Angel Blackwood (28 page)

I look at
Noelle confused.
“Most of the
witches have already seen me around here, they saw me when I nearly
killed Phoenix, they must figure something strange is up? Have they
not said anything already? They clearly know I’m a werewolf or…
well… part werewolf I guess.”

“You got
through the spell we cast to keep the wolves away, so
no,
they don’t think that you’re a full blooded werewolf.
They’ve only seen you in your human state, and all they saw
was
someone
with powerful magic. You were also
being carried away by a wolf. For all they know, the reason you
smelt like a wolf was because you were hanging out with one.
Witches tend to stick to themselves and although I’ve heard some of
them talking and asking questions, none are jumping to conclusions
about what and who you are yet. We don’t want to raise more
questions, so let’s keeps things quiet until you’ve gained control
over your magic.” Noelle gets up. “I’m off to bed, you two better
get some sleep, you’ll need all your energy for tomorrow evening,
Angel.”

Phoenix walks me out and
towards the tree that I use to climb over. We don’t use the main
gate because that means walking past all the cottages. I’d
basically be announcing my presence and I don’t want that; I like
being in the shadows anyway.

Phoenix climbs
up and sits on the wall alongs
ide me. She’s a light, tiny thing and manages to climb the
tree like a monkey, even in her gypsy skirt.

“What happened
tonight? Are y
ou okay?” she
asks quietly, looking concerned.

It takes me a
few seconds to respond, but eventually I do. “Yeah, I’m okay. I
just ran into the twins and told them a few home truths. I just let
everything tumble out and then got angry… like
really
angry. I was afraid I’d hurt them if I didn’t get away.” I
look down at my nails as I speak.

“That was a
really good decision to come here, Angel.
You knew they wouldn’t be able to come near the camp
with the warning spell we have. As far as speaking your mind, good
for you. From what you’ve already told me about them, you don’t
deserve the way they treat you. We’ll get your magic under control
though, so don’t worry about that. I swear we’ll will get it
sorted.” She throws her arms around me and leans her head onto my
shoulder.

I pat her hand
awkwardly.
I’m still getting
used to the affection she shows me so freely, even though we’ve
only known each other for a little while.

“I better get going.” I
let out a deep breath as she removes her head and arms from
me.

“I’ll do that
cloaking spell for you
. Here
take my hand.” She takes one of my hands in hers then reaches into
her coat and pulls out a little spray bottle. She sprays it into my
palm and the smell of lavender invades my senses.

“You didn’t spray me with
anything last time?” I ask curiously.

“I sprayed the paper with
my cell phone number on,” she smiles.

“You need to teach me how
to do that spell. It could save me from a lot of arguments in the
future.” I smile.

She
giggles.
“It’s one of the
complicated spells, but I can certainly try. We’ll get to it but
not tomorrow, tomorrow we start on the basics of the Wicca
world.”

“Okay, whatever you say.
You’re the teacher.” I jump down over the side of the
wall.

I look up to
find the
usual bright smile on
her face. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“I get off work at the
herbal shop around four, so I’ll message you when I can get out of
the house and away from Fabian.”

“Yeah
, that works. I
love getting on that boys nerves, but I don’t want him ruining
this. I need to figure this shit out, and if you’re the best person
to help me then I’m thankful I’ve got you.” I look up and smile.
“Thank-you for all your help, Phee.”

Her face goes red as she
blushes, but she waves it off. “Oh it’s no problem, Angel. I don’t
mind it at all.”

I nod my
head.
“Goodnight, Phee. See
you tomorrow.”

“Sweet dreams.” She waves
animatedly back and I can’t help but chuckle to myself as I walk
back into the direction of the pack house.

****

As soon as I get back to
the house, I head straight for the shower. I made sure to keep
hidden from the guards that were on duty around the territory
tonight, I don’t need questions about my whereabouts at this time
of the night going back to my father.

After getting dressed, I
open the door to my patio allowing the cool air into my bedroom. I
turn the lights off and climb into my huge bed. Lying in the middle
of the bed, I’m unable to fall asleep. I push and smack around the
pillows until I’m fully surrounded by them. As I’m busy getting
comfortable, I can’t help but notice the light from the bathroom
switch on; a slit of light shining under the door. A few seconds
later I hear the shower being turned on. I flop down and lay
surrounded by my pillows.

I close my eyes
and try calm
ing myself to
sleep, but it’s futile. Faith feels our mate close, she wants to be
near him. I can feel her calling out to Gunner, Tyler’s
wolf.

Seconds later
I
feel Tyler trying to gain
entry into my head. He’s trying to see my thoughts and hear my
secrets, but I’ve got that shit locked up so tight, no-one will be
able to get in there unless I allow it.

I turn on my side away
from the light coming in from the bathroom. Facing the other side
of the room, I wrap my arms around a pillow and hold it tight as I
focus on keeping Tyler out of my head.

Suddenly
t
he door flies open and I turn
to find Tyler standing there in boxer briefs. I can feel his anger
from across the room as I watch him breathing heavily. The smell of
his shower gel and shampoo fill my senses and his hair is neatly
combed over as per the usual Tyler-perfection. I turn my head away
from him and lay back in the position I was in before he barged
in.

“Dammit, Angel. Look at
me!” He shouts. I don’t even flinch. I’m getting used to his
erratic behaviour these days.

I feel the
blankets being pulled and all of a sudden all the
covers are gone. “Let me in! Stop
blocking me out of your head. Fucking let me in!”

I
w
riggle as close to the other
side of the bed as possible and curl into a ball. It’s rather cold
without those blankets on.

“I’m really not in the
mood to argue with you right now,” I deadpan. Replaying the same
words he used on me earlier. I don’t even bother turning to look at
him.

I hear him let out a deep
breath, then I hear his footsteps. I wait for him to shut the door
behind him, but the footsteps are headed in my direction. I try to
hide my fear as much as possible, but I’m pretty sure he can sense
my fear no matter how hard I try to conceal it.

My
h
and squeezes the mattress
when I spot him, out of the corner of my eye reaching the bottom of
my bed. He walks slowly towards where I lay curled up, then bends
down and looks into my eyes. I no longer see anger and disgust,
only sadness reflects in his eyes.

His hands gently lifts and I
watch it cautiously as he rests his big one on top of mine. My wolf
is jumping with glee at the contact.

“I won’t hurt
you,
” he almost whispers, but
I know it’s a lie. He told me that once before. But all he’s done
to me since I got here is hurt me; I know not to trust his word
anymore.

He lifts his head and looks at
my body and how I sleep.

“Why all the pillows?”

He sounds
confused
, but I don’t answer.
Tyler is clever, he knows the reason for the pillows surrounding
me. He knows I only have them here so I don’t feel so alone in this
big bed, he just wants to hear it from my lips. I won’t give him
that.

When I don’t
answer he says,
“Fair enough.
Let’s talk about earlier then. Your eyes changed again. Does that
happen often?” I move to turn over, but his arms reach out and hold
me in place.

“Tyler, let go.”

“Ah, she
speaks,
” he says, and a grin
appears on his face. That smile… I haven’t seen that smile in so
long. This man is so fucking beautiful and that smile can make me
forget all the bad things he’s done and said to me. Just seeing
that smile again reminds me of the person I know he can be, and
stops me loathing the person he’s become.

His grin
disappears and his hand loosens its hold. I immediately
reali
se my mistake. I dropped
the guard that was keeping my thoughts locked up. He heard
me.

“You still love
me?” h
e asks, now fully
sitting on the bed and looking directly at me. I sit up and lean
against the headboard.

“I
do,
” I whisper, afraid to look
at him and see his reaction.

“You still
think I’m beautiful? E
ven
after all I did to you?”

“I do.”

“I’m still the
same person,
” he says,
reaching out and lifting my chin so that I have no other choice but
to look into his eyes.

I shake my
head.
“You’re not, Ty. You’ve
changed so much. The things you’ve done. What you’ve said…” I shake
my head again. “…You’re not the person I met when I first arrived
here.”

He drops his
hand and stands
up. His anger
is back. “You!” He points to me as he paces my room. “You’re the
reason I’m like this. I can’t shift, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I
can’t even fucking think and it’s all because of you! You’re taking
over everything.”

“Tyler, what are you
doing?” Talon’s loud voice has me nearly jumping off the bed in
fear; I didn’t even see him come in.

“You okay?” he asks,
looking me over.

I
nod, looking back at Tyler who is
frantically pacing the room. Turmoil has gripped him and he is
running his fingers through his hair, pulling at it and looking
rather manic.

“I can’t even touch Kate
without thinking about you, touching you, being with you.” My eyes
widen when those words come out of Tyler’s mouth. As much as I like
hearing him talk about me, I don’t want to think about him touching
Kate.

“Tyler,
stop. Now!” Talon growls.

“I
f you want me out of
your head then just do what you’ve gotta do! If rejecting me means
you treat me better, then go right ahead! I’d rather be nothing to
you than have you look at me with so much hate and disgust,” I spit
out, yelling so loud I have both men stepping backwards.

Tyler’s body
relaxes and his brows furrow with confusion. He takes a step
forward and I back away
,
sitting as close as possible to the headboard and as far away as I
can get from him. Talon watches his brother cautiously as he walks
slowly towards me. Tyler climbs onto the bed and sits right in
front of me. He rests both of his hands on my knees that are pulled
up to my chest.

“You won’t ever mean
nothing to me. To us.” He looks at Talon and back to me.

“I know I’ve
said so many hurtful things out of resentment
, but all those meaningless things don’t matter.
You will
always
mean so much to me.” He rubs his
thumb gently across my cheek and my wolf forces me to lean into his
touch.

“I’m so
sorry,
” his voice is gruff and
scratchy. I open my eyes to find his filled with tears. He removes
his hand from my cheek, sniffs and clears his throat before leaning
into me and leaving a kiss on my cheek. He moves away and whispers
into my ear, “I still love you too.”

Tyler is gone before I
can even process his words. What does that mean? Is he still gonna
reject me? Is he gonna dump Kate?

“I love you
to
o, you know.” Talon’s words
clear my worried thoughts.

“Don’t glare at me like
that, Angel. I mean it. I still love you and I’m sorry for all the
shit we’ve put you through.”

I scoff at that
and roll my eyes. They have no idea how much pain they’ve caused me
and a few
I’m sorry’s
won’t have me crawling back into
their arms anytime soon. This thought I do project to
them.

“I understand
that, so does Tyl
er. We’re
going to make it right, I promise. Tomorrow night your parents are
home. They want to have a dinner with all of us, but Tyler and I
don’t want them to witness this…” He waves his hands in the air.
“…hostility between us.”

“Are you
fucking kidding me right now? Is this
the only reason you two came here and “apologised” to me? You don’t
want the Alpha to know what’s been going on between us? You want me
on my best behaviour. Is that what you’re saying?”

He takes a few
moments to talk, and I get my answer. “Jesus, that
is
what you’re saying.” I shake my head thrashing the pillows
around before I lay back down with my back facing him.