Girl Meets Wolf

Chapter 27

Axel

I went upstair and checked around to see how everyone was doing. Ashlyn's father was still asleep as was her brother. I knocked on Izzie and Becca's room and the soft murmur of their voices came floating beyond the door. I could hear the soft crackle of eggs frying from the kitchen below.

I followed my nose to where Kyle was staying. I knocked on the door twice and opened it. The walls were painted blue and in the middle was a huge bed. I walked inside and saw Kyle staring out the window.

"How long have you been up for?" I tried to make my voice light.

"For a while." He turned around and sat down on the bed. His face was stoic.

His demeanor almost made me angry. Sitting here wallowing in self-pity. I wanted to slap him till he became the old Kyle again, but I also understood him. There was a lot going on.

I patted him on the back as I sat down next to him.

"Listen dude. You don't have to tell me now, or even ever about your past. It's none of my business. If you want to talk, then I'm here for you, and if you don't then I'm here for you too"

Kyle looked over at me, his eyes moist as his lip trembled.

I put my hand on the back of neck. Geez, he was making this awkward.

"Don't make it weird or anything, but your kinda one of the closest friends I have. Even back home at my pack, I haven't been able to build the strongest of relationships. I can be kind of a dick at times." It pained me to say that last part.

"That being said, can you please stop moping around and judging yourself. If it wasn't for you last night we would all probably be dead. We need you." I looked down at my hands unable to look at his face.

I had a hard time being vulnerable around people. With Ashlyn it was no problem because she was my mate and we were meant to be.

Kyle's face broke out into one of his famous goofy grins as he blinked the moisture out of his eyes.

"You mean that, man?" Gosh,he was definitely making this weird.

"Of course!" I put up my fist. He stared at it before bumping it with his.

Suddenly, a pain seared through my chest. It was as if someone had stabbed me. I looked at the door, puzzled. Was this Ashlyn's feelings I was feeling?

"Listen, I-" Kyle started.

I ran and nearly ripped the doors off its hinges trying to get out of Kyle's room. I bolted down the stairs and the smell of pancakes and bacon permeated the air. Kyle was right behind me. I didn't see her anywhere.

I followed my nose and it led me right to the island. I walked around and found her holding herself in a tight ball lending against the island. Tears were streaked down her face and snot was on her chin. She was shaking back and forth with the phone tightly gripped in her hand.

"No,no,no,no,no" She repeated that one word over like a crazy person. What the heck happened?

I reached out to touch her but she jumped away from my touch. Her hands behind her as her cowered in fear. Her eyes were wild, like she didn't know where she was at? She looked around confused.

She looked around and realization dawned in her eyes.

"Axel!" She bolted straight up from the floor and ran up to me grabbing my hand. "We need to go. We need to go right now."

I stared at her.

"Go where, Ash?" a voice from behind me said. We both turned and saw Ashlyn's brother coming closer.

"Jason!" She ran over and pulled him in for a hug. He looked surprised and winced as she accidentally touched his shoulder. She took his wrist and dragged him over to the living room.

"We need to go Jason." She sounded like a broken record. It was like she was here, but she also wasn't here. Jason looked at her alarmed.

"Go WHERE?!" He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down to sit on the pull out couch. His nose wrinkled in confusion.

"We need to go get, mom" She grabbed his hand once more and got up from the couch. She looked over towards me.

"Ashlyn," I tried to make my voice as soft as possible. "Your mom is in New York, there is no way we could get to her."

She looked at me frantic.Her face a mess of snot and tears.

"No," she sobbed. "We need to go get her before the wolves do."

Where was this coming from?

"Ashlyn what are you talking about?" I tried to coax her into talking in more complete sentences. "Tell us what happened."

She nodded and looked around us. I reached up a hand to face and redirected her to look at me.

"What happened?" I said again, but slowly this time.

"I wasn't able to talk to my mom last night. So I called her this morning." She was fidgety and it was a little hard to get a hold of her. I nodded my head as signal for her to continue.

"W-While we were talking there were screams. Then the line went dead." I dropped my hands from her face. There was no way we'd make it in time. She moved away from me and went back to her brother.

"Oh God," Ash's brother's put his hands to mouth. He shook his head in disbelief and sunk down onto the bed.

"We need to go now. Before it's too late." She wiped her face with the back of her hand. "We need to save Mom."

She came towards me again. My heart nearly broke watching my mate loose herself like this.

I cupped her face with my hand.

"I'm sorry, Ashlyn. But there's nothing we can do. We are at least 18 hrs away from her. I'm sorry."

She crumpled to the floor beneath me.

"No." She sobbed out. "Y-you didn't hear her on the phone. She was trying to say something to me. She needed me." Her voice became unrecognizable as she spoke.

I picked her up from the floor and carried her upstairs. She started to hiccup as the sobs came in harder and harder.

"I'm sorry, Ashlyn."

Becca and Izzie poked their head out of their room at the loud commotion. They watched us in silence. I walked into their room and placed Ashlyn on the bed. All the while they watched.

I turned around towards the girls.

"Would you mind if we switched rooms?" They both looked over my shoulder to Ashlyn. "The guys downstairs will fill you in."

They nodded their heads and left the room. I sighed and looked down at Ashlyn's shaking crying body.

I crawled in behind her and rubbed her back as she silently cried after a while she fell asleep. I sat up from the bed and watched her sleep for a minute.

I needed air.

I didn't know what to do for her. It was mid afternoon at this point. I closed the door to the bedroom and turned around.

There was a moan coming from the room, down the hall. Ashlyn's father room. Perfect freaking timing.

I let out a deep breath went over to his door.