Angel Blackwood (23 page)

He speaks with
such honesty
. It sounds like
my father speaking, even though its Jacob’s voice I
hear.

He nods his
head toward the door. “You be safe out there
at the lake now.”
He gives me a genuine smile. I walk backwards and turn to
open the door
.

“Just call out to me if you
ever need help.”

He leaves me with those parting
words. I quickly leave the kitchen and run into the clearing of the
woods.

****

Trudging my way towards
the witch’s camp, I make sure to keep my eyes and ears open to any
unusual sounds around me. Patrol always change their routes, so I
have no idea which area the guards are tracking tonight.

Jacobs’s words filter
through my thoughts. Does he know about what’s been going on? I
wonder if he knows that the twins are my mates. The way he spoke
and the words he chose were something I’d hear coming from my
father’s mouth, so I have no idea if my father asked him to
question me or whether he is truly concerned.

A branch snapping to my
right awakens my senses and I hide behind a thick tree. I’m closer
to the witch camp and can see the compounds dim lights in the
distance. I close my eyes and listen.

It’s quiet now,
to
o quiet. I open my eyes
turning right to look behind the thick tree. Nothing. I turn my
head left to look on the other side.

Cold
hands
suddenly cover my mouth
and my scream. I elbow the attacker in the ribs and a definite male
grunt fills the silence in the woods. He lets go of me and I turn
to find Fabian hunched over holding his ribs.

“Dammit
, woman!” he
wheezes, trying to catch his breath.

“If you want to
come up
behind me like that,
best you expect an elbow to the ribs,” I say casually, enjoying the
fact that I just got one up on him this time.

“Why are you sneaking
around the woods anyway? What are you doing here?” He says, finally
able to catch his breath and standing to his full height once
again.

I look up at
him.
“I came to see your mom.
She asked me to.”

“For God’s
sake. T
hat woman is just
asking for trouble.” I watch as he rolls his eyes and
curses.

“Angel? Is that you?” I hear a
soft feminine voice call out through the bushes to my left.

“Phoenix?” Fabian calls out
confused.

“Fabian? What the heck?”
Phoenix makes her way through some bushes and when her eyes find
Fabian and me standing side my side she pulls a weird face.

“Uh.” her lips form a
straight line and she looks as if she’s been caught with her hand
in the cookie jar.

“You weren’t supposed to
be home tonight,” Phoenix says sheepishly.

“I knew you and
my mother were up to som
ething.” He looks back to me. “
You
should go
back to your pack.”

“I’m going to see Noelle
whether you like it or not.” I move to walk past, but he blocks my
path with his tall frame. “No, you’re not going anywhere near
her.”

I fold my arms over my
chest and crack my neck back to look up at him. “Do we have to go
over this again? Did you forget what happened the last time you
tried to stop me?” From the corner of my eye I can see Phoenix
fidgeting nervously.

I put a finger
to my chin dramatically and say, “If I recall correctly… last
time
you
were the one on the ground, beneath
me
, possibly close to peeing your pants you were so
afraid.”

His eyes turn to slits as
he glares at me, but he stands his ground firmly.

“Oh for goodness sake!
You two stop that. Angel, come on we have to get you inside before
the others get back.” Phoenix grabs my wrist and drags me along.
Fabian follows us with a constant frown marring his
face.

She guides me towards a
tree by the fence behind Noelle’s cottage and makes me climb it.
Once all three of us are on the other side, Fabian strides ahead of
us until he is out of sight.

Phoenix turns
to me
and smiles. “Don’t mind
him, he’s just protective of his momma. I’m glad you came tonight,
I didn’t think you would after what happened last time.” She looks
down at her hands, it seems to be a habit of hers.

“Don’t apologise, you
were protecting your people. I would have done the same if someone
was hurting someone in my pack,” I say, reassuring her.

What I’ve said is the
truth. Since I’ve been bonded to the pack, I feel this strong
allegiance and protectiveness over each and everyone of my pack
mates. She smiles at me and grabs my hand to pull me along. She’s a
small thing, barely reaching my shoulder, but what strikes me the
most is her ethereal beauty.

“You held your own with
Fabian. How did you learn to fight like that? It’s a wolf thing
isn’t it?” She rambles on, clearly liking the sound of her own
voice. I laugh to myself and she turns and looks at me with a shy
smile.
“Sorry, everyone tells me I talk too much.”

“I don’t mind,” I say, still
laughing.

“I train with my father,
he taught me most of it, but I guess being a wolf helps too.” I
shrug and we continue our way to Noelle’s cottage.

“I wish I could
fight like that,” s
he says,
under her breath.

“I could teach you if you
like?”

Her wide eyes find mine.
“You’d teach me?” She says, smiling. “I’d love that!”

She pulls me down for a
hug, but when she moves away her smile vanishes and a frown forms
as she works her lip deep in thought.

“I
don’t know what the others would
think? A witch getting a wolf to teach her to be stronger? They’ll
think I’m weak. I would never hear the end of it from
Fabian.”

“I don’t care that you’re
a witch and besides, I’m only half-wolf. We don’t have to tell
anyone, and to be honest I don’t really have many girl friend’s
around here, so I really wouldn’t mind at all.” She smiles at me.
“It’ll be our little secret,” I tell her.

She nods to the
cottage where we stand. “
Come
on, she’s waiting.”

“Fabian, I know you think
you’re the man of the house, but you really don’t have a say in
this.” Noelle’s firm words echo throughout the quiet cottage. The
aroma of roast beef and oven potatoes fill the air, and my mouth
can’t help but water.

Noelle’s eyes
find mine and she smiles. She raises a hand cal
ling me to come closer and I do; besides the food
is in her direction too.

She pulls me in for a
hug, I don’t expect it at all. I stand stiff for a few seconds
before her words whisper into my ear.

“Your mother was
practically my sister when we were younger. I don’t care that we’re
not blood related, I will cherish and protect you as if you were my
niece.” I wrap my arms around her and return her hug.

She pulls away
from me and puts her hands on my arms. “I’m sorry I didn’t contact
you sooner, I was afraid… I didn’t know what was going on with you
or where that magic came from. I knew it was strong, I just didn’t
realise it was
that
strong and powerful. I know you have
questions and I will help you as much as you can. I’ll try to teach
you ways to control the power. We will figure it out,
Angel.”

I let out a
deep breath as my
words come
tumbling out. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what the hell to do.
I’m so scared I’ll lose control and hurt someone I don’t mean
to.”

She gives me an
understanding nod. “Come, I’ll dish you out some food then we can
talk.” She leads me to the little table where I sat last
time.

“Ma, seriously?” Fabian’s
angry voice ruins the peaceful state Noelle just put me
in.

“This isn’t a
Diner. D
on’t you get fed at
the dog house you live in?” I roll my eyes at his little jab. I’m
getting sick of his wolf-remarks.

“Fabian, you
keep talking like that and
you’ll
be eating at a
Diner tonight,” Noelle says, as she turns to carve the roast
beef.

Phoenix jabs
Fabian in his side with her elbow
, pulling out her tongue at him while Noelle has her back
turned to us. I have to keep myself from laughing out loud when
Phoenix sits down next to me making herself comfortable.

Fabian glares
at me throughout the dinner, whilst Noelle and Phoenix chat and
talk about normal human things. You certainly wouldn’t say I was a
wolf sitting at a table full of witches. To be honest, it feels
good to be normal without worrying about things like packs,
territories and
mates
.

Phoenix
offers
to clean the dishes
with the help of Fabian, much to his dismay. While Noelle leads me
to the living room, pulling out a huge photo album which she hands
it to me.

Flipping through the
album, I am surprised to see that each and every photo is of my
mother and her, there’s even some of Noelle and James. My hand
freezes when I come across the ones of James. He looks so young as
he stares lovingly into the camera lens.

“Who took this photo?” I look
up to find Noelle looking down at the photo with a smile on her
face.

“I
did,
” she says, in a soft
whisper.

“You
cared
about him?” I
ask.

“I loved
him,
” she says proudly, then
laughs and wipes away a single tear. “My mother helped heal him
when he was bit by the rogue. After he survived the shift… things
changed. He changed, your mother changed, everything was
different.”

I look down at the
picture and run my finger over his face. “I miss him.”

Noelle wraps an arm over my
shoulders and whispers, “I do too.”

Once Fabian and Phoenix
join us in the living room, Noelle asks me to explain what’s been
happening to me recently, so I do. I tell her about my healing
powers and the after effects, and what it feels like when the magic
is taking over my body. Phoenix asks about the first time I shifted
into my wolf-form; she seems rather interested in that particular
part. I can tell Fabian doesn’t like it one bit. He so doesn’t want
to sit here and listen, so I tell them every little thing that
comes to mind making sure to drag out every last detail.

“So you’re telling me
that you don’t heal like a normal wolf does?” Fabian asks, now
sounding captivated.

“That’s exactly
what I’m saying. If I were a full-blooded wolf, you wouldn’t have
stood a chance against me. Full-blood wolves are bigger and
stronger, but I
am
quick at least. My strength is
growing with each passing week. I’m becoming more wolf and less
human, but I’m still not healing like a full-blood would,” I tell
him, turning my head to Noelle.

“We witches believe in
the Law of Infinite Data, meaning there is more in the universe
than we can sense or know; learning never stops. You know about
wolves, witches and you probably realise there is a lot more out
there that isn’t part of the natural world. Nature can be altered,
but it will always keep part of its natural form. You were born
human and wolf, and that’s why you turned without having to be
bitten, but your human side is still very much a part of you. When
a human is turned by another wolf through a bite, the wolf gene
takes over the human side. The human gene cannot withstand the wolf
one and this is why so many die. You have both genes and I guess
this is the side effect of that. You may be special seeing as
you’re the only one I know born from a wolf and a turned human, but
you have to work harder than any wolf to make sure no one finds out
about that. Maybe your healing will progress at a later stage, but
for now you need to keep that to yourself and those you
trust.”

“What about the magic?
Can you explain how that came to light?” I ask her.

“Have you ever asked your
mother about her parents?” she asks, cautiously.

“She told me that they
were killed by rogues the night she met my father?” I don’t know if
I like where this is going. I can tell Noelle is about to drop a
bombshell.

“Your grandmother was a
witch, Angel. A very powerful one. Your mother and uncle were part
of our Coven, we all grew up together. When the wolves killed your
grandparents and bit James, your father took your mother and him
away from us.” Her voice turns darker and the little lamps in the
cottage flicker. Fabian reaches over and takes his mother’s hand in
his.

She takes a deep breath
then continues, “Your father turned your mother before she had a
chance to learn her magic and fully appreciate it. The fact that
your mother was to be a witch and your father is a wolf could also
be a reason why you survived your birth. The power that your
grandmother passed down to you only came to light when you were on
the brink of death. You consumed the power out of me as I tried to
heal you, that alone says how powerful you are.” I sit there frozen
and at a loss for words.