Page 77 of Wolf's Whisper

I smiled. "That's sweet."

"Danny chose him. He's family."

As if he heard his name, JP appeared from the tree line, carrying a whole bushel of firewood. It wasn't as much as Regan could carry, but I was sure it could easily last us till morning. I moved my stump out of the way, giving the slender man room to get the fire going and started dreaming of what goodness Darren would be making for us later tonight. At least, I hoped he would. I honestly wasn't sure how we were doing ration wise. They just kept producing more and more food from their backpacks. I wasn't sure how, but hey, I wasn't complaining.

Some magic was better left unexplained. The mystery of their never-ending supplies was one of those things.

From the tree line, the group reappeared. Ashleigh was happily chatting away with Danny and I let out a sigh of relief. No wars were being waged tonight.

I immediately jumped up, anticipation and fear keeping my body singing a nervous song. What did they discuss? Would they tell me the secret? Had they decided I was worthy? Or would they just boot me out?

A stone fell on my stomach. Oh no, what if they decided to leave me behind and travel without me? Surely, Ashleigh wouldn't like to leave my side, but then again, with me jumping her brother, she might not be as big of a voter for me to stick around. Oh fuck, they were going to leave me. Yes, that made sense. Ashleigh was fed up with me and my childish ways. If I could forget about her, she could forget about me, no?

"So..." Danny sighed, apparently initiating the awkward conversation that was to follow. Really? Could my mate not straight up tell me that she was ditching me?

"We've come to a decision," Regan added in, pausing as he left his sentence hanging in the air.

"Yessss?"

"It would only make sense if..." Danny started, cutting off her sentence to turn towards Ashleigh and nudge her. "Maybe it's better if you tell her? After all, she's your mate."

Ashleigh ran her hand through her dark curls and awkwardly chuckled. "Okay, yes, maybe you're right. So..."

Why were they so slow? What's up with all the shiftiness? Were they just playing? Why?

Frustrated, I shoved my hands in my hair and let out a long groan. Couldn't they just be frank with me?

Ashleigh and Danny exchanged more glances, seemingly having another silent conversation. Fine. If they weren't going to tell me, I'd just put them out of their misery and say it myself.

"I get it, you want me gone," I blurted out, exactly at the same time as Ashleigh said: "I want you to marry me."

Crickets chirped as a silence befell us. What? Had I heard that right? "What?!"

Ashleigh gently took my hands in hers. "I want you to marry me. I mean, not now. Not even soon, for that matter. But some day."

I stared at her, my mouth dry and my tongue like sandpaper against the roof of my mouth. "What?" I managed to splutter out again, not sure how we went from her cursing at me to a marriage proposal.

"If you say yes, if you accept, you'll become part of the Ardelean family by extension and are granted access to not just our ancient secrets, but to wearing one of our most valuable possessions." She held up Aspen's necklace, dangling it in the air. "This. Of course, we wouldn't have to get married until we both feel like it, after all..."

I turned to her very silent brother, not sure what he was making of all this. He'd certainly have an opinion on his sister's proposal. Aspen tapped his forehead and whispered: "Aaaah, that's what they did with JP. Now I remember."

I growled. Useless. Men were freaking useless. "A heads up would've been nice," I whispered to him before turning back to his still proposing sister. With a glare, I managed to stop her ramblings.

"No."

Ashleigh's face fell as I probably said the last word she'd wanted to hear. "No?" she swallowed, the usually clear lights in her eyes disappearing. Shit. I didn't mean to be so harsh.

"I meant... No, I won’t marry you for convenience. You can keep your secret. When I marry, I marry for love. Nothing else."

Pain flashed through her eyes. "And you don't think I love you?" she asked quietly, her voice flat and dull. Damn, this was so not how I'd planned my proposal to go.

I hesitated. "Well... We haven't really talked about that kind of thing," I deflected, already cursing myself for how I handled the whole thing. Why couldn't I have been patient and just heard her out?

My mate brushed her soft fingertips over my cheek, asking my full attention. "Let me make one thing very clear, Akira. You're my one and somewhere down the line, I will make you my wife. All I need to know is if you're okay with that?"

I bit my lip as coals far down in my stomach flamed up underneath her touch. A spark had returned in Ashleigh's eyes and as it did, her intense gaze quickly set my heart on fire. Relief hit me as her words' meaning finally started to make sense. She wasn't leaving me. It hadn't even crossed her mind. No, she wanted me to be with her. To stay with her. Not just for now, not just for my journey, but forever.

A thought I never considered before, entered my mind. I didn't need to go back to my village. I could just stay with Ashleigh. We could settle down somewhere, build ourselves a lovely little home. We'd have to reinforce our house, so she and Aspen wouldn't break it down with every little spat they had. Oh, and of course, we'd have Danny and her men as our neighbours. We could be our own little town.

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