Angel Blackwood (44 page)

Fifteen minutes go by and the
sound of cars leaving has passed. I let out a deep breath and close
my eyes.

“Shit! Sorry, I didn’t
know you’d be here.” Tyler’s voice has me frozen in place. I turn
my head and find him standing in the doorway. He’s shirtless with a
towel around his waist. He points to his closet. “Just going to get
some clothes then I’ll be out of your hair.”

I stand up quickly. “No, Ty.
It’s okay, it’s your room. I’ve got to find Nixon anyway.” I move
towards the bathroom door.

“He went with Talon,
Angel.”

I stand there speechless with
my hand on the bathroom door.

“I know you would much prefer
to have Talon here protecting you, rather than be stuck with me,
but it’s gonna be okay. Talon’s gonna be fine and I’ll stay outta
your way,” Tyler says softly.

I turn to look at him. “I
wouldn’t have wanted you to go either, Tyler,” I sigh, before
quickly turning to leave the room.

****

Ronny and Chloe have been
messaging me, filling me in on the Drake situation. Apparently he
hasn’t been caught yet and I can’t lie and say that that little
fact hasn’t got me a little paranoid, especially as I’m pretty much
alone now.

Rather than mope around, I
decided to meet up with Phoenix. We go through techniques to use
when trying to control my magic. Turns out its much harder for me
to control because I’m not using spells and potions like usual
witches do. It usually happens when I want to hurt someone or when
I’m really angry and It seems like the only way to stop it is by
calming my mind and body down. I think I will definitely benefit
from some calming techniques. Phee was completely in tutor mode and
wouldn’t speak to me about Nixon or Fabian, or what transpired
between the two of them after I left last night. I’ll give her a
few more days and then I’ll ask again.

I spend the rest of the day
allowing Faith to roam free. It’s starting to get darker so I
continue in my wolf form towards the pack house. I pass a few
people I’ve never seen before, they stare at me wide mouthed and
watch my every movement. I wonder for a second if I rolled in
something, whether my coat is dirty. I turn my head to see if
anything is on my coat, then I remember what Johnny was saying to
Jacob. These must be the men that Caspian sent down.

“Well, well, well. Aren’t you a
sight for sore eyes.” The familiar voice has me letting out an
excited bark as I dash in his direction. I jump up, tackling him to
the ground.

Axel starts laughing louder and
playfully wrestles me. After some time and aware of the eyes on us,
I move away from him. He sits up leaning on one knee as he runs his
hands through my coat.

“Your coat is beautiful, Angel.
Your eyes, wow! They’re so different, not your natural colour,” he
says, giving me a huge grin.

I give his cheek a sloppy lick
then nudge him as I make my way into the house and upto my room. I
hurriedly dress and run back downstairs. Axel stands at the bottom
of the staircase with a smirk on his face as he eyes my fully
dressed form.

“I wouldn’t have minded
you shifting in front of me. You didn’t have to go all the way to
your bedroom to do that, babe.” He winks and I playfully punch his
arm before giving him a hug.

A growl down the passage has us
pulling apart. I see Tyler stepping into the lounge area with a
scowl on his face.

I shift on my feet and Axel
grabs my hand gently. “That’s the other brother right?” He
asks.

“Yeah,” I mutter, looking back
to where he disappeared.

An hour later we’re sitting
down by the lake, stuffing our faces with takeout.

“You staying in the pack
house?” I mumble, shoving a few chips in my mouth.

“No way. Your mate will skin me
in my sleep if I sleep under the same roof as you,” He chuckles,
taking a sip of soda then shaking his head. “Nixon said I could
stay at his place. I got that chicks number from the diner, told
her to pay me a visit later.” He lifts his eye brows
suggestively.

“Never gonna find me crashing
in his spare bed again,” I say, whilst pretending to gag.

“Who says I’m gonna fuck her in
the spare bed? Nixon’s bed is pretty fucking massive, maybe I’ll
tell her to bring a couple friends,” he says, looking away as if
deep in thought.

“Argh…” I throw a fry at him,
“Nixon is gonna kill you.” He picks up the fry and eats it, while
chuckling away.

It turns quiet after that, so I
lean back enjoying the view of the lake. Axel turns to look at me
with a sad expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I heard about what happened to
you. About the crazy fuck that took you.” His expression turns
solemn.

“It’s over, Axel. I’m home
now.” I try to ease his worry.

“No. It’s not over until we
find that fucker and make him pay for what he’s done,” he grits out
with a growl.

“
Couldn’t agree
more.” Tyler’s voice makes both of us jump.

He walks right up to us. Axel
stands up tall so they’re chest to chest. Tyler is the same height
as Axel, but unlike him, Tyler is more lean whereas Axel is pure
bulk.

They stare at
each other for a while clearly linking to one another. Then Axel
nods his head, looks down at me, rests a hand on my head and links
to me, “
You gonna be okay
here alone with him?”

I nod my head,
giving him a small smile. “Goodnight
, pretty girl,” he says. Just to piss Tyler off, he leans
down and kisses my head eliciting a growl from Tyler who stands
close by. I watch Axel disappear through the trees then turn around
to see Tyler’s stiff jaw and black eyes staring at the same spot I
was moments before, his hands fisted at his sides.

I pat his leg and he quickly
shakes his head before looking down to me.

I pat the seat next to me.
“Sit.”

I notice his mouth twitch in an
almost smile, just the mere thought of almost making him give me
one of his breath-taking smiles has my stomach doing flips. He sits
down close to me, his arms touching mine and his feet over the
ledge of the dock just like mine.

He clears his throat after a
few moments. “How was your day?” He says, looking down into the
water.

“It was good. Yours?” I say,
returning the small talk.

“It was okay,” he mutters. Then
it’s quiet again and I just can’t take it. Memories resurface and I
let out a little laugh.

“You remember that day we
all came down to the lake? Most of the pack were here. It was such
a beautiful day, everyone was so freaking happy.” I lift my head
and find him smiling; he’s thinking about it.

“I remember how close Talon and
I were to drowning a few of our pack mates. You had this little
bikini on and all your tattoos were on display. None of the guys
from around here had ever seen a girl with as much as ink as you
have. They weren’t even shy about their interest in you,” he
chuckles. I stare at him with a smile on my face, he double takes
when he sees me looking at him.

“What?” He says, his eyes
sparkling in the moonlight.

“I’ve missed hearing that. I
love the sound of your laugh.” At hearing this he lets out another
chuckle.

“I’ll promise to smile and
laugh more often then,” he says. This time its me who giggles.

“Only…” He continues looking at
me lovingly. “Only if you smile and laugh more often too.”

“Deal,” I say, lifting my hand
to shake on it.

He looks down at it and wraps
his much larger, warmer hand around mine gently.

“Deal.”

We continue to chat about the
attacks on the South Plains pack and he tells me other stories
about my father and how often he usually goes to the rescue of the
allied packs. We sit and chat like we’d never stopped being
friends, like none of the bad shit that has happened has affected
our relationship. I know in the back of my mind that we’re avoiding
talking about the shit that needs to be resolved, but I’m enjoying
his company too much to bring any of it up.

He eventually grabs my hand,
helping me up as we head back to the house. I expect him to let go
of it once we come out of the woods and are amongst the other pack
members, but he doesn’t. He holds my hand tightly, pulling me
closer to his side as if he’s staking his claim and making it known
to the other male wolves who I belong to.

Only when we make it to my
bedroom door does he let go.

“Goodnight, Angel,” he
whispers, looking down at me.

“Night, Ty.”

****

After having a shower and
dressing, I climb into bed and try linking to my parents. They’re
quick to respond, telling me all is fine and they’re handling the
situation; they don’t elaborate. A few moments later I try link to
Talon.

“Talon. Talon,
can you hear me?”
I try
reaching out for him. I think hard, thinking about him and his
wolf. I eventually feel his mind allowing me entrance.

“Angel?”
I let out a
deep breath hearing his voice.

“I didn’t tell
you I loved you when you left. I love you so much, Talon. Please be
safe. I don’t know what I will do if anything happens to
you.”
I swallow the tears,
hoping he doesn’t hear the worry in my voice. I want to be strong
for him. I don’t need him concerned about me whilst trying to
protect himself.

“Baby, you
don’t know how much I needed to hear that. I’m sorry for the way I
left. I knew if I had to see your sad face one minute longer, I
would have stayed. I love you too, Angel,”
he says. I can practically feel the love resonating
from wherever he is.

“I have to go,
baby. I’ll chat more in the morning,
” Talon links.

“I love you.
Be safe.”

I feel the connection break and
the sense of unease immediately return. I think of Nixon and it
only adds to my concern for my pack mates. I toss and turn for the
next hour unable to fall asleep. I lay frozen when I hear the
bathroom door being opened and closed. I turn when the bathroom
door linking to my room opens sending light into my room.

“I can practically hear you
tossing and turning through the walls.” He closes the door behind
him then steps closer to my bed. Lifting the blankets up, he says,
“Scoot, I’m coming in.”

I move away from his side of
the bed, but not all the way to the other side. I want him
near.

I face away from him and I’m so
thankful that I am because I can’t help but smile when he curls his
body around mine, my back to his chest. He asks me to lift my head
so that my head rests on his arm whilst his other arms rests on my
lower stomach leaving no gap between us.

“Everyone is going to be okay,”
he whispers against the back of my hair.

“I know,” I whisper back.

“Tyler?”

“Yeah?” His voice is rough.

“Why don’t you use our bathroom
anymore?”

It’s quiet for a few
seconds before he responds, “I can’t, it smells like
you.”

“Oh.” it hurts to hear that,
but I don’t say anything out loud.

“It’s not what you think,
Angel. It’s just… It’s hard for me to be around it sometimes,” he
says.

I lay quietly looking at his
hand in front of me. Slowly, I move my hand and lace my fingers
with his. I feel his face moving closer to my hair and then hear
him breathing in my scent. He squeezes my hand a little, then his
thumb starts moving back and forth on my hand.

“I don’t like his hands on
you,” he says. His voice sounding sleepy.

“I know,” I whisper, moving my
head enough so that my lips can reach his arm. I give him a small
kiss, breathing him in before resting my head back down and closing
my eyes.

****

The next two days come and go.
I spend most of my time with Axel if I’m not with Phoenix. Aside
from climbing into my bed each night, I don’t really see much of
Tyler during the day. I’ve been keeping in contact with Talon and
my parents regularly. They haven’t told me much about what’s been
going on and when I ask questions they’re quick to change the
subject. The atmosphere around the pack house is tenser than usual,
but I think it’s because the Alpha is not around. Jacob has been
doing a great job of keeping control over the restless men who
didn’t leave. I noticed this morning that security has doubled and
I feel more eyes on me when I’m running in my wolf form.

It’s late and I’m walking home
after eating dinner with Axel at Nixon’s place. I walk past a
couple unfamiliar faces from Caspian’s pack. They’re sitting on the
porch stairs leaving only a little opening for me to step
through.

“Sorry. Excuse me,” I mutter,
taking the stairs through the group of men.

Nearing the top I feel hands
wrap around my bare ankle. I look down finding a bulky man with
shaven hair, good-looking obviously, but nothing at all like my
mates.

“So, you’re the Alpha’s girl?”
He says, looking up at me whilst still holding my leg in his
grasp.

“She is… and if you don’t
remove your hands from her skin, I will show you exactly what my
Alpha told me to do should anyone hurt our future Luna.” Tyler’s
growl is low and deadly. I look up to see him baring his canines at
the man as he fixes him with a glare. I hear the rest of the crowd
telling the stranger to let me go; eventually he does.

“Angel, go get ready for bed,”
Tyler orders. Even though it’s in my nature to want to argue with
him for ordering me around, the anger coming from Tyler leaves no
room for it. I quickly do as he says.

CHAPTER 2
4

I wake up in a pool of sweat
and immediately know the reason why. It’s happening again. I run to
the door that opens onto my balcony and fling it open.