Chapter #16

*Astrid's POV*

"Okay, Astrid. You're free to leave, but I don't want you doing anything difficult or strenuous. Okay?"

Four days. It's  been four days since Asher found the rogue, and no matter how many times I tell him to leave and go question the him, he refuses.

"Okay," I sighed, nodding. I wanted to get out of here, right now. I didn't want to be caged in like a little weakling not capable of getting a drink of water by herself anymore.

Sure, that day when I woke up and Asher was gone, I was pretty weak. But don't I have the right to be sometimes? Everybody does. Even Asher.

Speaking of Asher, he was currently helping me change into one of my new dresses, since I still had quite a few bandages wrapping my body and other clothes would be too tight.

"Thank you, Asher," I said quietly, a bit self-conscious of my battered and bruised body.

Smoothing out the black fabric that fell to my knees, I gave my mate a small smile.

"Not a problem, babe. How are you feeling?" He asked me, lifting me up into his arms.

Nodding, I frowned.  "I can walk, Asher," I reminded him, resting my head on his chest.

"Not right now, you can't. It'll take an hour before that medication wears off. Remember?"

My face dropped, a small pout forming on my lips. "Oh... No, I didn't remember. No wonder my legs felt weird..."

He chuckled, kissing my temple lightly before carrying me out of the hospital room. Resting my head on one of Ash's broad shoulders, I scanned my surroundings as we walked.

Turning a corner, we passed what I'm pretty sure was a game-room. There was around seven boys in there, and as soon as Asher and I passed by, I saw all of their heads whip towards us.

Asher just kept walking, though, not really paying attention to anything but getting upstairs to our new room, I suppose.

"Alpha!" They all chorused. I let out a small yelp of surprise as one of the boys grabbed my shoulder, trying to get their Alpha's and Luna's attention.

As soon as the small sound left my mouth, Ash had turned around so fast I'm surprised he didn't get whiplash.

A loud growl burned through his throat, his lips curling back to show his canines. "Mine," He snarled, looking at each of them in turn.

When he started to advance on the young boys, I brought a hand up and cupped his cheek, forcing him to look down at me.

"I know, and they know too," I said quietly, stroking his cheek. "I'm yours' and only yours'," I watched as his  eyes soon turned back to their regular colour,  the shining emerald green I'd fallen in love with.

His canines shrank back, and he sighed, nodding. Kissing my forehead, he looked back up to the seven who had left the game room to see us. "Sorry," He muttered, looking anywhere but them. "Just don't touch her. Ever," With that, he turned on his heel and marching straight to the staircase. "We'll be staying at the pack house for a while, is that okay?"

Biting my lip, I nodded. "Yeah," I said quietly.

He stopped abruptly, looking down at me with a frown. "Baby, they're not going to hurt you. They'll do the exact opposite- they're going to protect you with all that they are. I promise. You don't have to be scared anymore," He told me honestly, whispering the last part.

I couldn't form any words, so I just nodded again, watching as a smile lit up his beautiful features.

"I love you," He murmured, grinning still.

"I love you back,"  I laughed, kissing his stubbly chin.

*Asher's POV*

"Baby, will you please just go question him? I'll be fine. I promise," Astrid tried again, causing me to sigh.

"No." I groaned, shaking my head. "Something could happen to you while I'm gone,"

"Then have someone come and watch me. I don't want this pack to fall to the ground just because your mate is weak," She said defiantly, crossing her arms.

A loud growl left my mouth as I stepped forward, looking down to where she sat on the black king-sized bed. "Never, and I mean never, say that about yourself," I said lowly, narrowing my eyes. "You are nothing even close to weak. Do you seem to forget everything you've survived? You. Are. Not. Weak." I finished.

My mate watched me with wide eyes, staring up at me in awe. "I... I actually believe you," She whispered, shaking her head. "Everyone's always told me that I was weak, so I believed them, but... I-I don't anymore."

Smiling, I kneeled in front of her and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. "I'll go question him now." I told her, happy to see the beautiful grin light up her face.

"Good. Now go, I'll still be here when you get back," She told me, still smiling contentedly. "I love you,"

"I love you, too," I beamed, kissing her hard.

~*~

"He's in cell block 9, room 4, Sir," One of the guards informed me, bowing his head in respect.

"Thanks, Chad," I muttered, just wanting to get this over with so I could get back to my mate and take care of her. I had left her with my one of the pack members, but I didn't know which one. I had gotten my beta Andy to pick.

Stalking down the dimly lit halls, I finally reached his cell block, bringing myself to his holding room.

"Rogue," I snapped, my Alpha voice shining through.

His head whipped up to mine, and a sly smirk crossed his features.

"Finally decided to leave the bitch alone, eh? Women these days. So Goddamn needy," He spoke smugly, his gaze not wavering.

Growling, I stepped closer to the bars, watching him closely.

"She's not needy," I snarled, my voice laced with venom. "She needed help, and she's the one who convinced me to leave and come see you, asshole,"

His grin only grew, and he sat up, looking smug and catty.

"She convinced you to leave her alone? Probably to go fuck someone else. Probably wasn't satisfied with the likes of you," He sneered, trying to get to me.

Sadly, he was succeeding.

A loud roar left my mouth, and I stepped forward, my muscled arm bolting through the bars and grabbing him by the throat.

My eyes were blazing when I yanked him towards me, baring my sharp and white canines.

"Listen here, Rogue," I spoke through gritted teeth, narrowing my eyes. "That is my mate. Don't you dare speak of her that way. If it weren't for her, you'd be dead right now. She's the only reason you're not 6 feet under, and you're saying those things about her?"

His eyes sparkled with amusement as he grinned. "Yeah, why not?"

*Astrid's POV*

Groaning, I picked myself up off of the floor, holding onto the counter as I moved around the kitchen. Since when was it this hard to get orange-juice? Sheesh.

"Hey, Astrid? I just heard from the Alpha, he's coming ho-" He stopped, obviously realizing that I wasn't in my room upstairs.

"Shoot," I muttered to myself, speed-walking as fast as I could to the living room. I quickly ducked behind the brown leather couch, covering my mouth with my hand.

Don't get me wrong- I actually really liked Cameron. He was like the big brother I never had. Except, he was almost as protective as Ash.

I heard his heavy footsteps trudging down the stairs.

"Astrid, I know you're there," He sighed, coming to stand beside me where I crouched behind the furniture.

"Um, no you don't," I scoffed, crossing my arms. "I think you're just going crazy. I'm upstairs, actually,"

Cameron rolled his eyes, reaching down and grabbing my waist.

Before I knew what was actually going on, he slung my body over his shoulder and started for the stairs.

"You know the Alpha wanted you to stay in your room, and he's almost home," He muttered, shaking his head. I knew he had done it because I could feel his shoulder length, bleach blond hair swipe across the back of my thigh with his actions.

"Wait! My orange-juice! Cameron! No!" I cried, reaching my arms out towards the kitchen. Over the last few hours, I had grown pretty comfortable around him, honestly. Apparently, he was going to be my guard whenever Ash was away doing pack business, but he seemed like more of a friend than a guard.

"I'll bring it back up to you. You don't need it right now,"

"I do so!" I retorted, crossing my arms over his back.

By now, he had reached mine and Asher's room and gently set me down onto the plush black-sheeted bed, knowing that I was still recovering.

"What the hell is going on here?" Asher snapped, coming into the room with an angry look on his face.

Looking over at Cameron and I, I knew what it looked like. But that didn't give him the right to make accusations.

"Asher," I said softly, standing up on wobbly legs. As soon as he saw that the medication that was supposed to wear off an hour ago hadn't in fact worn off, he was at my side in a second, dispite his recent anger.

"Baby, be careful," He scolded, lifting me up and placing me back onto the bed.

As soon as I was 'safe', he became angry again, turning to Cameron. "And why were you alone in my mate's bedroom with her? And standing so close?" He growled, getting worked up again.

"Ash," I sighed, laying down against the soft pillows. "I sneaked downstairs and he carried me back up right before you got here," I muttered, avoiding his gaze.

"What do you mean, 'sneaked out'?" He said through gritted teeth. "You could've gotten hurt! You could've fell down the stairs, or tripped while down there, or-"

"Ash!" I interrupted, squeezing my eyes shut. "I'm fine,"

Opening them back up, I noticed he was staring at me intently, while Cameron looked rather uncomfortable.

"You can leave if you want, Cameron," I told him, nodding towards the door and giving him a small smile and wave.

"Thank you," He muttered, making a beeline for the door.

It was quiet for a while, before Asher finally sliced through the tense silence. "I'm sorry," He sighed, sitting down next to me on the bed and scooping me up into his arms. "I just care so much about you, and it scares me to think you could get hurt,"

A/N: Hey! Sorry for the wait. But I made it longer in apology!! :) Anyways, thanks for all the reads and votes and comments. Also, don't forget to read 'Hush'!!

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