Angel Blackwood (18 page)

“Look at the time! It’s
already eleven, I better go to bed if I wanna wake up early to join
Dad in the gym.”

I move off the
bed and open the covers
making
sure she gets the hint.

She kisses my forehead
and gives me a hug before leaving my room and shutting the door
behind her. I let out a deep breath thinking about how I’ll ever be
able to tell them about everything I’m keeping secret. I don’t want
to see their disappointment, and what if they’re so ashamed that I
couldn’t even get a mate to accept me. Will they regret welcoming
me to be a part of their pack? Or worse, welcoming me into their
family

****

The next morning I wake
up early like I promised Dad, spending two hours with him in the
gym and out in the woods. My parents leave an hour after breakfast
and I head off to town to meet up with Nixon for lunch. I
successfully manage to parallel park my car on the side of the
street without bumping the front of my car, or without pulling off
my rear bumper on someone else’s. A job well done I’d say - pat on
the back for me.

The smile on my
face immediately drops when I enter the little bar. Across
the
room sits my mates
laughing with “
their
girls”
close by. Nixon calls
me over, and when they hear my name their heads whip in my
direction; smiles gone and faces blank. I feel them pulling me,
trying to get into my head, but I won’t let them. I turn finding
Nixon seated at the bar with two plates of food in front of
him.

“Why’d you ask me to come
here?” I grumble. I sit on the bar stool and chomp on a fry
angrily.

“You can’t
avoid them forever. You need to show them that you’re not going to
wallow and sit waiting for them to come around. You’re going to
live your life
with
or
without
them in it,”
he says, taking a big sip of his beer.

“Easy for you
to say, you don’t have to sit and watch your mates cuddling up to
their girl
friends from across
the room whilst your wolf begs you to go to them. This is too hard,
you don’t understand.” I stuff my face with the cheeseburger in
front of me.

“That may be true, but I
can’t sit and watch you avoid them anymore. That’s weak and you
told me you aren’t that weak little girl any more, isn’t that
right?” He knows he’s got me there. I so wanna stamp my foot like a
child right now.

I take another
bite in
stead.

The bartender
asks me if I want a drink
, but
Nixon turns him down and orders a soda for me. I roll my eyes. When
I hear Talon’s deep chuckle from across the floor I order a
vodka…and soda. The bartender quickly brings it to me then winks;
smiling, I wink back. When I hear two low growls from behind me, my
mood instantly lightens.

Nixon chuckles
and shakes his head. I try my hardest to ignore the boys
an
d have a good time chatting
to Nixon, but after a while the giggling and deep laughter gets
louder. I turn to see Talon holding Lucy close as he whispers in
her ear. Tyler is having a full on make out session with Kate, as
if he can sense me, he pulls away from her then looks at me, grins
then winks. I let out a breath, shake my head to get the sad
thoughts out. I look down at my hands then back up to Tyler, his
smile is gone and his face full of regret.

I turn back to
look at Nixon who
looks at me
sadly. “They’re dicks, babe. I’m sorry for bringing you here. It
was stupid of me, I can’t imagine what you’re going
through.”

“No
, Nix, it’s cool.
You were trying to help, but if we don’t leave right now I’ve got a
feeling that Faith is going to rip this place to shit. I can feel
her huffing and puffing within me, she’s jealous and
hurt.”

Nixon tells me
to wait by my car while he pays. I head out and take in the
fresh air. There’s a physical pain in
my chest from watching the boys with Kate and Lucy. I’m starting to
wonder if maybe I should end all of this; I’m not quite sure it’s
worth all this pain, especially If I’m going to be rejected in the
end anyway. I take a seat on a bus bench and rest my elbows on my
knees. My wild hair covers my face as the wind blows, I don’t even
care about how I look to the people passing. I close my eyes,
listening to the cars go by and trying to get my wolf to calm
down.

I jump when
I
feel a hand grab my
shoulder. I immediately know who it is by the little goosebumps
going up my arm and the butterflies in my tummy; his sweet scent
gives it away too.

“I’m sorry Angel, you
don’t have to leave. I’ll stop,” Tyler says in a soft caring
tone.

I shake my head and move
away from his touch. He balls his fist as if he’s about to reach
out for me again, but he doesn’t.

“I
can’
t sit there and watch you
two together. Isn’t this distance between us hurting your wolf? Or
is it only mine that’s dying inside?” I ask him genuinely, I swear
I can hear his wolf whimpering.

“It’s hard for
me too
, Angel. I feel like I’m
losing my mind. I can’t stop lashing out at you. Half the harsh
things I’ve said I don’t mean; I’m just so angry and confused,” he
says, looking down and noticing the cuts and plasters that adorn my
knees.

“Is th..that from me? Did
I do that last night?” He bends down in front of me and reaches out
for one of the plasters, but I slide toward the other side of the
bench and move away from him.

“I… I need to apologise
for last night. I barely got any sleep, it’s all I could think
about. You tried to talk to us, but we completely dismissed you
without allowing you a chance to talk. It’s our fault, we shouldn’t
have jumped to conclusions, Angel. I’m so sorry… Talon is too. I
don’t know what to do, Angel. I’m caught in between and don’t know
who to choose-”

“Angel, you ready?” I see
Nixon standing by my car calling me. I look over to where Tyler is
still kneeling and stand up. I force my eyes to look back at Tyler
as I walk past.

“Maybe
you won’t need to make a choice,” I
say, ever so softly. I watch as the blood drains from his
face.

“What does that
mean?” h
e asks loudly, but I
continue walking away.

“Angel!”
H
e yells out, making a few of
the people walking down the street stop and stare.

“What is that supposed to
mean?” He calls out once again. Nixon opens my car door for me and
I climb in. I don’t look behind us as we drive away.

We spend the
rest of the day running ar
ound
the woods in our wolf form. I need to let Faith diffuse her anger
and cool down, and I know how much she loves exploring the woods.
Nixon decides to head home when the sun starts to set, but I’m not
ready to head back to a home surrounded by people I hardly know, so
I stay out in the forest.

****

Sitting by the lake, I
think about the friends I left back home… My old home in Point
Bright.

I want to see them, I
miss them so much. I miss Ronny’s constant teasing and Chloe’s
sweet nature, I even miss the company of all my friends when we
hung out together at Frankie’s pack house. There was never a quiet
moment with them, I never felt alone, and that’s all I seem to be
feeling lately… Alone.

I know Nixon
has been trying
, and meeting
Axel too has helped take my mind off a lot of things. I guess I
just miss hanging with girls. Boys deal with their emotions
differently, its hard talking to Axel or Nixon about what I’m going
through with the twins. They’re super hard and tough when it comes
to “sappy” things, but it does make me want to try harder to be
just as tough.

I
t’s only later that
night when I reach the little waterfall hidden in the woods in
Point Bright that I realise what I’ve done.

I’ve crossed territory
lines.

Standing on the
boulder, I turn to leave,
but
freeze when I hear growling from behind me.

“What are you doing on
our land?” his voice echoes in my mind as the memories play
out.

I turn to look at him.

Drake’s
wolf is still as beautiful as ever,
his hazel eyes standing out against his brown coat.

I move
to
dash past, but he halts my
movements standing right in front of me, our noses almost
touching.

“
Speak!
” He says, using
the authority only a Beta has. I know this because it’s strong and
I can smell the power on him. It’s not nearly as strong as the
power an Alpha male wields though.

Realising
that Jax has
kept him as his Beta, even after what Drake put me through upsets
me somewhere deep. A palpable sense of betrayal, even though I was
the rejected mate.

His teeth are
bared and his eyes turn dark. I shiver as the
memorie
s flood in.

I take a step back.

I know what
Drake is capa
ble of. I know
the type of evil that is hidden beneath all that beauty, but I
won’t let that scare me this time.

I move to run past him,
there’s no other way out but in his direction. He blocks me with
his large body.

“Speak to
me
, wolf or so help me God I
will rip you apart
limb by
limb
,” he draws out in a
deathly snarl.

“Move!
” I say, staring
at his eyes as they immediately turn back to their usual brown. He
no longer snarls, and I can sense the surprise I’ve just given him
as he takes in my voice.

I take the opportunity and bolt
past him. I run and run hearing his steps behind me.

I end up at the old trailer
park I used to live in. The lights are on and I can hear the sound
of the television inside. I don’t have time to stop because Drake
is on my tail… literally.

I make it to the opening
of the woods and follow the road making sure to keep myself hidden
in the woods from the cars driving on the road. I don’t know how
long I run, but I can feel it in my bones, I’m close to my
territory. Faith is telling me we’re close.

I can no longer hear him behind
me so I turn my head and look back.

He’s gone.

I slow my pace
until I’m standing still. I do a full turn looking
a
round through the trees,
smelling the air, and trying to catch his scent.

Just as I
catch
a whiff of it and am
about to flee, I’m tackled to the ground by an enormous
weight.

“Get off me!”
I
growl, communicating to him.
He’s a big wolf just like any other full blooded male werewolves,
so I’m unable to force him off me.

He stands over me,
focusing intensely on me. “It is you!” I hear his whispered
thoughts.

“Yes
, it’s me! Get off
me, Drake.” I kick my back legs and he stumbles. I roll onto my
four legs and try lifting myself up, but Drake climbs back on top
of me. I feel something sharp tugging on my neck. Not piercing the
skin, but it’s enough to make me keel and roll over in submission;
just the way he always wanted me.

“If I let go, will you
stop trying to run away?” He links to me.

“Yes,” I lie.

He slowly lets go of my
neck and looks down at me. I turn my head when he moves to lick my
face. It doesn’t stop him, he licks me then breathes into my
neck.

“God, I’ve
missed you.
”

“Get off me, Drake. I
need to get back,” I say, nudging him. He doesn’t budge.

He lets out a
deep growl and looks me in
the
eye. “Get back where? If you think I’m going to let you run away
again, you’re sadly mistaken.”

I hear a loud roar behind
us, then Jax’s voice echoes into the night.

“You don’t have
a say in that matter, now do you
Beta.
”

Drake
’s body turns
stiff over mine. He looks down at me then back at Jax before
quickly moving off of me. I roll over so I can see what’s happening
behind me.

Drake walks
slowly toward
s Jax’s human
form. They must be having an internal mind link because I don’t
hear what Jax is saying; I’m clearly not included in their silent
conversation. Jax glares at Drake enough to make him drop his head
in obedience.

Drake gives me one final look
before disappearing into the woods.

Jax’s glare turns to me.

He
starts
walking in my
direction, then drops down to one knee right in front of me. The
anger coming from him is enough to make me retreat away from him.
His black hair is held back in a small ponytail at the back of his
head, his face is clean shaven though and his eyes are magnetic. I
can’t stop staring even as I back away.

“No!
Don’t move away from me. Come here
now, Alexia.” He uses his Alpha voice, and even though he’s not my
Alpha, I still can’t fight my wolf. She wants to obey him, so I
move closer towards him.