by Arizona Tape
And as I burned that image in my head, I shook the thin layer of snow from my shoulders and ran after her. Ran after her like I knew I always would.
"You seemed deep in thought?"
I flashed her a smile. "Just thinking."
"About?"
I curled my pinky finger around hers as I pressed myself softly against her side. "Nothing important," I lied, earning myself a knowing grin from my mate.
"If you say so," she chuckled, her pinky curling around mine as our arms intertwined.
It was damn good to be alone with her. I hadn't realised how much I had been restraining myself from actually paying attention to Ashleigh. As if part of me instinctively knew that letting my guard down around her, would result in me jumping her.
"Ashleigh?" I breathed out a cloudling, as I broke the winter's silence once more.
"Yes?"
I caught a smile playing on her lips and shook my head. Compared to her over the top brother, Ashleigh was so much more down to earth and subtle. Instead of voicing all the thoughts running through her mind, her expressions were painted on her face like delicate brushstrokes.
"What?" she inquired, gently nudging me with her shoulder.
"Nothing," I smiled back, catching the flicker in her eyes.
"Okay, if you say so," she grinned, like she knew exactly what was going through my mind.
I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out what the twinkle in her eyes meant. “You’re mysterious."
"Me? Not at all, I’m an open book."
"Yes, like an open book with invisible text."
Ashleigh threw her head back, her dark curls dancing around her face. "You really think too highly of me. I’m just a simple woman."
With the laughing lines still on her face, she turned to me. Her hand gently grazed over my cheek as she gently brushed a strand of hair away. With a much softer voice, she added: "No, out of the two of us, you’re definitely the mysterious one."
I snorted. "I really am an open book. Ask me anything,"
Ashleigh pulled up an eyebrow. "Anything?"
"Anything," I confirmed.
"Why do you keep calling me Ashleigh instead of Ash, like everyone else?"
"I don't like nicknames."
"Why not?"
People had asked me before, and while I usually made up an excuse, the kindness in her eyes compelled me to tell the truth.
"When I was little... When my older siblings found out I inherited the wolf, while none of them didn't... They used to tease me. A lot." I paused, wondering if I wanted to breathe new life back into that awful nickname. "They called me..."
"You don't have to tell me," Ashleigh interrupted, her eyes far softer than the ones I used to feel.
"Thank you..." I breathed, not realising how much stress I had been holding in my body. Bringing up old memories always made me realise how much my family, apart from my mother, had hated me.
Ashleigh gently smiled, her eyes glimmering with something I could not place. "We should get that snow and go back," she muttered, her voice slightly cracking.
Before I could ask what got her so emotional, she turned on her feet and bent down to scoop up as much fresh snow as she could. The conversation was clearly over, so I dug my own hands into the cold powder and in silence, we filled the pot.
The world was so quiet it was almost hard to believe a storm was coming. There just was something about Ashleigh that made me forget about the rest of the world. All the urgency, the rush, the impatience of this world seemed to fade into the background.
I almost forgot about the storm, my family, or even the Winter Stone. All I wanted was to spend the rest of my time with her.
Not yet ready to accept that my priorities had been shifting around ever since I met her, I pushed that thought to the back of my head and tore my eyes away from her. Instead, I glared up into the sky and noted how the thick, dark clouds were collecting above our heads.
"We should head back," Ashleigh said, as she followed my concerned gaze. I nodded as I grabbed the pot. I didn't feel like getting caught in a whirlwind or a snowstorm.
With the cauldron filled with snow, we hastily retraced our prints in the snow to the cave. I could make out a small, red glow from behind the fallen and I rejoiced, knowing there was a fire I could warm my hands on.
"Wait..." Ashleigh's cold hand found my wrist. I stared up at her, again amazed at just how blue her eyes were. They were just so clear and bright, it made my head a little dizzy.
"I just..." I tilted my head to the side, patiently waiting as the woman in front of me seemed to search for the right words.
After a short pause, her eyes focused and she brought her face down to mine. "You can tell me anything, okay?"
I nodded wordlessly, knowing well enough that initially she had wanted to say something else, but had chickened out. I made a mental note to ask her about that later, but right now, the rest of the group was probably waiting for us.
Chapter 8. The storm
"It is freaking cold in this rotten cave," Danny grumbled as she threw another stick on the ridiculously small fire we had going.
We all nodded in agreement. Our fire was barely heating up our cave and even as wolves, we were feeling the nasty bite of the cold.
I glanced at the entrance of the cave. I could barely see the treeline, as almost everything was obscured by the storm of snow raging by. Even if the cave was cold and quite wet, it was by far better than getting caught outside in the weather.
JP turned to me. "W-Where are you headed?" he stuttered, but I couldn't tell if it was from the shivering or just his nervous self. He was already draped in Regan's massive coat and was wearing an extra pair of gloves on his feet, but the poor boy couldn't stop shaking. I guess humans have a harder time staying warm.
"Poor baby," Danny cooed as she cosily curled up next to him, her head resting on his shoulder as she tried to warm him.
"Yeah, where are you headed?" Aspen chimed in as he curiously leant forward, resting his chin in his hands.
"You've been with her for days and haven't bothered to ask what she is doing in the middle of freaking nowhere?" Ashleigh asked, looking at her brother in astonishment as she shook her head in disbelief. "What did you guys talk about?"
The rascal threw her a dirty grin. "Maybe we didn't do much talking, at all."
I quickly cleared my throat, pulling the attention back towards me before the siblings could start their all too familiar bickering. Regan threw me a grateful look while Danny winked at me. How they managed to keep up with all the fighting, was a freaking miracle.
I briefly contemplated I should just lie, but as I felt five pairs of eyes on me, all genuinely wondering where I was going, I figured telling them couldn't hurt.
"I’m actually headed for the East."
"Coyote Country?" Danny frowned. Ashleigh cocked her head to the side as Aspen scratched the back of his head.
"What business could you have there?" Regan asked as he suspiciously eyed me, probably wondering what kind of wolf would voluntarily travel into enemy territory.
"I, ehmm..." Should I tell them? I mean, Ashleigh already knew. But that didn't mean I should tell the rest. The fewer people who knew about it, the better.
"They stole something from our tribe and I need to get it back." There, that wasn't exactly a lie.
"Something important?" Danny inquired, her voice empathic. Of course, she would sympathise with me.
"Very important." I nodded, hoping they wouldn't ask more details. Our Winter Stone was a well-kept secret, the fewer people knew about it, the better.
"Damn Coyotes!" Darren growled as he slammed his fist into the wall of the cave. Okay? Nobody liked Coyotes, but that was a bit over the top. Angry much?
"You okay there?" I asked, looking around in the group as I wondered if him getting angry was a big deal or not. Should I worry here?
But instead of him blowing up like all of them seemed to do, he calmed himself down, put on his
pouting face and crawled up to Danny's other side. She caringly wrapped her arm around him as he hid himself in her shirt. It was definitely confusing, a bit weird, and kind of cute.
I wondered what that was about, but nobody in the group seemed to really react to his outburst, so I figured it was probably better to let it slide.
"So, how old are you, Akira?" Danny asked, her two men cuddled up against her. I smiled gratefully at her. They all seemed to have quite a temper and I honestly believed this cave was too small for an all-out fight between either of them.
"Probably around Darren's age? I am... "
"I’m a lot older than I look," Darren interrupted me as he puffed up his chest and loudly exhaled through his nose.
"O-kay?" I slowly said, wondering what had brought on this.
"How old do you think I am?" he smirked, his eyes lighting up as he seemed to have found a fun new game to play. Torture Akira. Yaay.
I groaned. I hated guessing age, not because people got offended, what did I care. No, I hated it because I was terrible at it.
"Do we really have to?" I reluctantly asked, hoping only Darren wanted to play this stupid game. But with the rest of the group's eyes on me and their encouraging smiles, I realised there was no escaping.
"Umm... I don't know, twenty-... six?" I guessed for Darren, already pushing it. If he told me he was twenty-three, I would still believe him.
A loud laugh echoed through the cave. I slowly turned around, rather disturbed, as I started at an unusual sight. Regan could laugh? His face knew how to do that?
"Him? Twenty-six? He wishes," Regan chuckled, as this was apparently the funniest thing that had been said the entire time I had been with them.
Darren threw a little rock against Regan's head, but it just bounced off of him like a pebble against a mountain. I don't even know he felt it.
"I’m twenty-six," Darren proudly said, as he puffed up his chest.
Another snort was heard.
"Twenty-six? More like twenty-five," Aspen joined in, his eyes bright in amusement as apparently Darren's age was a running joke between all of them.
The shaggy boy grumbled. "Twenty-five and three-quarters."
I patted him on his arm. "Don't feel bad, I’m only twenty-one. The grandmas and grandpas are just jealous," I grinned.
As the group collectively groaned in disagreement, another voice quipped in.
"Wait, you’re only twenty-one?" Ashleigh cut in, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Yup. Something wrong with that?"
The blue-eyed beauty shook her head, her curls shaking with her. "No, not at all... Just... Surprised."
"Wait, how old did you think I was?" I asked, a smirk appearing on my lips. Two could play this game.
"I dunno..." she muttered, but I could just tell from her facial expression that she was shocked.
"Ashleighhhh?"
This time it was Aspen who threw a little twig at his sister. "Yes, tell her Ashleigh, what did you think?" he added, his face oddly smug.
I cocked my head to the side as I wordlessly asked her with my eyes. She glared back at me for a second, before her gaze softened and the frown disappeared from her forehead.
"I don't know, maybe twenty-four," she admitted, her voice strained.
"So why is twenty-one such a big deal?" There wasn't much of a difference with twenty-four. Wait, how old was Ashleigh? And Aspen? Well, obviously they were the same age, they were twins. "Wait, how old are you two?"
"Thirty-one!" Aspen happily chirped as he puffed up his chest as well. "But even if I do say so myself, I’m looking mighty fine for my age."
Thirty-one? A wave of shock and nausea washed over me. Both my mates were ten years older than me? Ashleigh, my beautiful Ashleigh, was almost as old as my oldest brother?
"What?" I softly uttered, still not sure how I was supposed to react to that.
I felt my hands grow clammy as sweat threatened to break through my forehead. They had both cuddled up to me. I had even been fanning over Aspen's muscled chest. Hell, I had almost kissed Ashleigh.
Thirty-one? Jeez... How could that even be? Weren't people of that age supposed to be grown-up and serious? And not chase your naked brother and spank him with a pine tree serious?
A soft hand landed on my upper thigh. And even though my wolf purred from Ashleigh's touch, a little shiver ran through my body. And not the good kind. Ten years?
Ashleigh threw the same stick back at her brother, hitting him square between the eyes. "Shut up, jackass. We are only twenty-seven and our birthdays have already passed. He is just yanking your chain."
As if my body suddenly became pounds lighter, I felt the oxygen return to my lungs. Fucking Aspen, why would he do that to me? Cheeky bastard. I quickly counted the years in my head, calculating that their birthday had already passed and I would turn twenty-two at the end of the year. So that made them only five years older than me. Not ten.
Ooof...
As if Danny had noticed the turmoil inside me, she shook her head in disappointment at the cheeky wolf and gave me one of her kindest smiles. "You shouldn't take anything he says too seriously, Akira. He doesn't know when to stop."
"No, it's fine..." I murmured, my heart still pounding in my ears. As much as I felt drawn to Ashleigh, I wasn't sure if I would ever be okay with such an age difference.
I felt a gentle squeeze and as I followed the arm attached to the hand, I ended up staring in Ashleigh's bright blue eyes. She was looking at me intensely and I could tell she noticed I was a bit shaken up. Worry flashed through her eyes and wordlessly, I knew she was asking me if I was okay.
As I stared into the glaciers, any doubt I previously had, melted like the last snow of winter under the first rays of spring's sun.
I softly squeezed her hand back, as I nodded almost unnoticeable.
Turns out I didn't care after all. I let out a sigh. "I don't like this game."
Aspen chuckled, while Ashleigh threw another rock at his head. At this rate, we would run out of rocks to throw as they all ended up in Aspen's corner.
"So what do we do then? We are stuck in this freaking cave until God knows when," Darren groaned as he threw another rock against the wall.
More rock throwing?
Regan threw him a confused look, looking quite happy with his little stick house, not sure why his companion didn't like the cave.
"We can play another game?" I suggested, feeling the group quirk up.
"What kind of game?" Darren asked, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. He really was a kid sometimes. No wonder I thought him to be younger than he was.
Yeah, what kind of game... Good question... With three sets of expectant eyes staring at me, I felt heat creep up to my cheeks. Why can't you just think before saying things, Akira?
"What if... One of us makes three statements. Two of them have to be true, one of them is a lie. And then the others just guess which one it is?"
Ashleigh scratched the side of her head in confusion. "But we all know each other really well. How would that work?"
"Pssh, please, you don't know all my secrets," Aspen next to her huffed.
"You think I don't know everything about you?" she challenged him, making him puff up his chest.
"Nah."
"No? Alright, bring it on," my dark-haired mate growled, never able to resist her brother riling her up.
"Why don't I start?" I quickly intervened, hoping that this would calm down the war threatening to break out. "Okay, three things about myself... Ehmmm..." Again, I mentally hit myself over the head. Think before you speak, Akira! Damn it!
As the twins and Darren curiously stared at me, I racked my brains for some weird things about myself. Things that might be questionable.
"Aha. Okay, I got some! Number one. I got my head stuck in a pumpkin once. Number two. When I was little, I fell in horseshit. Number three. I tripped my sister during an official ceremony. Two are true, but which one is the lie?"
"Wait,
only one of them is a lie?" Ashleigh asked as she furrowed her brows, thinking lines appearing on her forehead. She was so cute.
"I wish all of them were true," Darren dreamily sighed, staring at me with a new-found admiration.
I chuckled. Only he would hope that. "Only two happened."
Aspen narrowed his eyes. "I do think you'd trip your sister, but I want the others to be true... So I'll pick the sister tripping."
"Darren?"
He cocked his head to the side, studying my face. "I pick the horseshit... If that was true, you wouldn't have told us," he reasoned, looking quite smug with his answer.
"I believe the pumpkin. Your head isn't small enough to fit in one," Ashleigh argued, making the wolf in my chest whimper. See, this is why she was our mate.
But before I could confirm which one was the lie, a loud bang was heard from outside the cave. Like rabbits, we all jumped up and ran towards the entrance. A warm hand grabbed my upper arm, catching me mid-way.
"Don't go outside..." Ashleigh warned me, as she stuck her nose in the air. Behind her, Aspen and the rest caught up as well.
"Incoming!" Aspen loudly whispered into the group, as they all stopped dead in our tracks.
"What?" I bewilderedly asked, looking around at my companions.
"Ssssh,' Ashleigh hushed me, pulling me closer to her.
"What?" I asked again, a lot quieter this time.
"Coyotes. And a lot of them," Danny whispered from the other side of me, as she slowly unbuttoned her coat and dropped it on the ground. On her other side, Darren was pulling off his pants as Regan suddenly lost his shirt.
Was this really the appropriate response to Coyotes? Stripping? What was it with this group, couldn't they just keep on their freaking clothes? I thought they were cold?
"JP is going to stay with you, guard our bags, please?" Ashleigh whispered in my ear as I forced myself not to look down at her bare shoulders and the rest of her curves. There was obviously something going on here and I almost knew what, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"What is going on?"
"I-I-I'll explain, just be q-quiet for a moment," JP stuttered as he collected the scattered clothes from off the ground and stuffed them in a small bag.
