Page 55 of Wolf's Whisper

Gold flecks became silver strands as I shifted my attention from Aspen towards Ashleigh. Why were they both so beautiful?

I nodded, staring in her bright blues. I loved her eyes.

"I'm not kidding. You'll have to hold him down literally," she spoke, snapping me out of my trance.

"Umm... Okay?" I frowned my forehead. I wasn't sure how I would be able to hold down a beast like Aspen, but it if meant wrapping myself around him, I wasn't going to say no. There were worse things to be wrapped around.

My arms barely fit around his back and the muscles of his chest were hard against my body. And then, with no time to spare, it all happened at once. Out of nowhere, the hills suddenly grew legs and attached to those legs were men. A lot of men. At least a dozen coyotes appeared from behind the trees as they ran towards us screaming.

Our group scattered. It happened so fast, I couldn't even keep track of who was doing what. All I could feel was Aspen's warm body against mine as he had his arms wrapped around me. I could barely look over his shoulder.

To my left, Danny and Regan had teamed up, swinging short blades between them. I wondered where they got them from as I checked up on the rest.

To the right, Darren was going at it solo. He was running on his hands and feet, the dagger he held so dearly clamped between his teeth as he circled the attackers. He looked more wolfish in his human form than anything else.

Right in front of me, I saw JP strut towards the incomers, swinging a catapult expertly around. He definitely seemed to know what he was doing, but all I could hope was he wouldn't hit me.

I wished I could see Ash, but I guessed she must have been protecting us from the back. Damn, if only I could turn Aspen and me around.

Aspen growled as he spotted the incomers. I felt his muscles tense underneath me and for a brief moment, I wondered what it would be like to feel him tense like that for different reasons.

But as the first cry of the battle penetrated my ears, all other thoughts were wiped from my mind. There was no time for anything else than the fight.

JP let out a loud scream and with a swiftness I hadn't expected, he twirled his sling in the air and a couple metres ahead of us, the first Coyote fell down on the ground. JP had hit him right in the forehead, between the eyes. A small trail of blood trickled down his face as his comrades jumped over him and ran towards the otherwise so stuttery and clumsy man.

Surprisingly fast, JP ducked underneath the first sword, swiping his leg as he tackled the guy and floored him. With an efficiency you don't learn after only one fight, he conjured a small knife from his side and stabbed the guy right in his neck. Blood spat out the artery, coating anyone in a two-metre circle and I felt bile hit the roof of my mouth.

I really wasn't cut out for this fighting stuff.

As JP took down another guy, it became clear he could hold his own. So I directed my attention to another part of the circle. On his side, Darren was taking down five guys by himself, beating and kicking at them, his dagger still in his mouth. There was already one man lying on the ground and another one was about to eat dirt. I shuddered and didn't want to see what he could do if he actually started using his weapon.

From the other side, Danny and Regan had teamed up. I briefly wondered why they went together in a pair and none of them covered JP, but as I counted the guys falling like flies next to JP, I realised he might not need the back-up after all.

Regan was mowing down the incoming Coyotes like daisies, hitting them in the head with his massive fists, while Danny was circling around them, hitting them from the sides or in the back.

Her red hair was twirling around her in a flash and I realised it would be massively distracting to anyone attacking her. She drew everyone's attention and while they were focused on her and her red locks, Regan knocked them into the ground.

Not a bad strategy at all.

"I want to fight," Aspen growled, tugging against my arms. For now, he seemed to be in control of himself, but I could feel his skin grow hotter as his murderous Alpha seemed to emerge.

"Not yet, Aspen..." I tried to ease him, but he shook his head and cracked his neck.

"I need to help them," he snarled, not unreasonably so. From over the hill, another handful of men appeared and they seemed much more tentative and careful. I suddenly realised they were probably watching everyone fight, waiting until we tired ourselves out.

Damn. We were so ambushed. And I hadn't even realised it until it was totally too late. Well. Not just me. The whole group had been too preoccupied with my stupid quest to actually pay attention to who was hunting us apparently.

Aspen clamped his hands around my arm and as I felt his fingers dig into my flesh, he flexed his muscles.

"Let go of me," he hissed, trying to pry my arms open.

We both knew he could just shake me off by force. It would've been easy since I was nowhere near as strong as he was. But I had counted on him not wanting to hurt me and from the looks of it, I had been right.

Aspen wanted to jump into the fight, but with me clamped around him, he couldn't risk throwing me off and hurting me.

"You can't..."

"I need to. They're going to get killed."

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