AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ONE
ASH
“What do you think about this one?” Her friend Evie giggled, shaking her curly blonde
hair as she showed Ash her phone.
Ash looked up briefly from her legal pad of scribbles long enough to give an indifferent answer. “Meh.”
She could sense Evie roll her eyes, even though her own were already back on her notes.
“Ash, why can’t we spend one of the few times we have a lunch break together making fun of Match-Up profiles?”
“I’m sorry, Evie. I just really want to get this idea out before I can’t remember it.”
Ash pushed her non-writing hand firmly against her paper to keep the slight breeze on the restaurant’s outside patio from lifting her pages.
Evie turned her phone off with a huff and scooted her chair closer to her friend. “What idea?”
“Well, it’s just the start, but I was coming up with more ideas on infiltrations that the Interspecies Council could fund. Maybe this would help take down some of the top rogues that seem to be getting away scot-free because we can’t find anything we can pin on them.” Ash grew excited as she turned her brainstormingblob sideways, trying to show her uninterested friend what she had come up with.
“Ash,” Evie said with a heavy sigh. “I don’t see why you want to find more things for us to do. There’s plenty they already have us doing out in the field, and it’s working. We don’t need to add to it. Plus, as much as you hate to admit it, we have been making headway. There’s been less distress in the city.”
Ash grumbled, pulling her pad back to her. “In the city. Not in the rural communities of shifters or mixed species. That’s where the ones causing the most issues within their packs are. The ones who think they will get overlooked. Also, I’m not just looking at rogues or corruption. I’m looking at the alphas and any patterns that show they might be taking advantage of their pack.” She irritably brushed her sandy brown hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail from her eyes. It never seemed to stay put.
Ash stiffened when she felt Evie’s hand gently rest upon hers. She looked up into those bright, optimistic eyes filled with love and sympathy, and her gut clenched. She knew the usual follow-up.
“Ash, you are by far the best and especially most dedicated agent the council has.”
She wasn’t one to brag, but her shifter side had no problem accepting this well-known fact, causing her eyebrow to raise in a “yeah, and?” manner. Her inner wolf was getting defensive, even though she knew better, especially with Evie.
“But it's okay to have a life outside of work. I mean, don’t you ever feel the pull of losing yourself more and more each time you go undercover?” she asked, concern heavy in her voice.
This was a little deeper than where the conversation usually went, which made Ash even more uncomfortable and agitated.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Her answer was to just stop the topic right there, hoping Evie would sense she wasn’t in themood. But that didn’t stop her best friend. She knew her too well.
Ash tried to avoid the intense eye contact, but Evie’s silence and stare forced her to look up. She let out a burdened sigh and dropped her pen.
“What?” she snapped.
Evie didn’t flinch. “You know exactly what I mean.”
Ash shrugged. “I mean, I guess. It's just easy to be undercover for me. I do it well. What can I say?”
“You do it well because you’re so good at not letting people get close enough to you to even push away. Emotionally, obviously.”
“Again, I don’t see the issue here.”
“You need to allow yourself to find yourself. Believe in something. Trust someone.”
“I do. I believe in the work I do, so that way, what I experience never happens to anyone else. And I trust you.”
Evie gave her a soft shake of the head accompanied by a sad sigh.
“Ash. I love you, and I’m happy you trust me, but you know what I mean. You can’t do this job forever, and I don’t want to lose the Ash I know because she forgot to live in the present and got lost undercover trying to fix the past.”
Evie was always straightforward with her, but this was the deep, blunt truth that Ash couldn’t deny. Ash had no words because she didn’t know how to feel about being called out.
