Ashton's POV:
I'm not entirely sure what emotion possessed me when I intimidated the young Alpha that I forced to follow back to our pack, but I don't regret it. I was terrified that he was a spy that was going to follow us, but after his panic and tears, my fear was lessened. Maybe I should have been more compassionate, but something inside of me forced me to make sure he wasn't a danger to my mate and then figure out what to do next.
Thank the goddess that I don't have to make decisions because I had no clue what the next step was supposed to be. Hazel took over and Sage made sure to comment on my sudden change of attitude, but he wasn't upset about it, thankfully.
I've tried so hard to be a good mate and the last thing I want to do is scare my mate by a random attitude spur.
Sage is still asleep, cuddling against me and breathing softly against my chest. He's wearing a shirt because it's freezing outside and it got colder in our room than we were anticipating.
I've had a hard time sleeping because that Alpha was unfamiliar to me and he smelled like my old pack. Even if I didn't interact with a lot of the other Alphas in the pack, I knew who all of them were because we were a small pack.
I'm worried they're rebuilding and what that means for my new pack and my mate. I have no doubt in my mind that our old pack Alpha will recognize us and try to harm us and our mates for deserting, so I'm definitely anxious.
We did get confirmation that the collar was destroyed, which means that our old pack won't know that their runaway is with us, especially with the snow and our pack scent taking over the space.
Sage groans, pulling the blankets up and trying to get warmer.
I hold him closer to my chest and he sleepily nuzzles into my neck. When I look down at him, I see his eyes are open a little bit and he tries to shut them so I won't notice he's awake.
"I know you're not sleeping," I say and he smirks. "How long have you been awake?"
Sage smiles and purrs. "Only a few minutes," he says, yawning. "It's cold in here."
"It's not that bad."
His smile drops. "That was supposed to lead into you cuddling me more," he deadpans. "Whatever, guess it's time to get up."
I try to grab him, but Sage is too fast and squirms away.
He runs to the window and opens it, letting light flood into the room. "Wow... thank the goddess we chose to leave last night and didn't wait until this morning," Sage says, so I join him at the window.
There's got to be at least three feet of snow and it's still falling. Thankfully, this means that my old pack probably won't be able to attack in this weather, but I was not expecting this much snow!
"No wonder it's cold in here," Sage says, putting on one of my sweatshirts and holding the wrist of it up to his nose. "I haven't seen this much snow since I was a five!"
I nod in agreement and put on a bigger sweater of Sage's. It smells amazing, as does every article of clothing that Sage owns.
Well, and Sage himself.
He smells amazing on his own.
We go downstairs and find the pack house crowded with pups and the people who live here. Alder is on the couch holding two extremely young babies and Hazel is starting a fire in the fireplace.
The Alpha from last night is in the kitchen with Zach and Owen. He looks more relaxed than he was last night, but he tenses up when he catches my eye.
"What's with all of these pups?" Sage asks Alder, leaning over the couch.
"We sent out more wolves to patrol and offered to watch the pups because it's going to take a while," he explains. "Zach and Owen are putting together some food for them. Why don't you go help?"
Sage groans. "I hate cooking, dad."
"But you're decent at it."
"You're decent at fighting but you don't go to training."
Alder chuckles. "Sweetheart, I have plenty of responsibilities as the Luna of this pack. I know for a fact that you won't have time to do all of your training when you become Alpha. Neither will you, Ashton, when you take up your role as Luna."
I smile at him and leave my mate as he bickers with his dad to go help my friend and his mate. The young Alpha backs away from them, watching me warily and abandoning the bowl of chips he was snacking on.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you last night," I tell him, and he cocks his head in confusion. "I'm Ashton."
"Reid," he replies. "And I'm not a spy."
I wince at his words because he sounds just as scared as I was when I moved to this pack. "I know."
Reid goes back to eating his snack, not offering me anything other words, but I understand. He's just as anxious as I was when I got here and he doesn't know else to respond to an Alpha yelling at him other than crying and tensing up because he's used to being abused.
"I want to go out in the snow," Zach announces, and Owen scoffs. "Don't get all salty, baby. It'll be fun and when we're all cold we can come back inside and take a long shower..."
That gets Owen's attention because he knows what this implies. It's no secret to those of us that live in the pack house that Owen and Zach are sex addicts. They don't have to worry about an accidental pregnancy either; the only concern that Owen has expressed is when one of them goes into rut what it will mean for the other.
Mates or not, the Alpha body is not designed to take a knot and it's scary to Owen because he doesn't want to hurt Zach or vice versa. However, Zach has faith that the goddess wouldn't pair them together unless they'd be able to handle every piece of each other, so he's much more relaxed.
I guess we will all find out in time since Owen tells Sage and I a lot of what he and his mate do behind closed doors without shame. It definitely would not surprise me if he told me all about his or Zach's ruts and how they made it work.
Arms encircle my waist and I can smell Sage's addicting scent before I see him, and, as always it brings a smile to my face.
"So... snow time?" Zach asks again and Owen agrees with him this time.
I'm a bit hesitant. "In what form?"
"Wolf, unless you want to wear twenty layers," Sage tells me with a small laugh. "It's fun, Ashton! Have I ever lead you down a path to danger?"
"Not yet," I tease, wrapping my arms around my mate and kissing his forehead. "But someday you will, I'm sure."
Sage shoves me playfully. "Why would you think that?"
"I feel like you're being careful right now, but you give off the impression that you can be a magnet for trouble," I respond, pecking his lips. "Not that I'd ever change anything about you."
"You'd be bored if I didn't spice things up! Y'know, being bold in the bedroom, starting a war... fun stuff!"
Zach and Owen are watching us with their own smirks and Reid has vanished to the living room to eat his chips away from us.
"Let's go so I can have some hot shower sex!" Owen exclaims, running toward the front door and opening it up.
Thankfully, the canopy helps us to avoid a huge wall of snow on the front porch so we can all strip and shift. It's beautiful out, with the snow still gently falling, the deep paw prints as other wolves have come and gone from the pack house, and my mate already looking over excited at the prospect of the snow.
Sage jumps right in and he's a smaller wolf than I am, but he's still tall enough that it goes just up to his shoulder. He has to take huge leaps to ensure that he can get through the snow, and by the time I catch up with him (using the holes he made in the snow instead of making my own path) he's panting and laying down.
I sit down beside him, leaning down to nudge the top of his head with my nose.
Sage looks up and sticks his tongue out, giving me the best wolf-form smile he can. He looks so happy, laying in his little hole of snow, but he's still panting and shivering a bit.
It's cold, but for Alphas and Betas, our winter coats are heavy enough that it doesn't bother us all that much. While Omegas have winter coats as well, their fur doesn't get quite as thick so they rely a bit more on their mate for heat and can get colder easily. It also explains why Sage is always on me in the morning, seeking out my body heat.
I lay down beside him, but I hit the wall of his little snow-cave-hole and knock a bunch of snow on top of both of us.
Sage shakes his head to get it off, but other than that, he doesn't move. He does give me the best glare a wolf can give, but I just nip his ear to bring his wolf-y smile back.
Owen and Zach are both bigger than Sage, as they're Alphas, and they don't tire out like he does because the snow isn't as deep for them. They're currently running around the yard and tripping into the deep snow trying to tackle each other.
It looks fun, but I love laying with my mate and cuddling him more. Down here, in our little snow tunnel, I can just relish in the silence and beauty of nature and my little mate.
Sage licks my nose and then closes his eyes, curling closer to me and resting his chin on my paws. He sighs softly and gets comfortable beside me, feeding off of my body heat.
I rest my head on top of him and listen to Owen and Zach messing around somewhere in the yard. I only get a few minutes of peace and quiet with Sage before a huge pile of snow collapses on us and makes both of us jump up.
Sage shakes himself off, snarling when we see Zach and Owen wagging their tails, their bodies covered in snow. It only takes a brief second of eye contact between Sage and I before we attack our pack mates, chasing them around the yard.
The game lasts for a good half an hour before the snowfall gets even heavier and we're all tired and freezing. Especially my Sage, who keeps leaning against me to try to get warm, but to very little avail.
We shift back and struggle to quickly put on our clothes so we can get inside. Zach and Owen rush upstairs, most likely so Zach can fulfill his earlier promise to his mate. Meanwhile, Sage and I spend a few minutes in front of the fireplace where the pups, Reid, and Alder are watching a kids movie before we head up to our room.
Both of us are cold, so we take a shower together, which we seldom do because I'm still pretty shy, but we're both cold as hell and need to warm up.
Sage begins to put blankets all over the bed which I watch and try to process what he's doing. He blushes when he catches me looking and pauses his actions.
"I think I'm going to start preheat in a week or so," Sage informs me, making me stop processing for a brief second. "When your mate is present, you are mentally more aware of the heat. So, I can feel the symptoms earlier unlike last time where everything was a bit of a shock."
I nod slowly, unsure how I'm supposed to react.
"Ashton, I want you to spend it with me," Sage says, nothing but determination in his tone. "I want you to spend my heat with me and I want you to mark me. That's what I want, but if you're not ready, tell me so we can both mentally prepare for this heat since our wolves will be calling for each other."
"I agree with you," I say quickly. "I'm nervous, but I agree. I've never felt so satisfied and happy, and I know it's all thanks to you. We're mates and our souls are intertwined... I trust my instincts, and I know that we can do this and it'll all be okay."
Sage looks like I just promised to give him the moon. "Come here," he says, and I lay down on the bed and let Sage cuddle into my chest. "I adore you in every way, Ashton."
"Me too," I whisper.
Neither of us has said "I love you" yet, so this is the closest we can get for now. It'll come soon, but for now, we lay together and settle for adoration.
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