Author's Note: More on who Ash will be in here! Read up!
Chapter Twenty-One
Fortunately, for Kate, Crystal's voice rang out above her and Ash's conversation. "Cyrus is awake!" she announced.
Moments later, CJ came running towards the group with the herbs Crystal had requested. He set them down in front of Cyrus, and Crystal immediately took them up and held them up to Cyrus's face so that he would breathe in their relaxing scent.
"Just breathe slowly and relax," Crystal soothed him. "The last thing we need is you passing out again."
"Again?" Cyrus asked through heavy panting. "What happened?"
Meanwhile, Ash was not going to let up on his latest treasure. He completely ignored the wolf in need that was in front of him, and positioned himself between Cyrus and Kate's line of vision. "So anyway, Ms. Hot Stuff," he began, "I was thinking, you know, you and me and some caribou one day before or after training."
Kate had absolutely no idea how to respond to what Ash was doing. She thought that she was not romantically interested… but Ash was pretty sexy looking. And he would be a fully trained alpha like her. Maybe… just maybe… Humphrey was not the best option. Right now, however, it was not the main concern. The main concern was the injured wolf in front of them, and Kate did not enjoy how Ash was completely ignoring the situation, using it to his advantage in order to win a date with her!
"Look, Mister," Kate started. "I don't know what you may think you're trying to do here, but it is not appealing! There is a critically injured wolf right in front of us and it's all my fault! So if you'll excuse me, I need to go and apologize." Kate turned her tail to Ash and started walking away from him.
"Oh come on!" Ash continued. "Apologize? Really? That's for losers, Kate, not pretty little winners like you!"
Kate ignored Ash and walked up to Cyrus, who was beginning to calm down and slowly adjusting to his new surroundings.
"Here's Kate," Crystal said to Cyrus when he saw her approaching. "She'll explain to you what happened, and hopefully apologize." Crystal glared at Kate when she said "hopefully."
Kate sat down next to Cyrus. "Um, hey," she began.
"Hi," Cyrus simply said.
Kate nervously breathed in and then continued, jumping straight to the reason she had come over to him and away from Ash. "Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened in the relay race and all. I was being really selfish and not working with my team like I should have been. I should have helped you up from that tough spot you were in when you asked me to, and I should have let everyone work with me instead of just leaving everyone idle. It was not the least bit responsible. And then I was just plain stupid when I jumped to that root with the stone in my mouth."
Cyrus could not help but chuckle at Kate calling herself "just plain stupid."
Kate smiled when she saw that Cyrus was chuckling. This gave her the confidence that he would probably end up forgiving her in the end. "So what I'm trying to say is, I'm really sorry for everything I caused today. And I think I may finally have learned my lesson."
Cyrus smiled back at Kate. "I forgive you."
Kate was a little surprised at how quick Cyrus was to forgive her. She knew he would probably end up forgiving her in the future, but she did not expect it to be so quick. "Really?" she asked doubtfully. "I mean, I kind of almost killed you. You don't want to get back at me or take out your anger in any way?"
Cyrus shook his head. "Are you kidding me? Why would I stay mad at you? The only thing that would cause is me losing a friend."
At the mention of the word "friend," Kate's face brightened up. "You wanna be friends?" she confirmed what she had heard.
"Of course! I can't stay mad at you, or anyone really for that matter! It would just give me a huge headache!"
What a sweetheart… Kate thought. Cyrus's personality was definitely bringing back memories of joy regarding Humphrey. "Thanks Cyrus," she finally said and she leaned down to hug him.
Veronica, the wolf that had helped Crystal to revive Cyrus, had been watching the whole scene. She was relieved, of course, when she saw that Cyrus had awoken. "I'm just glad we did NOT have to do mouth-to-mouth respiration," she said loud enough for all to hear.
Every wolf that heard her laughed at this comment. No one really wanted to witness that on their second day of Alpha School.
"Okay everyone!" Crystal said. "You are all dismissed. We've had enough training and experiences for one day."
Little by little, the wolves that were gathered around began to make their way back to their dens. Kate was going to head back to hers that she shared with Carly and Nicki, but she decided to drop in a "good job," to some of the wolves she vaguely knew from other teams that had beaten her. It would show that she was learning her lesson as well as make others feel good about themselves. Eventually, she found Robert and Satham over to the side, getting ready to head back to their den. She knew that they had been the victims of Ash's cheating, so she decided to go give them a "good job," or some other compliment like that.
"Hey guys," she greeted as she sat next to them.
"Hey, um, Kate, right?" Robert confirmed he had her name right.
"That's me," Kate said. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you two know that I liked your way of working together back there on top of the cliff. If I had thought things out more, I might have been able to do something like it with someone on my team. So, good job, I guess."
"Thanks," Robert replied. "Satham and I thought of that simultaneously as soon as we got up there and saw the terrain we'd be facing."
"Vell, I thought ov it and he vas quick to agree," Satham explained in his distinct Russian accent.
"Yeah yeah…" Robert rolled his eyes knowing it was true.
And right at that moment, the one wolf Kate did NOT want to congratulate joined the group. "Move it, Russian!" he rudely shoved Satham over so he could talk to Kate.
Kate noticed a deep growl starting from within Robert and his left eye shifted to a blood red shade. Uh-oh… she thought.
"Hey Babe," Ash started his flirting up from where he had left off earlier, "did you ever think of a time we could share some caribou together?"
"You two are going to date?" Robert asked under a growl.
"That's right!" Ash smiled mischievously.
"NO! We're not!" Kate confirmed.
"Okay, vhat's going on here?" Satham stepped back from the wolves and ran over to get Crystal's attention.
"Sure we are, Babe," Ash continued. "You know you want to…" he winked at Kate again.
Kate could not believe she had even questioned her love with Humphrey now! Of course he was the best option! What other wolf was as kind, sweet, loving, fun, and actually caring as he was? Ash was just a jerk! Nothing but a bully and a player who was asking for trouble! "Ash, I would not date a heartless bully and complete jerk like you ever in my life!"
Then Ash took things one paw-step too far. He put his arm around Kate and started stroking one of her shoulder blades. "Just chill, Kate. You can be my girl, and we'll live happily ever after."
"GET YOUR FREAKING PAWS OFF ME!" Kate yelled in a voice that very much resembled her mother's fits.
"Whoa! Baby, calm down," Ash kept trying. He rubbed his head on the side of hers.
That's it! Kate thought. She jerked out of Ash's grasp and bit his ear as hard as she could. "Leave me alone!"
"OW! GEEZ!" Ash yelped in pain and felt teeth marks in his right ear. He pushed Kate to the ground in anger.
Kate whimpered as she fell to the cold, hard ground. How could one wolf be trying to "love" you one moment and shoving you to the ground the next? She did not have time to answer her own question though. When she looked up, she saw Robert leaping on top of Ash and pinning him to the ground. For a moment, it looked like Robert would kill Ash instantly. But Kate looked closer and saw that Robert was saying something to him.
"You leave Kate, me, Satham, my friends, and anyone else in this Alpha School alone, got it?!" Robert said as he pushed his paws down onto Ash's throat.
Ash snapped his teeth and did not answer.
"I'm not letting go until you agree!" Robert informed him.
Ash did not respond. Finally, he choked out "I'm not gonna let someone like you tell me what to do! Now get off of me!"
Robert would not have gotten off of Ash, if Crystal had not knocked him off herself. "Break it up you two!" she yelled.
Ash got back on his four paws and looked like he was about to tackle Robert again. He lowered himself down, getting ready to pounce, but was stopped by an affirmative paw from Crystal.
"Chill! Both of you just chill!" she commanded. "This is Alpha School where we train to lead and defend the pack! We are not going to be fighting each other! Am I clear?"
Robert nodded his head, but Ash ignored her.
"Am I clear?!" she yelled again.
Reluctantly, Ash nodded his head in agreement.
"Good! Now get back to your dens, and get some sleep. I don't want to see either of you until breakfast time tomorrow!" she said. Robert started to head towards his den, but Crystal caught Ash before he could leave. She turned his face towards hers and looked straight into his flaming yellow eyes. "If you cause any more trouble like this, you are out of Alpha School! Got it?"
Ash nodded his head with a growl.
"Shut the growl up!" Crystal said.
Ash stopped growling.
"Good. Now get to your den, and stay there until you here my howl tomorrow for breakfast."
Kate was wide eyed, and still lying on the ground, from what she had just seen! She had never seen Crystal so authoritative! The Alpha School instructor turned towards Kate. "Are you alright?" she asked.
Kate pulled herself off of the ground. "Yeah, I'm fine" she said.
"Okay. Good! Looks like that Ash guy is trouble, doesn't it?"
"I'll say!" Kate rubbed the shoulder Ash had put his paw around.
"Did he hurt you?" Crystal said shocked.
"Well, not really, it was just kind of traumatizing." Kate told a partial lie. She did not want Crystal getting in on her personal life right now.
"Okay. I'm so sorry this had to happen! If I can find any way at all, I'm expelling Ash from Alpha School. Your dad would be the first to agree with me that this behavior is not accepted in the Western Pack and it will not be tolerated." She paused for a second to look Kate over. "You sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine," Kate lied.
"Alright. Go get your sleep, and I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast. There's some leftover meat if you want dinner. Or I can bring it to your den," Crystal offered.
"No, really, it's fine! And I'm not hungry anyway," Kate informed.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow morning." And with that, Crystal left Kate alone.
Kate looked up to the sky seeking stress relief. The sky had long since clouded over, and looked as if it may rain. But surprisingly, rain was not what fell from the clouds. Snow came instead. Kate looked around as the white, fluffy stuff started to cover everything around her. Well, she thought, now I know how something can be cold, wet, and flaky all at the same time. She caught a snowflake on her muzzle and stared at it for a while, before finally licking it off to taste it. Kate could not help but giggle at the thought of herself doing this.
Author's Note: WOW! Ash is a full out bully and a jerk! Hmm… This might be interesting. Hehe…
Let me know in a review! Tell me how much you hate Ash… you know… kind of like what you did for Christina in Garth's Story. ;-) Thanks guys!
Veronica is from ChineseChestBreach
Crystal is from AaOWaSaCD4ever
Robert is from Crowwolf
Satham is from Dead Wolf Walking
Cyrus is from Shen's General.
Thanks guys! Don't forget to review! We need to give Ash his fair share of hate mail! Haha!