As you say

Chapter 12

"Dignity," Alpha begins. "We all are. I know as much. Each of you whom has been proved by an equal Initiation, you are dignified. You are worthy of this," he says as he spreads his arms.

"And so is he. Ashton Lee. Lest he proves to be undignified tonight, he will become one of the Whole. He will become Pack, and he will be One. We will be One."

Ashton stood up straighter as Alpha neared him, circled him. And lunged.

The growl that left me as a wolf was barely audible. This is awful. And it was truly horrifying that I was already growling at the thought of someone hurting Ashton. There was still no butterflies, but there was something. I grow so easily attached to people so quickly.

Ashton, taken completely by surprise reacted instantly. He had reflexes most Morphs would not.

Warrior. That would be his place in the Pack.

Ashton was on his knees, repearedly punching Alpha in the stomach. His nerves has been stretched too far, his anxiety had to be released. He was doing perfectly.

A short growl from Tatiana-how rare it was to have a female Beta unmated to the Alpha-made Ashton stop immediately. He was up on his feet hand extended to Alpha, and I could feel the remorse rolling of him in waves.

"Excellent," Alpha wheezed, standing up.

"I am so sorry, Sir. I-I didn't mean-didn't want-" Ashton starts stuttering.

"Ashton, stop that mess, I wanted you to do that!" Alpha says, pulling Ashton back to the middle of the Center.

"I introduce to you, Pack, a new member. Ashton Lee, a Warrior."

And we swarmed around the newest member, my to-be mate.

Alpha Morphed, Blake close behind, and we embraced our members. We challenged. We introduced. We accepted.

We are a Pack. And we will never be a single. We are the Pack. It's tattooed into our brain, encripted into our minds.

We are One.

Ashton is One with us.

And he will be here for a long time coming. So will I.

We we dared, we played, we lived until dawn came around and Alpha ordered us away.

But I know I would not be attending school today, so I am in no way hurried. Neither was Blake, but my parents... they're as tired as h-e-double-toothpicks.

So I didn't go home. Ashton and I walked around in the food, hoping to stumble upon his little old cottage. Alpha must think he's exceedingly responsible for letting him stay alone like this; he was isolated.

"Do you want to sleep?" Ashton turns to me.

"Maybe later," I shrug.

"Well, I am exhausted and going to bed. Or the couch...? Should I sleep on the couch? Or...I don't know..." he starts ranting.

"No, just go ahead to bed. I'll just hang around the house or something," I smile. "I'll be fine, okay?" I hug him.

"Are you sure you're not tired?" Ashton whispered in my ear. My stomach felt light. Yes! Progress...

"Hmm... no," I mumble and push him towards his door. If this has to last, I have to be comfortable with it.

"You just go," I smile at his, lightly shoving him again. He smiled at me before he slipped indside, leaving the door slightly ajar. Being in the middle of the food had its privileges.

I smiled, enjoying the sunlight on my skin.

"Ashton," I warn him, feeling his eyes on me.

He chuckles and I hear his curtains get plucked closed.

"Boys," I snorted.

I sat and watched the trees, felt the nature. It makes me feel like I can escape. Like I am free. I love being in the nature, but eventually the lack of sleep caught up to me and I headed into the house, hoping I won't disturd a strangely silent Ashton.

Plucking myself onto the couch, I close my eyes and let exhaustion pull through me.