4. Why Have You Been Watching Me?

Alex's POV

I awoke the next morning surrounded by the sweetest scent of vanilla cupcakes mixed with plants. A soft smile found its way to my lips as I recognized that I was seemingly in the center of the aroma, but faded as soon as I opened my emerald green eyes. Ash's hoodie had ended up on my face in the middle of the night.

'This isn't good! If my suspicions are correct, this is really, really bad. It shouldn't even be possible,' I thought, my heartbeat immediately speeding up. 'But he's mine, so I'll have to deal.'

I walked back into the direction of the school through the just lightening forest, enjoying the way the cool air caressed my skin. The leaves that crunched underneath my sore feet were still slightly damp after the morning dew. I tried not to fan girl over the clothing I was wearing, but they still smelt like Ash and I adored it.

Once I entered the school, I began to make my way to my first block class, feeling giddy that I would see the other teen. I sat down in my assigned chair and waited for Ash to walk through the wooden door.

As expected, Ash stepped through just as the tardy bell rang loudly through the near silent hallway. He carried with him his usual dark aura, but I could see beneath it this time. Now, instead of seeing a rude, uncaring bad boy, I saw a soft boy with a rough outer shell, as if showing his past, unknown hardships.

He slumped down into his seat and began to get out his navy blue binder, meanwhile I began to feel excited when his pitch black hair, slightly curled at the tips, fell gently over his eyes.

Suddenly, I came down from my mood high and immediately began to think about the bad sides of having Ash as my mate.

'If having a human as my mate is awful in wolf culture, I'm fairly certain that a vampire is worse. Especially since he's a male.'

However, it seemed that the good outweighed the bad. I finally had a mate, I might not be alone in the world forever! Also, the person I was paired with forever was pretty hot. Once the teacher started class, it was certainly harder to focus on the lecture we were getting about shutting up. I could hardly keep my eyes off of Ash, noticing the small things he did when he though no one was watching. Every once and awhile, he would reach up to his bangs and twirl a single strand between his long, pale fingers. After 30 minutes, he pulled out a small drawing pad and began to make deft strokes with his number two pencil. Finally, the bell rang for second block, ending my creepy staring.

I walked into gym smiling because I would get to see Ash run. A few people asked me why I was smiling as hard as I was, but I played it off as being happy to be in gym, which wasn't entirely untrue. I got into the locker room and began to get changed without talking to anyone, finishing within a minute and walking out into the main area of the gym to wait for class to begin.

Once again, Ash walked through the door with a few seconds to spare. I couldn't help but wonder where he went. I assumed that he was having a conversation with Bradley, and I felt slightly jealous that he was spending a ton of his time with another boy. I wondered if Ash knew that his best friend had a crush on him, it wasn't too hard to notice by the way Brad looked at him, just like a piece of meat to be devoured.

Then I started thinking about devouring his cute little ass, which was a bad rabbit hole that I pulled myself out of as quickly as I went down. By the time I was done with my thoughts, class had started. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that we were doing health today, and even found myself to be slightly disappointed. If there was something that I missed from the pack, other than the people of course, it was training and the fact that there was always a specific schedule.

I was certainly feeling the whole 'Everything happens for a reason' vibe, because if I had never been kicked out, I wouldn't have found my mate. So, I did the only logical thing I could think of. I vowed to myself that no matter what, I would become Ash's friend, with the hope of being more, of course.

***

The end of the day was rolling around and I still hadn't had the chance to have a civilized conversation with Ashton. Every time I tried, the boy would either walk away from me or talk to Brad. Finally, fourth block had begun.

Winston basically stalked into the classroom, seemingly upset about something.

"You're late!" the teacher called from the front of the room.

"Yep," he replied, walking to the opposite side of the classroom from me and sitting down with a few complete strangers.

'I guess he still hates me because I don't hate vampires. Dang.'

"Your only friend despises you now? That's pathetic," Bradley snickered from across the table, shocked when Ash didn't join in on his laughing.

"We had a disagreement on a certain... topic," I responded smoothly.

"What topic?"

"None of your business."

We had an heated stare off which was soon interrupted by Ash telling Brad to cut it off.

"Bro, don't you hate him too?" Brad asked him angrily.

"I mean, yeah, but we have to pay attention to class."

Brad sent one more glare in my direction before he turned around to listen to the teacher. Ashton gave me a look that said, 'We'll talk about all of this later,' before also turning towards the smart board to watch the video about basic programming that ran on the screen.

A tiny frown played on his slightly pink, super kissable lips and I couldn't help but wonder why it was there. Did my mate actually hate me, or was he confused about his feelings towards me? I began to feel nervous, thinking that the other teen would reject me and leave me alone in this unfamiliar world to be an alien forever.

The bell rang shrilly through the classroom and I packed up my things promptly, desperate to get out of the stuffy classroom and into the sunny, fresh outside world. Just as I was about to leave, I saw Ashton gesture for me to follow. I changed course and followed him out of the back entrance of the school and into the forest that we had met in the previous day.

"Alright, listen up, trash," he started, his harsh tone making me flinch. However, I really enjoyed that this mate was overly feisty. "I have two questions for you. First off, why do you insist on starting conflicts with my friend. Secondly, why the hell have you been watching me all day?"