Chapter 8

Chapter 8

That was a bad idea, Ashley decided as she squeezed her eyes shut only to end up turning her head so that her face was pressed against the pillow that smelled like it had been saturated with laundry detergent when that wasn’t enough to block out the light.

God, everything hurt, Ashley thought as she slowly exhaled and pressed her hands that wouldn’t stop trembling against her ears when the sound of her breathing slammed into her skull. Slowly exhaling, she willed the pain to go away only to groan when the scent of laundry detergent made the migraine that was tearing her head apart worse.

As Ashley lay there, trying not to think about how much her head hurt, she struggled to remember what happened. She remembered bits and pieces, but mostly darkness and pain. God, there had been so much pain. It had felt like her bones had been dipped in acid and her body had been torn apart as it was dragged over broken glass. Through it all, he’d been there. She couldn’t remember who “he” was, but she knew that she hated him.

She remembered begging, sobbing, and screaming for him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen to her. Every time she thought it was over, he was there, forcing her to go through it all over again and-

She’d walked in on her apartment being robbed, Ashley suddenly remembered on a groan only to immediately regret it when it made everything worse. She tried to remember what happened after she saw the men in her apartment and cringed when she remembered telling them to get out of her apartment before common sense kicked in and had her running. After that…

It was all a blur.

A pain-filled blur that she never wanted to go through again, Ashley decided with a nod only to stop with another groan when the small action caused the migraine that was slowly destroying her will to live to take it up a notch. After that, she decided that perhaps it would be in her best interest to lie there while moving as little as possible until it stopped feeling like someone was taking a sledgehammer to her head.

That decision lasted for about two minutes until she realized just how badly she had to use the bathroom. For another minute, Ashley lay there, grinding her teeth until she was able to get her mind off the fact that she was about to-

Damn it!

With a silent groan, Ashley carefully turned her head just enough so that she could crack one eye open, only to close it quickly when the sunlight streaming in through the windows sent sharp pain through her head. Slowly exhaling, she risked another quick peek and when she didn’t see anything that resembled a door, she blindly reached out with a trembling hand and searched for the edge of the bed.

When she found it, Ashley took a steadying breath and tried to move closer to the edge, only to realize that she couldn’t do it. Her body wouldn’t stop trembling and her muscles felt heavy. When she woke up a little while ago, she hadn’t been able to do anything more than just lie there. Wondering how long she’d been out, Ashley slowly exhaled and tried again. She kept trying until she was finally able to shift her body closer to the edge inch by inch.

When she finally reached the edge, she-

Ended up falling off the bed and hitting the floor with a pained groan when she overdid it on that last pull. With a sigh, Ashley spent the next few minutes pushing herself up on her hands and knees before she reached up and grabbed hold of the bed and risked another peek. When she spotted what looked like a bathroom on the other side of the room, Ashley moved to stand up only to decide that was a bad idea when her legs refused to cooperate and settled on crawling to the bathroom.

It took longer than she’d thought it would and ended with her bumping into the bed and a wall, but she eventually made it to the bathroom. With another peek, she spotted the toilet, sighed with relief as she prayed that her bladder wouldn’t burst, and made her way across the bathroom. When she reached the toilet, she cracked open an eye, nearly sighed with relief as she closed it again, pulled herself up onto the toilet, shoved what felt like a pair of oversized boxers down and relieved herself.

While she sat there, Ashley gently rubbed her temples as she willed her headache to go away. When the throbbing pain eventually began to subside, Ashley risked another peek and when stabbing pain didn’t accompany the move, she opened both eyes and found herself wondering where she was. As soon as she woke up, she knew that she wasn’t in her bed for the simple fact that there hadn’t been any rusty bedsprings digging into her side. One look at the unpainted walls told her that she wasn’t in a hospital or a hotel, which meant…

God, she didn’t even know what it meant. The only thing that she knew was that her head hurt, every muscle in her body ached, she was tired, hungry, and thirsty. At least she could take care of one problem, Ashley thought as she turned her head and took in the small sink next to her. Licking her parched lips, she absently grabbed the roll of toilet paper off the floor, tore some toilet paper off and quickly wiped herself as she focused on that faucet, imagining just how good cold water was going to feel sliding down her throat.

Never taking her eyes off that faucet, Ashley finished what she was doing, flushed the toilet, and yanked the oversized boxer shorts back up before she reached over and grabbed hold of the bathroom counter and managed to pull herself up onto her shaky legs. As soon as she reached the sink, she grabbed the yellow bar of soap and washed her hands. When she was done, she cupped her hands and began greedily drinking the cold water rushing out of the faucet.

A groan escaped her as the cold water made its way down her throat, cooling her dry throat as she stood up and-

Found herself staring at a stranger.

It took her a moment before she realized that she was looking in a mirror and when she did, Ashley felt her stomach drop as she took in the woman staring back at her through matching green eyes. For several minutes, Ashley could only stand there, staring at the mirror as she tried to wrap her mind around what she was seeing. When she shifted to help ease her aching legs, the woman in the mirror did the same, making Ashley release a shaky breath as she dropped her gaze to the bathroom sink.

Slowly exhaling, her grip tightened around the bathroom counter as she tried to make sense out of what she saw. She was dreaming. That was the only thing that she could come up with to explain this, Ashley told herself as she closed her eyes and-

Prayed that this wasn’t a dream.

Please let this be real, Ashley chanted in her head over and over again as she slowly exhaled and forced herself to open her eyes and-

Felt the air rush out of her lungs as she stared at herself, noting all the changes. Her hair was longer, slightly darker, with blonde highlights running through the wavy strands. Her face was larger, her green eyes brighter, and she no longer looked like an adorable ten-year-old girl, but a beautiful woman in her twenties.

Licking her lips nervously, Ashley carefully released her hold on the bathroom sink after making sure that her legs weren’t going to give out first so that she could see what else had changed since she’d slept. Releasing a shaky breath, she pressed one hand against the wall to help steady herself as she reached down and pulled the oversized shirt up and found herself staring at large, teardrop-shaped breasts in the mirror.

Ashley stared at herself for another few seconds before she dropped her shirt as she tried to make sense out of what was happening, only to decide that she didn’t care. The only thing that she cared about was that it finally happened. After years of crying herself to sleep at night, wondering what was wrong with her and trying to convince herself that she didn’t care, it had finally happened.

She watched as the first tear rolled down her face as her vision suddenly turned red and a pair of sharp fangs slowly broke through her gums, finally confirming her suspicions.

She wasn’t human.

But that’s all she knew.

Her mother’s Pack had never told her anything more than she was a mistake, one that had caused her mother’s mate to banish them. After that, her mother hadn’t said much to her. She’d been too busy trying to keep them alive to do anything more than make sure that Ashley had food in her stomach and somewhere safe to sleep to tell her much of anything.

And when they’d found them…

Her mother had refused to tell them anything.

Movement in the mirror drew her attention to find a man standing behind her. He was tall, incredibly handsome, with short dark hair and eyes that she thought might be green. As she stood there, staring at him, hoping that he would say something that would help her make sense out of what happened, she watched his eyes become brighter and-

He walked away.