His Match

Chapter Thirteen

Finally, around one o'clock in the morning, Katrine and I passed out from exhaustion onto one of the bed's in a guest room. We slept soundly, but when we awoke we found a note on the dresser next to the bed. On the label, it read 'Ashton' and we know he had written it. "Well, open it," Katrine pressed me to see what was inside. I sighed and took the letter from her. With one hand I ripped the label off that held it together and began to read the note to myself. After I read it one time through, I looked up at Katrine. "What does it say?" she inquired.

I fixed my gaze from Katrine to the letter and began to read. "Harley and Katrine," I started, "last night's events were extremely inappropriate for an Alpha, his mate, and his family member to display. Since you enjoy baking so much, you both will be assigned dinner duty in the public pack house for three days, effective immediately."

Katrine growled a bit, rolling her eyes. "That little, that little," she began to chant angrily. I urged her to say what she wanted and so she nodded. "That little butt!"

I swung my legs as I sat on the bed, "I was expecting something more than that." She shrugged and ripped the letter in two. "Good enough," I responded to her actions. "Why the hell did he give us dinner duty? How was us throwing cupcakes 'inappropriate?'" I asked with air quotes.

"Who knows?" Katrine stood from the bed and walked out to the stairs, with me trailing behind. "He is such a buzzkill," she added. "Plus, why would he assign his own mate to work?" I bit my lip and just shook my head. "Ashton makes no sense."

"That's for sure," I muttered to myself. He said he wanted us to appear happy in the public eye, but forcing me to cook for his other pack members would do the opposite. Someone would become suspicious, or so I believed. Katrine headed for the door and I eyed her. "Where are you going?"

She opened the door and then turned to look back to me, "I've got to go to work. I have a shift at the library. Feel free to stop by there later." I told her I might later, and she offered me a wave. I returned the gesture and she left the house, shutting the heavy door behind her.

"There's no way I'm staying in here all day," I said to myself and ran upstairs to where my suitcases were. Randomly tossing a few pieces of clothing onto the floor, I quickly changed. Before leaving the house, I was sure to take a key with me.

I started my adventure by watching where people in Ashton's pack were going. A few, with little children, headed to what seemed to be a park. I decided to follow the others and soon found myself at the gates of a large park. There were several fields for sports and games. A huge play set, equipped with swings, slides, and monkey bars entertained several sets of siblings. I took a seat on a park bench and just watched. Lots of couples and families walked by, looking at me curiously. A few tried to approach me, but decided against it.

After an hour or so of sitting and enjoying the warm sun, I stood up and my eyes scanned my surroundings. Immediately I noticed a thick forest, with beautiful green trees lining the entrance. My feet moved on their own, itching to be traded for furry paws. Once I reached the forest, I morphed into a large wolf, with orange fur and brown streaks. The wolf side of my soul took over and I just observed her actions. She began to sniff everything in sight, not used to being released. Her legs stretched and then suddenly, she took off. Whether or not she knew where she was going, was a question I didn't ask. She had been forced to hide herself for many years, and now she was free.

A few minutes into her exploring, I heard a loud howl. I knew she heard it too, because her ears perked up. After the howl, it was silent for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, an even larger wolf than myself lunged onto my wolf. The wolf with an unfamiliar scent kept my wolf pinned down with extreme strength. My wolf growled, trying to escape from the other's hold. I gasped as the wolf began to snarl and inch towards her neck. My wolf and I shut our eyes, not wanting to watch our death.

Just as the snarling wolf reached our neck, it immediately began to bury its head into the crook of her neck. To my surprise, she thoroughly enjoyed it. The other wolf leaped off of her and they began to smell each other. After seconds of sniffing, I knew who the other wolf was. It was him.

I tried to regain control from my wolf to put an end to this, but she refused and resisted harder than she ever had. She was ecstatic to spend time with her mate and apparently, so was Ashton's wolf. Whether or not Ashton was in control of his wolf, was beyond my knowledge, but I believed it was safe to assume he was not. Our wolves ran through the forest, barking happily and playing together. After two or three hours, I finally obtained the power to regain control. It seemed that Ashton had too, as I saw his wolf jog over to an area covered by trees. I did the same, so that I could shift back to my human form in private. After doing so, I picked up a dress from a public clothing box in the forest and put it on.

"Come out here," I heard Ashton's deep voice call to me. Rolling my eyes at the command, I lazily walked out to where we could both see each other. He wore a pair of sweatpants, but no shirt. My eyes began to trial down his chiseled body, but I reprimanded myself and forced myself to look at his eyes, and nowhere else. "I didn't have any control over my wolf," he began to rant on and on but I stopped him.

"Listen, let's just pretend that never happened," I cut him off.

He nodded his head, "Agreed." With that, we both walked away in different directions. I could feel myself trying to turn back and run to him. I hated myself for feeling that way, and the worst part was that I couldn't trick myself into thinking it was just my wolf.