Angel Blackwood (8 page)

I move
in closer feeling his stubble against
my forehead, moving my head slightly to run my nose against his
jawline and toward his neck.

I pull my head back and
immediately open my eyes. Somethings not right. Tyler’s eyes widen
and the connection breaks. He knows what I’ve just found so he
grabs onto my shoulders tighter.

I
t’s someone else’s
fruity scent on him. It’s on his neck and the collar of his
shirt.

“It’s a
she-wolf
,” Faith says,
sounding withdrawn.

I back away from him,
pushing his hands off of me. When he takes a step in my direction I
shove past him with a scowl on my face; he tries to stop me.
“Angel…”

I pull my arm
away from him then push at his chest. “No don’t touch me... Just
don’t; not when you have
her
smell all over
you.”

“And it’s okay
for you to have
his
scent all over you!?” He
hisses.

I turn around to find him
standing in the same spot. I throw my hands up in the air. “Who are
you talking about?”

“Nixon.
H
is scent still lingers around
you,” he says, straightening himself up crossing his arms over his
chest.

“Jesus, Tyler. You know
he’s just a friend. Nixon is the only friend I have to talk to
right now. What? I’m not allowed to have friends now either? But
it’s okay for you and Talon to have girlfriends?” I yell as I begin
to feel my jealousy and anger building again.

“Not him your not!
There’s other girls your age around town, I’m sure you can find a
friend,” he says, sounding chuffed with himself. “At least you now
know what it felt like for us everytime you came to visit; all we
could smell on you was that mutt from Point Bright.”

I stand there open mouthed.

Will he ever move on from
the relationship I had with Drake? Will he continue to bring Drake
up everytime we have a fight? Does what I did in the past justify
what he’s now putting me through?

So many questions that I don’t
seem to have the answers to.

“Does that make it okay
then, Tyler?” I ask him seriously, his smirk immediately vanishing.
“If that makes it okay then this is going to be a never ending
cycle. I hurt you, you get back by hurting me and we continue in
that fashion. Is that what you want?” I look him dead in the eye
and watch as his shoulders sag as he takes another step towards
me.

“No
Angel,
” he says sheepishly,
looking down at his feet. “It’s not what I want at all.”

I nod my head. “I
understand why you and your brother are lashing out on me. I get
that I caused you pain, so I’m gonna give you both more time to
decide whether you want me as your mate; but I don’t think I can
continue on with it for much longer. I need to figure out what’s
best for me too. I won’t sit around forever basing my life around
your decision.”

I don’t give him time to
respond, hurrying away back up through the woods and toward the
pack house. I don’t hear his footsteps or smell his scent so I know
he’s not following.

I open the
front door and head for the stairs to my room. I can hear my father
on the phone and someone in the kitchen making a noise with the
pots and pans. I step into my room and find my bed unmade.
Was it like that when I left last
night? I don’t think so.

Tyler’s scent
still lingers on the linen.

Chapter 5

After making
myself breakfast I head
back
over to Nixon’s cabin, trying to put my little altercation with
Tyler out of my mind and thoughts. Although today started a little
shakey, I’m determined to make this a good productive
day.

Today we’re going to go
speak to Noelle. She’s been avoiding me ever since the night she
saved my life. Alex can’t even get hold of her and Johnny’s
forbidden her to go searching for her.

He hasn’t
forbid me though…
well he
hasn’t
yet
. So Nixon and I are keeping our little trip to
ourselves. He wasn’t too happy with the thought of lying to his new
Alpha, but I have great persuasion skills when needs be and I
managed to convince him. Alex has been busy helping Johnny with
pack business so I’ve hardly had a chance to spend time with them.
Tonight is supposed to be my ceremony and they have the
preparations to get done. I figure that while they are busy, this
morning would be the best time to try and find out if Noelle knows
anything about what she did to me; as well as the changes that
occured when she healed me.

Thank goodness I don’t run into
either of the twins on my way to Nixon’s place.

“You
ready
, Angel?” I find him
leaning against his car.

“Sure am,” I respond even
though I’m not quite sure that’s true.

I open my window then
lean over and press the button to switch his radio on. He starts
the car and slowly drives away from the pack house.

****

We’re driving through an
area I’ve never been to before on the other side of town. We turn
off and onto a gravel road; just like the one we have near our pack
house. We continue to drive down the road and into a thick wooded
area.

Nixon stops right outside a
huge wooden gate.

Weird
symmetrical designs cover the dark wood
, whilst little silver trinkets hang off the tops of
spikes.

“How do you
know she’ll be here?” I turn to look over at him in the driver’s
seat and fi
nd him sitting
completely stiff; his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight
they’re trembling.

“Whoa, Nixon.” I place my
hand on the forearm closest to me, his now dark eyes immediately
finding mine.

“They’re in
there. S
he’s definitely
inside,” he says turning his eyes back to the symbols that cover
the gate.

“They? Noelle’s inside
there?” I jerk my head in the direction of the gate.

“Yes,”
h
is voice trembles with what
seems to be rage. For a minute I’m afraid he might lose his
cool.

“How do you know she
lives here?” I ask him, using my hand to turn his face to look me
in the eyes. His eyes pulse from his usual dark blue to dark brown,
the veins in his forehead sticking out; I’m completely freaked
out.

“I heard a few of the
kids at the school talking about the creepy houses in the woods,
they were talking about the markings painted on the gates. I knew
it was a sign of witches. My father used to tell me tales about
witches, about the drawings and spells they would cast to ward off
wolves.”

His voice turns
terribly deep and he snarls, showing me his growing canines as he
glares at the wooden gate. “It’s funny
how afraid they are of wolves. Especially as they’re
the ones who made us into the monsters they fear so
much.”

I really wish I
could get
into this
conversation and get him to explain, but right now I’m afraid he
might turn if we get into too much detail.

“
Nixon, if I
knew about your distaste for witches I would never have brought you
along with me.”

“I don’t hate
them,
it’s the magic making me
want to get the fuck out of here; I’m trying really hard to fight
it. Don’t you feel it?” He nods towards the gate. I shake my head
confused.

“Why don’t you
feel it?” He grinds out. H
e
looks as if he’s in pain.

“I don’t know, Nixon.
Maybe it’s because I’m not a full blooded wolf? Listen, I have to
go in and speak to her; I think you should wait on the outskirts of
the woods. I’ll meet you there when I’m done,” I say, moving
quickly to open the door. He grabs my hand, pulling me roughly back
into the car.

“No! This was a
bad idea;
I’m not letting you
go in there, Angel.” He starts the car as I open my door
again.

“Nixon, I’m going to go
in there one way or another. If you don’t let me go now… I’ll just
sneak out later.” I quickly open the door, jumping out before he
has a chance to stop me. I run towards the big gate and hear his
door being opened. He’s really fast. Before I know it, arms are
wrapped around my waist from behind and I’m being lifted. My back
is flush against his chest, my arms trapped under his as he holds
me tight. I kick into thin air, growling in frustration as he
starts walking back to the car.

“Nixon!
Let.me.down
!” I grit
out.

“No!
It’s not safe for us here. There’s
only two of us, we need our pack. I’m not letting you go in there
alone so forget about it.” He plants me down right in front of his
door but I refuse to climb in. I turn and glare at him.

“Nixon,
I’m going in whether you like it or
not! Their scare-away-wolf spell doesn’t affect me,” I gesture to
myself. “You can
clearly
see that I’m
not about to burst at the seams like you are. I need to speak to
her, Nixon; I need to know what she knows.” I drop my voice into a
pleading tone and I feel him starting to relent.

His frown
disappears and
so do his
canines.

“Your father is
going to
kill
me.” He lets out a deep breath. “I’m
giving you an hour. If you’re not out in an hour, I’m coming in.
I’ll stay as close as I can, but I’ll be right back here after that
hour. I don’t think you’ll be able to use your abilities once
you’re in there so we won’t have a mind link. If anything happens
just scream; hopefully I’ll hear you.” He leans against the door
frame in resignation. “God, I can’t believe I’m letting you do
this.”

I bend under
his arm and away from the cage his body had me in. “I’ll be out of
there before you know it.” I walk toward
s the wooden gate, looking back in time to see him
driving off.

****

I move my hand over the
big rusty latch, realising it can only be opened from the inside.
Walking to my left, I inspect the concrete wall that surrounds the
property. I went through so much trouble to get here, I need to get
in.

I find a tree that has
attached itself to the wall. The roots cover the side and they’re
thick enough for me to grab onto and launch myself up. I peep over
the wall; the property is large and has maybe ten or more small
brick cottages. There’s a few people walking around but luckily
enough the wall I’ve climbed on top of is behind one of the
cottages, hiding me from the people below.

I jump on top of the
thick wall and climb down the roots on the other side. I can hear
people laughing and chatting inside the nearby cottage. I bend down
and creep away from the window to avoid detection. I run behind the
cottage towards the next cottage looking through the
windows.

I don’t remember much
about Noelle, but her voice is drummed into my head. I look through
the window of the next cottage, peeking between the flowers in the
flower bed that sits at the open window. I hear an angelic voice
singing a song in a language I don’t know; instantly I know it’s
Noelle. She moves around the kitchen slowly, her bangles on her
wrists jingling as she goes and stirs something on the stove. The
smell of her food is enough to make me close my eyes and delight in
the aroma.

“Oomph.” I’m thrown to
the ground with a huge body on top of me. Johnny’s training kicks
in. I manage to wiggle around enough to get my footing just right.
When he moves away I’m able to place my feet on his stomach and
kick as hard as I can.

He flies in
the
opposite
direction.

N
ow if he was a wolf
I wouldn’t have been able to do that.

“How did you
get into our compound
,
wolf
?” He spits out as he manages to stand up straight. His
hand rests over his heart as he tries to calm his breathing. He has
dark brown hair, his eyes are so light and so green I’m mesmerised
for a few moments. He is tall and made of muscle, much like
were-boys are built, but I can tell he’s not of the
were-kind.

I
sha
ke my head clearing my
thoughts. “I’m looking for Noelle. I need to speak to
her.”

At the mention of her
name the boy’s body turns tense before he lunges, tackling me once
again and knocking the air out of me.

I
growl out of frustration. “Jesus, can
I finish my sentence?” I yell from underneath him, as he holds my
hands on either side of my head.

“How did you get in here?” He
repeats, his eyes glaring at me.

“Fabian, get off of her
right now!” I hear Noelle’s admonishing voice behind us.

Fabian looks up quickly,
then back down at me but doesn’t move.

“Yes, Fabian. Get off
me!” I say, glaring at him. He gives me one last repulsed look
before moving away cautiously. I get to my feet and wipe away all
the grass that’s on me. Fabian just pissed off the wrong person. I
push at his chest one last time; I can tell he really wants to hurt
me but he doesn’t.