Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 175

Ashley pov

Sam just casually drops a bomb on me and expects me to react calmly. Truth be told, I don't react to her words at all. I can't.

How am I supposed to answer to what she just told me? That aside from mom and dad, I actually had a brother too? A brother I never got to know?

“Ash, I think something's wrong. I don't feel that good. Something's definitely off.” Sam mutters.

I jump to my feet and look around, desperately scanning our surroundings, hoping to see if anything appears out of place, yet I see nothing.

No warning signs about danger being near, the same as it doesn't look like a storm might be nearing in.

Whatever is Sam's gut feeling, it might be wrong since I can't locate a thing that might be even a little off.

“I don't see anything that would be worthy to make you uneasy,” I whisper, looking around some more.

“I can't put my finger on it, not entirely sure why I feel the way I feel, but something is off. Almost like the whole vibe of this place shifted in seconds.”

“Vibe?” I snort out the word. “Since when are you using the new age words you used to claim doesn't make any sense?”

I know I'm steering off the topic she brought up, but my heart is beating so hard in my chest that I fear I might have a panic attack soon.

“You got what I meant, don't change the topic!” Sam snarls. “And I'm serious, start packing up the leftover stuff, we need to get out of here before trouble finds us!”

While I am feeling a little panicky, I still am not as worried as Sam is. There are no red flags around us, nothing makes me feel like she might be wrong, so the only thing that has me on edge are her words and her words alone.

“Alright, alright, give me a minute,” I hiss quietly, just in case she's wrong and someone dangerous might be watching us.

But even as I finally shove everything inside the bag, toss it over my shoulder and straighten up to look around, I still see nothing that might explain her behavior.

“I’m warning you, Ash, something here is terribly wrong, so off that my skin is crawling. Maybe that's the thing from the night before?”

As soon as Sam reminds me of Dominic's existence, I feel goosebumps raise over my skin all over my body. The somewhat dream-like experience and memories will probably haunt me for years to come.

The last person I would be okay with running into in these woods would be that awful man.

My knees tremble as I take the first step towards the tree line ahead of me. All this time, I've been sitting out in the open, enjoying the sun warming my skin, so now that I have to step into the shadows, which most likely are cold and scary, I'm not too happy about my decision to leave the bear's cabin.

“Shoot, maybe I should've stayed with Constantine and the others. At least they look after me and don't allow me to make stupid decisions. Darn it, Sam, maybe we should turn around and go back before they notice we're missing?”

I'm not usually one to backtrack on my decisions, but the closer I get to the trees, the more dread I feel. I'm so close to chickening out that all it'd take would be for Sam to utter one word and I would bolt back to the cabin like a bullet.

“It's too late to return. I think they already figured out you're missing and probably left the cabin to look for you. The chance of any of them staying there, especially with the hunters roaming these woods, is little to none. We can head into the forest or try to move up in the mountains. I'm kind of scared about the latter one since that's where the hunters headed.” She explains, and be damned, she makes perfect sense again.

I've never regretted a decision as much as I regret the one I took this morning. Truth be told, I probably regret running from the bears more than passing up on the chance of accepting Kaiden's rejection.

And as if the world is against me completely, just when his name crosses my thoughts, the monster itself emerges from the shadows, grinning from ear to ear.

“There you are, my sweet mate. I had a feeling you would find a way to escape those brutes and come back to me. Turns out you're not nearly as useless as I assumed. A nice surprise, indeed. I'll take this as my wedding gift any day.” Kaiden announces as he stalks closer to me.

I freeze on the spot. My limbs refuse to move and Sam hides behind the mental wall that separates us. There was one time when Sam was ready to go above and beyond for him, but now, she's downright terrified of the man.

As the realization hits me, I accept the fact that this is one of the battles I'll have to fight on my own. But I'll do it for both of us. Maybe, if Sam sees how far I'm willing to go for her, she'll understand that I value and love her no matter what she thinks of herself.

“What is it, cat got your tongue?” He asks, getting far too close for my comfort.

Slowly, I start backing away, increasing the distance between us, but Kaiden finds my attempt to escape his presence laughable. “There's nowhere to run, little mate. No one to help you or hear you scream. It's only you and me, baby, you and me.”

Before he gets too close, I try to blurt out the words I should've said the day I found out he is my mate. “I, Ashley Kingston, acc-”

I don't get even half way with accepting his rejection when Kaiden leaps at me with a loud growl. He throws me to the ground, ignoring the scream of pain that tears out of me as the back of my head connects with the rock. “Never, fucking never think about going against me and rejecting me. Consider this as me, taking back my rejection. You're mine, mutt, mine to do whatever I please to. And now, you're going to pay the price for thinking you can escape me.” He forces the words through gritted teeth, pulls back his first and slams it against my nose, ignoring the solid stream of blood that gushes out of it.

“If you can't learn like a normal person, I'll teach you your lesson the hard way,” Kaiden adds before he pulls back his fist and slams it against my face again.