His eyes never stopped looking for her, trying their hardest to locate her through the crowd. There were so many people! He had no idea Malia knew this many people, perhaps she did and he just never asked if she was this sort of a social butterfly. All he knew was that he definitely did not know this many people here in Sacrosanct. He supposed he could count the number of people he knew by name on one hand. He was still relatively knew, still trying to find his way through this town. It was quite a bit bigger than the small town in South Carolina where he was from.

But then, he heard his name attached to a familiar voice. He smiled as he turned to see Malia in the kitchen waving over to him. He offered her a nod with the dip of his hat as he began to work his way through the crowd and towards her. He bumped past someone who simply turned and glared at him as if he had committed a great sin. "I'm sorry sir, I meant no harm." The man didn't seem to care. He was just irritated that he had been brushed up again. Well, if he hadn't been standing in the walkway, perhaps he might not have gotten touched.

On his way towards the kitchen, he ran into another familiar face. He smiled at Nadya as she mentioned that he looked different in cloths. She had seen him in swim trunks before, but he supposed she meant shirt, shoes, jeans, etc. "Malia asked me to attend. How could I say no?" He would almost do anything Malia said. If showing up at this party impressed her, then he would be here every day in a heart beat. He was quite smitten with Malia.

When she asked for clarification if she knew Malia, he nodded. "She taught me how to play arcade games and I am teaching her to surf." While the waves in Sacrosanct were not nearly as good as the waves in Hawaii or California or even like the waves he had back home, they were enough to at least surf a little on.

He followed behind Nadya, letting her be the one to carve the path through the people. He had never been one for confirmation so allowing Nadya to speak to the people she bumped into was a blessing in disguise. When they finally reached the group gathered, he did not miss the way the other male's eyes were on him, scanning him, trying to figure him out. At his comment about his belt buckle, he smiled. "I won it roping cows." For someone not accustomed to his life style, it might seem a little strange, but Ashton was a true cowboy. When he lived back in South Carolina, his family had a herd of cattle that he would work. Not to mention, he also participated in the local and state rodeos.

Then they were looking for frost and asking if they were all species of cat. At First, Ashton shimmied closer to Malia, making sure that his shoulder brushed her own. He looked over at her with a smile. She was the reason he had come to this party. She was the reason he had ventured out into a situation that made him thoroughly uncomfortable.

He looked to the other two gathered, unsure of exactly who they were. However uncomfortable he was, he still extended his hand to them to shake. "Good evening. My name is Ashton." He went to shake first one, then the other. As they talked about what they turned into, he looked up at them both. "I'm not really in the pack, I'm just a friend." Because this wasn't his pack, at least not yet, he didn't feel the need to share that he was a dog. Perhaps Malia would fill them in. She tended to talk with no filter.