My Atypical Wolf

On his way back Ashton wondered if he should get Caleb something; something that would break the awkwardness between them that rose ever since their date. That is when he realised that he didn't know much about Caleb's interests. He liked him, but he never expressed much interest in others personal stuff since he mostly preferred keeping to himself.

This was one of the things that he probably needed to change if they were dating. Maybe he should start taking interest in him, and share his own inner turmoil from time to time. Maybe admitting the truth about why he behaved last night like that would make things better. 

He went to the gift shop to get him something. According to what Ashton knew, Caleb liked taking leadership, loved his pack and loved to play football. He talked his brains trying to figure out amongst these what would be the best gift. A football seems like a great gift, but also a bit useless given he was graduated and Caleb probably wouldn't play all by himself. Frustrated he sighed so loud that the receptionist noticed him and felt bad for him. 

"Is there anything I can do for you"? She asked him politely. 

"Do you have anything...wolf themed"? Ashton asked reluctantly. 

She looked taken aback by the request a little bit, given her human status. "I will see what I can find". And she left. 

He stood there all by himself waiting for her to bring something while he looked around the room. She returned with a poster of a sandy brown wolf and presented it to him. While technically wolf themed he failed to understand exactly how it could be a gift material for Caleb. Maybe he should keep it as a backup in case he fails to find anything else.

"Is that it"? He asked.

"Well…" she hesitated. "Can you tell me exactly what kind of gift you are looking for? Maybe I can help better if I know. Is it a romantic gift? Friendly gift? Or for a little cousin or something…?" she asked.

"Romantic" Ashton declared. 

"So, she likes wolves"? She asked him.

"He" Ashton clarified. "And yes, my boyfriend finds them fascinating". He declared proudly. 

"I see" she smiled awkwardly. "Um, we don't usually keep much romantic stuff that would be wolf themed, but I do have a few key chains with wolves". She offered. Ashton nodded at her, encouraging her to show them. She brought him a tray filled with Keychains. She selected out the wolf one one by one. 

Some of them were simply flat templates of the faces, while a few were miniature models of the whole animal. Amongst them he saw a pitch black wolf and another with a white one. If he got them both, would it be considered as something like a couples gift? He wondered.

Nevertheless, he bought them, having liked it far more than that poster earlier and headed off to home with enthusiasm. Instead of going to his own room he went straight to Caleb's. He was surprised to see the door locked and wondered what could have possibly happened. 

He decided to ask the twins, who were very fond of Caleb, to see if they knew where he was. Given the fact that they were in the school earlier this day as well, even they had no idea where Caleb was. Hesitantly, he sent him a text, not daring to link him to bother his privacy. A minute later a received a reply with a map locations and a text saying {out of town, urgent pack business}

Feeling dejected, he walked towards his own room, when he ran into Christian. He hesitated for a moment before deciding to ask him about Caleb's whereabouts properly. Christian described to him everything about the banquet which seemed to make Ashton more tense for some reason. It wasn't that Christian didn't notice Ashton's change in demeanor, he chose to ignore it believing that it would be intrusive.

Ashton after clearing his throat spoke, "I know you are not thrilled about me dating Caleb, but I was wondering-"

"You are right, I am not". Christian cut him off in the middle. "Which is why for your sake I suggest you don't bring up the subject so easily" Ashton shut his mouth. He knew he wouldn't be accepted by Caleb's family so easily, but that didn't make it any easier on him. Maybe he had hoped Christian would be the most accepting? Although, Ashton wouldn't let their disapproval stop him from dating Caleb. 

Before he could feel further upset, he received a quick, "But if you hurt my brother, I will skin you alive". from Christian, who left immediately. Ashton found himself musing at his brother's words before heading off to the room. He waited for Caleb to show up for a while, before he decided to immerse himself in his homework. It was hard to not feel anxious at all. It hasn't been even a day since he last saw Caleb, and he already missed him like crazy. 

Things like this made him realize how hard it was going to be to keep to himself, to control himself around Caleb. It also made him worry that what would happen if ever Caleb got caught with him during his rut. Having no control of himself during his rut, he simply hoped that Caleb  would never have to encountered him during that time.

~~~~~

After a hectic journey and constant whining from his trip mate Matt, Caleb wanted nothing more than to take a refreshing shower and head straight off to bed. However, fixing the Catering took so long that he didn't get anything else done today. Which meant he had to work much more to get everything done in time. 

Dropping off Matt at his house, who didn't spare him from the lecture for all the reasons he hated being friends with Caleb, Matt bid his farewell by saying, "see you later". 

Upon returning he saw Ashton waiting for him in the front door. With the day he had, he forgot everything that happened the day before, he simply went ahead and pecked him on the lips, as it was very normal in this situation to so before saying. "I have soo much to do. I will spend time with you later". And vanished. 

Ashton, who was still recovering from the sudden burst of affection, stared as he simply let Caleb walk away. Ashton wondered if he should just let it go, or should he bring up the subject when they have more time. It seemed Caleb was okay now, or maybe it was simply because he was busy. Nevertheless, there is nothing he could do now so he simply went back to his room. 

After taking the hot shower, he sat down on his bed calling all the services one by one, few of which were closed for the day, leaving him with no other option than to wait for tomorrow. Stretching, he lay on the bed and tried to organize his thoughts and make a mental schedule of how he would proceed.

Somewhere along his thoughts,Caleb's exhaustion caught up with him, and he drifted off to sleep. Next time he woke up was at 4 o' clock in the morning when he really had to pee. Feeling still very sleepy, he wanted to doze off once more, until he realized that he had tons of work to do. For instance, the very first thing he needed to arrange was some cars that would pick up the out of town guests. 

The first flight that would arrive today was this afternoon, which gave him some time to arrange something. He asked, few of the pack members, including his friends if they were willing to pick them up. Being still early in the morning, it would take them some time to wake up, so he decided to get something to eat since he skipped last night's meal and his stomach was growling at him.

The kitchen was well lit as the cooks were preparing various meals. Given their inconsistent work hours the workload here was divided into two shifts of the day, 12hour each. That made sure that whenever they needed anything they could access it without overworking the servants. 

Most of his friends responded with the excuse that they were busy, feeling frustrated he decided to bring Matt once more and adding Ashton to the party to pick them up. There were total five families that were arriving, and thus after setting multiple cars he drove to the airport.

While they waited they decided to get some refreshments. Most of the time it was Caleb chatting with Matt, while Ashton remained quiet unsure of his presence here. Being weekend he was free, but soon he wished he had something else to do than spend his time here. When they were waiting, being the leader, Caleb stood in front of the gate while Matt and Ashton flanked him on each side.

As soon as the doors opened a strong gush of various scents reached their nostrils, while they weren't much of a bother to Caleb, the scent was burning to Ashton and Matt. A sense of alarm spread through his body as one particular scents amongst the many reached its peak. A man, in his mid to late twenties appeared followed by multiple bodyguards. Was he some businessman or what? Ashton wondered. 

The scent was way too strong for a common Alpha, which is when he realised that this Alpha, just like Ashton was a pureblooded one.