Page 20 of Wolf's Whisper

How he did it, I wasn't sure, but he somehow had turned a handful of random ingredients into a stew that was making my mouth water.

"Grab yourself a plate!" Darren cheerfully said as he distributed spoons. Well, he didn't need to tell me twice. He happily piled the stew onto my plate and as the smell penetrated my nose, I felt my stomach grumble.

I couldn't wait to dig in and hungry like a wolf, ha ha, I shovelled the stew into my mouth.

The otherwise chatty Danny and the quarrelling twins were all suspiciously silent as they too were practically inhaling their food.

"Don't overeat. We have to do a fair bit of walking today," Regan spoke, a discord of full mouths disagreeing with him, including me. Darren was one hell of a cook. He somehow managed to turn my tasteless veggies into an utterly delicious gravy. I'd stay with this group just for him, never mind the beautiful twins, I should get myself a Darren.

Mate. My wolf suddenly whined, like she was worried I might forget the beautiful woman sitting on the log next to me.

As if I could forget Ashleigh. I wish. But I knew it wouldn't happen. There was no way I'd be able to resist her, or for her to resist me, for that matter. We would end up together, no question about it. The only question was when. And all this Aspen stuff, I would just pretend I didn't know any of that. Besides, if he kept his Alpha neatly locked up, I wouldn't have any trouble.

"Yo, Darren, you rock, man." Aspen's enthusiasm pulled me out of my thoughts. He was happily waving his spoon around, as his plate seemed to be cleaner than when he got it. No surprise there, I already knew he liked to eat a lot. How could I not, I had been feeding him these past days.

"D-D-Delicious as always," JP weighed in, even though his plate looked practically untouched. If he wasn't hungry, maybe I could get another bite?

"Honey, are you sorting your potatoes again?" Danny chimed in, as she hugged JP from behind.

"Y-Y-Yeah... I can't help m-myself," he answered, his face falling as he stared at the plate in his lap.

The redhead smiled. "I'll help you out." With those words, she started pushing the food on JP's plate around until it became clear they were sorting everything by size.

"JP's has a little trouble with eating unorganised food," she explained as she saw me watching them, shrugging as she did. It didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. On the contrary, she seemed to find it quite endearing.

I answered with an approving smile and shrugged. Hey, everyone got his quirks. I much rather be camping with a potato pusher than a homicidal maniac.

"Better clean your plates, weather is about to change," Regan muttered as he peered up into the sky, one hand shielding his eyes.

I looked up and to my dismay, had to agree that the incoming clouds definitely felt ominous. I would bet a full meal they weren't just going to pass us by.

"I will collect more firewood before the rain soaks it all," he added. And with those words, Regan disappeared into the forest, the rest of the group looking plenty relieved they didn't have to get up yet.

"Darren, you make travelling in the wild so much more pleasant," Ashleigh sighed as she pushed her clean plate to the side and patted her stomach. "Damn, am stuffed."

"M-M-Me too. I can't eat another b-bite," JP sighed, as he pushed his plate away. There were still a couple of potatoes left over and I knew I wasn't the only one eyeing them hungrily. What can I say? Camping makes me hungry.

"Even for a human, you eat surprisingly little," Darren remarked, as he distributed the remaining potatoes equally on our empty plates.

"Wait, hang on, JP is human?" I asked, my cheeks stuffed with potato.

"Y-Yes, I am," he confirmed, as he awkwardly glanced around the group. I stared at the slender guy and suddenly, it made all much more sense. Of course, he was human.

"Yes, he is human. You have a problem with that?" I heard from behind me. I turned around and was met with an angry looking Danny. Her upper lip was curled up in a mean snarl and her eyes were blazing. Quite frankly, she was scary. Bye bye, cheery Danny.

"No, I don't have a problem with it. I’m just surprised. In my tribe, wolf and man usually don't mix very well..." I muttered, thinking back to how even my own blood had treated me like I was dirt on the street.

"If you don't mix with humans, you can just fuck off!" Danny yelled, surprising me with her harsh language. I had never seen her like this before.

I put up my hands, hoping to show her it didn't matter to me but I was suddenly looking at someone's back.

"She is not fucking off!" Ashleigh hissed back at Danny, shielding me from the furious redhead.

"If she has a problem with JP, yeah she will!"

"I don't care if she has a problem with the great Wolf himself, she stays," Ashleigh yelled back, baring her teeth at the girl she called "best friend".

"Oh yeah? You want to fight me?" Danny shrieked as she channelled all her anger at my mate. I felt the wolf inside me stir as she urged me to defend Ashleigh.

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