The Nights Song

Chp 16

I arrived shortly after 1 am and hurried inside for warmth, not happy with my choice of clothing in this weather.
I tiptoed towards Fuego's bedroom and entered quietly, hurrying over to her bed and tapping on her shoulder to wake her.
"Fuego? Wake up, it's Cress." I said softly.
She groaned and sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, before giving me a weird look.

"Is something wrong?" She signed with a frown, clearly worried.
"No, no everything's fine. I think. I used my alpha ability and decided to come over, but my wolf doesn't want to leave my mate during the day so I figure night time would work best, is that ok?"
"Sure, let me change into something warmer and we'll see if what you can do."

I nodded and went to the living room to wait while she changed, quietly examining the pictures I hadn't paid much attention to before. Some were of a couple, the man had fluffy looking red hair and dark blue eyes while the woman had long frizzy brown hair and green eyes, a few pictures had what looked like a younger Fuego and a little boy together or alone, some they had one of the adults with them and one, on the middle of the mantle, was a picture of all four of them together. I gently picked it up and looked on the back to find a small note.
'The last tutelary family, Milagro Batería, Simon Batería, Kay Batería and Mahira Batería'

Something about the name 'Kay' tugged at my mind but I thought nothing of it as I set the picture back down. I hadn't meant to snoop, but I was curious. At least now I knew her actual name, and that she was supposed to be a tutelary of some sort.
I jumped slightly as the door to Fuego's -Mahira's?- bedroom shut and sat on the couch while I waited for her to emerge.
"How about we work on something simple? Try to move this cup into the air."
She grabbed a plastic cup from the cupboard and brought it to the coffee table for me to practice with.

*Ashers POV*
I woke up in the morning with a grin, content know my mate is in the hut beside my own and safe. I planned to ask her out so we could continue where we left off and I could finally mark her like I'd been dying to do since I found out she was my mate.
I quickly got ready for the day before trotting over to Cress' hut and peeking inside slowly.
"Cress?" I called questioningly after a moment, not sure if she was still asleep or not. Her scent was fading, like she hadn't been here in a while, and I stepped further into the hut, my eyes roaming over every single item to see if she might be playing a trick on me.

"Cress if you're trying to joke around this isn't funny...." I trailed off as I noticed a piece of paper on her desk with her familiar hand writing on it, writing out my name.
My heart sped up at the thought that she might've rejected me, even worse that she might've rejected me with a piece of stupid paper. I hesitantly reached for it and opened it up, reading it over a few times to get it to fully sink in.

"My dearest Asher,
I promise I'm not leaving you. I had somewhere to be and it was important that I went. I'll be back by lunch, probably sooner. I can't tell you where I'm going for reasons I also can't tell you. I know I'm being cryptic and it probably annoys you, but I promise I'm fine. See you soon!

Love, Cress"

I growled lowly and went to the dining hut alone, my mate running off having put a damper on my mood.
"What's wrong with you?" Auntie asked as I entered, ignoring the fact that I'll snap at anyone who irritates me too much.
"Nothing." I grumbled, sounding very not fine.
"Does it have to do with the fact that Cress isn't with you?" She pressed.
I growled.

"I said it was nothing."
"So it is about Cress. What happened?" She inquired persistently.
"She ran off. Willingly." I practically snarled, showing her the crumpled note in my hand.
She read it quietly for a moment before shrugging.
"There's no need to be upset Ash, she'll be back soon. In the meantime you can keep your dads hands out of my waffles."

I scoffed.
"Like anyone but mom could stop him. Good luck." I left her to get some food while I waited for Cress to come back.
Akari tried to distract me but failed miserably, only succeeding in making me slap her for her stupidity. Mom and dad didn't know Cress had left for a trip and although Mav suspected something she hadn't asked.

~~~~

Hours had passed and lunch rolled around, but there was no sign of Cress yet, I focused on sparring with some friends from the pack when huffing drew my attention elsewhere.
I spun around to find Cress leaning against a tree not too far away, out of breath.
"Cress!" I practically jumped over and wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah.... Just slightly..... out of breath...." She mumbled, hugging me back with equal strength.
"No more running off like that! Where'd you go?" I asked as I pulled away to search for and wounds or marks on her body, but the only noticeable thing was that she was tired.

"I'm fine Ash I promise," she replied calmly. "I just went to do something that's not really important right now. Let's get some lunch!"
I gave her an unamused look to which she returned with her own before I caved and we went to the dining hut.
"I hope you know you're going to take a nap after lunch."
"I'm not tired Ash." She whined playfully, leaning on me.
"Suuuuure, I'll believe that when pigs fly."
"You're so mean to me." I rolled my eyes and kissed her head gently as she gathered the food she wanted on her plate.

"You love it though."
"And you're lucky I do, otherwise you'd be ten feet under."
I gulped silently at the seriousness in her tone and went to eating quietly before she could threaten to castrate or leave me.

A/N I've officially decided -after I'm getting close to the end of this story- I want ship names for Cress and Asher and Terrance and Mav, if you guys have any ideas let me know in the comments and once I've decided I'll give credit to the person who came up with my favorite, enjoy!