Angel Blackwood (30 page)

I close my eyes and
listen. I can hear the sound of quick footsteps, the sound of
crunching leaves as they run, the steps are quick, light and not
heavy enough to be a man. The sound of their deep panting confirms
my suspicions.

I stand up quickly. “We need to
get going, I think my father’s guards are patrolling the area.”
Phoenix sits there frozen.

“Phee, now! We need to
get going right now!” This gets her in panic mode as she starts
shuffling to get everything into her bag. I take the bag from her
shaky fingers and put the blanket inside.

I help her put the backpack on
her shoulders and grab her hand dragging her behind me as I find my
way back through the forest.

“They’re going to tear me apart
when they find us together aren’t they?” Phoenix says, sounding
petrified.

“I didn’t tear you apart, did
I?” I say, as I continue to drag her behind me.

“Yeah well, you still
tried to kill me.”

“Point taken.” When I see the
stone wall, I push her ahead urgently.

“Get back over that wall.
Quickly!” I say, looking around to see if anyone’s near.

“What about the cloaking spell?
You need it. I have a bottle in my bag. I can just-” She starts
grabbing for her bag, but I reach out and stop her.

“We don’t have time. I’ll
be fine, just get back over that wall, I don’t know what those
guards will do if they find us together.” I push her again and she
starts running towards it.

I watch until she’s over
the massive wall and out of sight before I start running towards
the pack house. I make sure to keep an ear out for the guards that
are on patrol, and when I finally meet the gravel road that leads
to the pack house, I slow my pace trying to catch my breath. I walk
slowly down the road toward the house calming the adrenaline that
is running through me.

“Shit!”

My father’s car is parked near
the main house. I’m late. I hurry to the back door hoping everyone
is in the front by the dining room. I open the door to find my
father standing by the kitchen table pouring glasses of wine.

“Angel!” He says with a big
smile, dropping the wine bottle and heading towards me. “We were
wondering where you were. Come here.”

I continue to stand by the door
frozen in place unsure of what to say.

He pulls me in for a hug and I
can’t help but wrap my arms around him, holding him tight and
letting out a deep breath after I take in his familiar scent. I
missed him so much.

I feel his body tense
immediately, his chest moving as he takes in deep breaths smelling
the air.

“Angel?” He says, his chest
rumbling against my cheek. I know that he knows and I don’t have
the slightest clue how I’m gonna get out of this one.

“Yeah?” I say slowly.

He pushes me away from him and
looks down at my face with a frown.

“Where have you been?”

“I uh…” I can’t look into
his eye. I’m fighting my wolf, the truth on the tip of my tongue.
The human side of me hasn’t got a problem lying, but my wolf wants
to please her Alpha.

“Angel! Thank goodness
you arrived! Oh come here, honey! I missed you so much!” Alex comes
through the kitchen with the twins and she heads for me, but Johnny
stops her, pulling her back. Her smile disappears and she looks
between the two of us confused.

“Alex, stop.” he looks
down at me.

“Where have you been,
Angel?” His tone is serious, and Alex looks at him then lifts her
nose up and smells the air.

“Oh no,” she whispers.

My father lets out a low
growl, I step back afraid. The twins walk up and stand in front of
me as if they could protect me from their Alpha.

“Answer me, Angel. Where were
you?” He rumbles again, this time Alex wraps her hands around one
of his arms trying to calm her mate down.

I look to Alex
and mind link with her. “
Mom,
help me please
.
Say something
,” I beg. Her eyes turn watery and she looks up to my
father. He looks down at her then back at me.

“Now you want to mind link with
your mother? We’ve been trying to link with you since you joined
this pack and not once were we able to get through? Is that what
you have been hiding from us? Seeing witches behind our backs? What
are you hiding Angel?” I look to Alex again.

“Stop trying to link with
your mother and speak to me!” My father speaks sternly, the twins
standing firm by my side.

I stare at
Alex. “
Please, Mom,”
I mind link.

“You
dare
disobey me!” My father’s Alpha tone is enough to have my
hands shaking. Faith pleads with me, telling me to tell the truth,
begging me.

“I was in town,” I blurt
out.

He lets out a cynical laugh and
looks to the rest of the people in the kitchen.

“Now she lies to my face. Your
car was here when we arrived and you have leaves and twigs in your
hair.” He gestures to my hair. The twins turn around and look down
at me. I feel through my hair, as Tyler pulls a few leaves out and
Talon manages to get a huge twig untangled from my hair.

“I walked,” I say.

“Move.” He tells the boys, but
they won’t budge.

The growl that leaves my
father’s lips has me close to peeing myself. I’ve never seen him
this angry before. Well, never this angry at me.

“Talon, Tyler. As your
Alpha, I’m ordering you to move out of my way so I can speak face
to face with my daughter. MOVE!” He snarls.

Talon forces Tyler to move out
of my father’s way.

My dad looks down at me.
“We are all going into the dining room to enjoy the meal that was
prepared for us. You better think very wisely about whether you are
going to continue to lie to me, or if you’re going to tell me the
truth young lady. I had some very important news to share this
evening and a very big decision to make, the answer you give me
will determine the decision I make.” He backs away and calls my
mother and the twins to the table. I stand there frozen, unsure of
what to do.

It’s time I face all these
obstacles that have been put onto my plate. No more running away.
Well, not yet anyway.

Chapter 1
7

When I enter the dining room,
everybody is seated at the table quietly watching the food on their
plates get cold. I sit next to Jacob who is here as well. My father
intertwines his hands together and rests his elbows on the table
staring at me. I swallow the lump in my throat and look down at my
hands.

“So?” He says, with a raised
eyebrow.

“I was at the camp,” I almost
whisper.

“What camp?” He asks.

I look at my mother, I can tell
by the look on her face that she knows exactly what camp I’m
referring to. I look at Jacob who’s watching me intently, before my
eyes finally meet Talon’s as he nods his head ushering me to
continue. I reluctantly look at Tyler, his voice filters through
the silence in my head, “Tell the truth…remember…no more lies.”

“I was at the witches camp.” I
look my father dead in the eye waiting for the shock to register,
but his facial expression doesn’t change. He nods his head and
takes a sip of the wine he poured earlier.

My mother keeps looking back
and forth between the two of us. I can feel her trying to get into
my head, but I block her out. She’s playing with the place mat
under her plate, tears forming then falling down her cheeks.

“I thought I made it
clear, I don’t want you near Noelle?” He says. I hate that everyone
is looking at me with disappointment, but I realise that after the
secrets I’ve kept this was inevitable.

“You told Alex not to see
Noelle, you never told me I couldn’t,” I explain.

He smacks his hand on the
table hard, making Alex and I jump at the sound. He then uses the
same hand to cover Alex’s, trying to calm her down.

“Don’t play smart with
me, Angel. I have been very kind to you and have treated you better
than any other pack member besides your mother because you are my
daughter. You have also gotten away with a hell of a lot more than
I’d allow anyone else. Every member of this pack earns their way
around here. We don’t expect you to pay for anything, but at least
show us the respect we deserve and listen to your Alpha.” His voice
is threatening; his wolf in control of this conversation. My hands
shake underneath the table and the food that sits on my plate is
making me nauseous.

“You can’t give me the answers
I need!” I yell.

“I understand
that you are concerned about certain things, but we have bigger
problems than this right now. There’s a pack of rogue wolves
running from territory to territory, hitting all our allied packs.
This is far bigger than what you have got going on right now. What
we don’t need are other wolves from our pack seeing you entering
and exiting that witch’s camp. There are already enough people
questioning your sudden presence in this pack, you are just gonna
raise more. Once this is all over and we have the rogues under
control then you’re more than welcome to speak to Noelle; but here
in
this
house, and on
our
land,” he orders,
tapping the table harshly.

I don’t even know what to say.
He has no idea of what it feels like, not knowing whether the next
time I get angry could be the time I possibly kill whoever happens
to be around me. He doesn’t understand because all that he is
concerned about is his pack. That’s his main priority and I get
that. The only people that understand what I’m going through right
now is Noelle and Phoenix. They understand, well, at least they’re
trying to.

“You said you had a decision to
make. What was it?” I try keep my voice firm, avoiding my father’s
eyes as I look down at the food on my plate.

“Caspian and I have been
speaking.” At the mention of Caspian, the tension in the room rises
up a notch. Agitation is radiating from the twins.

“Angel, you
understand that once a child of an Alpha leaves school they are
meant to take over the pack and Alpha position, don’t you?” I nod.
“Unfortunately you are an unmated
female
.” The twins
adjust themselves in their seats and my father looks over at them
with concern.

“Caspian and I have been
talking about combining our packs.” My father continues, “He has
started asking questions about you and your bloodline, he knows
you’re different.” I start shaking my head because I know where
this is going.

“We think it will be beneficial
for the pack if you marry him, become his Luna.” Chaos ensues as
the twins growl.

“Silence.” My father speaks and
immediately the table is quiet. I still can’t believe he’s even
considering about it.

“He is a good
man, Angel. He can teach you how to be a great Luna. If he knows as
much about you as I fear he does, then he alone can protect you.
I’m concerned because you weren’t brought up knowing about our
kind…
your
kind. I worry that you share the same
thoughts and have adopted a
human
frame of mind.
You have yet to learn that wolves run in packs. We do everything
together. No secrets are kept unless it’s for the benefit of the
pack, and trusting your pack members is imperative. A pack won’t
work without trust; how are you meant to run this pack when you
have secrets bottled up and all these trust issues? You hardly
interact with pack members unless its Nixon, you keep to yourself,
and your mind link is always closed off. Are you really a part of
this pack or are you on your own, Angel?”

I pull up my sleeve,
showing him the scar that marks my skin. I point to the pink
scarred teeth prints he left at the ceremony. “It looks as if I’m
still part of this pack,” I say sarcastically, allowing my anger to
fuel my words.

Gasps fill the table as Jacob
reaches for my hand, inspecting the scars.

“She hasn’t healed. Why?” He
looks to my father, whose eyes are glued to the pink markings.

Grimacing he says, “Clearly her
human gene is still very much intact.”

“No shit,” I mumble.

“Angel!” Alex scolds.

I look up at her, showing all
the hurt I feel.

“I’m not
marrying him. I’ll cut this marking right off before I do that.
Hell, I’ll even cut my whole arm off. I’m
not
marrying
him!” I force the words out pointing to the markings.

My father stands up as my
mother gasps at my words all teary eyed.

I stand up too.

“You’re willing
to leave the pack? You dare disrespect your family like that?
Disrespect
my
pack?” He roars. Alex pulls at his
arm begging him to calm down, but he pushes her away.

I look up at him feeling the
tears falling. I then calmly look at Alex, then back into his eyes
as I speak the words I feel.

“
What family? I
don’t see any family here, Alpha?” Alex cries harder as my words
hit her. The glare that was on Johnny’s face is gone, his eyes
lighten and he looks around the room realising what he’s just done
and said.

I back away and head back out
of the kitchen door. I hear the sound of chairs scraping against
the floor.

“Angel!” Johnny calls out
to me, making me run harder and faster than I’ve ever had to, away
from the pack house and into the solitude of the woods. I hear
Alex’s cries and the twins calling my name, but I don’t stop. I run
and run as I make my way to the High school. My hair is a mess and
my face is all blotchy, but I don’t know where else to go. I pull
up my hood, covering most of my messy hair and face from onlookers.
I can sense the wolves in the crowd; they’re probably linking with
my father right now. I look through the fence at the crowds that
fill the stands, looking for the person who has become my
rock.