The War of the Alphas: Book 1 of the Wolf Rising Saga

14| Lycan Pack

Lycan Pack: Alpha Parker

Shay's POV

"Oh so now you want to talk to me?" Ash rolls his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I know what happened yesterday Shay. You got in a fight with Parker and ran off. I don't know why you ran off but you did and you scared the whole pack. Everyone was looking for you! I was looking for you when I should have been the one to go with you!" The intensity of Ash's voice surprises me. In the short time I've known him he has always kept a calming attitude. Like he cares about the things we talk about but worries about it silently.

"You would have ran away with me?" I ask shocked. "But Ash you could never do that, I mean you have a life here, a mate-"

"I don't mean I would have run away with you." He explains angrily. "I would never leave my mate Shay." His eyes darken the same way Parkers does when he's protecting me. "You can't leave Shay, and even if you did you wouldn't last long out there without Parker. I knew you weren't running away, I stopped you before you left yesterday and you said you were taking your friend to the bus stop. It didn't take long for me to connect the dots but what made me angry was that you pushed me away."

"Pushed you away?" I ask confused.

He heaves a big breath and sways his arms through the small space. "I offered to come with you, like I should have, but you practically told me to get lost."

"Ash... I'm sorry if you think I don't want you around or something. You're the closest friend I have here now and I'm more than grateful for having you beside me since I got here. I didn't want you to come with me because I know you're the third in command and your loyalty lies with Parker, you would tell him where I was going right away and he would have ruined it all. I don't want you to hate me, I never meant for this to happen."

Ash pulls me into a tight hug. I only notice I'm crying once he starts murmuring in my ear to calm down.

It takes a while for me to get over how pathetic I am for crying. As soon as I thought that Ash was mad at me, that he never wanted to talk to me again, I felt the most alone I have in my entire life.

"I'm so sorry Luna." Ash pulls away to look at me at arms length. "I'm not mad at you, I guess I'm mad at myself. I was the last one to talk to you yesterday before you left and I felt all the responsibility in the world when you ran away. If something happened to you I would never forgive myself. I should have been a better guard, letting you go into town with no one but another girl? Come on, everyone knows that's a stupid idea on my part." He rolls his eyes with a small smile.

I wipe my tears with the back of my hand. "I only got lost Ash, and that's no one's fault than my own. Can we just go back to being normal friends and not being mad at each other?"

Ash nods his head in reply with a smile. "Wait," he calls out as I wrap my hand around the doorknob.

"Yeah?" I turn around to face Ash, whose smile has faded replaced by a serious expression.

"For future reference," Ash rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "This isn't my place to tell but I saw how scared the Alpha was yesterday after you left. Then I realized how probable it was that you really ran away, after everything he's done. I want you to know that despite this past week and the problems you'll face in the future with him, don't ever give up on him. With certainty he'll do something that's beyond your forgiveness, but you have to stick with him. He needs you more than you think."

Without another word Ash reaches around me to open the closet door. I have no choice but to follow him out into the hall. Many things rush through my head, things I want to ask Ash, like 'what in the hell are you talking about' but the person waiting in the otherwise empty halls stops me.