The Wolf (***Continued Version***)

Chapter 12

Ashley POV

Ready or not, here I come.

I ran after him, following his scent, it was surprisingly pleasant, he smelled woodsy but like a guy at the same time. I revelled in the scent. Something caught my attention in the corner of my eye. A chocolate brown color had flashed around a tree. Found you. I thought to no one in particular.

Jace POV

I dived, shifting as I did. Taking off as she had told me to. You are the biggest idiot in the world Jace, scared of a girl? That doesn’t sound like you at all. I thought, insulting myself. Mentally slapping myself even.

I looked behind me to see Ashley diving, rolling and shifting at the same time Into the beautiful aburn wolf with white spots that Chloe had described to me. Before I could stop myself I whispered That was beautiful. telepathically to her. She didn’t respond for a second. I didn’t think she would answer. I turned and ran faster as she whispered something I almost didn’t catch:

Ready or not, here I come.

She was stunning and brilliant and, fast. Holy crap. I dived to the right as the auburn blur behind me got closer to me, she almost didn’t see me I think, lost in her own thoughts as I was myself  I guess. I could smell her. She smelled like brown sugar and-

HEY! I shouted in my thoughts. She tackled me, pinning my body to the ground.

Gotcha! She snickered in response. We shifted in unison. She was practically sitting on top of me pinning my wrists to the ground with her ankles, my shoulders with her hands. My chest heaved from the running and I was out of breath because I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling at her. She smiled triumphantly at me.

“That wasn’t fair, I was too busy thinking of what you smel-uh what your tactic would be.” I stumbled over my words feeling like an idiot. This was my mate, I could be myself around her, she just didn’t know it yet.

“Obviously I didn’t have a tactic, I just went for it. Same way with hand-to-hand combat. I’ve never been trained, as a wolf or a human.” She babbled, her weight shifted slightly as she talked. There was less weight on my wrists, I took the opportunity to flip her onto her back and scramble into the position she was just in.

“Hey!” She exclaimed. “No fair,” she whined and squirmed. There was no way she was getting out from under me. I probably weighed more than thirty pounds more than her.

“You’re so cute when you’re mad!” I exclaimed and tweaked her nose. “And obviously” I mimicked her “You need to be trained in hand-to-hand combat. You’re a natural but you need the skills. I’ll teach you if you want.”

She sniffed and relaxed. I relaxed too. “Okay,” she sniffed again.

“When do you want to start?” I inquired, I wanted to know when I would see her again, I wanted to know down to the second, I wanted to know what she’d be wearing. I wanted to figure out what she smelled like. I wanted to know everything about her down to the very last detail. I wanted-

“Now” She said simply after she had pushed me onto my back and squirmed out of my grip. She crouched over my head and tweaked my nose. I exhaled abruptly.  “You’re so cute when you’re mad,” She mocked. I got up quickly, and knocked her down in the process, as she got up I lunged and tried to tackle her, she’s too damn fast. I thought as she merely hopped out of the way. I heard that. She said telepathically. Grabbing my arm from behind me and holding it there. Gotcha again. She teased in my head, I was losing against a girl. I freed my arm and turned around. Grabbing her arms and turning her around so that our arms were entwined around her, her back against my chest.

“I win,” I whisper into her ear, aha! Strawberries! She smells like brown sugar and strawberries and the woods and nature and every single flower on the fucking earth. To sum it up, she smelled freakin wonderful, it’s not weird  “And now you have to listen, okay?”

“Okay,”  She whispered. “What is it?” She turned in my arms. I knew she sensed it. We’re mates, of course she sensed it.

“It’s really important, uh,” If I didn’t come right out and say it I wouldn’t be able to say it at all. “We’re mates,” I blurted out.

I knew something was up She whispered through around minds.

Weird I know, I’ve never been able to keep a girlfriend, now I have a mate. I have you. We're Perfectly made for each other. Right? Ashley?

“Of course we are,” She said aloud. I lifted her over my head, high on her proclamation. I spun us around. I’m on cloud nine… are you with me? She laughed in both our minds and giggled out loud.

Yes. I laughed, set her down. We’re both breathing hard by now. I’m higher than the moon.

I kissed her, and I was officially better than cloud nine, this is where I wanted to be forever.