Page 76 of Wolf's Whisper

His upper lip twitched. "I know," he muttered gloomily, his eyes glazing over again. I shifted uncomfortable on my stump and it had nothing to do with the twig almost poking my private parts. I thought I'd gotten Aspen to a better place, but now he was completely back to his depressed counterpart. If only I could help him. Without jumping his bones.

"It's been a while," Aspen suddenly sighed, holding his face up in his hands.

"A while since...?"

He grimaced. "Since I took of the necklace."

I tilted my head to the side. "It feels different without?"

Aspen nodded, running his hand through his hair. "It does."

"What is so different?" "It's... Quiet. She's usually always talking to me, you know?" he mumbled, his eyes glazed. He looked utterly defeated.

I let out a hum. "Umm... Who?"

"Em... I can always hear her. She's calling out to me."

I bit my lip, racking my memories. If I remembered correctly, Em was his first mate. The love of his life, the one he lost, the one who died.

"You can hear her?" I asked carefully, hoping I wouldn't step on his toes or push him deeper in the dark pit he didn't seem to be able to crawl out.

He let out a heavy breath. "I can. She's waiting for me up there..." He paused, cracking his neck and stretching his shoulders. "I can't hear her now."

A lump appeared in my throat. Poor Aspen. "You can't?"

He shook his head, sadness painted over his face. "Not without my necklace. It's both... Liberating and lonely."

"What kind of things does she say? If you don't mind me asking..."

He rubbed a spot on his chest, the one where his necklace usually rested. "She usually talks to my wolf."

I waited, wondering if he was going to elaborate or that was all I'd get out of him. Nope. Silence it was. "Does your wolf talk to you when you wear it?"

Aspen nodded slowly. "I guess? Not exactly talk to me, but I can hear his thoughts. In many ways, I am his thoughts."

"Oh..."

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking pained. "Maybe some other time, I'll tell you all about Em and my wolf. But not tonight."

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me."

Aspen smiled sadly. "I should. It's not a story that should be left untold. One day." He pointed towards the lake. "Are they debating who will take the necklace?"

I nodded, hoping the change of topic would lift his mood. Seeing Aspen in pain like this, made me ache deep inside. If only I could cheer him up somehow. But I couldn't. So I just kept the conversation going. "Yes. And they are having a meeting of four houses? I'm not sure what's going on."

"Hmm," he snorted, shaking his head dismissively. "Only they would hold a council meeting in the middle of nowhere."

"What's a council meeting?"

With a small twig, Aspen drew four squares in the trampled snow. "Official clan business. Technically, the four of us are the heirs and direct representatives of the noble houses of our clan," he explained, adding in letters in the boxes. "There's Danny's house, Regan's clan, Darren's line, and then Ash and I. No matter where we are, we can hold an official meeting and whatever is decided, goes."

"You're all nobles?"

"Technically. All our houses are in shambles, so not much to be proud of or boast about. Ashleigh and I are the only survivors of our line. Regan was shunned by his parents, but claimed his rightful place as the heir when he turned eighteen. Darren has a lot of distant relatives, but I doubt any of them even know which clan they belong to. Danny tried to reject her title, but when her parents died last year, she became the next in line by default," he explained, hiding his face in his hands. "Our lineages are a mess."

"So what's the meeting about?"

"The secret of the Wolf. Disclosing the secret behind our shift is a breach of an ancient oath that all our houses have to uphold. We had a "meeting" about this around the time JP got filled in." He chuckled. "Actually, if I remember correctly, Danny had already told him and the meeting was about "her treachery". If our parents were still in charge, it would've ended in war. For us, it was more a shrug and we welcomed JP officially as a representative of House D'Ors. Danny's family name."

---