Ashlyn
I grabbed another piece of pizza while I waited for them to stop staring at the fireplace, awestruck by what I had just done. At this rate, I may actually finish my whole pizza before I even get to finish my story. I cracked open another soda after I finished my piece. Mason was the first one to speak.
“How did Prince Derek know you were an elemental?” He asked suspiciously.
“What?” I turned my head to face him.
“In the backyard earlier, you had some invisible wall around you, and Derek mentioned you were an elemental. He also knew that shifted, we could get through it.” Mason explained, and I was stunned.
“If you’re asking if I told him, the answer is no. I don’t know how he would have known, since I barely found out about it. When I “died”, I saw my mother. She told me that Tundra and I were powerful and that I was an elemental. I didn’t understand what she was saying until right before the vampires attacked me.” I explained, thinking that I definitely needed to talk to Derek. He may know things about my powers that I don’t.
“Ashlyn, is that how you could kill all five vampires?” Brad asked.
“So for whatever reason, my powers linked to my emotions and when I went out to the waterfall, I was very emotional. Anyway, if you saw the clearing, you would have noticed that I could make a clearing in the snow. That was my first experience with the power of the air. After that, the vampires entered the clearing. They told me they were there for me and, of course, I wouldn’t go with them. I ripped a throat out of one of them and I was able to make one explode. While the fact I had just made his comrade explode distracted one, and I ripped his heart out. And the other two, I caused the winds to move so fast that it ripped them into two pieces.” I clarified.
“Okay, wait! How the fuck did you make one of them explode?” Liam exclaimed.
“Well, everything in our bodies comprises water, so I forced the water out of his body. And he exploded.” I shrugged.
“That’s so fucken cool!” Liam said enthusiastically.
“So then, how did you get the gashes on your abdomen?” Brandon asked me.
“Well, when I was ripping the first one’s throat out, I elbowed the second one in the chest. He stumbled back into the water pool, but he was able to claw my side in the process.” I said, answering his question.
“Buttercup, you’re telling us you fought off four vampires with that injury to your abdomen?” Donny asked me, stunned, and I nodded.
“Okay, but why were you still bleeding when you drove back to the Silver Moon pack? Did you not receive medical attention here?” Mason asked, concerned.
“I fucken knew it! I knew you were still bleeding. Why the fuck did you leave?” Ian demanded. And I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“When I was saying goodbye to Ian, Nicole tackled me to the ground. It ripped out about half of my stitches.” I confessed, waiting for the scolding I was about to receive.
“Ashlyn, why the hell would you travel in that condition?” My uncle Brad scolded me.
“First, it wasn’t that bad and second, I was fine. Okay. Can we please move on?” I said, motioning them with my hand to move it along. Mason squeezed my hip. He knew why I drove home in that condition.
“So what happened next?” Donny asked me.
“Then a few days after I arrived back at the pack, I was driving to the airport and I was running off the road into the ravine, where you found my car. Oh, my poor car. Anyway, I woke up in a basement like a dungeon. They chained me up with silver, but silver doesn’t affect Tundra like other wolves. But she was still weak from the vampire attack, so we had to bide our time.”
“And was there anyone there when you woke up?” My uncle interrupted. And I knew why he was asking. I closed my eyes, my body shaking, as my lungs straining for breath. Tears streaming down my cheeks.
When I opened my eyes, Mason was sitting on the coffee table in front of me, facing me. He was holding my cheeks in his hands, wiping my tears with his thumbs. I spaced out while trying to figure out how I was going to explain all this. And I was panicking at the thought of them not believing me.
“Maybe we should pick this up tomorrow.” Mason said, but I needed to get this all out. It wasn’t doing me any good to hold all of this in.
“Susan McNeal was there.” I spoke with conviction. They all looked confused about who that was, but Brad knew.
“And you’re sure?” He asked, and I nodded.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true,” I cried. Mason wrapped me in his arms and held me while I sobbed into his chest.
“Who is that?” Brandon asked my uncle.
“The former Luna of Emerald Lake, Ashlyn’s grandmother,” Brad answered.
“That’s why Grace slapped her?” Liam asked him.
“Susan raised Grace since she was 9 years old. Her parents were killed, and the Alpha and Luna took her in and raised her with their daughter, Ashlyn’s mother. Susan and the alpha were killed in a car accident when Ashlyn was 6.” Brad told them.
“Ashlyn, I know this is hard, but can you please explain why Susan would do this?” Brad urged me. I pulled away from Mason’s chest and wiped away my tears. I took a deep breath before I spoke.
“My powers. Faking her death, she killed her mate. She killed my whole pack, and she thought she killed me too, until she started hearing the Knight’s name. She killed everyone, Brad, everyone, so that she could be Queen.” I told him, breaking down.
“I know Grace doesn’t want to hear this, but it’s true. If I hadn’t unlocked my powers, she would have killed me. She tried to burn me alive. She will do whatever it takes to get my powers.” I cried. Mason was rubbing my back while I cried into my hands.
“And can she take your powers?” Ian asked. And I shook my head. I lifted my head to look at him.
“She can’t take them and I can’t give them. The only one that can do that is the Moon Goddess herself.” I told them.
“Was your mother also an elemental?” Brad asked, and I nodded.
“Susan was as well. Before she met her mate, she decided she wanted to use her gift for personal gain. The Moon Goddess took her gift back. Then she met her mate, the Alpha of Emerald Lake, and they had my mother. It wasn’t until later on that Susan realized that my mother had been given the gift as well. It took some planning on Susan’s part, but she faked her death and started recruiting rogues and rebels to help her. I guess my mother had magic protecting the pack and when Susan tried to take my mother’s gift, something went wrong and my whole pack turned to dust.” I explained.
“And she just told you this?” Brad asked, skeptical.
“I played dumb to get information out of her. She would get annoyed and spill her guts. And then her minions would beat me. Maybe she hoped I wouldn’t remember anything she told me. Or the plan was to always kill me. Anyway, she wants to be Queen, and she will start a war to gain that position.” I finished. The room was silent while everyone absorbed all the information I gave them.
“Brad, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told Grace about Susan,” I whispered. Mason squeezed me closer to him.
“Ashlyn, you have nothing to apologize for. I’m not sure what is going on with Grace, but I’ll be staying with Donny for a couple of days until she calms down.” Brad said.
“Brad, that is not a good idea. She is going to blame me for this rift between you two, and she is also pregnant. What she did was between me and her. You can not take my side in this and you know that,” I told him.
“But Ashlyn….” He tried to say something, but I interrupted him.
“No, Brad. There are no buts in this. She is your mate, and she needs you. Don’t worry about me, okay? I’m glad that you were here to hear my side of things, but now you need to go home. You being away from her will only make things worse.” I told him sternly. He stood up and walked over to me to give me a hug.
“When did you become so mature?” He asked me while still hugging me tightly.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll do something stupid before the end of the week.” I told him playfully. And he laughed.
“The mark looks good on you, buttercup.” He kissed my cheek, and I smiled at him.
“Thank you. For everything.” I told him with a smile. Donny also came over to give me a hug. He was going to drop my uncle off and then head to bed. He had a patrol shift in the morning. We all said our goodbyes and the two of them left.
“I think we should all head to bed. We have a long drive tomorrow,” Brandon said. Alex and Ian started to clean up, but I stopped Alex.
“I’ll help Ian. You guys head up.” I told them. Brandon, Liam and Alex left, and it was just Ian, Mason and me in the living room now.
“It’s okay, Mason. I just would like to speak with Ian.” I told him, walking over to him and kissing his cheek.
“I’ll be right up.” I reassured him. He pecked my lips and left. Then it was just Ian and me in the living room. He was stacking the pizza boxes, and I grabbed all the empty cans and even a few unopened ones.
We walked into the kitchen to put everything away. I placed all the empty cans in the recycling and then put the unopened ones back in the fridge. When I closed the door to the fridge, Ian was staring at me.
“Congrats Ashlyn.” He said, giving me a small smile.
“Ian…..” he walked over and wrapped me in a hug.
“It’s okay, Ashlyn. I’m happy for you.” He whispered.
“Thank you, Ian.” I whispered into his chest. We parted and finished cleaning up. Both of us walked upstairs together in silence. We were both on the same floor. We said good night and headed into our rooms. I locked my door behind me. Mason was sitting at the end of the bed, and he didn’t look too happy.
I turned off the key light and took off my shirt while walking over to him. I climbed into his lap so I was straddling him.
“Ashlyn?” His voice was husky. I crushed my lips to his, pushing him back onto the bed with me on top of him. I started kissing down his jaw and neck. He groaned and bucked his hips to grind his cock against my pussy. I licked my mark, and he moaned out my name.
“Mason, you have nothing to worry about. I only want you.” I whispered into his neck while planting soft kisses against my mark. He flipped us so he was now on top of me and crushed his lips to mine while grinding into me.
We spent the night covered in sweat, naked in each other’s arms. I felt so complete with Mason. With him, I could just let go of all the worry. I may have jumped into this too fast, but with the war coming, I needed to enjoy all the time. I might only have left.
Congrats 18+
Mason
I felt uncomfortable leaving Ashlyn with Alpha Ian, but I couldn’t control her; I had to trust her. Even if Thor wanted to rip the Alpha apart, he was less than helpful.
I met up with Brandon and Liam on their floor. They were waiting for me outside their rooms. I’m sure they had a ton of questions for me.
“Congrats man.” Brandon exclaimed while he smacked me on the back.
“That was fast. Congrats Mase.” Liam was wiggling his eyebrows. His antics made me laugh. I thanked them both. I was happy to have finally marked Ashlyn. She is mine and the entire world will know it.
“So what now?” Brandon asked me.
“Now we are going home. We can figure everything else out later,” I told them.
“And how are you feeling about Ashlyn’s relationship with Alpha Ian?” Liam asked, and Thor let out a growl. He really liked to poke the wolf.
“I’m trying to be okay with it.” I told them honestly. It was hard for any alpha to share, but they were friends before and I just have to trust them. Alpha Ian promised he would never go after Ashlyn again, and I’m just going to trust him.
“How are you feeling about knowing that she’s an elemental?” Brandon asked curiously.
“Honestly, I haven’t given it much thought. I will need to protect her as she already has others after her, but that she is powerful doesn’t bother me.” I shrugged.
“That she made a vampire explode is fucken awesome!” Liam smiled. And we all laughed.
“Don’t worry, Mase. I’m sure she’ll still let you wear the pants in the relationship.” Liam joked.
“Ha ha! Hilarious, Liam.” I grumbled, rolling my eyes at him. He thinks he’s so funny, asshole.
“What do you think about the whole grandmother's business?” Brandon asked seriously.
“I believe her, of course. Ashlyn isn’t a liar. She’s been through hell, but she was there for almost a month. There’s no way that she would mistake someone like that. She was smart enough to get more information and to bide her time to get out of there alive. But all I want to do is find the bastards and rip them apart for touching her.” I growled.
“We will find them and I guess we’ll have lots to discuss on the road tomorrow,” Brandon said. We said goodnight and headed off to our rooms. Well, I headed to Ashlyn’s room. She would never sleep without me again.
I was anxiously sitting on the end of the bed when Ashlyn entered the room. She didn’t say a word. She turned the lights off and started stripping off her clothes before climbing into my lap, straddling me. I knew now that we were marked that we would be forever connected, but with everything that had been happening between us, I was almost waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or that she’d figure out that I wasn’t good enough for her.
“Ashlyn.” My voice came out husky. She crushed her lips to mine, and I was instantly hard. Her taste was addictive, and I only wanted more. She pushed me back against the bed. I just wanted to be inside her as she kissed her way down my jaw and neck. She kissed her mark, and I moaned out her name. She knew exactly what she was doing to me. My hands were trying to get her bra undone. There were too many clothes between us.
“Mason, you have nothing to worry about. I only want you.” She whispered to me. I unhooked her bra and flipped us so that I was on top. I slid her bra off while I was kissing her lips. She was frantically trying to get my shirt off. I leaned back, so that I was on my knees between her legs, pulling my shirt off, and Ashlyn threw her bra to the floor.
She ran her hands down my chest until she hit the button on my jeans. She undid the button and undid the zipper. I grabbed her hands and forced them above her head, pinning her to the bed.
“Mason, please.” She moaned while grinding herself into me. She was so sexy when she begged, I thought, while I kissed down her neck. I paid special attention to my mark. She was a moaning mess, and I was painfully hard with anticipation.
As soon as I released her wrists, she flipped us over so she was on top of me again. I’m not even sure how she did it. My legs were hanging off the bed, with my feet resting on the floor. She slid down my body to remove my jeans and boxers. She pulled them down to my knees and then licked her way up to my cock.
She licked a line from my balls to the tip and I thought I was going to explode just from that. Goosebumps erupted all over my body. I let out a groan. I didn’t expect her to be so bold. She took my cock into her mouth and started bobbing her head while swirling her tongue around. My hands were instantly in her hair.
“Baby, that feels so good,” I moaned.
I threw my head back onto the bed, enjoying the feeling of her hot, wet mouth wrapped around my cock. When she was done deep throating, she licked her way up my abs. She was now fully naked and I don’t remember her taking her pants off. I was so wrapped up with her mouth around my cock.
Her pussy lips slid around my cock, and she let out a moan. She was grinding my cock into her clit. I could feel how dripping wet she was. I kicked off my jeans and slid us further up the bed, so I had more leverage. Grabbing her hips to pull her forward, my tip resting at her entrance now.
She pushed herself up and back, forcing my cock into her wet, warm pussy. I groaned. Fuck, she felt so good. I pushed us up the bed further until my back was against the headboard. She started bouncing on my cock while I took one of her nipples in my mouth.
“Mason.” She moaned, her nails digging into my shoulders. I knew she was getting close to climaxing when she moved fasting. I moved my way up her chest and sucked down on my mark. She exploded all over my cock, moaning my name and her pussy pulsating around my cock, making me groan. She makes it difficult to hold out longer.
I flipped us so I could take control while she rode out her high. She was panting and moaning, while I thrusted into her harder, faster, chasing my release. We were covered in sweat and the room smelt of sex. But I couldn’t get enough of her. She just felt so good.
“Mason.” She moaned before she bit down on her mark, making me explode inside of her. Thrusting a few more times than I stilled inside of her. I was hovering above her with my elbows resting beside her head. I rested my forehead against hers.
“Fuck, Baby.” I panted. She wrapped her arms around my neck with her hands, sliding into my hair. I kissed her forehead before I rolled off of her. I wrapped my arms around her, bringing her to my side. She threw a leg over mine and rested her head on my chest. We were both trying to catch our breath. Ashlyn started kissing my chest, and I groaned. I could feel myself getting hard again.
Ashlyn’s breathing leveled out, and her heart rate slowed down. I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. She fell asleep while turning me on. I covered us both up with the blanket and wiggled to get comfy beside her.
I could get used to this, making love to the woman I love and having her fall asleep in my arms. I didn’t expect any of this when I woke up this morning. She has been through so much and she is still with me. She had every right to walk away and reject me. I was awful and my actions led to her being kidnapped and tortured. But she didn’t blame me for that. Even though she was pissed earlier, she still chased the comfort I give her.
I felt terrible that she drove all the way back to Silver Moon with such a nasty gash on her side. I knew she was coming back for me, but she didn’t want to paint me in a poor light in front of everyone. She needed me, and I let her down.
I should have been texting and calling her, making sure she was okay, but I was stuck in my head. I was stuck on the fact that she was staying with her ex-mate. The same ex-mate that was trying to win her back. I didn’t understand the whole love potion, and I still don’t. I was worried that being around him would bring the magic back to life somehow. And then I’d be left without her. It was easier for me to push her away than to feel the pain that she might bring if she chose Alpha Ian over me. But now I know that was never the case.
I leaned into her, kissing his head. I made a silent promise that I would never let her down again. Breathing in our scents, now fused together, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.