Angel Blackwood (13 page)

I stop in my
tracks
, sniffling and wiping
my tears away.

“You think I’d
accept you? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Kate shouts. Axel takes a small step forward.
“Please…” He sounds so hurt. “Don’t do this. You’re my mate, Kate.
We’re meant to be together.”

Kate
stands looking at him, it looks as if
she wants to go to him, but she’s having an internal battle. She
shakes her head. “No. No. No. I can’t! Look at you! Look at all
that ink on your skin. I can’t do it. I can’t be with you. What
will my parents say? The Fates chose you for me?” She looks down at
her shaking hands.

I come out of
the shadows
and they both look
up at me. I don’t care if I’m overstepping and I don’t care if I’m
butting into their business. If I can stop what happened to me
happen to someone else, it’s worth a shot.

I
look at her, “Don’t do it! Look past
his appearance. You haven’t even given him a chance yet. Don’t
reject him because of what you see.” She looks troubled as she
looks back and forth between us. Axel gives me a pained smile that
tells me how grateful he is, but my words don’t mean shit since
she’s already made her mind up.

“I’m
so sorry, this is so hard… My wolf is
calling to yours, but I can’t. I just can’t be with you. I’m in
love with Tyler. He loves me, he’s perfect for me, Axel. We belong
together. You’ll find someone and she’ll be perfect for you.” Tears
start falling and her pretty makeup starts running down her face;
even crying she still looks so perfectly beautiful -
I’m really starting to hate the word
perfect.

“You’re her!
You’re perfect for me, we belong together! The Fates say
so
, Kate… We belong together.”
He’s begging her. His body begs her, his teary eyes beg her and so
do his strangled words. My heart hurts for him because I see the
moment she makes her decision.

“I’m so sorry, Axel, but
I…” She looks at me, then back at him. “I… reject you!”

Axel falls to the floor
clutching his chest crying out in pain.

“I hope you find someone
that will love you, cherish you and appreciate you for all you’re
worth, Axel. I’m so sorry…” Kate runs past me sobbing as I run
towards Axel who is curled up on the floor.

“You have to accept it.
Accept it and the pain will stop. I promise you.” I lean down on
the grass on my knees, placing my hands on his shoulders. He pushes
me away, causing me to fall on my bottom.

“Don’t…promise…me shit!
You don’t…fucking know…what this feels like. Leave! Fucking…
leave…me alone,” he says through gasps, as he holds his chest with
ring covered fingers. His hair is no longer neatly combed over and
I can see the tears falling down his cheeks; my wolf can feel his
pain.

I sit up again and place
my hand on his chest.

“I do know. I
kno
w that it feels like your
heart is about to burst and every little breath you take feels like
you’re swallowing a thousand razor blades. It hurts…I know it does.
Accept her rejection and it will all be over. I know your wolf is
telling you to fight it, but is she really worth it? You deserve
better, Axel. Accept the rejection and the pain will stop.” His
breathing is deep and the tears flow freely now. He looks up at me
and tugs me in for a hug, his enormous body enveloping
mine.

I hear him
whisper over my shoulder
in
the direction Kate went, “I accept your rejection.” It takes him a
few moments before he gently untangles himself and I wipe away the
tears from his face and smile.

“You did good,” I
say.

“Who would
reject you?” H
e asks in a
gravelly voice, as he wipes away my running makeup from the
previous tears I shed.

“Apparently a
few would.” I give him a pained smile. “Even my second chance mate
just threatened me with rejection if I didn’t stop
‘
whoring
around’
.” I say using air
quotes. His eyes widen and his eyebrows crease in confusion. I
can’t believe I just told him that.

“You’ve already found
your second chance mate?” He asks, frowning.

“Mates, they’re twins,
and yeah I don’t think they want me. They’re under the impression
that I still have a second chance mate. They don’t know about my
first rejection.” He still looks confused,I let out a deep sigh and
attempt to explain.

“You see… I was
dating someone when I met them and while we were spending time
together I fell in love with them. I cheated on my boyfriend and
made-out with
both
of them.
”
His eyes bug
out and he gives another disapproving frown. I don’t know why I’m
explaining everything but I can’t stop the words from coming out of
my mouth. He looks so sad; maybe telling him how bad I had it will
brighten his mood.

I raise my
hands in defeat. “Don’t you worry
, I was punished for that misdemeanour and have to live
with those scars.” I cringe, shaking my head.

“Anyways,
I
stuck with my boyfriend even
though I told the twins I was going to break it off. Then I find my
boyfriend in bed with his mate and run into the arms of my first
mate trying to get away. As you can guess he rejects me because he
thought I was weak.” I laugh that off too. I know I’m not supposed
to tell anybody about the fact that I’m half human so I keep that
little nugget to myself.

“Boy, was he
wrong. So I flee to my parents’ house and run smack-bang into one
of my second chance mates. When his girlfriend busts in on us
having a heated make-out session he runs off behind her. Running to
my bedroom thinking I’m going to be rejected a second time that
night, I’m mauled by Talon before I even get to close the door.
When
his
girlfriend knocks on my bedroom door, he too
abandons me. So yeah, I guess it’s just a matter of time before I’m
completely mateless.” I force a laugh out, wiping away the tears
with a long deep breath.

“Fuck
,” he says,
looking emotionless.

“Yeah, see… you don’t
have it so bad. You still have a chance to meet your second chance
mate.” I smile at him.

“Fuck that shit. I don’t
want another mate. I don’t care how fucking fit they are, I don’t
want one. Can’t believe I was rejected… the love I felt when I laid
my eyes on her was amazing, but now? I fucking hate that uptight,
perfect bitch,” he mumbles.

“Can I tell you something
funny?” I poke his one arm.

“That perfect
bitch
is dating
Tyler.”

“Let me guess, he’s just
as flawless as she is. He’s probably a jock too with perfect teeth
and clear skin. I wouldn’t have stood a chance either way,” he
says, rolling his eyes.

I start
chuckling because he’s
spot
on. He looks at me as I confirm and shakes his head as he mutters a
“Shit!”

****

“Angel! I’ve been looking
for you. Couldn’t you hear me trying to connect to you? Are you
okay? I could hear what he was saying to you through the open link
you were sending my way. Can’t believe that jerk, honestly,” Nixon
mumbles, as he makes his way down the pebble path to where we sit
on the lush grass under the moonlight.

He
stops a few steps away when he
catches sight of Axel.

“Who
are you?” He frowns, then looks down
at me as I pat the grass.

“Come join the
reject squad,
” I mumble. He
sighs then flops down on the grass next to me leaning on his one
elbow. Axel and Nixon shake hands and introduce
themselves.

“You were rejected as
well?” Nixon asks Axel.

“Yeah not even thirty
minutes ago,” Axel grunts, looking out at the view of the lake in
the distance.

“Shit
sucks,
” Nixon says, and we
both agree.

“Can’t believe what Talon
said to you, babe. Fucking tool doesn’t deserve you,” he
mutters.

“Which part are you
talking about? The part where he threatened to reject me or the
part where he said he’ll pray for me to have a second chance mate
that treats me like shit when he does?” I say
sarcastically.

Axel
whips his head in my direction. “The
fucker said what?” He growls.

I place my hand
on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry
about it. Let’s just go back up and enjoy the rest of the
party.”

We spend the
rest of the evening chatting, laughing and
dancing
, not sparing one
minute worrying about the twins. The three of us get along great
and surprisingly have a lot in common besides the whole rejection
thing. I choose to ignore the twins eyes on me the rest of the
evening, making sure neither of them can get into my
head.

Chapter 8

No one
explained to me exactly what a welcoming ceremony
entailed
, if they had I
probably would’ve been more freaked out than I initially was. So
here I sit, on the edge of my bed in the early hours of the morning
looking down at the bite mark on my wrist where my father had to
bite me. There was also a lot of sacred pack talk culminating in a
lot of howling, but the bite is what I remember most because it
hurt like a bitch.

It still hurts like a
bitch.

As soon as the
howling was done,
I could
already feel every pack mates emotions; I just moved my eyes to
them, focusing my mind to it, hearing the thoughts of those who
hadn’t put up any barriers in their mind. It’s so much harder to
keep my walls up now, I’m guessing it will be easier for them to
reach into my head now as well; I don’t want anyone to see how
tainted and messed up it is in there with all those hidden,
horrible memories.

The wound has
yet to heal
, even though Alex
told me it would because of a wolf’s mega fast healing ability. I
find a bandage to wrap around the wound then wash all my makeup off
before climbing into a pair of black shorts and a loose green top.
Looking into the mirror, I lift my shirt to see the bruise Talon
left on my waist near the tattoo that bears his name. If you look
close enough you can see his individual fingers bruised in a
perfect pattern. I gently place my fingers over the individual
bruise prints and wince.

Why am I not
healing like a wolf?
I ask
Faith, but I don’t get a reply.

There’s a knock
on the my door, I lift my head up to see my mother
p
op her head in. She has a big
smile on her face and she’s carrying a gift bag.

“Don’t think I forgot
about your birthday. Here, your father and I have something for
you.” She ushers me over to my bed and we sit on the
edge.

“Mom, you and dad have
already done so much for me, you didn’t have to get me anything,” I
say, leaning over and hugging her.

“Of course we
did. B
esides, we didn’t
exactly go out and get you something. I’ve had this with me for a
very long time. Now open it up,” she says excitedly.

I pull out a piece of
fabric that is entwined with some sort of rope. The fabric is
holding something, I disentangle the woven rope and gently pull
away the material.

There lies a
beautiful silver ring that holds a stone. I lift the
ri
ng up, looking closely at
the stone; It’s opaque with brushes of white inside. If you look at
it from different angles it has a purply blue tinge to
it.

“It’s beautiful
M
om,” I say in awe, as I stare
at the stunning piece of jewelry.

“It’s a
moonstone. T
his ring belonged
to my mother and her mother before that,” Alex says, staring down
at the ring in my hand.

“I’ve never
seen you wear it,
” I say, as I
try the ring on different fingers to find the perfect
match.

“That’s because it was never
meant for me.”

I look up at her confused.

“I never felt worthy
enough to wear the ring. Over the short time that I’ve had the
pleasure of being in your life, I’ve realized how strong a woman
you are.” She tries to continue as she takes my hand in hers, but I
interrupt her.

“That’s because
you and Johnny
have helped me
become stronger,” I say with a frown. She shakes her
head.

“No, honey. You have
always been strong; you came to us already determined and powerful,
you are wiser and more passionate about life than I ever have
been.” She takes a deep breath then continues, “You know how much I
love your father, and even though I’m telling you this now it
doesn’t mean I’d change any of my past when it comes to him;
besides not keeping you of course. When I met him, I fell so in
love; I wanted to give him everything and that’s what I did. I gave
up my friends and the family I had left, and in doing so I gave him
my strength. I no longer needed it. I knew he would protect me, and
if I ever needed anything he would be there for me, and he was. But
in doing that I lost focus on the girl I was before him. I forgot
about my past and only cared about my future…with him.”