Angel Blackwood (29 page)

“Don’t
worry
, Talon. I won’t tell
them that my mates don’t want me,” I whisper.

He doesn’t move
for a minute, just stands there
watching me. I hear a shuffling and then the blanket is
placed on top of me. I feel the bed droop behind me and then his
face is hovering over my side looking down at me. He bends down and
places a kiss on my temple.

“My
apology
was
real. What I said
was
the
truth. I love you, despite my actions showing you otherwise. I will
make it up to you, Angel,” he promises.

Chapter 1
6

The following
morning starts with hustle and bustle around the house as the pack
make
s sure the house is
perfect for when the Alpha and Luna return home. My parents are
having a family dinner this evening, and since they consider the
twins and Jacob family, they’ll be sitting at the table. They
arrive tonight at eight thirty, so it will be a late dinner.
Thankfully the sun goes down early this time of year, so I’ll still
be able to meet up with Phoenix for my first training session
around six.

Jacob told me there’s a
pack mate coming in to cook and serve the dinner. I don’t know
what’s up with all the formality, they must have something to tell
us. I wasn’t even allowed to ask Nixon to join us, so the thought
of being left alone to deal with the twins causes an uneasy feeling
in my stomach.

After doing my usual morning
run, I spend the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning my room
and sitting by the lake reading yet another romance novel.

Nixon is aware of my
arrangements with Phoenix. He wanted to come with me but he has to
be at the school tonight, they have a football game and he’s on
duty. I have promised to call him though if I have any trouble,
that seemed to reassure him enough to let me go without the moaning
I expected from him.

After getting ready to meet up
with Phoenix I head down the stairs, I wanna head out before anyone
spots me. Pulling on my leather jacket, I walk down the passage
looking through the doors to see if there’s anyone home before
suddenly bumping into someone.

“Oh sorry, didn’t see…
Oh.” Tyler must have just come up from working out in the gym
downstairs. His hair is all wet, he’s shirtless with a towel
hanging over his shoulder, and his muscles shine with
sweat.

“Angel.”

“I’ve gotta get going,” I
say, pointing my thumb to the door behind me as I back away. His
body looking the way it does, all glistening and shit is temptation
enough. The fact that I know I can’t run my hands over him, that he
has a girlfriend that does all those things has the rebel inside of
me wanting to jump him like a horny fucking jack rabbit
.

I gotta get outta here…

“Please wait,” he says,
grabbing my hand softly. His gentle caring behaviour has me
confused.

“I thought that
staying away and avoiding you would help me make a decision about
this whole mate thing, but I can’t do it, Angel. The more I’m away
from you, the angrier and frustrated I get. My wolf is driving me
crazy because he wants to be near Faith. I need to spend more time
with you, I want to trust you and I want you to trust me enough to
tell me
everything
. I know we
can figure this all out together, but no more secrets.”

I look down at his hand that is
holding mine, his thumb rubbing back and forth. Even though it’s
rather calming, the fact that he assumes things between us can just
go back to how they were before aggravates me.

“This
mate
thing
?” I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. I know I’m
letting the little things irritate me, but the way he continuously
says
mate-thing
as if it’s not of any importance has
me all riled up.

“You know
what?” I let out a deep breath and pull my hand from his and point
my finger at him. “I told you the truth. I told you about Drake,
but you didn’t believe one word I said! I get that I hurt you, I’ve
apologised countless times. For God’s sake, Tyler. I didn’t mean
to
string
you along, as you and Talon continuously tend to
put it. I loved you, both of you. I went back to Point Bright ready
to break up with Drake, but he wouldn’t have it. Who do you think
hurt me?” I’m yelling so loud, I really pray no one is
around.

“What?” I hear Talon’s out of
breath voice behind me, as if I just punched him in the stomach. I
turn and find him wide eyed. I really wasn’t going to have this
conversation now, but since both boys are right here and they’ve
pushed me to my limit, I allow the anger to flow, along with the
words.

“He threatened me. Told
me he’d hurt the friends I had back in Point Bright, that he’d hurt
you two as well as Alex and Johnny. He was crazy, he’s fucking lost
his mind! He made me tell him every day that I loved him, so much
that I even started to believe the lie. I would isolate myself from
everyone when I came back home because I was so afraid that he
could somehow see what I was doing and who I was with. I was
paranoid and seriously afraid.”

“Ohmig
od, Angel.
I…fuck…we didn’t believe you.” Talon’s face is full of sorrow and
pity as he reaches for me, pulling me into his arms.

I automatically
push against his chest. “No, I don’t need your pity. I told you
this because I’m done with your childish behaviour, both of you.
You’re trying to get back at me with harsh words and childish games
and you’ve managed to get your revenge a hundred times over.
Congratu-fucking-lations, you win! You can’t believe that after
what you’ve both said and all the shit you’ve put me through, I’m
just gonna roll over and accept an “I’m sorry”? Well
s
orry,
that isn’t gonna work for me.” I look at the
clock on the wall behind me.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got
somewhere to be.” I leave them standing there open mouthed and wide
eyed.

I head straight into the woods
and straight for the camp. I’m a few minutes late and it’s already
dark outside so I run as fast as I can.

****

I find Phoenix sitting on top
of the wall near the tree I usually use to climb over.

“You’re late,” she says.

“I know, I’m sorry. I ran into
the twins. That’s a story for another day though.” I look around
the area. “So where are we gonna do this then?”

She jumps off the wall, landing
gracefully on her feet. “Not here. I got the perfect place nearby.
Follow me.”

Phoenix doesn’t speak the
entire way to our training spot. She just walks along whilst
humming an unfamiliar song. Luckily the place is only a few minutes
away because I’m not sure how much longer I can take her silence.
It’s unlike her to be quiet, she’s usually talking my ears off. My
mind is taken up with thoughts of what just happened with the twins
and how I lost my cool telling them everything. Okay, maybe not
everything, but a lot more than I ever thought I would. The looks
on their faces as I left them standing there was enough to tell me
that they believed me this time.

She takes me deeper into the
forest, vines and creepers take over most of the trees. There’s
just enough walking space for the two of us, and I have to bend
down to walk under a fallen tree trunk. Looking up, I find myself
staring at a small clearing. Trees and a wooded area surround us,
but we are concealed amongst the bushes. The moon is bright enough
for us to see each other in the darkness, especially as there are
no overhanging trees above us.

I watch Phoenix pull out a
blanket from her back pack, throwing it on the floor, followed by a
little lantern which she lights. She sits down Indian-style on the
blanket and gestures for me to have a seat. I follow her lead,
sitting just as she does.

“First things
first… D
on’t ever be late.”
She cocks an eyebrow at me and I know she’s in game mode. No
fucking around and no joking coming from her end.

“If you want to learn
from me then you need to be ready at the time you say you will be
ready. I want to help you, Angel, but it’s already hard sneaking
behind Fabian’s back. The longer I wait, the less time I have to
teach you, and by the looks of things you need to learn how to
control your magic and fast. I only have so much time “at the
library” before Fabian starts tripping, realising I’m not really at
the library. He’s very nosy when it comes to me, I’m already
jeopardising my friendship with him as it is by doing this behind
his back. We need to stick to our times otherwise we’re going to
get caught out.” I give the girl brownie points, she takes this
magic shit seriously.

I lift my hands up in
surrender. “I understand, Phoenix, seriously I do. I promise never
to be late again; within reason. I want to do this and I need all
the help you can give me.” I give her a small smile and sure enough
a grin forms on her lips and she’s her usual chipper
self.

“Okay, fair enough.” She
nods, before reaching into her backpack. “Let’s start small.” She
pulls out a knife and my eyes widen as the silver shines in the
night.

“Whoa, what you gonna do with
that?” I move backwards on the blanket.

“I’ve already seen the power
you have when you’re like really angry. Now I need to see those
healing powers.” Before I have a chance to stop her, she slices the
knife down the palm of her hand.

“What the fuck, Phoenix!” I
grab the knife out of her hand and throw it. It lands a few feet
away with a thud. She curls her injured hand into a fist and blood
runs down her hands.

“Darn! I really didn’t expect
it to hurt that bad,” she hisses.

“Ohmig
od, I can’t
believe you just did that!” I move forward onto the blanket and
place my hand over hers.

“You do realize
that once I heal you, the pain
I feel
is gonna be way
worse?” I raise an eyebrow, moving my hand away from her hand. She
eyes my hand cautiously then gives me a confused look, clearly not
understanding.

“Maybe I should let you
feel that pain for a little longer, let you suffer a little bit so
you learn never to do something so stupid again,” I say
seriously.

“No! Please just heal me,
Angel. It hurts really bad. I won’t do it again. I promise,” she
begs quickly.

I place my hands back over
hers, ignoring the hissing sound coming from her mouth as I gently
open her hand to see the wound. It’s not too deep and it should
heal perfectly.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Oh, sorry.” I place both hands
just above her skin. As if the magic instinctively knows there’s
healing to be done, I feel the charged static in the tips of my
fingers. A few seconds later little light orbs appear, travelling
over my hands and onto Phoenix’s. They disappear into her cut and
we both watch open mouthed as the little orbs heal her skin. No
matter how many times I do this, I will never get over how
beautiful and amazing it is.

Once the skin is healed she
fists her hand again and opens it, she sticks her other thumb in
her mouth then uses it to wipe away the residual blood.

She looks up to me and if it’s
even possible with her already pale skin, she’s as white as a
ghost.

“You healed me,” she says.

“Uh yeah…”

“I thought there was
gonna be some kind of spell, you know? Calling upon our ancestors
or something like that. Maybe even the lighting of a candle? I
can’t believe you just sat there quietly and lifted your hand? Are
you thinking the spell? Is that it? That’s why I couldn’t hear it,
isn’t it?” She rambles on, trying to convince herself.

“Phoenix, calm down.” I place
my hands over hers. “I don’t use any spells. The magic does
everything on its own, as if it can sense the need for healing. As
long as I bring my hands close enough to the wound, it’ll heal
it.”

“Then what about those scars on
your wrist? Why didn’t your magic heal your own injuries?” She
asks, taking hold of my wrist and running her fingers over the
scarred skin.

“I tried healing myself,
but the magic doesn’t work on me like it works on others. The pain
that came back was horrific. I think my magic is meant for others,
not myself, Phee.” Before I can finish the sentence, I feel the
pain in my hand from healing her wound. I use my other hand to wrap
around it tight and take deep breaths.

“You took the pain from me?”
Phoenix looks concerned as she rubs my arm. I nod vigorously unable
to speak.

“Next time I’ll start with a
pin prick. I’m sorry,” she mumbles.

It takes me a
minute to contain myself before the pain goes away instantly.
“There won’t be a next time. You are
not
hurting yourself
only to have me heal you. I don’t like that, there has to be
another way.”

She nods her head. “What were
you feeling or thinking when you were healing me?”

I shrug, “I was just thinking
about making your pain go away? I just wanted to make it better,
that’s all that was going through my head.”

Phoenix continues to ask
questions before trying to teach me a basic spell. It is the
supposedly simple lighting of a candle, but nothing whatsoever
happens. We go over other fire lighting spells and I start to
believe that maybe my magic abilities are limited to healing and
causing pain.

I lift my nose when a familiar
scent wafts through the air, when Phoenix tries to speak I lift my
hand up, hushing her.