Angel Blackwood (9 page)

“Idiot! You
just wasted
ten minutes of my
time,” I growl, then turn to look at Noelle.

She has an
amused expression on her face. “Angel, such a surprise
t
o see you, especially
here
.”

“Well, you’re a very hard
person to find.” I continue to wipe the sand and grass off of me.
Fabian stands next to Noelle as if to guard her, his arms crossed
over his chest.

“There’s a reason for
that, my love.” She motions with her hand. “Come, follow me.” Then
she turns and walks down the path leading to her cottage. I follow
her passing Fabian whose eyes are glued to my every
move.

I frown at
him.
“Dude, chill, I’m not
going to
eat
her,” I say sarcastically. I can tell
by the straight line his lips form that my presence is really
bothering him.

I notice Noelle is taking
me down an alley towards her house, away from prying eyes. I follow
Noelle into the kitchen where the smell of whatever she was cooking
lingers in the air making my stomach rumble loudly.

“Have a
seat
, hun,” she says. I take a
seat at the little kitchen table and watch her take out a bowl from
the cabinet.

“Hun? What the
hell, M
om? She’s a
wolf
?” Fabian says confused.

“Mom?” I say looking
between the two, only now noticing the resemblance.

Noelle looks at me then
back to Fabian, taking a deep breath she rolls her eyes. “Sit,
Fabian!”

He sits down on
a bar stool at the counter with a scowl
on his face.

She
places a bowl in front of me; it’s
filled to the brim with Alfredo pasta. “Dig in,” she
says.

Don’t mind if I do…

I gulf down as
much as I can, not caring abou
t how hot the sauce is or how unfeminine I look. My
appetite has increased since I’ve become a wolf that much is clear.
I hear Noelle’s little laugh from behind me, but apart from that
the kitchen is quiet; I continue to feel Fabian’s eyes on me
though. I’m almost done with the last bit and if Fabian’s words
hadn’t stopped me I most probably would have licked the bowl clean
too.

“Mom…
seriously! Y
ou’re
allowing
that
into
our
home. That
mutt
should be kicked out like the rest of the dogs,” he spits
and I hear his chair scrape against the floor as he stands up. My
fork clinks as I drop it into the bowl and I charge for him. A loud
angry growl escapes my lips as I tackle him to the floor. We
continue to roll around shoving each other until we find ourselves
outside the cottage, in the centre of the compound, surrounded by
the cottages and the people that live in them.

I’m surprised at how much
strength I have against this human; how well I’m holding my own. I
can tell by his heavy breathing that he’s battling to keep up and
that only encourages me to fight harder. I manage to climb on top
straddling him. I raise my hand, but just before I’m about to punch
him I feel a sharp pain in my chest and ringing in my ears. I look
up to see a girl around my age glaring at me with her palm facing
me; her red hair standing out in the blur.

The pain she is causing
me only makes me angrier; all I came here to do was speak to
Noelle. I can understand why these people are so hostile since I
did sneak onto their property, but they should at least give me a
chance to explain myself. Fabian doesn’t move beneath me, but when
I scrunch my face up in pain a smirk forms on his face; he
obviously thinks he’s won this round.

I close my eyes
feeling the magic working its way t
hrough my body. My hands bunch up his shirt on his chest
beneath me and I feel the wind picking up. I hear Noelle screaming
at the girl to stop. The pain she is causing me slowly dissipates
as the magic fills my body clearing my mind and conscience in the
process.

I roll my neck,
feeling the tension in my shoulders
dissipate, the achiness of rolling around on the floor with
Fabian fading too. I open my eyes slowly and that seems to do the
trick, the smirk on Fabian’s face is wiped clean off.

Now he just looks afraid.

My silver eyes tend to do that
to a person.

I look up to the now pale
girl. Her hand immediately drops as she takes one step back, then
another. I hear yelling and shouting over the wind alongside
Noelle’s distant voice telling the other witches not to hurt me,
but my eyes remain fixated on the girl who caused my
pain.

This is the
first time I’m unabl
e to
control the magic that surges through me. All I want to do is
return the favour, letting her feel the pain she caused me. I know
I need to calm myself down and stop this, but I just can’t do
it.

I stand up from
where I was s
traddling Fabian
moments before. He doesn’t move underneath; he just lays there
frozen watching my every move from the ground.

“You need to
calm down, sweetie. Phoenix didn’t mean to hurt you. You need to
find that strength I know you have and fight it.
You
need to control the magic… don’t let it control you.”
Noelle’s calm voice echoes over the wind. I know she’s right and
I’m trying really hard to fight it, but my rage is overpowering my
will to stop.

My eyes are
zeroed in on the
frightened
girl cowering behind Noelle. My fists are at my sides, but I can
still see from the corner of my eyes the few that watch the
spectacle. They start backing away, staring at something behind me;
I smell the fear that radiates of them.

Dark blue eyes
fill my view, hands cup
ping my
jaw forcing me to look into them. I watch the veins in his neck
stick out fighting the pain that grips him. His eyes switch from
blue to brown as he keeps his eyes focused on mine.

“Calm
down
, cupcake… No one’s going
to hurt you.” His thumb caresses my jaw in a slow calming rhythm.
“Shhh… it’s okay, I’m here. No one’s going to harm you,” he
whispers as he brings my head to his vibrating chest.

The wind
dies down, my body heavy as I sag
against him. I grip his jacket, holding tight as his arms wrap
around me to prevent me from falling to the ground.

“Is she alright?” I hear
Noelle’s worried voice.

“No, of course
she’s not alright! She came here looking for you; she was searching
for answers.
Your
people
attacked her for no
fucking reason! She wasn’t here to hurt any of you!” I hear Nixon’s
loud angry voice and the vibration of his words through his chest
against my body.

He picks me up
and I wrap my arms around his neck, making sure to keep my eyes
closed. I can’t bear to face the fear
I caused in these people eyes and the humiliation I feel
for losing complete control.

“Wait! Please…
I’m sorry. I can
help her.” I
hear her panicked voice.

Nixon ignores her and continues
to walk away from her pleading voice.

“I’m
sorry!
” I hear her closer now.
“Just hold up for a second will you?”

Nixon’s posture
tenses
, but he continues to
walk out of the gate and towards the car.

“No! I told her
this was a bad deci
sion and I
was right. She never should have come here.
You people
can’t help her. I’m taking her back to the pack
house.”

“Wait!” I hear
a new voice. I lift my head up just
in time to see the red headed girl run up to Nixon and I.
Nixon’s body turns rigid. I turn my head and look down at the small
girl as she blocks our path to the car. She’s a true beauty, I’ve
never seen anything as pretty as her with that fiery red hair; It
definitely makes her stand out amongst these people and the natural
earthy colours they’re all dressed in.

Phoenix looks at me with
sad eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought you would kill
Fabian.” She looks down at her hands then back up at me. “I’m
sorry… that was a lie. I did mean to hurt you, but only to stop you
from hurting Fabian.” Nixon growls, glaring at her.

“
I’m sorry for
hurting you though,” she quickly blurts out, her big brown eyes
finding Nixon’s. I feel his body tense even more under her
gaze.

I watch the
weird exchange between Nixon and Phoenix
as they stare at each other.

Nixon shakes
his head
to obviously clear
his thoughts before clearing his throat. He moves to get past the
girl, but the small girl side steps him.

“Move,
little witch,” Nixon snarls, and the
girl takes a step out of the way. As Nixon walks past I reach out
and give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I’m too exhausted to
find words to accept her apology, but hopefully she understands the
gesture.

Nixon opens the door and
places me into the front seat buckling me in. My body is exhausted
and I can barely keep my eyes open. I haven’t been able to hear my
wolf since I got here, but I’m guessing the spell they’ve cast over
the compound has something to do with it.

I close my eyes
and lean against the window hea
ring Nixon and Fabian’s yelling.

Nixon climbs in the car,
slamming the door with a growl.

The tyres spin as he drives
away leaving a cloud of dust behind us.

****

As we hit the exit of the
woods, Nixon reaches over and grabs my hand. Squeezing it once he
says, “Next time, you fucking listen to me.”

I don’t bother
responding;
we both know I’m
still going to do what I have to do to find out how to control the
magic within me. I’m stubborn like that.

Nixon parks his
car just outside his cabin. I move to get out of the car, but when
my feet touch
the ground my
body feels heavy and I’m unable to hold my weight. Strong warm arms
wrap around me holding me in place. I smell a familiar spicy scent
tainted with a flowery perfume and immediately push against his
chest.

“Get away from
me!
” I find my footing and
grab hold of the door. I watch Nixon making his way over to my side
looking angry as hell.

Talon turns his glare to
Nixon, shoving him a step or two back.

“What the hell
happened to her? What did you do?” Talon says in a deep
dangerous
tone, baring his
canines.

Nixon’s eyes
turn dark.
“Oh! So
now
you’re worried about your mate? Where were you this morning
when I had to-”

“Nixon, no!” I interrupt
him. Talon isn’t aware of my abilities and there’s way too much
going on between us to add another thing to the mix. Both sets of
blue eye turn to look at me.

“No! Say what
you were going to say,
I want
to hear it.” Talon shoves Nixon again and a low hiss leaves Nixon’s
mouth.

“Stop it, both of you!” I
yell at them. My energy is finally coming back and my irritation is
at full force. Of course both of them ignore me as they continue to
stand off against one another.

“Talon,
I’ve had a shitty morning and you’re
playing with my patience. Back the fuck off,” Nixon
states.

Talon turns to me, his
face marred with confusion as he looks my body over obviously
noticing the dirt on my clothes from my earlier scuffle with
Fabian. His hands reach out and he tries to bring me into his
chest; I can feel Faith’s eagerness to be held by him. As soon as
the flowery scent wafts through my nostrils again, my hands come up
and my head shakes. I shove against his shoulder as I move around
him.

“I can’t do this right
now, Talon. You need to leave.”

He grabs my
upper arm
, turns me harshly
and his eyes darken. I shrug him off and move toward Nixon who
stands rigid at my side.

“Is that what
you really want? Me to
stay
away?” He pulls me harshly against his hard chest and I push away
from him yet again. Nixon pulls me behind him, his body shaking
with rage and his eyes black.

“Answer me?” Talon
screams.

The smell of Lucy’s
perfume still lingers in the air and it’s enough to make up my
mind. I look between Nixon and Talon’s angry faces and
nod.

He curses and
shouts out menacingly, “So
fucking be it…
Lexi
!”

Chapter 6

It took me a
while to shower, not because I was
that
dirty but because
my mind kept drifting to thoughts of Talon and Tyler. I refuse to
let their behaviour towards me have an effect, or that’s what I try
convincing myself of as I sit on the shower floor frozen in place,
thinking of the words both have thrown my way these past few days.
Faith continues to encourage me, reminding me that their wolves are
outraged that the twins have yet to accept me as their mate. This
it seems is the reason behind the twins taking their anger out on
me.