Coming Home

Chapter One: Coming Home

10 years later...

"Allison!" Ashton roared in irritation. "Hey Get your lazy ass down here right this instant or so help me Go—”

"Fine, fine. I'm coming." Allison came down with a frown on her face. Her waist-length, blonde hair bouncing around her face framing it nicely. "No need to get your panties in a twist mom," she said sassily at her mom. The smile on her face removed any sting from her words.

"Oh so it's my panties in a twist eh?" Ashton said with a c****d eye brow. Allison just looked at her mother with a cocky smile mimicking her raised eyebrow. The two stared at each other with mock glares before they bursted out laughing. "Come on. Let's go," Ashton said when they'd calmed down.

"Can we go now?" Crash called from the doorway. The two females turned to face him. He was leaning on the door post with one hand in his pocket and inspecting the nails of the other hand with a bored expression.

"And what crawled up your butt?" Allison said to her elder brother walking forwards and passing him. She went towards the RV parked outside.

"You did," Crash said pulling himself off the door post and following her outside.

Ashton watched her kids with a feeling of immense love and gratitude in her heart. They might not be her biological children, but she'd raised them.

And dang she'd done a fine job so far.

Crash had blonde hair and blue eyes like her. He even had her nose.

"He looks so much like you ..."

Ashley ...

Those had been Ashley's last words to her as she handed her little boy to her sister before taking her last breath.

"Our boy's growing so fast Ashley," she whispered. She could already feel the tears build up and threaten to spill.

"Yo mum! Yo comin 'or what?" Crash hollered out. "Let's get this s**t over with. Come on."

Ashton laughed and brushed aside her tears. The time for tears has passed. Now she could only look forward with bright eyes to a future with her kids.

She walked to the RV which her kids had fondly christened Tennison after Ben 10.

Crazy kids ...

She took one last look at the house they'd loved and lived in for the last 8 years. It had been home. Not just for them, but for numerous rogues down the years.

Like Old Sally.

Ash pulled out of the driveway chuckling as she remembered her. She'd been anything but old. It had been Crash's nickname for her and only they'd been allowed to call her that. The woman had taught them how to really live. Taught them how to mask their scents, how to fight, when to run and when to fight. She'd been a friend. More than a friend in fact.

She'd been an amazing lover.

Ashton gripped the wheel tightly. She missed her even more than she missed her sister. That was unsurprising. She'd been in love with her. Even though it has been more than three years, if she closed her eyes, she still could see her face framed by her flaming red hair. Her hauntingly beautiful blue eyes. Tanned skin ...

The worst of it all was her scent. She could always perceive it around her and her kids. That too wasn't surprising since Sally had imprinted on all of them marking them as hers. They'd been together for 2 years.

The best 2 years of her life ...

"So ... mum," Allison chipped beside her jolting her out of her reverie. "Where we going?"

"I dont know babe," she replied honestly. A calm silence settled in the vehicle for a while and only the sound of the engine could be heard as Ashton navigated through the New York traffic.

"I HATE Alphas," Allison shrieked suddenly beside her mum warning a chuckle from her mum and a sigh from her brother. "They're so ... so ... so ... FULL OF s**t !!!"

"Tell me about it," Ash mutters darkly with venom in her voice. Twice, she'd had to move places. And both times it was because of an Alpha. And both times, she'd had her heart broken by them. Directly and indirectly. The two children glanced nervously at their mother. They'd never seen this side to her.

"Will the others be coming?" Crash asked uneasily. He meant the others they'd left behind. The rogues. They, too, were rogues. Crash and Allison, from an early age, had been taught by their mother, who and what they were and over time, they'd met with others like them.

Rogues. Wolves without a pack.

Ashton glanced at him quickly before settling her eyes back on the road. "I don't know yet," she answered. "I was thinking we go first and scout out the new area. You know, fund somewhere safe for all of us to settle down. "

"Somewhere without an Alpha," Allison muttered making her mother chuckle.

"Yes baby," Ashton said messing her hair up a bit. "Somewhere without an Alpha." This made Crash to snort.

"There's no disdain place in this country that doesn't have an Alpha."

"How do you know that?" Allison asked scrunching up her nose.

"I saw James map," Crash replied smugly. James was like an uncle to them. And Ashton's "Beta". Allison's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You entered Uncle Jay's room ?!" she shrieked gleefully. Crash just nodded before nothing "Yep" to his sister.

"Oh," Allison said pausing for a bit before turning to Crash with wide, adoring eyes. "What was it like inside his room?"

****

The ride had been long and exhausting for the three if them but eventually, Ashton found a place. It wasn't really anywhere, but it would do.

She glanced down at her children and a faint smile crossed her face as she saw them asleep. Allison was in Crash's arms and he had her surrounded with them. He'd place a hand on top of the sisters head and rested his head on it . All in all, All is in had the best sleeping arrangement. Crash was definite going to gave a sprained neck tomorrow.

Ashton chuckled. He was going to give his sister hell for it tomorrow even though this was the best way for her to sleep. Not that he won't do it again. Crash loved his sister. Even more than his mother and this worried Ash .

Because Allison might look—and talk tough—but she was one big softie. And Crash indulged her. To a fault. To an outsider, he was just a regular older brother. But when you got the inside gist, you saw how wildy protective the two were of one another. They reminded her if how she and her siblings had been.

Once upon a time...

Shaking herself from her thoughts she came down from the vehicle and looked around. It was a wide open area on the edge of No Man's land. Highly indefensible except for the fact that two Alphas were on either side of the territory. She'd spent more than half what she'd earned in the last 3 years buying this land. But she wasn't ready to build anything on it. Not for a long time. Not when the Alphas on either side of her could wake up one day and demand she leave "'Cos she's too much of a threat." She snarled at the memory. It's not like they'd done anything wrong. She'd kept her rogues in line. They didn't cross the boundaries unless they absolute had too and they always told her first and then she informed the packs involved.

But if she was being honest, the Alphas couldn't be blamed for kicking her out. When she'd first arrived there, her "pack" had consisted of just she, Crash and Allison's birth mother who'd died 6 months later when other rogues attacked them. Now, they were roughly 100.

That's a lot of rogues to have lying around at your doorstep as an Alpha. Plus the fact that she wasn't actually an Alpha—just someone the rogues respected enough to lead them, made their position all the more precarious.

She looked around with a grimace and groaned running her tattooed arms back and forth over her short, cropped hair rapidly. She hadn't wanted to come here. Of all the places in the country the Council could have given her, they gave her this one.

Why?!

She inhaled the sweet, clean air. At least, he hadn't polluted Georgia's air supply. But all in all, she knew this was the best she could get for her wolves so she'd make do with it. Too bad it was dangerously close to his pack.

Tomorrow, she'd call her pack members to come and the next week, she'll take them over to meet the Alphas.

She went back into the RV and picked the two kids up and sucked in her breath as she stumbled from the weight.

"f**k, you guys are heavy. What the f**k are you eating?" She muttered quietly.

"Food," Crash whispered softly and went back to sleep.

"Are you still awake Aiden?" She whispered but he'd already fallen back to sleep. "Tch," she muttered under her breath and caught herself.

I've been watching too many animes with these kids!

She took them into the living area of ​​the RV and put them to bed. Changed their clothes and tucked them in then she went and got herself a beer. And sat outside.

She was quiet and sad. She didn't want to come back here. She knew she wasn't ready to face him. She couldn't do it.

Yes you can...

The sound was soft. Like a soft breeze but she knew she'd heard something.

"It's that voice again," Siaren said.

"Don't worry yourself about what is going on child."

Ashton jumped up smashing the bottle in her hands and looked around her. Her head had shifted into its wolf form and she looked more monster-like. Her fingernails had elongated inti claws and she snarled a deep blood-curdling snarl.

"Show yourself NOW!" Ashton growled crouching down. Her lips were peeled back showing her fangs and her ears were flat against her skull. The hairs on the back of her head stood on end as her golden iris' focused on her surroundings. She sniffed the air.

Nothing. No smell. And from the way the voice sounded—like it was coming from all around her—the person wasn't here or at least didn't have a body.

This manner of approach ...

"Is it you Brianna?" She asked still in an attack position. Brianna was a 1000 year old vampire she'd met during one of her jobs.

Both of them were bounty hunters and close friends. Though Bri—as she often called her—was "retired".

There was chuckle. Light and friendly. Definitely feminine. But it wasn't Bri.

"Who I am matters not," the mysterious voice said. "What is most important is that you accept the road you're on child. Just trust me. I'll never let you go wrong."

"Why should I listen to you?" Ashton asked puzzled. For the moment, her annoyance temporarily forgotten. Suddenly, she was enveloped by a warmth and she immediately calmed down. She closed her eyes inhaling and her wolf retreated back. The warmth filled every pore of her being and "opened" her mind. And then ....

She saw...