Chapter 6 :Asher

That night I fell into my bed in an exhausted heap, my downy blanket and pillows cradling my aching body like the softest cloud. I vaguely heard Maeve saying goodbye as she snuck out to meet up with some witch named Kate.

“Don’t forget to use protection,” I called half-heartedly.

Maeve ’s laughter chased her out of the door as my eyes lost the battle to stay open.

Usually, I needed to run at least a few miles to wear myself out enough to even try to sleep. My mind was always too active at night, my body restless. Not tonight. But my exhaustion wasn’t due to running my limbs so hard they burned. This was my entire being. My soul. Jericho and what he’d helped me unlock. Whenever I’d mention my insomnia to my grandfather, he just blamed the absence of my wolf. I never thought he was right until now.

As if triggered by the reminder, his gruff voice reverberated in my mind, “Find her, Asher, and you’ll sleep like a pup.”

Cool, Gramps. Thanks for that heartwarming and inspiring chat. I never actually said that part out loud, of course. That would have earned me a world of hurt and humiliation. And I’d already had more than enough of that to go around. But seriously, did everybody just assume I wasn’t trying?

What shifter in their right mind wants to be the lone member of the pack that can’t manage to do what they were born to do? I was left alone when the rest of them went out to run under the full moon. I was forced to sit by myself and remain on the outskirts because others thought my defect might be catching. I was the one whose mother didn’t even love her enough to keep her in the first place.

Yeah, being wolfless was fucking great. A real treat.

Here she is, everybody. Asher No-Wolf Callaway. Take a good look at the freak. Pity her. Mock her. Hate her for something completely out of her control.

I whimpered on the bed, the old pains and familiar taunts closer to the surface than they had been in years. It was like whatever had happened while I was back in that chapel had shaken loose the stronghold I tried to keep around that part of myself. The sad little girl who didn’t understand what she’d done so wrong to make her mommy leave and get her daddy sent away.

My grandfather’s voice continued to echo in my mind, even as I tried to push it away. “Find her, Asher. Find her.”

The transition between waking and dreaming was seamless. My thoughts blurred and melded, the feel of the bed fading away until I simply floated in a sea of consciousness. Gone was the pain from my body. The hurt in my heart. Everything was suddenly, blissfully quiet.

Until it wasn’t.

At first, I didn’t register the stirrings. The little rumbles that sounded like thunder, or maybe a bunch of wild horses galloping in the distance. But then they grew closer until they were impossible to ignore. They tugged at me. Demanded my attention. Forced me to listen.

My consciousness narrowed, focusing on the sound until it was no longer rumbling but a voice brushing against the barrier of my mind. It drew across my skin like raw silk. Unsettling and wonderful at the same time.

“There you are.”

“W-wolf?” I guessed.

“No, my daughter.”

“Mom?” The impossibility of it should have torn me straight out of the dream, but there was a truth, a heaviness to the words that lies never quite matched. More than that, there was a familiarity in that warm, husky tone that called to me on a fundamental level. I’d never heard the voice before, but part of me recognized it.

“I’ve tried to reach you, but the shields around you were too strong until now.”

“What shields?”

“Oh, my daughter, there are so many things I wish to tell you. But I haven’t much time. Know that I tried to protect you. To place you in the care of those who could keep you safe. But they’ve found you. They’re coming for you. You need to unlock your power; it is the only way you will survive. Embrace what makes you feel strong. Give into it. Do not let them deny you your birthright. Do not let them make you weak.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They hate you, daughter, for what you are. They will kill you if given the chance. Do not let them. Do not fight the pull of who you were born to be.”

“Who? Who wants to kill me?”

“I must go.”

“No. Don’t go. Wait. I have so many questions.”

The rumbles returned, this time the dull roars fading until I was once more floating in that sea of consciousness. Drifting. Existing.

Fading away until I was nothing at all.

^Jackson ^

“Bloody hell,” I muttered as the mouthwatering scent of Asher Callaway filled my nose and overwhelmed me yet again.

Night after night she’d gone for a run, and night after night I’d kept to myself, stalked her from the shadows, made sure she didn’t see me. Avoiding her notice during the day hadn’t been as easy, but I’d managed. She didn’t need to have any reason to be in my orbit. Not if she wanted to keep breathing. Not with the way her blood called me home.

But tonight was different. Asher wasn’t out for a midnight run. I’d watched and waited just like every evening. She hadn’t left her room. How had I missed this?

My heart lurched as I rounded the corner of the trail in the woods and found her in nothing but a thin nightgown, her body crumpled on the ground.

No.

Rage boiled inside me.

No. This couldn’t have happened. Someone else got to her before I did. Someone ruined everything. I rushed to her, desperate to catch the scent of the creature who’d hurt her, who I’d be killing as soon as I could trace him. Except she wasn’t dead or hurt. She was curled up and fast asleep, her dark hair strewn across the path.

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” I whispered the question even as I knelt next to her, fingers itching to touch skin I knew I’d find warm and soft.

She moaned, and her lips turned down in a frown. “No. Don’t go. Wait. I have so many questions.”

Stomach twisting, I almost answered her before it hit me. She was dreaming. She was a sleepwalker. Someone was going to have to bolt her door at night to keep our little wolf princess from wandering.

“You may be more trouble than you’re worth,” I grumbled.

I couldn’t leave her out here, vulnerable, alone, scantily clad. No one else could see her like this, not if I had anything to say about it. I scooped her into my arms and had to fight the groan that built in my chest at the feel of her skin against mine. My cock throbbed and fangs descended, ready to take her as they always were, every night. But this time? This time she was within reach.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, her eyelids fluttering open as I headed toward Hawke Hall.

“Shh, Flower, I’ll get you home. Get you safe.”

Her sleepy nod was the only answer I got, but it was all the affirmation I needed. I had her. She was in my arms and at my disposal. The elevator opened the moment I pressed my thumb to the scanner. There were definite perks to being vampire royalty, privacy chief among them. I should have taken her back to her room, where I was sure her flatmate would be sleeping, unaware of Asher’s nocturnal venture through the forest. Instead, I took her straight to mine, not even bothering to pretend I was going to stop on her floor. I had her now. She couldn’t get away. I’d been hunting her for the last two weeks, and I was only so strong.

Kicking open my door, I strode through the living room of my suite and straight to my bedroom. I needed to see her splayed out on my bed, to get her scent all over my sheets, so when I have to let her go, I can remember she was here. Her soft moan when I placed her on the mattress went straight to my cock again, and I had to force myself not to press my lips to her throat, bite down, and drink deep. God, but I wanted to mark her skin so everyone knew where she belonged. And who she belonged to.

I bared my fangs in a soundless snarl, maddened by the reminder that others were already sniffing around, coveting what was mine. I’d noted each of the offenders, already planning on repaying each transgression tenfold. Devon was the worst among them, his wild gaze too focused on her whenever she entered the room. His attention was unwavering, his intent clear. He wanted her, my wolf princess. But he’d never have her.

It was a lesson he needed to learn, and soon. But not tonight. Tonight, Asher was here. In my bed. And there was nothing anyone could do about it.