Ash’s POV

I wake up before Astrid and head downstairs. I see Blayne sitting on the couch drinking coffee, “Morning Ash, how did you sleep?” he asks. “Pretty good. Can I ask you something?” I ask as I walk over, he nods. “What do you think Astrid would say if I asked her out?” He stays silent for a minute, “I don’t know. She just got out of a relationship, but you two are clearly really good together. Do what you think is right.” he answers. “Thanks, Blayne. I gotta go for a bit, is it okay if I come back later?” He nods “Of course!”. I thank him and leave

Third-person POV

“Is Astrid still asleep?” Arabella asks. Blayne looks up at her, “yeah. Ash just left though. Said he would be back later.” he tells her. “I don’t like Astrid using her powers. Akira told us how dangerous it could be..” she says sitting down next to him. “I know how you feel, but we can’t stop her. She would do anything for the people she loves.” Arabella sighs, “I know that.”

Astrid’s POV

I wake up and see that Ash is gone. I just lay in bed thinking about everything that keeps happening because of me, the overwhelming thoughts are too much and I can't help but cry. What will happen with Ash if all this drama continues, will he leave me too?

Arabella’s POV

I was about to say something when I hear crying, “Astrid’s crying.” I say as I look at Blayne, “Go talk to her.” I nod and go upstairs to talk to her. I knock on the door and walk in and sit next to her.

“What’s wrong Astrid?” I ask her “Nothing.” I make her look at me “then why are you crying?” She wraps her arms around her stomach and slumps over…..no way, “you're pregnant?”

They don’t realize there is someone outside the house listening to their conversation. He hears what Arabella says and growls before walking away.

She snaps my head up and looks at me, “No! I’m not pregnant.” I sigh and relax a bit, “then what’s wrong?” She sighs giving in, “I'm just depressed.” I was a little surprised to hear that, “Why don’t you talk to Ash?” I suggest “I don’t want to bother him with all my issues. What if he leaves as Alec did?” tears streamed her face. I laugh a bit and hug her, “he is nothing like Alec! You should really talk to him.”

Astrid’s POV

“I’m gonna go find him,” I say wiping my face, Arabella hugs me again and leaves. I get up and change, then leave to go find Ash

After I walk for a little while, I sense him near me. “Ash? Are you out here?” I ask aloud. Something snaps behind me, I turn around and see a large white wolf with icy green eyes walking towards me. “Ash,” I say with a small smile, I sit on the ground and hug him.

After a minute he shifts back into human form and pulls me into his lap. “You okay?” he asks, hugging me. I shake my head, “what’s wrong?” he pulls away and looks at me. I start to answer but I feel a shiver run down my spine, someone is watching us and I have a very bad feeling.

I feel Ash stiffen and he looks around. We get up and I sniff the air and cringe, “Come out Alec.” I say doing my best to hide my pain. He walks towards us glaring at me. I feel tears stream down my face without my consent...again ugh! “Why are you here?” I manage to choke out. “I heard you were pregnant.” I look at him in surprise, Ash turns and looks at me, “are you?” he asks “No! I’m not. Where in the world did you hear that?”

“I went back to the house because I forgot something and overheard Arabella,” he explains. I roll my eyes, “Well I’m not pregnant, she just jumped to a conclusion. So you can leave.” I retort. He glares at me showing no signs of leaving, “You’re lying, there is always some type of drama with you.” he growls at me. I snarl back at him but he doesn’t move. “What are you going to do?” Ash questions him. “No of your damn business, fuck off!” he growls.

Alec lunges at me but Ash shoves him and he falls to the ground. He gets back up and attacks Ash. I run when he knocks Ash unconscious hoping he follows me. I stop running after I know he's almost to me. After a few seconds, he walks towards me. I growl at him and he laughs “you don’t scare me.”

I smirk at him and vanish before his eyes. He growls and looks around, I’ve always been faster than him and he hated it. I sneak up behind him, “turn around,” I say feeling my powers awaken. As soon as he looks at me I throw a fireball at him causing him to slam into a tree.

He snarls and gets up, “I am going to kill that baby.” I stare at him in surprise, how can be so fucking stupid, “there is no baby!” I yell using my powers to slam him into the tree again, this time the tree snaps and falls over.

He gets up, “Oh, by the way, your little boy toy told me he doesn’t actually like you. He just wanted to get in your pants, which isn’t very hard if I remember.” he chuckles, an evil grin appearing on his face. “Bullshit.” I snarl, I place my hand on the ground and freeze everything except Alec. “How dumb can you be? You missed me!” he laughs. I smile, “who says I wanted to freeze you.” Before he can respond I shatter all the ice and blow it towards him.

He is instantly covered in thousands of scratches, he screams as one jabs him in the shoulder. He composes himself quickly and runs towards me tackling me to the ground. I bite him and he jumps away and shifts into his wolf form, he slowly stalks around me. I hear someone run-up, I look and it's Ash. While I was distracted Alec lunges and claws my stomach, leaving four large gashes, I scream and shove him off of me. I shift into my wolf form and tackle him to the ground, biting into his shoulder and shaking my head as hard as I can. I finally rip out a large chunk of skin causing him to howl in pain. I’m about to attack again but he runs before I get him. I stand for a second then collapse and shift back into human form.

I faintly hear Ash yell my name but I can’t move. I feel his arms around me and I look up at him. “You okay?” he asks me. I nod but I can tell he doubts me. “You don’t look very good Astrid,” he tells me. “It’s just a scra…” was all I was able to say before passing out.

Ash’s POV

I hear something to the right of me and see Arabella running towards us. Once she reaches me she stands there shocked for a second then glares at me, “what happened!”

“It wasn’t me! I promise.” I feel Astrid move, she wakes up and looks at Arabella, “it was Alec.” Arabella looks down at her, “God he’s an asshole.” she growled.

Astrid’s POV

I laugh but gasp in pain and I suddenly can’t breathe that well anymore, “It’s getting hard to breathe.” I force out between gasps, he must have damaged one of my lungs. “What should I do?” Ash looks at me and then Arabella. “Can you heal her?” Arabella asks. He shakes his head, “the fight with Alec made me weak and I haven’t fed recently. I don’t have enough energy for this kind of injury.”

I look at him, “fed from me.” He looks down at me shocked, “No! You have already lost too much blood.” he says. “I don’t care, you don’t have time to hunt. Just feed on me!” I tell him trying to take another deep breath. “Just do what she says to Ash, she won’t change her mind,” Arabella tells him.

He sighs and gives in, he grabs my arm and sinks his fangs into my wrist, and feeds. I hold back a moan, holy fuck!!! That feels so good. After a few minutes, I feel him flinch and he pulls away. Arabella notices, “what’s wrong?” she asks. He shakes his head, “nothing.” He cut his hand and places it on my stomach. I instantly feel better as the gashes start to heal, I sigh and relax into him.

“There, you are all healed,” he tells me. “Let’s go home,” Arabella suggests. I try to stand up but instantly collapse, dammit I hate being weak! Ash kneels down and lifts me up into his arms. “Thank you, Ash.” I say as I snuggle into him, I feel him chuckle and he holds me tighter.

We got back to the house and he put me on the couch. “Are you gonna stay tonight?” I ask him when he doesn’t sit next to me. “Uh, no. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” I look away not wanting him to see that I was disappointed.

He starts to walk out when Arabella stops him, “You can live here if you want to Ash.” she told him, “the house is plenty big enough.” We both looked at her and said “really?” at the same time.

She laughs,“really. You should stay together.” she says with a smile. “Thanks, Arabella,” he says. She just waves at him and walks away. I look at him, “should we go get some of your stuff?” I ask him, he nods, “Yes, but let's wait until you're feeling a bit better.”

An hour or so later, Astrid’s POV

Now that I’m feeling a bit better I get up and grab his hand pulling him up with me. We leave and walk to his house, after about 30 minutes we arrive. It is a cute little cottage-type house, “Here we are.” We go inside and I help him pack up what he needs.

We go back outside once we're done and he turns to me, “Can I ask you something?” I nod, he took a deep breath, “will you go out with me?” I just stand there in shock, I was not expecting that….what do I say, why can’t I move…..Focus Astrid!! He clears his throat making me snap out of whatever that was, “Yes!” I yell and I kiss him.

We start walking back to the house and get his stuff all settled. We are laying on the bed and I begin to think about Ivy and realize I don’t know what happened after Blayne almost died. “Ash, what happened to Ivy after she attacked us?” He looks at me a little funny, “she got away.” I smirk and start thinking of a plan. “What are you thinking of doing Astrid?” he questions me with his eyes narrowed. “Nothing, I was only curious if we caught her or not.” I don’t think he truly believes me but he doesn’t say anything more, he wouldn’t be able to stop me anyway i laugh in my head. After I was sure he was out cold I get out of bed and leave. I suddenly have the strong urge for revenge and Ivy is my target. I feel a smile creep up on my face… this is going to be so much fun.