In Reach?

Mira’s POV

I asked Theo to come with me, knowing that someone would have to ‘babysit’ me and because he’s the only one I would trust with this. I need to have a private talk with Ashton, and the only person I know that will guarantee that is Theo. And I really appreciated the fact that he didn’t ask questions about it, not that I even gave him much information. I just told him to take me to Ashton’s cabin. It’s like he knew, it was private to me.

When I got to the cabin, I saw Ashton walk out and look at me confused. I know why. I can still see the fading pink scar on his arm as it is healing. He should know why, why my wolf did that to him. And now I’m here, to see if he’ll admit to his faults.

“Mira?”

“Good morning Ashton. Can I come in? I want to talk to you about a few things.”

I can see a slight smile on his face, but it quickly fades when he sees my serious expression, especially a serious Theo behind me.

“Yes. Come in.” He gestures for us to come in.

I walk in and say over my shoulder, “Theo, you wait out here. Make sure no one interrupts us.”

He just nods and stands back. Ashton closes the door behind me but still looks confused.

“It’s nice to see you Mira. You look better. Yesterday was a little wild.” He rubs the healing scar.

I make my way to the couch, and look at him, so that he too can sit. He does.

But it’s quiet between the two of us now. It’s almost like he knows that this is not a friendly visit, but I don’t know how to start this out either.

I sigh. “Ashton, what are you planning to do now? Now that you have no reason to stay here.”

He looks a bit surprised by my question. “Mira? Do you want me to leave?”

“But you don’t belong here Ashton.”

“Mira?” I know he’s hurt, I can see it in his eyes. I didn’t expect it though. If he lied, why does he look hurt by hearing me say that?

“You can’t go to the council about this.”

He stands up. “You can’t expect me to just let this go. He forced his mark on you! He took you from me!”

“But I wasn’t yours to begin with.” I say calmly at him.

He’s quiet now, but he doesn’t seem to be calming down. “Mira?”

“I know Ashton. My wolf told me, when I shifted, when I saw you. All she could say over and over, was that you’re a liar. She was livid. That’s why she did that to you.” I point to his arm.

He comes forward and kneels down in front of me. “Mira you have to understand. I,…I……”

“You what?”

He looks down not knowing what to say, what to tell me.

“Was this all a game to you? Playing with my feelings, as if I mean nothing to you.”

“You mean everything to me.” He suddenly says, holding my hands and looking at me with desperate eyes. “Ever since you opened your eyes and smiled at me in that clinic room, I knew I wanted you.”

“And before that?” I slip my hands away from under his hold.

“Please Mira.”

“Is it Liam?” I hear his breath hitch.

I know that the two of them have something against each other, I just hope and pray that I am not one.

“Mira.”

“Just tell me the truth. That’s all I ask of you.”

He huffs. “Yes.”

I stand up to put distance between me and his kneeling form. But he’s quick to get up. I’m glad he’s not coming towards me though.

I can feel something pushing in the back of my mind, something warm. I think it’s Liam, but I can’t have him in on this. Not yet.

“Mira, please. It’s not like that.” He starts pacing in front of me as he wipes his face with his hand. “At first yes, I just wanted to piss him off. But then I actually met you, and, I didn’t want to let you go.”

He looks at me when he hears me chuckle. “So it was all for show, just to get at him?”

“No Mira.” He walks closer to me, but doesn’t touch me when he sees me pulling away. “Everything I had with you was real. I do care for you, and I wanted you to want me too. Mira Please.”

It’s quiet again, and when I look up at him, I know he’s telling the truth. I can see it in his eyes, the desperation, the tears. But it’s too late, it’s over anyways.

I take a step back from him. “But it’s over now. It doesn’t matter anymore. You can’t go to the council because I was never your mate to begin with. All I can do to help you out of this, is to make sure that Liam doesn’t turn this into a murder fest.”

“What?” He furrows his brows. “You want to help me?”

“This whole situation is a mess, and it’s creating a whole lot of other messes that we all need to avoid. Especially with everything happening right now. The best we can do, is to put our differences aside without any bloodshed and to move on from this as peacefully as we can.”

“So what are you suggesting?” He sits back down onto the couch.

“We’ll just have to bargain.” I lean against the wall behind me. “In exchange for you telling the truth, which you don’t have much of a choice, he must offer peace to you and your pack.”

He looks like he’s thinking it over, but making him nervous. “Do you really think he will agree to that? The moment he hears I lied, he’ll try to rip my arm off.”

“To avoid unnecessary drama and attention to his pack, yes.”

If there’s one thing I know about Liam, is that he cares for his pack more than anything. As long as everyone knows that Liam didn’t in fact steal someone’s mate, he’ll still have the full support of his members and the council, and have an ally in Ashton’s pack.

I look at Ashton as he’s smiling at me, quite sincerely. “You know. You have Luna qualities. Risking yourself for peace, for him.” He sighs as he leans back in the couch looking at me intently. “It’s him isn’t it? He’s your mate?”

I sigh, not wanting to reveal this to him, I don’t want to reveal this to anyone. “I am his mate now.”

He takes a deep as he shakes his head. “Liam always gets more than he deserves.”

But now I’m wondering, -how did he know. What made him think that taking me would hurt Liam? I didn’t even think that Liam cared for me back then. If anything, Liam only started hinting at me that he wanted me after Ashton showed up.

“How did you know?”

“Huh?”

“How did you know that trying to claim me would,…….bother Liam?”

He looks me up and down as he sighs. “You were wearing his shirt.”

Shirt?

“What?”

“The shirt you were wearing, when I found you in the clinic, it was his.”

The over-sized pyjama shirt? I thought it looked like a man’s shirt. But why was one of Liam’s shirts in my closet?

“I thought it suspicious that you would be wearing his shirt, especially because everything I was told about you pointed to you being a simple rogue. But why would a rogue wear Liam’s shirt? He isn’t the type to trust rogues, let alone have them wear his clothes. I knew you must be somewhat important to him, but he confirmed my suspicion when I saw him look at you in the garden that day.”

This is confusing. Was all of this really because of Liam?

“But how did you know it was Liam’s shirt?”

“I practically grew up with the man. I know his style, and that wasn’t Aiden’s, it definitely wasn’t one of Mason’s tank vests, it wasn’t Theo’s size, and I know that Noah hates white. So I figured it must be his.”

Wow. He thought it all through.

I giggle which is apparently confusing him a bit. “I understand now what he meant. That there is more to you than meets the eye.”

That’s when we hear mumbling outside, and I know someone is here. The strange growing pull in my stomach is making me believe it might be Liam, but I’m not sure.

“Come on. I think it’s time we sort this out.”

But before I even turn, he grabs my arm making me look back at him. “I really am sorry Mira, about all of this. I never wanted to hurt you. I really do care for you.” I just nod. “And thank you. I won’t forget this, I won’t forget you.” He says the last part in a quiet whisper.

I walk to the door with Ashton behind me, and opening it, I see Liam with an angry expression as he’s talking to Theo outside.

“Theo, you expect me to just stand here and wait? That fucker isn’t just going to stand by and watch. Do you really think he just wants to have a conversation with her?”

“Liam? What are you doing here?”

“I can ask you the same thing?” He rushes to me and holds me. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?” He says as he looks at me intently.

“I’m fine. But why are you here?” I didn’t think he would be up yet. I didn’t think he would know I’m here. But then again, Noah’s presence tells me he must have told Liam.

“I came looking for you.” Liam looks over my shoulder and I know he’s looking at Ashton. “What did he want?”

“We have to talk.” he looks back at me questioningly. But we need to do this. The sooner, the better. “I think it best we all go to your office to discuss this properly.”

“Okay.” He puts his arm over my shoulder and we start walking back to the house, and I can hear the others are following right behind us in silence.

I hate knowing that Ashton lied to me about something as serious as being his fated mate. But I’m more hurt that he did it because of Liam. Why did I have to get hurt because of him, again?