Wolf Girl

Chapter 10-Ashton

Ashton glared angrily at his bedroom ceiling as he tossed a basketball in the air. He couldn't get that girl's look of devastation out of his head, her barely restrained tears. He didn't have any classes with her, but that didn't mean he hadn't watched her by mind-linking with Peter, Zachary, and Clayton. He did her a favour by keeping his distance, but he had his own way of keeping an eye on her. She'd ignored his friends, but he still saw the hurt and mortification she must have been feeling through their watchful eyes. It bothered him. What bothered him even more was that he cared. He'd wanted to protect her from Darcy and any other bad thing that could happen to her. Ashton knew this was the mate bond at play and it was annoying the fuck out of him. He couldn't remember a time he'd ever been this angry, and that included when his mother died. He was angry at the girl for doing this to him—even though it wasn't her fault—, he was angry at Peter and Rowan for welcoming her when he was dead-set against it, but most of all he was angry at his reaction to her.

"What the fuck is wrong with me?" he muttered as he caught the ball. "I'm stronger than this."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rowan demanded as she stormed into his room. He turned his head to the side to look at her and smirked.

"That you have mustard on your face from lunch?" he asked. "I thought it was a fashion statement."

"What?" Rowan said, rushing into his bathroom. "Are you serious?"

"Made you look." He laughed. She stomped back into the room.

"You're such an ass!" Rowan snarled.

"And yet you're in my room, invading my privacy," he replied, throwing the ball into the air again. He growled when Rowan caught it before it came back down. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you didn't tell me that Brayden's a wolf," Rowan demanded, setting the ball down on the bed and crossing her arms.

"Brayden?" Ashton asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Don't play dumb with me. It doesn't suit you," Rowan replied with a scowl. "How could you be so mean to her, knowing she's a wolf and needs a pack? You know what happens to pack less wolves, considering you've been battling the rogues for years."

"She's not a wolf," Ashton scoffed, sitting up and running a hand through his hair.

"How can you say that?" Rowan snapped. "Her mom's a wolf, so—"

"Estelle's wolf is dormant," Ashton interrupted. "I'm guessing that's why her friendship with Dad deteriorated. Brayden carries the wolf gene, but because her father's human, the gene pool was diluted and as a result, Wolf Girl is human with a recessive wolf gene."

"You figured all that out after a five minute conversation with her where you acted like a dipshit the entire time?" Rowan asked incredulously.

"I wasn't sure when I first met her, or when she crashed into me, really," Ashton admitted with a shrug. "I smelled something on her that might have been a sleeping wolf. Uncle Ben confirmed it when he told me who her mother is, so I wanted to force the wolf to come out of her by shoving her in the closet. When that didn't work, I knew the wolf gene was dormant. Therefore, she's not a wolf."

"Why the hell were you trying to force her wolf to come out?" Rowan asked, a confused look crossing her face.

Ashton couldn't really blame her for being confused. The wolf inside typically made itself known when it was ready. Wolves that were forced out too early had the tendency of being homicidal psychopaths and the result was the aversion to pack life and rogues. Considering how his own father did everything short of beating his wolf out, it was amazing he wasn't more fucked up than he was.