Aston

Chapter 9

Yay! Another installment!
Here you go enjoy!
Picture above is Ransom <3
Song: Streets by Doja Cat (is the song I think about when I envision Ransom and when he enters the story)

Three and a Half Months Later

The day was beautiful, the sun lighting up the sky with an assortment of blue hues, allowing for Aston to get lost in the ocean that was the atmosphere. He stared out of the darkly tinted window that blocked his view of the sky, his mind getting lost in thought. His and Nicolai's relationship had changed since their talk under the stars of the night sky, they had become even closer yet their feelings had still remained just above the clothes. Aston had told his mate that he was still working through personal feelings about his new role in the clan, their relationship, and not rushing it to avoid jumping the gun. Nicolai had been understanding of his feelings towards the matter, the lion reassuring him that he would respect his boundaries and he had been willing to be patient with Aston. He had smiled at the memory, Nicolai's words replaying in his head telling him that he was valid about his feelings, sometimes even wondering if his mate was even real.

The tiger felt a slight squeeze of his hand reminding him of the presence of his mate next to him, his eyes pulled themselves from the car window looking towards Nicolai, seeing that the lion was looking at him lovingly. The look made him squirm like it always did, the feelings of guilt and happiness surging through him as he looked into Nicolai's golden orbs. Aston smiled at his mate, squeezing the taller males hand to show that the feeling was mutual, even with his troubling thoughts. He had still yet to come clean about the memories that still seemed to plague him, feeling as if he were still betraying his lover with the warm chocolate eyes that haunted him. Every time he had felt those memories of that masculine face creep back into his mind's eye, his mate had miraculously known seeming to come to the rescue with the sweet distractions of words or acts of love.

"I would hate to intrude in on this love fest, but guys we are almost about to arrive at the pack house" Rhea's voice broke them out of their trance.

Aston looked forward towards his friend seeing that River had turned onto the street at which the house resided on, the sight of the house getting closer and closer.

"Are you ready?" Nicolai asked, gaining his attention from his two friends.

"As ready as I can be" Aston replied, knowing that the situation that was The Gathering was becoming very real, very quickly, "We were going to have to face them eventually, if not now then when either of them decided to come to visit on the spur of the moment."

"They visit you?"

"Occasionally, they are my friends after all. Plus they come to schmooze with the elders to make sure that our treaty relations stay in good standing."

"I'm surprised they never visited after me and my pride arrived, did they not want to meet us?" Nicolai seemed skeptical, looking at this mate confused.

"It was probably because this year The Gathering is at the pack house and Ransom needed to make sure everything was in order before all of us showed up. Wolves, surprisingly, care about how other animals and the vampires view them" Aston explained, hoping to put the lion's worries to rest.

"That makes sense. So what are wolves like? We have rarely interacted with them. I've heard stories about them, Viktor says they are kind of eccentric especially with their pack rules and hierarchies. I wouldn't think that they were that different from us."

River chuckled, "Eccentric is putting that lightly, they are more...... Traditional. And that's putting that nicely, believe me you think our elders are bad, wait till you meet the wolf council. Now those ancients are a pain in the ass."