Chapter 52

Fifty-Two

IZZY

A tiny wrinkle forms between both of Ashton’s eyebrows. He seems genuinely surprised by my question, as if he can’t fathom how I’d come to such a conclusion.

“ What ?” he demands, his tone curt.

“Why do you hate me?” I ball my hands into fists. “I have done absolutely nothing to you. Do you think I want this? God, Ashton! How much of a narcissistic asshole do you have to be to not see how fucking miserable I am?”

He seems at a loss for words. His brown eyes are abnormally wide in his face as he gapes at me.

But I don’t let him get a word in.

“I came to a new town after being bounced from foster home to foster home, never staying anywhere longer than a year at a time. And then I discover that everything I thought I knew was a lie and that I’m not even human! Oh, and that apparently I have fated mates who are supposed to care about me and protect me but are instead lying assholes.”

My chest is heaving, my heart racing, but I don’t stop. I’m just getting fucking started.

“I don’t know what you hope to accomplish with your sly comments, but it’s definitely not what you’re hoping for.” I take a step forward, having to tilt my head up to maintain eye contact. “I don’t know what the fuck the mating bond entails—at least, not exactly—but I do know I’m willing to see where it goes with Ethan, Emery, Reid, and Christian?—”

“Christian?” Shock splays across his face.

“Yeah. He’s my mate too.” I swallow as a righteous type of anger blossoms in my chest like a noxious weed.

I am so damn sick of Ashton treating me like dirt when I’ve done nothing to deserve his ire. Maybe he thinks I’m a docile little girl he can push around, but he’s wrong. He’s so, so wrong.

“But you… You are not my mate.”

He staggers back as if I slapped him.

“I don’t want you as a mate,” I continue venomously, fury blasting through me. “I understand you’re a part of their pack, and I won’t keep you from them, but I don’t want anything to do with you.”

He sucks in a sharp breath, his eyes wild.

But he doesn’t say anything.

Doesn’t attempt to apologize or justify his previous actions—not that I would forgive him if he did. There are only so many times I can be pushed around before I snap irreparably.

“Now that I got that off my chest, let’s try to find Ethan.” I spin on my heel, trying desperately to get my breathing under control.

I feel hot all over, but not the type of heat I’ve experienced before around my mates. This holds the bitter remnants of anger.

Ashton’s quiet voice reaches me before I can take more than a few steps. “I don’t hate you.”

I stop, though I don't turn around. “What?”

“I don’t hate you,” Ashton repeats, louder this time. “I just don’t trust you.”

I suck in a scorching breath and whirl around. “What the fuck do you mean by that? What did I do to make it so you don’t trust me?”

Annoyance crowds his features, but I have a feeling it’s not aimed at me but at himself. “Nothing. You’ve done nothing to me.” His sharp gaze flicks to my face and stays there. “If you expect me to offer an explanation for why I am the way I am, then you’ll be waiting for a while. I’m not like the other men in the pack. I don’t think the way they do. You were an unknown variable who had the capability of hurting my brothers.” He shrugs. “I did what I had to do to protect them.”

“Why did you think you needed to protect them from me ?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest to ward off the sudden chill of the wind.

Ashton narrows his eyes on me but doesn’t answer. Not that I expect him to.

I’ve never realized until just now how many walls he has erected around himself. And I’m tired—so damn tired—and don’t have the strength to break them down. I’m not even sure I want to. Not anymore. Not after everything he’s said and done to me.

Ashton grits his teeth together and turns to stare at something in the distance. “You could’ve been a spy sent by my father or even Desiree’s dad?—”

“Do you even fucking hear yourself?” I demand.

One of his eyes begins to twitch. “Excuse me?”

“Do I have to talk slower so your single brain cell will understand?” I ask scathingly. When he doesn’t respond to my quip, I continue on, “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you to believe that everyone is out to get you, but I can assure you, they’re not. You’re pushing people away because you don’t want to get hurt, but at the end of the day, you’re going to end up bitter and alone.”

Ashton huffs out a humorless laugh. “I’m already bitter and alone.”

“And how does that make you feel?”

He doesn’t answer, seemingly content to stare out over the horizon with a pensive expression on his face. I really, really want to punch him. He has a super punchable face.

“I met Tiffany two years ago.” Ashton’s quiet voice drags my attention—albeit unwillingly—back to him. His eyes swarm with emotions I can’t read. “Not a lot of girls take an interest in me when around the other guys. Why would they? Emery’s the funny one, Ethan the smart one, and Reid the hot one, at least back then. I was just the asshole with OCD who hates ninety-nine percent of people.

“But Tiffany was different. She talked to me, got to know me, made me feel special. I didn’t love her—I’m honestly not certain I’m capable of such an emotion—but she became important to me. I cared about her.” Darkness rearranges his features into something unrecognizable. “But one day, when I was taking her home after football practice, she left her phone in my car. I know I shouldn’t have peeked, but when I glanced at it, I saw a message from someone named Gregor. I thought, ‘Surely, this couldn’t be my father?’

“There were hundreds, if not thousands, of messages between Tiffany and Gregor. She told him every little detail about my life—who I hung out with, what I ate, how often I shifted into my wolf, any special abilities I may have.” Raw rage causes his lip to curl before he forces his mask back into place. “I confronted her about the messages, and do you want to know what she said?” He laughs dryly and rubs a hand over his head. “She said, ‘Sorry, Ashton. It wasn’t personal. Just business.’ That was the last time I heard from her.”

Chills careen down my spine. “What happened to her?”

“She wasn’t murdered or anything like that. We’re not the goddamn mafia. She just…left town. Saw no reason to stay around now that she wasn’t getting paid. I thought she was my friend, but apparently, I was nothing but a job to her. And that’s when I realized that everyone in this world is out to get you. You can’t truly trust anyone.”

My heart squeezes painfully in my chest. “That’s… That’s sad, Ashton.”

He seems surprised by my response, physically stumbling back a step. “What?”

“One person hurts you, and you decide to spend the rest of your life alone?”

“I’m not alone,” he snaps, his skin flushing red. “I have my pack.”

“But for how long?” Every word I speak feels like ash on my tongue, bitter and chalky. I don’t want to say this to him, but I know he needs to hear it. “There’s only so many times they can forgive you.”

Ashton sucks in a ragged breath but doesn’t respond.

I open my mouth—to say what, I’m not entirely certain—when a loud boom ricochets through the forest. Somewhere in the distance, a building explodes outwards, tiny pieces of debris blotting out the sky.

Ashton rushes towards me. “What the fuck?”

A gun goes off.

And that’s when the screaming begins.