My Atypical Wolf

"Turn around". Caleb did so reflexively and smiled to see Ashton at the gate wearing grey jeans along with a baggy brown T-shirt. He was delightfully surprised to see Ashton at his graduation. A huge smile crept on Caleb's face as he saw him leaning there. Caleb was excited to see him here, and he did not plan to hide his excitement.

Caleb ran towards him and said, "I see you are feeling better". Aston simply nodded at him before Caleb continued, "How come you are here"?

"Its graduation", Ashton shrugged.

"Not your graduation" Caleb challenged him with a smirk. "Are you here to see me"? Caleb brought his face closer to Ashton's and teased him. Ashton gave him a disgusted expression before replying, "Aren't you a bit self obsessed? I am here simply because it's graduation. Plus I took an extra shift for the break and I missed two days of it already". Ashton shrugged.

"I see", Caleb nodded. Both of them simply stared at each other comfortably before Ashton spoke up, "My mom said you were at our house? Did you need anything"?

Caleb tilted his face before replying, "Not really, I was just worried about you".

"Just because I didn't pick up your calls"? Ashton raised his eyebrows.

"That and also you ran away so abruptly the other night" Caleb snorted to which Ashton rolled his eyes, "But not just that, I could… feel something was wrong".

"Like a gut feeling"? Ashton asked derisively.

"Like a trapped feeling" Caleb nodded while he shifted his gaze to the ground trying to think of that day. "It was weird, like… I don't know the best way to describe it… but like I was suffocating. It was as if I was facing a tsunami of emotions and I was drowning in misery. As if something was tying me back, keeping me restrained, and all I wanted to do was… escape". He sighed he looked back at Ashton and said, "I had no reason to feel that way, so I assumed it must be you" He shrugged.

Ashton's eyes were fixed on Caleb as he described the feeling and suddenly he felt a bit overwhelmed. He never described to anyone the way he felt during his rut, not even to himself, and here was Caleb, describing it for him to his face. It was so accurate that it made his heart twitch. "I wish I remembered it," Ashton mumbled. "Sorry you had to feel all of that".

"Are you kidding me"? Caleb scolded him. "I am pretty sure you had it the worst, why the hell are you apologising to me"? He scoffed.

"Well, I am fine with it. It's not my first time". Ashton shrugged.

"That doesn't make your struggle any less real. Just because it has happened before doesn't mean you are fine, it simply means you are used to it. They are not the same, believe me, I know" Caleb said,with a slight indication to his heat. A tiny smile crept up at Ashton's corner of the lips for a faint moment before it disappeared.

"Anyways, it's past. Just forget it". Ashton tried to brush off and change the subject. 

"Alright, when do you get off work"? Caleb asked him.

"Why"? Ashton narrowed his eyes.

"Aren't you going to the after graduation party"? Caleb frowned.

"Party? Where"? Ashton asked him.

"At Emily's house. She is one of the humans, so kind of everyone is invited. Although I am pretty sure she just wants to show off once more before flitting off to college". Caleb mumbled.

" I have no idea where she lives, or even who she is for that matter" Ashton sighed. "Most importantly, I have no intention of going, See ya" Ashton waved at him and left. Even such a tiny interaction brought a smile to Caleb's face.

Ashton was putting on his uniform when his phone buzzed. It was a message from Caleb that had an address tagged with a message {In case you change your mind}. Ashton smirked at that before going off to work. 

The day was hectic than usual given the graduation ceremony nearby. Many students and their parents visited there at the same time making it harder for them to keep track of all the orders. At one point they literally had to refuse people due to lack of seats. Later that day, Bethany joined him in the cafeteria and once both of their shifts were over she asked him whether or not he will be going to the party.

"I can't go. I live quite far away and I don't think this outfit is appropriate" Ashton declined the offer.

"Want to borrow some of my brother's clothes? I think you guys are about the same size" She checked him out before offering. Ashton was about to say no but then Mrs Meyers popped up and said, "Kid, enjoy life while you can, at my age you won't be able to" 

Feeling outnumbered he accepted the invitation reluctantly, texted his mother and went off to Bethany's house for a change of clothes. Bethany was a wolf so her house was situated inside the pack premises. He was lucky it wasn't that far inside, but still being there made him highly self conscious. She gave him a sweatshirt, which thankfully smelled like the fabric softener they used instead of George's beta smell.

Not that it mattered but he felt lucky when he was noticed by any of the wolves apart from Bethany, who was quite excited for the party. Once he arrived at the location he was not much surprised to see how it resembled a typical high school party with lots of booze and loud music. If he felt reluctant before to come here, he was definitely regretting being here.

Bethany left him there as soon as they arrived leaving Ashton all by himself. He had no idea what to do all by himself so he found himself a comfy sofa to sit and just sat there. With the amount of craziness going on hardly anyone noticed him sitting there. He sat there for a long time quietly until a couple started to make out next to him forcing him to leave. 

He knew Caleb was supposed to be in this party as well, thus he decided to look for him. After a few minutes when he finally spotted him with his own friends laughing and having fun so he decided not to bother him. Bored and tired of the situation he decided that it was probably for the best that he left. "What a waste of time it was" Ashton mumbled on his way out.

He was a few steps away from the door when a faint sweet smell hit him. It was an omega in heat, and given the wildness of the party probably not a very safe place for going into heat. Regardless, it was none of his business so he startled to walk away until he heard a girl scream. 

Following the direction of the voice he found a girl being blocked by a few guys. He had no idea who those guys were, their faces and scent both were unfamiliar to him. One thing he did know about them though was that everyone of them were alphas and given how drunk they were, it might not end well.

He decided to interfere and called out to them, "Hey! What's going on"? 

They looked at him and in their dunken gaze one of them replied, "Get out of here kid, this ain't any of your business"! The guy who was standing face to face with the girl shouted back at him. That's when Ashton counted that there were three of them and imagined if things go south how exactly would he take care of them.

Despite being in pain, she managed to run out from there due to there momentary distraction and hide behind Ashton. That action seemed to only fuel those young Alphas and they laughed derisively.

"Don't run away from us, you know you want it" They cooed at the girl behind him as she crouched herself further behind Ashton. He turned around and asked her, "Just go home, I got this". She looked at him with timid eyes filled with tears while the background was filled with another wave of derisive laughter. 

Ashton was still looking at that girl when one of the guys tried to punch him. Sensing his approach, Ashton turned like a reflex and dodged the attack easily and blocked his fist when he tried to punch him again. Ashton had it in him to just pick him up and throw him, but he was trying to hold back given how that much strength would make him suspicious, although it was doubtful how much these drunken pieces of shi**s will remember later. 

He was so busy blocking the useless punches that he missed one of the guys behind him and thus got Ashton in a chokehold. Ashton tried to get out of it and thus let go of the fist of the other guy. Seeing this as an opportunity the guy threw another punch at Ashton, who closed his eyes out of reflex. The punch never hit his face though, and when he opened his eyes he saw his fist was held by none other than Caleb. 

Before the guy could do anything Caleb clocked him and soon enough Ashton was freed as Caleb was aided by his friends. "You alright"? Caleb turned around and asked him. Ashton nodded at him before he noticed that each of his friends, who were also wolves staring at him. Feeling uncomfortable he said, "I should probably go" and left without waiting for any reply.