Fated Mate

Billy was waiting for Ash at the door. When he arrived, Billy grabbed him in a bear hug. “Thanks Ash, what did you say to her!”

“She called? That’s good. I told her it was inconvenient for us to bring them here, and that we would be getting an apartment close to them.” Ash walked into the AA room and sat next to Joe on the leather seat.

“I already found one. I started looking the minute you left. I’m going to check it out tomorrow!” Billy sat down next to him and picked up his beer. He felt more relaxed now that his fight with Ann was defused.

“How’s Lee?” Joe asked before he filled his mouth with a hand full of popcorn, his eyes glued to the game on TV.

Ash smiled, warmth spread through him at the mention of her name. He loved everything about her and how happy she made him feel. He saw her as a gift; a blessing the spirits had given him to fill the empty space in his heart. In such a short time he’d fallen in love with her, and he wanted to be with her every single second of the day. But he couldn’t do that, not just yet. “She’s fine, more beautiful each day.”

“Are body swaps possible because this doesn’t seem like the same brooding bad tempered rigid wolf I knew a few weeks ago?” Joe said stuffing more popcorn in his mouth.

“He’s having hot steamy sex now, that’s bound to change a man,” Billy said with a smile on his face.

“We’ve only made love once and it’s not about that…she’s…it’s just…” Ash’s smile grew wider. He didn’t have the words to describe exactly how much she meant to him.

“She’s the wind beneath your wings,” Billy teased.

“The air you breathe,” Joe added.

“The light at the end of your tunnel.”

“The ‘e’ in ‘me’.”

Billy stared at Joe with a baffled look on his face. “The ‘e’ in ‘me’? Where the hell did you get that from?”

Before Joe could say anything Dave crashed into the room. Automatically, they were on their feet, ready to attack, with growls bellowing deep inside them. When they saw it was Dave they relaxed.

“What’s wrong with you?” Billy yelled at him. Dave sauntered to Ash, completely ignoring Billy. His jaw was tight and his eyes were silver, his fists were clenched and it was evident he was making an effort to control himself. He was furious.

“What the hell are you doing with my daughter?” Everyone froze. They all had their eyes on Dave.

“What are you talking about?” Ash asked him, cold, angered by his approach.

“The girl you were just with, Merilee Jackson, or better known to her friends as Lee.”

Ash paled as he made the connection. He now understood why her scent and her sad eyes were so familiar to him. The scared little girl he once held in his arms and soothed was the same grown girl he was so very much in love with. He felt weak. He rocked back on his feet dizzy.

Dave continued, harsher than he was before. “She is my only surviving family. The one Sabrina abandoned at the hospital, the same one who escaped the slaughter in my house, the only Jackson who survived your stupid vendetta. The only one you have yet to kill.”

Ash sank in the seat. He was struggling to breathe. Dave’s words had knocked the wind out of him.

“He didn’t kill your family, Baku did!” Billy was fuming. He reached for Dave and turned him around to face him.

“It’s him Baku wanted to hurt! And my family died for it!” Dave yelled back.

“No, your family was killed for what you witnessed.”

“It wasn’t my fault you picked a fight in a public place!”

“Neither is it his, we tried to protect you! You should have stayed where Joe placed you, instead you ran to your family, in full view, for everyone to see!”

“I took them away didn’t I?”

“But you came back! That also isn’t his fault, it’s yours!” They were close to fighting. Billy’s eyes were silver now, his lips drawn back over his teeth.

“Stop!” Ash shouted. He was still pale, but he was tired of the fights, the guilt, the anger and the constant despair. He just wanted to live his life, with Lee. He was tired of Baku ruining his life, even when he wasn’t close by. He wasn’t going to let anyone destroy his new joy, not Baku, nor Dave

“It isn’t Dave’s fault it’s mine for failing to prevent it. You and your family were victims of circumstance. I, on the other hand, I’m his target for revenge, for constant amusement and torture. We tried to help you, but we couldn’t and for that I’m sorry. I will find Baku, and kill him once and for all.”

“I want you to stop seeing my daughter!” Dave completely ignored what Ash said, he didn’t care about that, he only wanted Ash miles away from his daughter.

Ash looked at him. He took this time to go through Dave’s thoughts to finally find out what he had been up to, since he was too occupied with being angry to block his thoughts.

He saw Lee grow up in Dave’s mind. It was like a comparison between the little girl before the murder and the growing girl after. He saw her change from a happy talkative little girl to a quiet closed off child who kept everyone away. He saw her sit in a corner alone watching other children play happily then she would curl up and start crying for her brother and sister. He saw the pain he knew years ago she would suffer.

“I’m sorry I can’t do that.” Ash kept his voice cool and clear. He had to make it up to her, to try and bring back the spark in her eye she had before his kind robbed her of it.

Dave looked shocked. He was even more infuriated. “What do mean you can’t! It’s not a request, it’s a demand!”

“For me that’s not an option. Now that I have her, I can’t live without her. That would be close to impossible, no, it is impossible.”

Dave lunged forward, as if to attack, but his better judgment stopped him. Ash didn’t move. He may seem cool and collected, but if he had to, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. Dave relaxed. He knew he was fighting a losing battle. “She is all I have.”

“That, we share in common. The other thing we share is the need to keep her safe. I won’t let any harm come to her. You have my word.”

“I can protect her myself!” he yelled.

“I wasn’t asking for your permission, I was informing you. I would go to her now if I didn’t know you wanted to.” The room went quiet.

Dave and Ash had come to a silent understanding. Dave may not want him for his daughter, but he could do very little to change that fact. To Merilee, he was dead, and Ash was alive and the man she chose to love. And Ash was his Alpha. Dave had no choice but to obey.

Sabrina came crashing into the room. The men turned and looked at her, not amused by her interruption. She had been eavesdropping on them, again.

“You can’t let him keep seeing her! You are her father, forbid him!” She grabbed Dave’s jacket and shook him as she spoke, her eyes wide with desperation. Dave pulled her hands off him and straightened out his jacket.

“Sabrina, this doesn’t concern you. And I can’t forbid him. His mind is set. And he is the alpha of our pack. Merilee loves him, and I can’t cause her anymore pain.”

“This does concern me. Ash is mine! Your daughter is his mistress, she will never be anything more, and for the rest of her miserable human life, she will be just that!”

Ash’s voice was cold, a deep growl bellowed in his chest. “Tread carefully, woman, I won’t think twice about killing you,” he said between clenched teeth.

Sabrina turned to him, her expression threatening, “I won’t let anyone take you away from me! You are mine! I’ll make sure you stay mine! I should have killed her when you gave her to me!”

Dave reacted before Ash could. The silver in his eyes seemed to deepen, his arms spread at his sides with his fingers wide and curled at the tips, and his teeth were out and ready to tear into her if she provoked it. “I don’t hit women, but for you I’m willing to make the exception! If I so much as catch your scent within ten miles of her, I will kill you! Just a scent, Sabrina! Remember that!” The chill in his voice made Sabrina step back.

“If he hesitates, I won’t, I’ll rip you limb from limb. I won’t even think twice about it.” The acid in Ash’s voice burned her. She backed out of the room slowly, knowing very well she’d been defeated, at least for now.

Dave turned and looked at Ash. “It seems we’ll have to watch her round the clock, from Sabrina and Baku. I’ll go now. We’ll make further arrangements tomorrow.”

He added as he walked away. “I don’t know why you didn’t kill her when she turned. You knew beforehand she was annoying. I can’t imagine suffering her for over half a century. It’s only been thirteen years and I’ve wanted to rip that tongue out every minute she speaks.” He left the room and the sound of the huge double doors denoted he was on his way to Lee’s apartment.

“See, even he agrees with me!” Billy said victoriously. He and Dave never saw eye to eye on anything, but when it came to Sabrina they understood each other perfectly.

“This is so weird,” Joe said, he had been quiet for so long, they’d forgotten he was still in the room.

“What is?” Ash asked him.

“You are living with your girlfriend’s dad, having your every move with his daughter scrutinized. Did you know he’s been watching you with his daughter, us with Ann and Maria? We definitely need a new crib!”