Why Are You Here

I could feel all the warmth disappear from my body as Ashton’s stone cold gaze took me in. Even after 2 years, it looked like he still hated me, despite us being mates.

"What are you looking at?" He growled, his eyes narrowing as the clear disgust he was feeling shone on his features.

"N-nothing." I stammered, slowly getting my wits about me. "Most definitely not a piece of shit with an attitude problem."

At my words, Ashton’s frown deepened. I knew that taking hits wasn’t the best of choices, but I couldn’t stop my mouth. I was still so deeply hurt by his rejection, and I wanted desperately to make him feel just a smidge of the pain he was putting me through.

"Nothing?" Ashton repeated crossing his arms across his chest. "Are you saying I’m nothing?"

"What?" I could feel my eyes growing wide. Was this guy being serious right now? "Are you looking to pick a fight?" That was the only possible explanation given his words and his demeanor. 

Shaking my head, I tried to keep calm. I didn’t come here to fight with this douche. I came here because Haidan called for me. There was no reason for me to continue bickering either.

Turning I began to head towards the entrance of the packhouse. Behind me, I could hear Ashton following.

What the hell?

"What are you doing?" I asked, whirling around, causing him to stop his movements. "Are you following me to keep arguing?"

"Don’t flatter yourself." Ashton responded flatly, his eyes beginning to blaze with arrogance. "You aren’t worth the energy it would take."

"Then why are you following me?" I demanded in frustration.

"I was called here, dumbass." Ashton growled. "Not like I needed to answer you, but that’s why I’m here. Now, could you get the hell out of the way so I can go in and see why my idiot brother needed me? "

"You were…" I murmured, realizing that whatever it was I was called for was big given that Ashton was also called here by Antoine.

Hurrying inside, I tried to remain ahead of Ashton as I made my way towards Haidan’s office.

The packhouse hadn’t changed much over the years, and just seeing its walls covered in pictures of past rulers rubbed my nerves. I knew that this was simply from the trauma of how I was treated as a child recruit, but it would take time before I could actually be in this place without feeling on edge.

Shaking off my discomfort, I continued on my way, not missing the look of confusion that Ashton was giving from my sudden discomfort.

Huffing I tried to ignore the emotions I was beginning to feel just from thinking that maybe somewhere deep down he cared. It would be a ridiculous notion and a waste of my time to even think that, but the mate bond was wreaking havoc on my heart.

"Thia!"

Jumping I looked ahead to see Haidan’s head poking out of her office and her excited eyes meeting mine. Smiling, I closed the distance between us as Ashton froze in his steps as he took her in.

Looking over my shoulder, I felt a pang of pain rush through me as my mate's eyes took in Haidan’s bulging belly. The look of hurt and sadness that formed on his face was hard to miss, and I found myself immediately feeling jealous.

Pushing the jealousy aside, I tried to remember that none of this was Haidan’s fault.

"Why did you come out to meet me?" I asked as I followed her into her office, where Antoine was casually relaxing in a chair against the wall.

"I heard you coming and decided to greet you." Haidan responded as she hobbled back to her desk.

I watched as she slowly lowered herself into her chair and scooched up to place her arms on her desk. Once she was settled, she looked at me and motioned for me to have a seat.

Nodding, I ignored the heat that was drifting towards my back from Ashton’s entrance into the office as well.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle this for very long. Being in the same vicinity as Ashton was enough to put me on edge, but being in the same room feeling the siren’s call of the mate bond was torture.

"Are you okay?" Haidan asked, catching on to my discomfort. "You don’t look so good."

"I’m fine." I said, quickly plastering a fake smile on my face while Ashton made his way over to Antoine and sat down beside him. "What did you call me here for?" I continued wanting to change the subject.

Instead of responding immediately, Haidan continued to examine me, clearly not believing what I had said. From the look on her face, it was easy to tell she wanted to push further, but instead she took in a breath and leaned back in her chair, placing her hands on top of her massive belly.

"Here’s the thing…" She began, her lips falling into a deep frown. "There have been reports of disappearances in the forest recently. Mostly werewolves from Antoine’s old pack, but also a few of our younger pack members. I need you and a few others to go and examine the area and see if you can see any signs of foul play. "

"Disapperances?"

Immediately, my heart began to pound in my chest as I realized the seriousness of what Haidan was saying. Did this mean that our 2 years of peace was over and a new evil was on the rise? If that was the case, then who or what could it possibly be?

"Don't jump to conclusions." Haidan said, quickly catching on to my growing unrest. "It could just be the younger generation rebelling and wanting to escape. We can't assume the worst right now."

"Who the hell are you fooling?"Ashton growled, causing me to jump at the sudden outburst. "You're being too lax about this."

"Ashton." Antoine hissed, jumping up from his chair and glaring at his brother. "Watch your words."

"Why?" Ashton argued. "She is acting like this isn't that big of a deal, yet 10 members of my pack have disappeared and 5 members of yours. How can she say that it may be nothing? "

"Because we don't know all the details and we don't know the circumstances surrounding the disappearances." Antoine argued while clenching and unclenching his fists. "If I knew that you would insult Haidan, I wouldn't have even bothered giving you a call."

"Even if you hadn't, I would have handled things myself anyway."

I watched in silence as Ashton and Antoine argued back and forth. In front of me, Haidan was tense and her face was growing pale. It was easy to tell that seeing her mate and his brother argue was stressing her out. I needed to do something to stop it before it got physical. If that were to happen, then there was a possibility that Haidan could go into premature labor, and no one wanted that to happen.

"ENOUGH!" I hissed, jumping up from my chair, earning two sets of eyes to find their way towards me. "Could you two please stop acting like idiots and quiet down? We have a mission to discuss! "