Page 85 of His Whispered Witch

Why wasn’t he running? He had to get away. There was something important they wanted to do. If it wasn’t another spell to keep him human, and Malcolm hadn’t even tried to order him to shift, what was it?

Was Malcolm finally here to kill him? That’s what Asher was waiting for, wasn’t it, but then why bring his mate? She didn’t have to witness that. She’d never recover.

“We’ve all agreed,” Malcolm said. “We want them to try. You’re the last holdout.”

Try what?

Penn crouched down, and Asher wanted to pull away.

Do not get closer. I could hurt you.

She didn’t hear him, or she ignored him. Some mates could hear their wolves, but he supposed sincehecouldn’t even hear his wolf, there was no hope for her.

“It’s as safe as possible,” Penn murmured, the alto tones of her voice soothing something ragged in him, but he still had no idea what she was talking about.

“Most of the pack wanted this even if you weren’t around, so no more of this martyr bullshit, okay?” Malcolm said. His voice was gruff, but there was real worry beneath it.

Asher’s wolf’s gaze darted between the two of them. It was thinking about running anyway without his input.

“Asher,” Malcolm said with more authority in his voice, sensing the direction of the wolf’s thoughts.

“Asher, please,” Penn echoed, applying her own kind of pressure.

Whatdid they want from him?

Malcolm crouched down and held out a hand. Asher’s wolf didn’t move. “You came home. You can’t fly at the first bump inthe road. We got you back, but we could never convince you to stay. You have to make that choice now.”

“He wanted to come,” Penn insisted, and a part of Asher broke to hear her defend him. He had no defense.

“Yeah, when he could slink off to a cabin and never bother anybody. The moment it was the slightest bit inconvenient or hard, he’s off again.”

Inconvenient? Hard? He threatenedeverything.

How though?

More of the past swam into his mind. There wasanotherspell. Not for a collar, but for what?

He couldn’t remember, but it was dangerous as hell. He forced control until he could shake the wolf’s head, a move it was familiar with to get water off its snout, but not as a tool of communication.

Malcolm looked relieved, but Penn didn’t know enough to be relieved that his wolf was making human gestures.

“If you stay,” Malcolm said, “you stay when it’s hard, when it’s dangerous, when you’re a crazy, damaged mess, and when you can perfectly contribute.”

The snake spell. He remembered.

“Please come back,” Penn whispered.

We have to explain.He reached for the reins, and to his surprise, the wolf let him have them.

He stepped back into humanity with a slight shift of focus. After all, it was such an easy thing to do.

Penn’s face flushed with color as her eyes skittered over him, and he felt a small pulse of pride. Malcolm just held his gaze steady, an alpha anchor through the change. He hadn’t done that before Asher left. When had he learned it?

“No,” he whispered. He wanted to say more, to defend his choice and tell them they were all crazy, but he couldn’t get his throat working.

“Well, it’s a good thing I askedforyou, and everybody said yes. So let’s get your butt down the mountain so we can do this.”

Asher gasped. “No!”

---