Angel Blackwood (12 page)

“Hey! Hands outta the
bag!” I scold him, but he continues with another one while he
laughs his ass off.

I jump
on
to him on top of the bed,
attempting to steal the underwear and bra’s from his tight grasp. I
get most of them until he’s left with only a pink pair in his hand.
I hear the door fling open, but we continue our little wrestling
match until the little pink piece of material flings past
me.

I hear a loud
growl and
turn in time to see
the thong hit Tyler on his chest before falling to the ground.
Nixon and I immediately stop laughing and he gently pushes me off
of him. I run towards Tyler and bend down to pick up the underwear,
but he’s too quick. He picks it up holding it between two fingers
and pinching it as if it’s a piece of rubbish. My heart hurts a
little and my mood darkens by his callousness; my happiness
immediately fizzled out by his unhappiness.

He looks behind me at
Nixon who is now sitting on the edge of the bed tensely. Tyler then
looks me up and down. “Disgusting!” The word rolls off his tongue
and I let out a whimper as I force my eyes to look at the floor.
Taking a step back I close the door without looking at him. I make
sure my mind is closed off and no one can get in as I think about
the little waterfall back in Point Bright.

I don’t say anything to
Nixon as I walk past him and into the bathroom. He shouts through
the door asking if I’m okay, I mumble a yes and he tells me not to
let Tyler’s words get to me. He then says he’s going home to get
ready.

I sit at the
bottom of the shower as the hot water washes over me. I have a
flashback of when I was in this same position sitting in the tub of
Georgina’s shower back in Point Bright. I thi
nk of the pain I was in then versus the pain I’m
in now. It doesn’t matter that the physical pain I was dealing with
was due to the whippings I received as punishment from Drake. The
pain I feel right now as I sit at the bottom of the shower hurts
just as much; it’s funny how much words can hurt you.

“Thi
s was supposed to
be a good day,” I whisper as I stare at my black painted toe
nails.

“It will be,
my lovely,”
I hear Faith’s
voice say.

I take in a deep breath
and lift myself to a standing position. After washing my hair and
shaving my legs, I dry off and head out. The room is empty, but
there, lying on my bed is my black dress with the little pink thong
and matching pink bra lying perfectly on top. I let out a little
smile not wanting to think about what it means and why Tyler
returned it when he looked as if he was about to rip them apart. I
can hear music coming from downstairs and I quickly look at the
time on my cellphone.

Shit, I’m
running late
. I’ve been in the
shower for over an hour. It’s already six o’clock.

I place the
underwear
on and wrap the
towel around me again before heading to the mirror to dry my hair.
After my hair is dry, I start applying my makeup but I’m unsure
what to do. I look for my phone and send a text.

ANGEL at
06:13pm:
What make up should I
wear?

DAISY
at 06:14pm:
Dark and heavy, maybe straighten your hair if you can,
with a middle parting? Send me a pic.

ANGEL AT
06:14pm:
Thanks Daisy. You’re
a star!

I get started on my
makeup, applying foundation and then the dark smokey eye using
greys, blacks and silvers. I use a thick eyeliner and thick
mascara, making my eyelashes long and full. I only use a little
blush on my cheeks then dab a little lip gloss on my lips. I
straighten my hair just as she suggested and since its long in its
natural wave, it’s extremely long when its pin straight. It falls
shiny and sleekly all the way down my back reaching the top of my
bottom.

As I
climb
into my dress, there’s a
knock on the door. “Come in.”

Nixon comes strolling in
looking rather dashing in his perfect all black suit. “Wow,” he
mouths.

“You look good in that
suit, Nix.” I smile at him.

“You look… uh... you look
amazing, Angel.” He sounds out of breath. I lean on my tippy toes
and kiss his cheek. “Thanks! Can you please help me zip up the
back? I’d call my mom, but I think she’s busy.”

“No problem, I’ll be more
than happy to help.” He winks as he moves around me.

I quickly stop
him
, grabbing hold of his arm
and looking at him sternly. “No questions okay?”

Then I turn and
wait for his gasp like most usually do when they see the scars that
cover my back. The shocked gasp doesn’t come
, but a deep growl sure does. He puts his hand on my
shoulder and gives me a small squeeze; I cover his with my
own.

“I’m
okay
, Nixon.”

I watch from
the corner of my eye as he nods his head
, the rest of his body clearly still rigid. After I’m
zipped up I climb into my shoes and hand my phone to
Nixon.

“Daisy wants a photo of
the finished product.” I smile at him as I twirl around.

After he takes
the photo,
I send it and leave
my phone on the bedside table.

“Ready?” Nixon says,
offering me his elbow as we stand at the top of the staircase. I
smile and entwine my arm with his as we make our way down to the
guests.

****

I’m met by
ooh’s and aah’s as we move through the crowd
toward
s the back garden where
the marquee is set up. I can smell my mate’s scents and know
they’re here somewhere. I can feel their eyes on me and I know
right now they’re trying hard to get into my head, but I’m closed
off completely, not even allowing Nixon to speak to me through the
link. When Nixon heads off to get us a drink, I’m left standing
looking at the display of food that takes up the table; I’m too
nervous to eat. I don’t have any idea what tonight is going to
involve.

“Good girl.” I hear the
husky voice of Axel whisper next to my ear. I turn to face
him.

“Wouldn’t want anyone to
hear my thoughts now, would I?” I smile at him and he seems a
little shocked to see me fully dressed up with makeup and all that
jazz.

“You clean up
well
, Axel.” I grin as I look
him over. He has a navy blue suit on and his long fringe is neatly
combed to the side. Most of his tattoos are covered up, but they
still creep up under his collar to his ears; the ones on his
fingers also displayed. He shakes his head and if I’m not mistaken
I see his pale cheeks blush a little.

“Damn girl, you
look good. Wouldn’t be surprised if
Cass doesn’t work out a deal with your father and take you
home tonight,” Axel says, making me freeze and stare at him wide
eyed.

“What?”

“What did you think he
meant when he said you’d make a good Luna and that he needed to
have a conversation with your father? He wants you, babe. Believe
me, when Cass wants something, he gets it.”

Axel turns to
look out into the crowd, then lifts his nose and smells the
air. A sweet smile forms over his
face. I look at who has caught his eye and see Tyler’s girlfriend
in all her flawlessness standing across from us staring at him with
her mouth hanging open. Axel takes a step in her direction and then
Kate turns and runs with Axel on her tail.

“I think Axel
just met his mate, my lovely
,”
Faith
murmurs.

****

“Don’t you look
beautiful, my dear Angel.” Caspian’s deep voice and warm hands on
my shoulders cause me to down the champagne I am currently
drinking. I gently place it on the table beside me turning to face
him. I can hear Faith’s words of approval in my head, but I don’t
care how handsome he is, there’s something about this man that
tells me he’s dangerous. I know enough about dangerous men to know
when a distance needs to be kept.

Caspian
wears a black tuxedo with a little
purple bow tie.

“Evening, Alpha Caspian.
Seems to me we are matching tonight and I can’t help but think it
was intentional on your part.” He chuckles as he lifts my hand and
leads me to the dance floor.

He places one
hand in mine wrapping
his
other around my waist leaving it on my lower back and pulling my
body flush up against his hard one. I’m unsure as to where to put
my free hand, but he notices my hesitance and grabs it, resting at
the back of his neck where his hair meets his collar.

He looks down at me and
answers my previous question softly, “No, it wasn’t coincidental.
Your mother may have hinted to me what you would be wearing tonight
and I thought it would be a great way to stake my claim. Make sure
the other wolves know that I have my eyes set on you.” He looks
down at my lips and I let out a shiver. He grins as if this pleases
him. I don’t think he realises that the shiver wasn’t due to me
being in favour of him… quite the opposite in fact.

I whisper, “And if my eyes are
already set on someone else?”

I immediately feel him
tense under my touch. His eyes darken, making me tremble as his jaw
ticks. I can see I’ve angered him. He leans down to my ear growling
ever so softly, he doesn’t say the words out loud, but somehow he
manages to break through my barrier allowing his voice access into
my head.

“
You will soon
realise that I don’t play games. I get what I want and I always
win… Always!”
Then he’s gone
and I’m left standing in the middle of the crowded dance floor
alone.

I smell Talon before I
see him come up to me. He wraps his arms around me, then turns me
into the same dancing position Caspian had me in moments before.
This time I welcome his touch and lean into him.

I knew it was
too good to be true because
the next thing I know he’s pushing me against his chest too
harshly. The fingers on my waist dig into my skin, over the tattoo
that holds his name as well as his brothers and all the people I
love. The hand holding onto mine squeezes me to the point where I
give out a little hiss. I look up confused and all I see is black
unforgiving eyes.

He leans into
my ear and I try
to pull away,
but this only causes him to pull me tighter against him. I don’t
want to cause a scene so I don’t call him out on his behaviour.
With my high heels I’m able to see over his shoulder. To everyone
else we probably look like any other couple on the dance floor, but
they can’t feel how hard he squeezes my side and how tight his grip
on my hand is.

“Looks to me as if you
have another poor soul under your love spell,” Talon spits. I close
my eyes, he obviously saw my exchange with Caspian and thinks more
of it.

“No, Tal-” I
try to speak but he harshly interrupts me. “No,
Lexi
…,” he
says, full of distaste.

“We told you we
needed time to figure things out. You had my brother and I fixated
on you the entire time you had a boyfriend? After you came home
that night all beat up,
you
left
us
in the cold. You wanted nothing to do with us and we were
only trying to help you.”

“No, Talon, it wasn’t
like-”

“No, Lexi,
that’s exactly how it was. Now you better fucking listen good. You
played us and when you were done you wanted nothing to with us. We
were done waiting for you so we found girls who treat us how we
deserve, girls who appreciated
us
. We are not going
to give them up just because you’ve now found out we’re mates and
you
need
us. If you continue to act like a whore, you know
what we will do… then you can find your second chance mate and I
hope he is a piece of shit.” A sob escapes my mouth and I feel a
tear fall down my cheek. His eyes watch the tears trail as I watch
his eyes turn back to their usual blue. His expression changes and
he almost seems shocked by the words he just spat, looking back and
forth between my eyes and the tears that are making their way down
to my jawline.

I’m
still new to this whole werewolf
thing, I don’t know how linking works, but I’m trying desperately
to call out for Nixon. Hopefully he can feel my connection and let
down his walls enough to hear me calling out for him.

“You’re hurting me,
Talon,” I whisper, looking down at his black bowtie.

He sucks in a
quick breath and loosens his hold as if he wasn’t
even aware he was doing
it.

“Let
. Her. Go,” I hear
Nixon growl behind me. A few people nearby stop and look our
way.

Talon lets go of
me.

“Wait, Angel… God…”
Remorse covers his face but I’m done playing this cat and mouse
game.

I
immediately
run past them and
out of the marquee. I walk past a few couples as they laugh and
chat and head down to the little swing at the bottom of the
secluded yard.

****