His father had tossed him through the air like he was a sack of feathers and he’d landed hard on the floor. His eyes filled with tears. Gods, he was so useless and this was like a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.
He forced himself to stand up. Limping, he made it back into his parents’ room. His parents faced each other, his mother’s face tear streaked.
She raised a hand in Parker’s direction. “Don’t move darling. There is dark magic in here. I can feel it. Your father wants to kill me.” Parker could see her neck muscles clench. “I’m going to try to undo it.”
Dark magic? His father had done dark magic? When? Out by the lake? Why would he want to kill his mother?
She raised her hand. His mother was powerful, he’d heard that all the time. The female wolves in the pack were the ones who controlled all the magic. She taught magic to the other wives. They got together once a week.
Parker took a deep breath. She’d handle this. He knew she would. She would make all of this okay.
Like he could sometimes read words fast on a page without having to really look at them, he could see his father’s intent in his wolf eyes. He was going to kill Parker’s mom.
There was no question and his mother wouldn’t have time to work her magic to save them.
Parker was a man…or he would be. And he knew what men were supposed to be.
They were meant to save the women of the pack. They were Warrior Wolves. He would stop his father from harming his mother.
Leaping in the air, he pushed at his father just as his mother sent out a wave of magic. His mother screamed as Parker took the hit meant for his father.
He plummeted to the ground hard unable to move, unable to breathe. It wasn’t a killing hit. He knew that instinctually. He wasn’t going to die.
As he watched, unable to do much of anything, he saw his father advance on his mother, her gaze totally focused on Parker as she tried to rush towards him.
He’d done this.
He’d gotten in the way.
His father shifted his hands into their wolf claws as he tore up his beautiful mother’s face. She didn’t even scream. Blood was everywhere. The world went black.
Parker blinked and shuddered as the world from thirty years ago fell away. He was here. He was on the bed with Angel. He was mated.
That meant he was dangerous to this woman. He swallowed. His mother had loved his father.
She’d never thought her husband did black magic. That was his father. He could turn out the same.
He stood up, moving off the bed. “Angel, I think you should get far away from me.”
“I can’t.” She blinked, her eyes calmer than they’d been before. “You have half of my soul now.”
“I know but my father killed my mother. I don’t trust myself.”
She yawned. “Are you going to kill me tonight?
“How the hell do I know?”
Chapter Five
Angel tried to stifle her yawn. Clearly, Parker was nervous about the idea that he could kill her and she wasn’t particularly thrilled with the fact that he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t try. But, she carried around part of his soul inside of her now and one of the biggest parts of Parker to come over to her in the freaky mating thing that had happened between them was his sense of right and wrong.
Parker was pretty darn serious and unless something weird happened in the next few minutes to completely alter his ability to be a moral compass, Angel didn’t feel like she was in any immediate danger. Still, when the sun came up tomorrow she was going to start to work on a way to get her soul back and remove his. She wasn’t going to be permanently bound to anyone—not even someone as utterly fantastic as Parker Liberty.
For tonight, as long as they were stuck this way she might as well take advantage of some the perks, so to speak. She patted the bed next to her. “Come here.”
He shook his head. “Not a chance.”
“I’m not going to let you kill me.”
“My mother thought she could stop my father. Apparently, she was wrong. I’m twice your size.
I’m not going to take a risk with you.”
Angel looked at her wolf who had sat up at the mention of Parker’s mother. “Any suggestions?”
Her wolf nodded. “Ask him more about the mother.”
“Did you say your mother thought she could stop your father?”
He nodded and sat down at the end of the bed. Placing his head in his hands, Angel couldn’t get over how tired he suddenly seemed. His eyes were red and worn, the hard lines defining his face more evident than they had been earlier. He took life very seriously. She knew this because she could feel those parts of his soul now tucked safely inside of her stirring to life.
“I witnessed my father kill my mother.”
“That’s terrible.” A sudden thought dawned on her and she scooted over to where he sat, holding the blanket over her nude form. She wasn’t shy, not really, but this didn’t really feel like a
„naked’ conversation. “Let me ask you something, where were you living at the time?”
“On an island about six hours north of here.”
She nodded. That had been the answer she’d been expecting. “Westervelt.”
His head shot up. “That’s right. How did you know?”
Leaning against his shoulder so she could get a good dose of his scent infused back into her bloodstream, she smiled. “That’s where I’m from originally, too. How many wolf packs do you think there are running around North America?”
He put his head on top of hers. It was an awkward position but she didn’t mind. She knew she’d have to give this up but for now she was content to enjoy it.
“Don’t be a smartass.”
“I can’t help it, it’s my nature.”
“No,” he kissed her hair, “it’s not.”
“Just because you are currently in possession of parts of my soul doesn’t mean you know me. If I say I’m a smartass, I’m a smartass.”
He nodded but she couldn’t get over the impression that he humored her. She wasn’t sure exactly what made her think that way, maybe it was the gleam in his eyes. She’d be leaving soon so maybe she shouldn’t bother trying to figure him out. Still, it irked her to think he was laughing at her on the inside.
“Back to the important stuff here, I was born on that island—Westervelt—but my mother got me away before my father and the other crazies could hurt me.”
She could feel his sigh travel through her body. She shuddered. This mating stuff was freaky even if she kind of liked it.
“That’s good. I’m glad they got you away but since you understand what happened that day, can’t you understand why I am so dangerous to you?”
She shrugged. “Yes and no. I’m really, really good at magic. I think I would be able to feel it if you had bad energy flowing through you making you want to kill me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Like you knew the two idiots were going to come into your room and whack you over the head?”
Now that wasn’t fair. She stood up, putting her hands on her hips not caring one bit if she was as nude as the day she was born. “I didn’t know they were coming because they weren’t bathed in dark magic. They’re just idiots who wanted to have sex with me. It’s different and I’m pretty darn sure that since you just got to have sex with me you aren’t going to conk me over the head to get more of it.”