Angel Blackwood (36 page)

When the shower switches off, I
start pulling and yanking even harder.

“Please.
C
ome on, come on.” The tears
fall down my face as I’m yanking at the metal hysterically. It
really is pointless, I’m just not strong enough.

“Always were the feisty little
thing, weren’t you?” He says, walking into the room. The blood that
covered him has been washed away, a towel is wrapped around his
waist and I can smell the soap that he’s just used still lingering
in the air.

“Why are you doing this to me?”
He walks slowly up to me and sits on the bed. I move away, but he
doesn’t like it. He growls and pulls me onto his lap.

He starts stroking my hair
affectionately, I need to play this right. I know he only gets
rougher the more I rebel. I look up to him, watching as his eyes
flicker between hazel brown and the black I fear so much. I lift my
injured hand and cup his cheek, not caring if I get blood on him.
He looks puzzled by my movements and his entire body goes stiff
beneath me.

“Why are you doing this to me?”
I whisper. He looks me in the eye and the blackness in his eyes
dissipates.

“I love you. That’s why
I’m doing this. I won’t let Jax have you. You were mine from the
start… you were mine.” He gently takes my hand from his cheek and
looks down at it with a frown.

“We need to get these cleaned
up. Wait here, I’ll get the first aid kit.” He pushes me to the
side, leaving me speechless as I watch him leave the room.

What the hell just happened?
It’s the gentlest he’s been since he’s taken me.

Drake comes back and cleans the
wounds on my hands up, he also cleans my face. It’s as if him
nurturing me helps calm his wolf and brings the old Drake back.

“I need to use the toilet,
Drake,” I tell him truthfully. He looks at me for a few seconds
before nodding and moving to take off the chain around my
ankle.

I move my ankle around, trying
to get rid of the stiffness. I get up and move towards the bathroom
with him following me.

“I can’t pee with you
watching,” I say. I enter the bathroom and he follows, standing at
the doorway and resting his hands on the top of the door frame.

He turns around. “Drake, please
just close the door a little or something.” He turns and rolls his
eyes before pulling the door a little.

Drake doesn’t even give me a
chance to finish washing my hands before he’s pulling me out of the
bathroom. He throws me a shirt when we enter the bedroom, I pick it
up and look at him.

“What am I supposed to do with
this?”

“It’s mine, put it on, you need
something to sleep in.” I stand frozen, looking at the shirt in my
hands.

“Put it on!” He roars, his
control clearly slipping. I turn around, unbutton my jeans and pull
them off. I can feel his eyes on me the entire time my back is
towards him. I pull off my shirt and hear a soft growl from him. I
hear his footsteps, but I’m not fast enough putting the shirt
on.

His hands grabs my shoulders
making sure I keep still, but I can’t help the trembling. One hand
moves my hair over my shoulder so soft and gentle, he now has a
clear view of the scars he left on my back.

I feel his breath on my
shoulder blades, then I feel his lips. His hands disappear from my
shoulders, moving towards my lower back touching the scars he
inflicted.

“God. I’m so sorry, Lexi. I’m
so fucking sorry!” I pull the shirt over and step away from
him.

“If you were sorry, you’d let
me go.” I turn and look into Drake’s hazel eyes.

“Drake, please… I know
I’m talking to you now, not your wolf. You’re in control again.
Please let me go,” I beg, placing both of my hands on his cheeks
and looking dead into those softer eyes.

“I love you so much, Lexi!” His
eyes flicker. I fear that the time I have to get through to him is
running out.

“Please Drake,
if you love me, you’ll let me go before you lose control and your
wolf takes over again. He’ll kill me. Y
ou’ll
kill me…
Please.” Tears fall.

“Go!”
H
e says.

His eyes flicker.

“Now! Run, Lexi… GO!” I do. I
run as hard and as fast as my feet will carry me. Through the woods
and back towards Jax’s pack house.

****

As I near the pack house I hear
commotion and noise, but I don’t stop running until I hit the
clearing and see Jax standing on his front porch issuing orders out
to a few of his men.

“I’ll fucking kill him myself,
Jax! We should have locked that fucker up when we knew Lex was
back!” Ronny’s yell echoes in the breeze.

“If he touches her again, I’ll
kill him. I don’t care if he’s the Beta!” My mother’s angry voice
can be heard over the commotion.

My bare legs are shaking and my
body aches in the cold wind. It actually hurts to walk barefoot on
the cold grass, but I continue to keep moving forward. Ronny stops
ranting, her eyes meet mine and her jaw drops. Jax follows her line
of sight, when he see’s me he starts pushing through the crowd to
reach me. I start running towards him, relief driving me
forwards.

I wrap my arms around him and
he holds me tight.

“Ohmigod
, Lexi.
Chelsea told us…” I push away from him and look around searching
for her. The sounds that came from the pasture when Drake and her
were fighting. I honestly thought she was dead.

“She’s alive?”

“Barely. She’s with the doc
now, sweetie. Come on, we need to get you cleaned up.” Georgina
says, as Jax pulls me back for a hug. Suddenly the sound of tyres
skidding across gravel as a cars breaks are slammed on fills the
air. The atmosphere turns heavy as the wolves that surround me
start growling. Jax stiffens and holds me tighter against him. I
try turning my head, but I can’t due to my current position.

“Stand down,” Jax calls out
over my shoulder. The wolves immediately silence, but the energy in
the air thickens. I hear the sound of car doors opening and
closing. A familiar scent has me pushing against Jax in order for
me to get a better look.

I look over Jax’s shoulder and
see Georgina snarling and shaking as if she’s about to turn into
her wolf form any moment. She’s looking behind me, I manage to turn
my head enough to see what caused the change of atmosphere. I find
Talon and Tyler standing tall and glaring at the position I’m in
with Jax.

I jerk away from Jax, my feet
hit the ground and I’m sprinting toward Talon. He looks shell
shocked when I reach him and jump into his arms holding him
tightly. I reach over and yank Tyler closer to me as well. I don’t
care if they don’t want me to touch them, right now all I wanna do
is hold them and keep them close.

“I’ll tell you
everything, anything you want to know I’ll tell you. I promise I’ll
tell you everything. No more secrets, no more lies. I promise you…”
I sob into Talon’s shirt. I can feel the anger pulsating through
him, his chest against my cheek is practically vibrating and his
heart is beating fast. His arms tighten around me and a low growl
vibrates through me. A hand fists Tyler’s shirt at my side, he
doesn’t pull away either. Instead he brings one hand over mine,
gently opening my palm to release his shirt and then he pulls me
from Talon’s grasp tugging me towards him. He wraps my arms around
his waist and holds my head against his chest cradling me close and
tight against his warmth; his kindness only makes me sob harder
against his chest, my tears soaking his shirt. I pull my head back
and pat at his chest.

“Sorry, I’m making you all
wet,” I say through hiccups as I wipe at my tears. I eventually
look up to find him looking down at me with angry eyes. His arms
still hold me close but they’re stiff. His hands reach up and
gently he runs them across my jaw.

“Who did this?” he growls, his
eyes turning dark.

“Where are your clothes?” Talon
asks from beside me as I feel a warm jacket laced with Talon’s
scent being placed over my shoulders. Tyler helps me put my arms
though the sleeves. I turn to look at him and his eyes search my
face, a growl forms as he stands up straighter.

“Who hurt you?” He says in a
deadly tone. Talon takes a step in Jax’s direction.

“You do this to her?” Talon
says, glaring at Jax with his fists firm at his side.

I hear the questions but I
can’t seem to form a response. My mind is still reeling from the
fact that the twins are here; my mates are here… in Jax’s
territory.

“Wait.
H
ow did you find me?” I look
between the two of them, but before either has a chance to speak
Jax opens his mouth.

“You two do realise you
crossed territory lines without my permission?” Jax’s response
pisses me off and I pull away from Tyler glaring at Jax as I
attempt to find my voice. I’m cold, tired, hurt and fucking
starving. All I really wanna do is get the hell off this territory
and go home.

“Your Beta just
tried to kill me,
almost
killed his mate
and you’re standing there chastising
my mates
for crossing
territory lines to look for me? Jesus, Jax. You need to get your
shit straight. Drake is probably already on the run and you’re
standing there giving them attitude!” Tyler looks back at me
confused.

“Drake tried to kill you?” He
heads for Jax, but Talon stands in front of him pushing at his
chest.

“You allowed your Beta to hurt
our mate! I’ll fucking kill him for touching her! I’ll kill you
too!” Tyler yells, making the gathered wolves growl and bare their
teeth.

Jax turns to look at his
pack members and calls out, “Head towards the east of our
territory, there’s a small cottage hidden there, Chelsea says he
was keeping her there.” He points to the group on our
right.

He looks at the group to
our left and orders, “You see if you can track him, follow his
scent or footprints, anything you think is out of the ordinary
follow it up. Spread out, but make sure you stay in at least packs
of three. He’s unstable and he’s capable of anything. Bring him
back to me in one piece!”

The wolves are reluctant to
leave, they continue to look between the twins and their Alpha.
Georgina, doesn’t want to leave either and she stands looking
between me and the twins.

“I’ll be fine here. We
need all our able wolves out there searching for him! Go! Now! You
too Georgina.” They all hurriedly scatter into the woods, some
changing into their wolf form in plain sight and some heading into
the forest in their human form. Georgina passes me and rubs my arm
as she walks past. “I’ll find him, sweetie,” she says in
assurance

After I watch her disappear
into the woods, I run up to where Talon is trying to calm his
brother down. I gently tug on Tyler’s arm. His black eyes look down
to me and his posture slackens as he lets out a breath; changing
his eyes back to their perfect blue.

“Calm down, Ty. I’m
okay,” I say softly, looking up at him.

He cups my
cheek. “This shouldn’t have happened, no one has the right to put
their hands on you. We should have protected you.
I
should have protected you. I let
this
happen to
you again. I let him hurt you…again.”

“These
are your
mates
?” Jax spits
out, looking between the twins.

I turn to look at Jax as Talon
grabs my free hand and holds it tight in his.

“Yeah, I’m sure I’ve mentioned
them before? Talon and Tyler.” Understanding reflects on his
face.

“Holy shit! I
thought they were your
dogs
?” Ronny’s voice
pipes up as she heads down the porch stairs and in my direction.
Tyler and Talon move to stand in front of me in a protective
stance. I squeeze through the middle of them and reach out to give
her a hug. She grips me tight and holds me close.

“I shouldn’t have left
you alone like that. I didn’t think Drake would try anything now
that he had a mate. I’m so sorry, honey. I swear I won’t let him
get away with this.”

“
Dogs?” I hear
Talon say.

Ronny pulls
away from me.
“Yeah. Ya know,
the tattoo on her ribs? The one with the roses and names. We asked
her about the names Talon and Tyler and she said they were her
dogs.” Ronny crosses her arms looking at me with a raised
eyebrow.

“Of course she did,” Tyler
mumbles at my side.

“Enough with the introductions.
We need to speak inside my office,” Jax says, sounding pissed as he
turns and heads into the pack house.

Drake.
A chill creeps up my spine and I look
to the edge of the woods. Talon softly runs a hand up my back,
pulls me close and leading me into the house.

“You’re safe now,” he whispers
against my ear whilst breathing in my scent. I believe him in that
moment; he will protect me. I lean into my mates warmth as it
comforts and calms me.

The peace is short lived
as we enter the house. “You! You’re scent.” Tyler’s loud roar has
all of us looking in his direction. Talon pulls away from me and
reaches out for his brother, pulling him back. Jax’s eyes turn dark
and Ronny pulls Jax away towards his office. Jax tries to fight
her, but Ronny won’t have it.

“Get inside the office now! We
don’t need our pack mates worrying about their Alpha being killed
by you two; they need to find Drake before he does any more
damage!” Ronny yells at Tyler.

“We
will
find him, don’t you worry and when we do… Not even the
Fates will be able to save him,” Talon snarls, pulling me close
again.