Ashlyn
All four of us walked out of the pack office building and into the packing lot.
“The training building is right over there.” Beta Brandon pointed it out to me. It was easily double the size of the human rec center that I saw in the human city.
“We’ll give you a tour after training.” Gamma Liam said with a smile.
“Should I get some workout clothes?” I asked them.
“Okay, sure.” Mason answered, “but be quick about it.” Nodding, I rushed to where I parked my car. I didn’t have to dig for my keys, since my car could sense the fob. I could unlock and open the boot to get my gym bag. I had made one up so I could at least go to the gym without having to dig through my suitcases. Closing the boot, and looked over at the guys, who were staring at my car.
“You’re right, Ashlyn.” Mason smiled while I walked back over to them.
“About?” I knew it was about the car. They were practically eye-fucking it.
“It’s beautiful.” He said, but strangely, he wasn’t looking at the car, but me. I gave him a smile.
We walked into the training center. It was everything you’d expect to be in a rec center. There was a normal gym, a gymnasium, a few swimming pools. It even had a smoothie bar on the ground floor.
We walked up the stairs to the massive sparing and weapons training room. The floor is padded, and they lined two of the walls with different weapons. I noticed there were a couple of doors that led to change rooms and bleachers against one wall. There was also a vast window on the far side of the room. It looked like the class was already waiting for their trainers. I guess we are late.
“Start with your stretches and we’ll start in a moment.” Mason spoke to the class. We walked over to the change rooms.
“This one is for the she-wolves,” Liam pointed out. I noticed that the other two had already entered the male change room.
“Be quick, beautiful.” He winked before he followed the other two into their change room. What a flirt, I thought, rolling my eyes. I walked into the change room to get changed as quickly as possible.
I wore black leggings, a white sports bra, a tight light pink tank, socks and my runners. I grabbed a hair elastic from my bag, my lock and my water bottle before stuffing my clothes in my bag. I shoved my bag and purse into the locker and locked it up.
I walked out into the training room while tying my hair up in a messy bun. The boys weren’t out of the change room yet. I walked over to the water fountain to fill up my water bottle. There were a lot of eyes on me. It was unnerving, but to be honest, I was used to people staring. I was dating the future Alpha, so I was definitely hated in high school, by the girls anyway.
I put my water bottle on one of the benches and started to stretch as well. What the hell is taking the guys so long to get out of here? Did they forget how to put on clothes? Just as I was sitting on the mat to stretch out my legs, one student walked over to me.
“You new here?” The man asked with a smile. He sat down across from me. The man was handsome. He has short, dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He wasn’t as tanned as the other three, but he was more tan than me. I should probably just get used to being the fairest skinned of them all. I mentally giggled at my joke.
“I am, I’m Ashlyn.” I extended my hand and smiled at him.
He shook my hand. “I’m Henry. It’s nice to meet you, Ashlyn.”
Mason cleared his throat behind me, making me jump. When did they come out?
“We should get started.” I looked up at him, and he was looking down at me, glaring. What the hell did I do? Or maybe that was his resting bitch face.
“Pair up and spread out.” He announced to the class. I stood up, feeling awkward about pairing up.
“Need a partner?” Henry asked, leaning towards me.
“Sure.” I answered him with a smile.
I looked around the room. There were about 20 students. Mostly men, but there were a few women and most of them were glaring at me. I couldn’t help but feel like the boys were stripping me down with their eyes. I just rolled my eyes at them. The joys of being the new student.
One thing I found out while dating a future Alpha is that girls would do anything for his attention. Most of these women didn’t care about the man, just his position in the pack. The power that came with being a luna and, of course, money. It was pretty sad, really. Being a luna is so much more.
Henry led me to the other side of the room. He turned to face me.
“I hope you know how to fight. I won’t take it easy on you, beautiful.” He winked at me.
“Bring it on, pretty boy.” I said with a smirk. My uncle and his warrior friends have been training me for years. I knew my way around the sparring mat. I noticed the prince, beta, and gamma watching us.
We got into our fighting stance and we started circling each other. My Uncle always told me to open my senses and wait until you have an opening. Be patient.
Henry was clearly impatient. He swung a fist at me, grabbing it, I twisted his arm around his back. I pushed him forward and let him go. The whole point of this wasn’t to cause damage to the other person. But he did have a hard right hook. I had to shake out my hand. He stumbled forward, but collected his footing. He turned around to face me again with a smirk.
“Oh, a feisty one,” he said, his voice husky. I rolled my eyes at him.
We were back in our stances, circling each other. I noticed the class, and the trainers had all stopped to watch us.
“Looks like all eyes are on us, princess. It’s your move.” He said and I smirked at his cockiness.
I threw my right hook into his left side, and he sidestepped. I grabbed his arm and turned my body, flipping him to the ground on his back. I jumped on his chest and punched right beside his face, hitting the mat with a loud crack. I jumped off him and extended my hand to help him up. He didn’t take my hand and his smile had turn to a frown as he stood up.
“You got lucky,” he growled at me.
“Wow, you’re a sore loser, aren’t you?” I crossed my arms over my chest and walked over to my water bottle for a drink. Men are all the same. They never want a girl to show them up. We need to be helpless so they can protect us. Boohoo. I was getting myself all worked up when Gamma Liam walked over to me.
“That was fantastic. He’s one of the best fighters in the class.” He exclaimed. “Who taught you how to fight?” he asked. I looked at him while I took a sip of water.
“My uncle taught me to fight. He’s a warrior. That explains why he’s such a poor loser. His ego must be the size of a house.” I answered after swallowing my water.
“I think he figured you were just a pretty face.” He winked at me. I laughed.
“I guess I have the element of surprise on my side, then.” I said making him laugh.
Soon, class was over. I just sat on the bench waiting for the normal students to get changed and leave. I felt like I was back in high school, hiding from the mean girls. They all wanted to be Ian’s Luna, and they could never understand why he was with someone like me. But I guess he wasn’t really with me.
I also dressed casually. I didn’t feel like I had to impress anyone. I didn’t even throw myself at him. Not that it ever stopped the rumors. I apparently seduced Ian. I chased him until he finally agreed to date me. Yeah, okay. He was the one who chased me. But to the other girls, I was the one in the way of being his Luna.
Finally, the guys walked out of their change room, all dressed in their clothes they were wearing earlier.
“Why aren’t you changed, Ashlyn?” Mason asked raising an eyebrow at me.
“Um…..I was just waiting until the students left.” I told them.
“Why?” Liam asked. “You’ll be a student soon enough. “
“Because I’m pretty sure getting into a fight on my first unofficial day would be a bad thing,” I said, while biting my lower lip.
“Did someone say something to you?” Brandon asked me, concerned.
“No, no one said anything. Look, everyone is gone now. I’ll be right back.” I told them, standing up from the bench. I walked over and entered the change room. They wouldn’t understand anyway, so there’s no point in me explaining how I felt.
I hurried to changed and gathered all my belongings. They were waiting by the door when I left the change room to meet them. I was walking towards them when my phone started ringing. I dug through my purse to see who was calling and the call display said my hotel was calling. What the fuck?
“Sorry, I need to answer this.” I dropped my bag by the door and answered my phone.
“Hello?”
“Ashlyn, please don’t hang up.” My heart started pounding in my chest. How the hell did he find out about the hotel and why would they give him my number?
“Ashlyn?” He asked sadly.
“Yes, Ian?” I answered. I was upset. And I knew he could hear it.
“Where are you?” He asked, worried.
“That doesn’t matter. Why are you calling me?” I sniffled.
“Ashlyn, you’re my mate and I love you.” He said it like he cared.
I asked a question I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to, while I walked over to the window on the other side of the training room, away from the guys. But I knew they could still hear me with their wolf’s hearing.
“How many?” I asked, holding my breath.
“How many what?” He asked, confused. And I was really losing my patience.
“How many times did you sleep with her?” I tried to keep my voice low, but I was ready to smash my phone on the floor.
He didn’t answer.
“Ian, I really don’t…” I didn’t get to finish before he interrupted with his answer.
“About once a week since last year. But most of the time I was drunk. I don’t care about her.” He confessed.
I was shocked. This has been happening for over a year. I tried to will my tears not to fall as I closed my eyes to calm myself.
“But I love you, Ashlyn. I need you. Please come home. Please,” he begged.
“Ian, I’m not coming home and if you loved me like you say, you wouldn’t have thought about any other girl. And it had to be Nicole. She was my best friend. I was there for you, through everything.” I rushed out.
“I’m so sorry. Please give me a chance. Please,” he pleaded.
“Don’t call me unless it’s to accept my rejection.” I told him before I hung up.
After taking a deep breath, I turned off my phone. I wiped the tears off my cheeks and took some more deep breaths to calm myself down. I turned around to walk back towards the guys. Liam wrapped an arm around my shoulders and Brandon picked up my bag. Mason looked pissed.
“Are you okay?” Liam asked me, as we walked out of the training room, through the rec center to the entrance.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m sure you guys have more important things to do than babysit me.”
“Anything is better than paperwork.” Liam winked at me.
“Oh Geez, thanks.” I rolled my eyes and Liam laughed.
“Alright, let’s get you to the pack house and get you settled in.” Mason said, without looking over at me.
“Okay,” I answered.
There was no point in fighting it. The king was adamant that I stay in the pack house. I just wish I could have my own place. Maybe, in a few weeks, I’ll be able to ask the king about that. I honestly just want to be alone. Alone with my studies and my wolf.