started after her mom Ava visited the party.

This party was no ordinary party. It was a huge party where all the influential and rich people came, and at this party, her mom met Dante.

Her mom had talked about Dante to her and had invited him to dinner the next day, at first Ashley had ignored it but then she also remembers that Sophy had made her drink something that same day right before Dante came to her house for dinner and, when Ashley had come out of her room she had seen Dante at first and called him 'mate'.

Everything makes sense now, and she remembers everything so correctly as if it happened yesterday, well technically she was living the same day again, maybe that's why she remembered everything about this day.

She went to her room and opened her closet and started rummaging through her clothes, looking for a good dress to wear.

Amber came to her room as well and saw Ashley rummaging through her clothes and making a mess of her room. She shoved her back and said, "Let me pick out a dress for you, stay back."

She said and after looking around for a while she picked out a beautiful black sleeveless dress, and showed it to Ashley, who smiled before she said, "Help me to steal the attention tonight."

Amber smirked, "Sure."

~~~

Ava Martin was really tired after working.

She was getting old and now she wanted to rest, but alas, her rebellious daughter would never listen to her.

Today's party was important, Ava owned a  business company called ' The Grace'. This company helped a lot in running the pack smoothly.

Her pack and family had years and years of generational wealth, but still, she thought that they should not depend on the money left by their ancestors.

Today's party was important. She wanted Ashley to come with her so that she can introduce her to everyone and let everyone know she was going to be the future of the business, but in the end, Ashley just said no.

Ava had tried to explain to her how important it was for her to socialize, but Ashley just started an argument with her. And in the end, she had to take Sophy with her.

As for Amber, Ava shook her head. She does not want to think about her other daughter at all.

But both girls are the reason for all her worries.

A few minutes later the door opened and Sophy walked in, she had a sweet smile on her face as she gave something to eat to Ava, "Please eat something, ma'am we will leave after you eat something."

Ava smiled at her, Sophy was really a sweet innocent girl, "But Sophy... I have no appetite."

"Ma'am please eat for now, or else you will get tired at the party and not be able to socialize."

Ava smiled and quietly ate the food and while she wasn't looking, Sophy made a very disgusted face.

Why does she have to take care of this old wench when she had two daughters? Why does she have to work as a maid?

But after she thought of Dante, she calmed down. All of this was for him, for her mate.

After Ava was done, she smiled and left the office, Sophy followed her and both of them came out of the building waiting for their car as they had to leave for the party.

Their car came and Ava took a step towards the car but stopped when she saw someone getting down from the car. It was Ashley.

Sophy's smile vanished.

While Ava looked happy when she saw Ashley dressed perfectly, in a beautiful back dress and her perfectly styled hair, she was wearing high heels and walked confidently towards her mother, Ashley removed the black sunglasses once she was in front of her mother, and smiled.

"I am sorry for being late mom, but I am here now." She then looked at Sophy, "No other person needs to go with you."

Sophy was shocked, and she interjected, "That can't be, It is important for me to go, I mean Miss Ashley you have never been to any of these events you might get nervous and confused you are not even familiar with people..." before she could complete her sentence Ashley raised her hand silencing her and then looked at her.

For a moment Sophy thought she saw murder intent in Ashley's eyes and felt a shiver run down her spine, but Ashley just smiled and said, "I don't need to know anyone, everyone needs to know me."

Sophy wanted to say something else but this time Ava spoke, "I am so glad that you came, dear... Sophy it's okay Ashley is going with me you stay here."

Sophy felt even angrier this wasn't fair: she took care of Ava, her food, her files, her work, her routine, her everything, and now this useless Ashley comes out of nowhere and takes her place.

She felt helpless as she saw Ashley and Ava walking to the car and Ashley opening the door for Ava, Ashley gave one last glance to Sophy and smirked before she sat in the car and the car drive away.

When they reached the venue, Ashley and Ava got down from the car. Ava was surely very happy today because she didn't nag Ashley, she didn't scold her or lecture her on how to behave.

Just Ashley's presence was enough, and Ashley realized that a slight gesture from her meant a lot to her mom.

So she smiled and went in with her mother and as soon as she stepped in, all eyes were on her.

Ashley Martin had an aura that cannot go unnoticed, her mere presence demanded attention. Her eyes were firm as she stood with a confident posture and a gentle smile.

"Who is she?" one person asked.

"Maybe she is Ava's daughter." Another person said.

"But Isn't Sophy her daughter?"

"No, she was her employee, that's it."

Ava smiled and proudly introduced her daughter to everyone, "Ladies and Gentlemen please meet my daughter Ashley Martin."

Ashley smiled and greeted everyone, and the way she spoke impacted everyone, and needless to say, she soon became everyone's favorite.

People came to greet her and it was true she didn't know any of them at the time. She felt a little out of place and awkward as well, but thanks to her mother , who was there for her.

But suddenly, in the midst of the celebration time stopped for her.

Everything stopped and the only thing that was running was her heart, as her wolf jumped with joy, "Mate, mate, mate, mate."

The crowd's attention was also shifted to the man that just entered the hall, the man with an aura as strong as Ashley's, the man whose mere presence froze everything for her.

She slowly turned around and saw the man that had already come inside her heart and seemed to have a grip on her heart, she stopped breathing once she saw the ethereal man with flawless features.

Tall, handsome, with short black hair, beautiful black eyes, and in a branded suit, sharp jawline, and straight nose, everything about this man was so enigmatic and powerful.

The man was coming straight to her, and she had to take a step back because she felt like she was going to lose her balance she was already dizzy all she wanted was to jump on her mate and claim him and let him do the same to her.

The man suddenly stood in front of her, and smiled, Ashley smiled as well because she thought that her mate recognized her.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and it was her mom, turned out that this man was looking at her mom. Did he know her, Ava spoke, "Ashley meets our new business partner Bryan Shaw. The heir of the most powerful and influential Shaw family."

Ashley; felt like cold water was dumped on her once she heard that, her mouth was slightly agape and she looked at her mom, hoping that she was joking, but she wasn't.

Suddenly Bryan raised his hand and smiled, "Nice to meet you miss, my name is Bryan Shaw."

Ashley smiled, but she was crying on the inside as she shook hands with Bryan, " Ashley... Ashley Martin..."

Her mate was a strong and powerful man, that controlled the underworld and even had a strong influence on the government, her mate came from a ruthless family and in her last life, she remembers hearing about the barbaric nature of this man.

But the most concerning thing was...

Her mate was a human.

Really? A human? Ashley really couldn't believe that.