When The Wolves Come Out

Chapter 22

I try to carry on the rest of my evening as usual. I eat dinner, Ethan and I watch Netflix together and I pretend like nothing's bugging me, except there is something that's been getting on my nerves all night.

Grayson was being super close and cuddly with his mate all through dinner. It's like wherever I go, they're always there to rub it in my face. I try my best to ignore it, thinking that maybe I was just being paranoid since I saw them together earlier, but there's something telling me that Grayson was doing it on purpose.

Angry with myself, I head downstairs to the kitchen to get myself a drink. I decide make some tea.

I spin around, tea in hand when I crash into someone and the hot liquid flies out of my mug and onto the person.

"Oh my god! You stupid bitch! Look what you did!" Lily, Grayson's mate wails, calling out for help.

"I'm sorry," I say, only half meaning it as I try to hide my smile. I reach out for some napkins but Lily slaps my hand away when I try to get rid of the tea on her chest.

"Don't even touch me! This is all your fault!"

And just on time...

"Lil? What's happened?" Grayson says, rushing to her side. He looks at me, disappointed.

"She threw her drink all over me!" Lily cries.

Seriously, I wanted to slap her.

"Just go away, Ashley!" she whines when I don't plead for forgiveness. "You've done enough!"

"Lil?" Grayson interrupts.

"Yes?"

"Her name is Ashlyn."

"Whatever. It's not like she matters." Lily turns to me. "You're completely irrelevant to the pack, I would say."

Tears prick my eyes and I walk away, dropping the mug my tea was in and letting it crash right on to Lily's foot.

I race upstairs and into my room where Ethan is sitting on the bed. When he sees me he immediately gets up and takes me into his strong arms. I cry into his shoulder, probably soaking his shirt.

"Shhhh," he whispers. "It's okay. I'm here."

I cry harder, letting the tears flow at full speed.

"She s-said I was i-irrelevant," I say in between sobs.

"Who said that?" Ethan pulls away and looks me straight in the eye, grasping my shoulders.

"Lily."

Ethan shakes his head. "Never let people like Lily get you down. She's not worth making you cry like this... Please, Ash, I hate to see you sad." He pulls me back into his arms. "And if it counts, I don't like her either."

This makes me a laugh a bit and I feel grateful to have Ethan.

~~

At breakfast the next morning, Lily is already in the kitchen, sitting on one chair and resting her foot on another, and I notice that she has a towel and an ice pack wrapped around it.

"Owwww!" she whines as Ethan and I walk past, clearly over exaggerating.

Ethan pulls me into him. "Weak and a bitch," he whispers, making me laugh.

Lily scowls at us, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

Moments later, Grayson is sat next to her, looking like he had no sleep.

"Oh, Gray! It hurts so bad!" Lily flails her arms around him.

"I know, I know," Grayson says, his voice monotone. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was tired of Lily. He looks up at me and Ethan, a tiny hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Now I can't go to the party! It's all Ashley's fault!"

"What party?" I ask.

"A an old friend of ours is throwing a party tonight. You wanna come?" Ethan says.

"Sure."

"What? No! She's going to try and break my other foot!" Lily moans.

"It wasn't broken in the first place, love," Grayson says, looking at the ground awkwardly.

"Whatever." She looks at me. "Just keep your hands off of me, okay?"

"I'll try my best." I smile sarcastically, knowing that I wasn't the only one finding the situation funny.