The Winter Stone

Chapter 5

5

The sound of a dry branch snapping echoed through the silent winter night. Startled, I jumped up and grabbed the stick I had been using as a walking cane.

"Who is there?" I yelled into the darkness as I held the branch out in front of me protectively.

"Relax, don't stress so much," Aspen said as he stretched his legs towards the fire.

I turned towards him. "Didn't you hear that? Someone is coming."

He put his hands behind his head as he made himself comfortable. "Yeah, no need to worry."

I snarled and poked his leg with my stick, earning an angry look from him. I was about to poke him again as I heard approaching footsteps so I decided that my stick had a better use than to poke a carefree Aspen with.

From the darkness, I saw a shadow appear, so I hid myself behind a tree as I watched the approaching figure. I tightened my grip on the stick and prepared myself for an attack.

With my breath held, I listened for the person making its way closer to our camp. The snow creaked and creaked and suddenly, silence. I slowly peeked from behind my tree.

"What are you doing?" a curious voice suddenly asked, almost making me jump out of my skin.

With a swift kick, I targeted the woman who was suddenly standing behind me as I buried my foot in her shin.

"Awww, man!" she howled, as she jumped up and down on one leg in pain.

I raised my stick and as I put some distance between us, I yelled. "Watch it, lady!"

She extended her arms towards me as she backed away from me. "Woah, relax. Am not here to hurt you."

"Lee-Lee! You’re finally here." I suddenly heard from behind me.

Aspen had gotten up and was now approaching the woman standing in front of me. A grin appeared on his handsome face as he pulled her into a tight hug. I heard her squeal as he happily kissed her cheek.

Mine. I heard my wolf jealously growl inside of me as Aspen hugged the girl. So they knew each other? Why was she touching him?

"What took you so long?" he inquired as he took the girl in a choke hold and ruffled his knuckles through her hair.

"Get off me!" she yelled as she squirmed herself free and stomped him against his arm. "Wasn't my fault, Aspen. A little Danny drama, as usual. They are only a couple of minutes behind."

He shook his head and scoffed. "Typical. But am glad you’re finally here."

The girl flashed her perfect white teeth and as if she only now noticed me, she took a step forward and studied me from head to toe. A shiver ran up my spine as her eyes travelled over my body and after she inspected me, our eyes met.

They were impossibly blue, piercing blue, glacier blue and another shiver shot through my body.

Mine.

I confusedly tilted my head as I heard my wolf stir again. I thought she meant Aspen, I mean, I felt the thrill when I was with him, the attraction, he drew me in. He called out to me. But when the girl cheekily winked at me, all thoughts of Aspen vanished from my mind as my wolf howled again.

Mine.

I held my hands up at both of them. "Woah, back up a bit here. Aspen, who is she?"

He smirked as he slung his arm over her shoulders for another hug. Again my wolf growled, but this time, I realised it wasn't because of him, it was because of her. He was touching her.

"Lee-Lee, this is my baby sister!"

What?

"Bro, stop calling me Lee-Lee! I’m only thirteen minutes younger than you!" she protested as she shrugged his arm away and slowly walked towards me. So, his sister, huh? Damn, that was one good-looking family.

"So who is this lovely lady?" she smiled as she stared directly into my eyes again. I felt myself heat up as she looked daringly at me, one eyebrow sexily raised. Remind me again how I managed to find two freakishly handsome people in the middle of nowhere?

"Hi, I’m Akira," I hastily introduced myself to the woman who was apparently Aspen's sister.

The palm of her hand was warm against my wrist as she greeted me the old way. "Ashleigh, but Ash is fine, instead of using Lee-Lee like this moron over here. "

"Ashleigh," I greeted her, forcing my voice to sound casual, like I hadn't just met my mate. I saw her raise an eyebrow at her full name so I quickly added: "I don't like pet names."

"Akira," she replied as she held my gaze, her thumb tickling the inside of my wrist. I quickly pulled my hand away and awkwardly dusted myself off. "You said more of you’re coming?"

Aspen nodded. "Yeah, our friend Danielle and her three lovers should arrive any..."

"Helloooo, my darlings!" a cheery voice trumpeted through the night.

"...Second now," Aspen muttered under his breath, as four more figures appeared from the night.

I softly groaned. Great, more people. Did this forest produce them?

Appearing from the shadows, I saw a redhead followed by three more guys. Greattttt. If I wanted to be surrounded by more people, I would've brought people from home.

"This, this is Danny. She is a friend." Aspen introduced the girl who was by all means, way too cheery.

I extended my arm for a handshake but found myself in a full on hug. "Hiii, it is so nice to meet you. I’m Danielle, but you should call me Danny."

"Danielle, I don't really like usi..."

"Danny! I won't take no for an answer!" she sang, my head already hurting from all her happiness. How could one person be this happy?

"Oh, how rude of me! Boys, introduce yourself!" she chirped as she slapped her own forehead. She pointed towards the first male from the right and he stepped forward.

He gave me a steady handshake and I felt my hand disappear into his palm. He was massive.

"Regan," he curtly nodded, his voice incredibly low and calming. He had the same vibe as an oak tree and somehow, it didn't spook me as much as a guy as tall as a mountain should.

"My lover," Danielle, no, Danny, chirped in. I didn't like pet names, but I decided that I'd rather not have her tell me again. She was just too cheery, what if it rubbed off on me?

The second guy didn't make any attempts to come closer. Instead he just awkwardly waved at me as he nervously ran his hand through his hair. "H-Hi, hey, my name is JP and it is so lovely to meet you. D-D-Did you know that your brain is 80% water? N-N-Not specifically your brain, I mean, everyone's b-brain. I wasn't implying that your brain had more water than anyone else, n-no-not at all, I just meant that..."

"JP rambles when he is nervous." Danny interrupted him, as she gently rubbed his shoulder. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and patted his forehead dry as she told him to relax. The slender boy apparently named, JP let out a long sigh and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"But between you and me? He is an incredible lover." Danny whispered loudly. Loud enough that everyone could hear, so not at all between her and me. So two lovers, huh?

Before I could ask more questions about her romantic situation, I was suddenly slapped on my back by the third guy in what I assumed was supposed to be a friendly introduction. To be honest, it felt more like someone trying to slap my heart out of my body.

"Oh, and that is Darren," the redhead happily said, unaware that I was wondering if I had an internal bleeding.

"Her lover as well," the shaggy, dark-haired guy grinned as I saw a twinkle of amusement flicker in his eyes.

So three lovers. No wonder she was this happy.

"Yeah, yeah, boys, meet Akira, Akira, these are the boys. Can we skip the chitchat and poke up this fire? I’m freezing!" Ashleigh suddenly chimed in as she waved away Danny's pleasantries and pulled out some logs from Regan's backpack.

This guy just walked around with firewood in his pack?

"I’m starving." Darren declared as he dropped his satchel down by the fire and somehow conjured a rack of dried meat. My mouth started to water from the dry smell alone.

As I had shared my rations with Aspen when he was still in his wolf form, I had run out of food much quicker as anticipated and I couldn't help but hope that they would share with me.

Darren started tearing up the meat and distributed it to his comrades who hungrily wolfed it down.

"Hey Akira, aren't you going to sit down with us?" he called in my direction as he threw a big strip of meat at me. I thanked my fast reflexes as I caught the meal thrown at me and happily sat down on my log as I devoured what turned out to be dried deer.

"Yo, Aspen! Haven't you been feeding her?" the raven-haired boy called Aspen sitting next to me.

I threw a stick at his head and interjected. "Him, feeding me? I have been feeding him for the past days!"

The crystal sound of a babbling brook found my ears and as I turned to find the source, I found myself staring at a beautiful face. Ashleigh. When she laughed, a cute set of dimples appeared in her cheeks and she it made her look a lot less stoic. Gorgeous.

"Oh my god, that is priceless! Akira, you’re my hero," she chuckled as she briefly touched my shoulder in appreciation. Her attention was quickly drawn back into the group conversation, but I kept staring at where she touched me. Was it even possible to fall under someone's spell just like that?

I silently chewed on my strip of meat as I watched the group all chatter away. They definitely seemed comfortable around each other. I wondered why I had found Aspen so far ahead of them and why nobody had come for him sooner.

Weren't they worried about him?

"Show me your leg!" I heard Danny call from the other side of the campfire as she pulled his leg from underneath his furs. He protested a little as she poked the rapidly fading scar on his body. I guess being a shifter does have its advantages.

I wondered how that would play out, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of Ashleigh for long. She just drew me in and like a moth to a flame, I couldn't resist her.

Her raven-black hairs flowed over her shoulders like a dark waterfall and her blue eyes were made from the bluest of all the blues. Her ears moved up and down as she chewed on her strip of meat and the way she moved was vaguely cat-like. She was utterly spellbinding.

I realised I had been staring at her non-stop, so I quickly tore my eyes away from her. Instead, I stared at the dancing flames of the bonfire and the multiple people that were apparently camping with us. At least, judging from the tent that JP was trying to set up and Darren who seemed to have half a kitchen stowed away in his satchel. He had quite a bad boy attitude, but that just disappeared into thin air as he was happily shining up his pots and pans. Somehow, he must've figured this was the perfect time to set it all up. He seemed so happy with his cooking ware, I didn't have the heart to tell him we were moving camp tomorrow.

A bit further, Ashleigh was pulling out furs from her pack as she and Aspen seemed to be setting up a tent as well. Great, now I didn't need to share my tent with the clingy wolf anymore.

I realised I was low key creeping on Ashleigh, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away from her. She was just so utterly stunning. The way the muscles of her back rippled under her shirt every time she bent down and her tight...

No! Bad Akira. You can look but you can't touch. I stared at the beautiful woman as she turned a couple of branches handily into a simple frame.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud voice. "You showed her your wolf? Are you crazy? You know how dangerous that is!" I heard Ashleigh from across the campsite yell at her brother, who was sheepishly grinning at her. He nonchalantly scratched the back of his head as he awkwardly waved at me.

She followed his gaze, slapped him over the head with a "Why would you do such a thing?" and barged in my direction. With her finger pointed angrily at me and rage blazing in her eyes, she stomped towards me.