A Forbidden Love

Chapter Nine: Visitor from the Past

I am in pain; well my heart is in pain. I have feelings for Garret, but I have more feelings for Ash. I had hurt Ash and that hurt me. I don’t know whether to run after him or let him be. I know I still have to go back to Nathan’s pack for another day, so I decide to chase after him.

I jump up and hand Garret the baby girl. I would later regret that decision, but right now I had to find Ash. Garret tries to grab my wrist, but I dodge his hand.

“Paige! Come back.” He yells, but I ignored his cries. As I run through the clearing I notice that the fighting has stopped and that we have won. I am happy with that.

I reach the trees and look for any sign of Ash. I holler his name, but no reply comes. I run deeper into the forest, not noticing how deep.

Soon I am lost and it’s getting dark. “Ash, please answer me.” I say. I hear an owl hoot and a twig snap. I jump at the sound and turn around. “Who’s there?” I ask. Only silence greets me. I fold my arms over my chest as a cool wind blows through the trees and ruffles my hair.

“Hello little one.” I hear a voice say. The voice sounds somewhat familiar, but I can’t place it.

“Who’s there?” I say. I look around the now dark clearing and try to find the source of my fear. I hear another twig snap and jump again. I hear a small chuckle escape someone and turn toward the sound. I think I see yellow eyes, but their gone as fast as they appeared.

“Quit playing games and answer me.” I say, my voice giving away my fear by shaking.

“Is the little kitten scared? Come here kitten. I won’t bite; hard.” The voice gets louder as the person comes closer. I watch as a shadowed figure steps out of the trees and into the moonlight.

“It’s you!” I say.

Ash’s POV

The scene I saw made me stop dead in my tracks. I watch as Paige looks up into Garret’s eyes, then slowly leans forward and kisses him. It sickened me and I turned away. I back into the forest, turning to see Paige looking after me. I felt something fall from my eye, but made no move to wipe it away. I ran off, feeling the wind as it ruffled my fur.

I soon reached an empty clearing and stopped. I could hear someone running after me, but I ignored it. “Ash, please answer me.” I heard Paige called. I almost answered her, but stopped myself when the image of her kissing Garret popped in front of my eyes. I felt myself become full of rage.

How dare Garret take advantage of her. She was scared and needed someone to be there for her, not to take advantage of her by kissing her. I turned on my paws and ran back in the direction from whence I came. I was going to make Garret pay.

Garret’s POV

I watch as Paige takes off after that silver wolf. She hands me the baby and then takes off. I look down at the baby girl’s face and I get lost in it’s eyes. It has crystal green eyes and looks like she’s looking into your very soul.

“Garret, whatcha got there?” Andrew asks as he walks up to me.

“I got that baby girl they were talking about. I want you and Reese to escort her back to her pack. Nothing is to harm her. Do you understand?” I say in my commanding alpha voice. He nods and hollers for Reese. Reese comes over and I tell him the exact same thing. He nods, takes the baby girl from my arms, and then takes off with Andrew following closely behind.

I get up and stand there. I don’t know what to do. I could go after Paige to make sure she’s ok or I could stay here and do nothing. I don’t know how long I stood there, but a few minutes was all it took to shatter my world.

I listened as I heard a sound. It sounded like it was coming from right next to me it was so loud. Whoever it belonged to had to have been in serious pain. I then realize who the cry is coming from as it sounds again.

“Paige!!” I scream. I nod toward Henry and he follows me into the woods. I change halfway there.

Hang on we’re coming! I mentally scream at Paige. I stop as I lose track of her scent. It was like she flew away. I went a little bit farther ahead and still didn’t pick up her scent. It ended at the base of a tree. I could see a few drops of blood, but that was it. I barked at Henry and he shook his head. He hadn’t caught a whiff of her either.

That’s when I heard it. It was a strange rustle of leaves. I look up into the tree and stare right into the eyes of two humans. One belonging to Paige, the other to someone I had never seen before.

Paige’s POV

“What are you doing here?” I ask, my voice rising with fear. Standing before me was Derrick. He was one of our old guards at the castle and held a grudge against my dad after he fired him. He had raped several girls and my dad was furious when he found out. I knew that I was in trouble. Ash probably hated me now and wouldn’t’ help me if I screamed.

“I came to see you kitten. You know I never got to have you and I want to see how you are. All those other girls were just a warm-up for you. I’m saving all my best for you.” He moved closer with each word. I backed up till I was next to the tree. I thought back to all my self defense tactics and readied my hand to shove his big nose up into his brain.

He was close enough for me to reach him and I shoved my hand up toward his nose. He caught my wrist and twisted it behind my back, pinning me to the tree. I screamed in pain as I heard the all to familiar pop of a bone breaking. I had had many broken bones as a child and I knew the pain all to well. I sank to my knees, screaming out in pain.

“You… will… pay…for … this.” I say, thinking of Garret’s reaction. He would be p’od. I smirked and tried to hide it from Derrick. I almost did, but he still saw.

“Are you thinking about your little werewolf friends?” he asked. I didn’t give him the pleasure of answering. “Well they’re going to get a surprise too. I have a gun,” here he lifted his shirt for me to see a gun hidden in his belt. “and it’s loaded with silver bullets. I’m sure that a bullet to the heart or head will stop one of those beasts from annoying us as I finish what I had started that one night not to long ago. If I remember right it was a few weeks before your eighteenth birthday in the wine cellar. I almost had you. If that night guard hadn’t been sneaking drinks.” Here he pounded his fist against the tree.

“You’re a sick bast-“ he slapped me across the face. I put my good hand on my cheek and glared at him. “You’re going to pay dearly for this.” I moved as far from him as I can. I could hear a howl in the distance. I smirked at him, triumphant.

“I don’t’ think so. You’re going to climb up that tree, and you’re not going to give me any trouble about it or I’ll shoot you.” I stare at him. Then I looked up at the tree behind me. There was no way that I could climb that thing.

“How do you think I can climb up there, especially with a broken arm?’ I asked him, my anger revealed in my voice.

“Well if you don’t, then I’ll kill you and your lovely knight in shining fur.” He cackled at his own lame joke and I stood up. I grabbed onto the lowest branch with my good left hand and tried to pull myself up. After watching me for a few more moments Derrick walked over and helped me up. Then he climbed up after me and put his hand over my mouth. I look down just as Garret comes barreling through the bushes and into the clearing. He sniffs around, finding my scent ended there.

He barked at another wolf and then looked up at us. I smiled at him and he growled. I bit down onto Derricks hand and yell, “Watch out, his gun is filled with silver bullets.” Derrick hits me with the gun and fires a shot at Garret. Garret dodges it, the bullet barely missing him. I become unbalanced and find myself falling out of the tree. Derrick tries to grab me and I see the anger in his eyes.

I brace myself for the impact, but feel none. Instead I land in muscular arms. I look up into one of the men from Garrets pack. I think his name was Henry, but I can’t remember. “Thank you.” I say. He nods and moves backwards into a bush. He sets me gently on the ground and takes a look at my broken arm. I had been holding it close to my chest ever since it happened. I knew that jostling it too much would cause extreme pain. As Henry prodded it I let out a loud hiss of pain.

I hear another gun shot, but this time it lands right next to me. Henry growls and pulls me out of the bush. He runs as fast as he can, dodging bullets and leaving me to worry about Garret. Was he hurt? Was he dead? Where was he? I thought to myself, trying to look over Henry’s shoulder.

I caught sight of a silver wolf following us. He sounded mad as he howled into the air. Henry stopped. “What are you doing?” I shrieked as another bullet flew past us. I had no idea that bullets could travel that distance.

“Ash is forcing me to stop. He knows I’m taking you to our territory and wants me to stop. He says that you still have one more day with them and that if I take you I will be breaking the code. Though they did that earlier on, so I should have the right to do it.” He mumbled the last part under his breath.

He set me down on the ground and Ash came around him, now in human form. “I’ll take her from here. I would go check on your leader. I think he might have gotten shot.” Ash says without emotion. I chance a glance at him and see his eyes looking at me with a cold emotion. It chilled me to say the least.

“I’m sorry Ash.” I try to continue, but another gunshot snaps us out of it. He changes into his wolf form, but not before saying “stay here.” I did as he said, moving behind the cover of a tree.

I looked around at my surroundings and found that I knew where we were. We were close to where Nathan found Garret and I after I about drowned in the water. That was the time Ash saved me. I remembered his soft fingers as they brushed my cheek. Then I thought back to a moment ago when he looked at me like he hated me. What was I going to do?

After a few more moments of waiting I decided to just start walking back to Nathan’s clearing. I knew the way and Ash was taking to long. I knew it would probably make him mad, but at the time I didn’t care.

I reached the clearing just as I heard a yell. “My baby!” I heard Anna scream. I ran the rest of the way and stopped on the porch of Anna’s house.

“Thank you so much, but where’s Paige?” Nathan’s voice sounded behind the closed door. I pushed it open and stepped inside. Several heads turned toward me, including Anna’s.

“I’m here.” I say. Nathan looks me up and down before running over and picking me up. He swings me around until I gasp with pain. He had nudged my broken arm.

“What happened my dearest?” he asks, real compassion in his eyes and voice.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and waited for complete silence. Andrew and Reese slipped out the door unnoticed. Anna sat under the covers on the bed with Dawn in her arms. I was happy that the baby made it back safely. Nathan sat next to me and put his arm around my waist, pulling me onto his lap. For once I didn’t complain.

I recounted all that happened to me. Including the part about the rogue beta kissing me and then Derrick attacking me and how I knew him. Nathan was furious to say the least. He was about to tell me something when the front door burst open.

“Where is she?” an angry voice sounds. I shrink more into Nathan’s lap. It was Ash and he sounded beyond furious, maybe even angrier than Nathan.

“I’m right here.” I say meekly. Ash turned his full gaze on me. I gasped with what I saw there. It was a mix of pure rage and also a little bit of worry.

“I thought I told you to stay put.” He bellowed. I shrank even farther into Nathan. Nathan put his arms around me, protecting me from the anger radiation off of Ash. “You never listen. That’s why you get into all those terrible situations. You need to grow up and act your age. You’re an impertinent little spoiled brat.”

I watched in shock as he left the room, slamming the door behind him. I started sobbing. I couldn’t’ believe that he said that to me. I didn’t start anything. It seemed like everything happened to me, not me causing it to happen.

“It’s ok honey. He didn’t mean it.” Anna rubbed my back soothingly. I still couldn’t stop sobbing.

I had hurt the person I loved and there was no way to get that love back.

Ash’s POV

I couldn’t believe that I had said all those mean things to her. I had no idea where that all came from. That anger was meant for Garret, not Paige. I had tried to find Garret earlier, but Paige’s cries of pain drew me back to the place I had just left.

I still hated Garret, but that gave me now right to talk to Paige like that. I knew within that moment that I had driven her away. I had developed strong feelings for her in the past few days and I knew that I was falling in love with her. I also knew I just drove that love away and that Paige would never forgive me.

I was about to go back in and beg for forgiveness when I heard her crying. It broke my heart and I fell to my knees. I felt like crying too. I put a wall up around my heart and held my emotions in check. I wasn’t going to fall under the painful emotions. I needed to stand strong. With one last glance at where I left Paige I took off, running deeper and deeper into the forest, never looking back.