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.