*Asherah's POV*

"Hey," I yawned as I walked into the kitchen. My mom was sitting on my dad's lap as they drank their coffee and read the paper. Christina and Alexander were eating their breakfast.

My parents looked up from the paper at the same time. "How did you sleep?" My dad asked as he stood up, taking my mom with him. He placed her feet on the floor and walked over to me. His hands went to my face to check the bruises.

"I slept great." I lied. I was up all night with my phone. I turned it on silent to keep him from hearing it. The light from the phone calls kept me up.

"That bad?" Alex asked me with his mouth full.

I threw him a warning glance, but he didn't look at me. My dad caught it instead.

"Ash, you okay?"

I nodded and sat down, grabbing the box of cereal to pour into my bowl.

The room was silent, but I heard the footsteps behind me as my parents silently left the room.

When I couldn't take the silence anymore I looked up to see my brother and sister watching me with wide-eyes.

"What?" I asked, sitting back in my chair.

Christina opened her mouth to say something, but my dad's voiced echoed through the house.

"Asherah Renee!" He yelled as he barged through the house.

I jumped to my feet and spun towards the kitchen door.

"Did you go through my stuff?" I shrieked.

He threw the phone on the table behind me. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"And you looked through my phone?"

"Asherah, this isn't something to brush off. Why aren't you worried about this?" My mom said quietly behind my dad.

"Because you don't need to overreact. I'll ignore him and he'll go away."

My dad snorted and took my phone, placing it in his pocket.

"That's mine!" I called after him.

He shrugged and walked out of the kitchen.

"Dad!"

"You can have it back when he stops calling for a full twenty-four hours."

I stomped my feet as I walked back to finish my breakfast. I wasn't going to win a fight against him. Not when he was that mad.

"Call the house phone." I heard my dad say to someone. I looked at both my brother and sister since they had better hearing than I did.

Christina sighed and got up to clean her plate. "It's Ethan. He called your phone. Dad told him to-" she was cut off by the phone ringing. "It's for you." She smiled and threw the phone at me.

"Hey, Ethan!"

"Hey, Ash. Just checking up on you. I'm guessing things aren't much different since your father has your phone."

"Everything's fine, Ethan." I groaned. There was no reason for anyone to be worried.

"Okay, then. You coming over today?"

"I can if you want me to."

"That's obvious." He chuckled.

"I'll be over in a little while." I said and hung up the phone.

"Have Chrissy and Alex walk you!" My dad called out as I ran through the house to my room.

"Of course you're going to say that." I answered and shut my door.

"Hey, baby." Ethan greeted me in his front yard. I waved at Sam and Emily sitting on the porch as he towed me inside.

"Call when you're ready to come home." Christina said, tossing me the phone.

I looked at it and realized it wasn't mine. "Dad's phone?"

Christina and Alexander shrugged and turned to jog back into the woods.

I spent the day with Ethan and those are always my favorite days. It was quiet and worry free. My dad knew not to call and check up on me since I was with Ethan. It's days like this, I feel like a normal girl with a normal boyfriend. With Ethan, I don't think about werewolves and vampires; it's just him and I.

I looked up at the sky from the blanket we were laying on in the backyard and turned myself into his side.

"You have to get going." He seemed to read my mind, taking the words out of my mouth. I knew I had to go, but I didn't want to.

"It's getting dark." I agreed.

"Want me to walk you home or are you going to call your brother."

"I'll call Alex." I said and sat up to pull my dad's phone out of my packet. I then realized he was at Amber's so I didn't want to bother him. I also didn't want to be walked home by Ethan because he would be in his wolf form. We spent the whole day supernatural free. I wanted to leave it like that, too.

I pretended to dial and walked away from Ethan.

"Hey, Alex. You can come get me now…" I paused as I listened to the silence on the other end. I knew Ethan was listening, so I made sure to go over the conversation in my head before answering. "Oh, you want me to meet you there? I know, Alex I'll see you in a second." I hung up the phone and Ethan was beside me.

I jumped slightly from his appearance, but composed myself. "I'm meeting him down the street. I'll see you later."

"Oh, I'll walk you down there."

"No, you were going out with Sam, right? Go. It's okay. It's just down the road."

"I'll be listening for you."

I smiled and kissed him goodbye. "Love you."

"Call me later!" He called out as I walked away.

"I will." I answered.

"Stupid." I groaned as I walked the familiar path home. A wolf howled in the distance and I knew it was a full wolf. That wasn't the sound of our pack. I wished it was.

I walked a little faster, knowing I was going to reach the clearing of the beach soon. That meant I was halfway home.

"Hey!" A voice called out from the group of guys standing by the water.

I turned instinctively towards the voice.

The guy from the party jogged over to me.

"What's going on with your overprotective father? I was just trying to apologize." He reached out and went to touch my face, but I jumped back and away from him.

"He may be overprotective, but at least he knows when someone isn't interested in him! I have a boyfriend, you know."

He shrugged. "So you've said before. People fall in and out of love all the time. That's life."

"Not my life."

"Well then you haven't lived yet. Come on, you're beautiful. You deserve someone better."

"Than what? You? I already have that."

He laughed off my sarcastic remark as if I was picking on someone else. "You're a witty one, now, aren't you."

"I get it from my father."

"Come hang out with us."

"I have to go home."

"Says who?"

"Me."

"Na, I think you should stay. You're already here. Besides, someone as pretty as you shouldn't be home on a night like tonight."

"And where should I be?"

"With me, right here."

I acted as if I was thinking about it and scrunched up my nose. "No, the spot on my wall is more interesting than you."

I turned to walk away but he grabbed my arm. "We're done with the sarcastic remarks now."

I looked at my arm as he squeezed his fingers around it. "You're hurting me!" I said through clenched teeth.

"Stay and I'll let go. Come on, Ash. I really like you."

"I have to go." My heart began to beat loud in my chest.

"I'd like to see you try."