Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Control

Caleb ran to the pack house as fast as he could, once he left St Demoir’s. He was frustrated with the way things turned out, and honestly a little bit scared as he found out Rexford was aware of his secret. Did he tell the others? He wondered. How long did he have before others figure out his secret as well? Was it even worth it to keep this secret anymore? He wondered.

Lately, ever since he had a spat with Ashton, he felt like things were going out of control. Sure, he assumed stuff like this would happen to them sooner or later, but he didn’t fathom how this would screw things up. He always assumed he would find a way out, like he always did with Ashton before. He was pretty good at getting through Ashton’s head after all. This time however, his mate seemed adamant.

He went straight to Ashton’s room instead of his own as soon as he crossed the front door. In fact, even upstairs, Caleb barged into Ashton’s room as if he was about to yell at Ashton. Fortunately for Ashton, and unfortunately for Caleb, Ashton was not in his room. ‘Where are you’? Caleb found himself wondering out loud.

He focused his linking and tried to connect to Ashton. The permission required to link to other members of the pack was not something that was applicable when it came to them. Maybe that’s the reason why mates were so vulnerable to each other. However, it seemed Ashton was yet to be aware of Caleb’s presence in his head, and Caleb decided to keep it that way.

He saw familiar surroundings once he connected. The place, albeit it’s wilderness, radiated a sense of calm. On a proper run down on his memory lane he recalled where that place was and decided to head out there.

After finding his way through the bushes he gazed at Ashton from his back, who himself was lost in his thoughts as he stared aimlessly at the distance. Caleb pondered upon why Ashton seemed so lost. He recalled in his head how Ashton hesitated the first time they were here. Thinking back, Ashton always did his best to hold back just not to end up hurting Caleb. Maybe, Caleb shouldn’t have pushed him the other day?

“Ashton”? He called out prompting him to look back. Even with a blank face, there was a tinge of surprise on Ashton’s eyes, confused that how did Caleb know where he was. The lack of Caleb’s smell, and the lack of attention from Ashton prevented him detecting his mate’s presence earlier.

.....

“Why are you here”? Ashton asked after a moment.

“We need to talk”! Caleb declared. Ashton looked away, so Caleb approached him, forcing him to look him in the eyes as he continued further. “Look, I agree, I don’t exactly understand why you are so bothered but if we don’t talk about it then what happens to us”?

“We will be fine”. Ashton declared. “I won’t let this happen ever again”. He gritted his teeth.

“By never having sex”? Caleb rolled his eyes and received a momentary glare from Ashton. Soon enough, he looked away once more. “Listen, I know you lost a little bit of control, but did you ever know why I didn’t stop you”? He raised his voice.

“Because it wouldn’t have mattered anyways”? Ashton suggested.

“Please”. Caleb scoffed. “If I wanted I could have thrown you off easily. Your inner wolf might be stronger than me, but it’s dumber”. Ashton snapped his neck and looked him directly at his face with an unamused glare. “It’s true. I have defeated you twice in our wolf forms”. Caleb supported his earlier argument.

“What’s your point”? Annoyed, Ashton asked.

“My point is, no matter how much out of control you were, you didn’t do anything I didn’t agree on. I wasn’t the one who was out of control and I was aware of everything that happened. You need to stop blaming yourself. If we are to regret what happened the other day, we are both to blame”! Caleb insisted.

Ashton looked back at him with a softer expression. For a moment Caleb’s heart was filled with hope as he felt that he finally managed to get through Ashton. But soon enough Ashton looked away earning him a frustrated sigh from his mate.

“If we can’t figure out such silly things, how are we supposed to be mates?” Caleb asked. His voice quivered a bit at the end. It was as if his fear was coming true. That Ashton would regret mating with him.

Ashton looked back at Caleb and simply stared at him. He could feel that he was hurting his mate, which in turn was hurting him, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. A part of him wanted to figure everything out before he proceeded with their relationship, and a part of him just wanted to hug his mate and comfort him.

The battle between these two parts went on for a few seconds. Finally the later won and Ashton engulfed Caleb in a giant embrace. Caleb returned that hug enthusiastically and both of them remained like that for a long while. Caleb buried his face on Ashton’s shoulders and savoured the moment as much as he could. “I am sorry for hurting you. Both then and now”. Ashton mumbled in between the hug.

“To be fair, I wasn’t exactly easy on you. I remember clawing your back”. Caleb teased making Ashton’s eyes go wide. As mentioned before, Ashton barely remembered what happened the other night, which is why he didn’t remember getting clawed. But now he realised why his back stung so much in the morning.

“And here I thought only I have a problem with controlling myself”. Ashton snickered.

“You were right. I did them on purpose, as a revenge.” Caleb joked and both of them ended up laughing.

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“So... we are good”? Once they were both quieted down, Caleb asked.

“Yeah”. Ashton nodded. Snaking his hand onto Caleb’s neck he pulled him in for a deep passionate kiss. Maybe Ashton still won’t be able to control himself, but for now he was willing to take a leap of faith in their relationship and was willing to work on it in a more productive way. In a way which won’t hurt them like this, both physically and emotionally.

After a while when their lips finally separated their foreheads made contact with each other as they savoured the moment. Gradually they opened their eyes and simply stared at each other. No words left their lips yet millions of words were spoken at that moment.

“You know what we should do”? After a moment Caleb prompted.

“What”?

“Cross this water once more”. Caleb shrugged.

“You sure”? Ashton’s brow scrunched. Caleb nodded at him so Ashton began to take off his clothes.

“Whoa”! Caleb shouted.

“What”? Ashton frowned. “It’s not like I have other clothes with me, I need these if I don’t want to return home naked.”

“Yeah but... don’t you hide in the bushes or something”? Caleb reminded him.

Ashton thought for a moment before he replied, “That was before you saw me naked. It doesn’t really matter anymore”. Ashton shifted without waiting further and motioned Caleb to hop in. Caleb shook his head and mumbled “This time, I am doing this on my own. I will come after you”. He motioned with his arm.

Ashton linked him and asked, [That might not be the best idea. My wolf form is way bigger than yours, you might not make it.]

Caleb frowned, clearly offended. “Hey, I will have you known that I am way faster than you are. You might have the advantage of size, but I have advantage of speed.” He argued.

[Suit yourself] Ashton’s wolf low-growled at him before making the jump. At the other shore he turned around and looked at Caleb. Even from far Ashton could make out a smirk on Caleb’s face as he took a few steps back. He shifted at the farthest point and ran towards the edge. He was just as inch away from the shore when he made a jump for it.

Indeed his speed gave him a good edge as his leap was bigger that Ashton anticipated. Ashton was oddly satisfied that he was wrong, but too bad it didn’t stay for long as Caleb dropped just before he reached the shore, literally just a few inches away.

[CALEB!] Ashton screamed through the link as he bowed over the edge to look for his mate. It is hard to spot anything with the heavy flow of water. Ashton called out to his mate quite a few times but to no avail. When Ashton was about to jump in he saw the white wolf emerge from the water. From the looks of it, it seemed Caleb had things under control as he swam over to the other side.

One would think that this misadventure would make him feel annoyed, but Caleb was laughing once he changed back into his human form. He didn’t abandon the river and supported himself on the edge.

In his wolf form Ashton ran down to him and changed back to his human form before joining him in the water. “You should have taken my offer”. Ashton blurted.

“Nah”. Caleb chuckled. “This was way more fun”.