Page 7 of Ash
ChapterFive
Ash
When she had asked whether we were mates or not, I nearly lost my control, picked her up and carried her back to my room. It was close but somehow, I’d managed to just nod my head and laugh along with her. Lainey had no clue how true her words were. Or how they affected me.
Hell, they were still affecting me. and I was beginning to regret not going caveman on her and whisking her away because watching her laugh and flirt with the others was pure torture. Just being around her and not being able to touch her or even tell her how I was feeling was torture. But I knew I couldn’t. Not yet. Lainey wasn’t playing hard to get, she genuinely didn’t think of me at all. Which was hard to stomach but to tell her my secret and by doing so out all of my troop, would make her think about me in a way I couldn’t risk. She would think I was a threat to her. shelve me with the monsters she knew deep down had taken her hostage all those months ago.
And I wasn’t a threat to her. Not emotionally or physically. Well maybe I wanted to be a threat to her most private parts but that was another thing entirely. I smiled ruefully. My eye flicked from the rim of my beer bottle to her. They landed on Leo, and I glanced away guiltily and obviously too late as the young lion threw back his head and laughed. He laughed so hard I knew Lainey would have turned to see what the joke was. My eyes met hers over his shoulder. I half expected a questioning look, so her smile floored me.
God her whole face lit up when she smiled. I grinned back at her before I could stop myself.
Ok so maybe Lainey hadn’t thought about me before, but something had shifted today. I was on her radar now. Well and truly on her radar. And I planned to stay there. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that yet, but it was going to happen.
The clinking of glass on glass as Leo tapped the neck of his bottle against mine drew me back to reality with a bump. “You could just go and tell her how you feel.”
My smile faded and I turned away. If only it was that easy. Lainey was human. If she had been any other type of shifter, it would have been easier. She would have sensed the same bond that I did. There would have been no doubts between us.
“Yeah, Not going to happen.” I turned away so I didn’t have to see Lainey’s face break into a giggle and a blush at something King was telling her. She liked King, but then all the ladies did. He was just that kind of man. I was jealous, I realised with a start even when I knew I shouldn’t be. King would never betray me like that. We were closer than brothers. All of us were. It was one of the reasons we were such a good team.
An unstoppable team.
“It’s pretty easy you know...” Not getting the hint Leo followed me back towards the house. Away from the small gathering that had formed around the giant BBQ. It wasn’t even that I wanted to be away from people. I would spend every waking second orbiting Lainey if I could but out in the open, with the little lanterns that Oz’s mate Sarah had strewn around the place it was too easy to be seen. Specifically, it was too easy for Lainey to see me watching her. It was better all around if I stayed in the shadows, sipped my beer and watched.
“This is easier.” I leant back on the wall. In the months we had been here, we had done a lot of work, but the place still felt half-finished. Sarah tried to bring in her feminine touches but living with five guys wasn’t easy.
“This is stalkerish Ash. You like her, so just tell her. I can pretty much guarantee she likes you back.” He leant next to me. “You’re a hottie.”
I risked a glance at him. He was a joker, he always had been. And even though he was one of identical twins, his personality couldn’t have been more different than that of King. “Maybe I’ll just claim you instead then, seeing as you think I’m so hot.” I gave a playful growl.
“Oh, baby please.” He smirked in my direction. But it was short-lived. “You deserve to be happy Ash; I wish you would believe that.”
His tone made the joking grin slide straight from my face. “Are you happy?”
“Yes.” He answered without hesitation. “I didn’t expect to be but yeah I am.” He beamed at me. “It clicked straight away you know?”
No, I didn’t know. Leo had found his mate with another shifter, the last time we had been sent on a wild dire wolf-shaped goose chase. Mairi was a golden-haired beauty and a lion just like him. It was the reason we were all gathered here tonight. Leo was leaving us soon. Not because his new mate had asked him to but because the troop slut had wanted to. He had found the one woman in the world he would give up everything for.
We only had a few more days with him. So, we could say goodbye to one of our own. Leo would go on to rule Mairi’s pride by her side and I wished him all the luck in the world.
Ok, that was a lie. I wanted to be happy for him, but truth was, it felt like one of us had died.
Maybe it was just because I had lived so much longer than the others, every goodbye these days felt final.
I shook the thoughts away. Leo wasn’t dying. He was going to live a long and happy life with a woman he loved and adored. I was just a jealous dragon, who didn’t like change.
“Don’t like the idea of leaving you guys though. God knows what trouble you are going to get into and my brother…” Leo frowned. “You will look after him, right?”
I saw his eyes glint in the lanterns. He was watching his brother with trepidation. Which was kind of amusing seeing as it was always King that got Leo out of trouble and not the other way around.
“I’ll watch his back,” I muttered. “But who’s going to watch yours, Leo? Lionesses have claws you know.”
He laughed. “Oh, I know. And I love her claws. “ He stared straight ahead. “Talking about kittens with claws, yours is heading this way.”
I didn’t turn. he hadn’t needed to tell me that Lainey was heading this way. I had sensed her the second she began to move in my direction.
