Page 35 of Wolf's Whisper

"Why don't I guide you down on the branches?" I suggested, hoping she didn't genuinely expect me to bring the whole tree down.

"Oh, that would work!" the girl cheerily answered.

I studied the branches of the tree, trying to figure out how she would have gotten up so high in the tree and what would be the best way down. "Maybe put your foot on that branch to your right? Yes, there. A bit lower, lower. Lower. Great!"

The girl hesitantly tested the branch underneath her, realised it held her weight and smirked. Unexpectedly agile, she suddenly let go of the tree and with a flexibility that certainly wasn't human, she jumped the whole way down.

Really? Really?!

As she handily landed on both her hands and feet, not a scratch on her body, she veered up and happily hugged me.

"Thank you so much! Boy, I was really stuck there, wouldn't have known what to do without you," she chattered away, as I finally got a better look at her.

She was only a couple of inches smaller, but nearly half of her was hair. How a person could walk around with such long hair would always amaze me. If it were me, I'd tangle myself around a tree in no time.

"I’m Cece, thank you for helping me out. What is your name?"

I awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck. "No problem." No problem indeed, I hardly did a thing. "My name is Akira."

"A-ki-ra," Cece spelt, as she seemed to think it over. She then clapped her hands, threw her long hair over her shoulder and giggled. "That is beautiful. I love it. You should keep it!"

"Great, thanks? I will?" I slowly said, not sure why the girl assumed I wasn't planning on keeping it. I groaned, wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into this time. I should probably just say goodbye and quickly, quickly, walk away from this girl. But she seemed so young. Could I really leave her alone?

"Are you on your own or are your friends waiting for you somewhere?" I asked, secretly crossing my fingers behind my back. Please say friends, please say friends.

"No friends, just me! Little old me."

Damn it! Just my luck. Don't say it Akira, don't say it. "I’m travelling with a group of friends, you can come with me for the time being?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I internally facepalmed myself. Bad Akira, I said don't say it!

Cece happily clapped her hands. "Oooh, I would love that. Haven't travelled with anyone in a while now. Not since my last friend died, but oh well, it happens."

I let out a sigh as I motioned her to follow me. Why did I keep finding strays? Why didn't I get more than five minutes alone time?

I nostalgically thought back to my first two weeks of my journey, remembering all the peace and quiet. But as I did, an image of Ashleigh flashed through my mind and I realised that finding her, hadn't been so bad after all.

With my new companion to my side, we retraced my footsteps. I let out a sigh of relief as I found the pot I had left behind and made a mental note to take better care of our equipment. Well, not ours, Darren's. He would surely kill me if I lost one of his cooking pots.

We reached the clearing in front of the cave and to my surprise, Aspen was leaning against the entrance, his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to be drawing figurines into the snow with his feet, but as if he sensed me coming, his head snapped up. His eyes worriedly darted over me and I realised he had been waiting for me. Why? I hadn't been gone that long, had I?

A smile tugged up the corner of his lip as he realised I was still all in one piece and only after that, his eyes darted to the left.

"Fuck!" Aspen's loud voice trumpeted into the night as he suddenly called for Ashleigh. Not a moment later, she appeared from the cave, a worried look on her face as well. A smile of relief lightened up her face as she saw me, but that quickly changed into a snarl. The two siblings exchanged a glance, stared at me and signed some quick signals at each other. They curtly nodded and surprisingly efficient for the bickering duo, they seemed to come to a consensus.

Like they felt hellfire up their ass, the two twins sprinted towards me. Ashleigh jumped in front of me and as she pushed me behind her, Aspen flew at Cece's throat. With unexpected ease, he swiped the girl off her feet and slammed her into the ground.

Aspen was hovering over her as he used his knees to pin her shoulders down. "How dare you!" he growled at her, his lips curling up menacingly.

Not entirely sure what was happening, except that Aspen just attacked my guest, I pushed Ashleigh aside and grabbed Aspen by the upper arm. "Hey, calm down! She is a new friend!"

Now I really regretted bringing Cece along, but for a whole lot of different reasons. This wasn't exactly the warm welcome I had been planning.

Danny and her guys came running out of the cave and if I thought Aspen had an overreaction, I wasn't prepared for the rest. Darren immediately pounced on the girl, while Regan had to hold back a hissing Danny who seemed to be ready to claw her eyes out. Even with a giant gash in his chest, he was still a force of nature.

More screaming ensued as both Darren and Aspen bore their teeth at Cece.

A hand touched my shoulder and as I turned, I found myself staring at the worried face of JP

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