At the moment, however, she wasn’t in the mood to make friends.
“Thanks.” Angel took another step forward. “Now take me to Parker or I’ll shift and we’ll see which one of us is the most lethal.”
Ashlee growled. “You can’t threaten us, Angel. You wouldn’t get within two inches of us before more than thirty pissed off wolves would come in here and tear you to shreds—sister or no sister—so I’d advise you to tone it down. We’ll take you to Parker.”
“You can’t very well expect me to be pleased that you’ve locked up my mate when he clearly brought me here for help.”
She’d have to speak to him about such a stupid decision but she was sure that was why he’d done it.
“Your mate?” Ashlee’s aggressive posture lessened a bit. “We’ll let him out immediately.”
“Ash…”
Ashlee interrupted Faith. “It’s her mate, Faithy. Imagine if it was Theo in there. I’d say she’s being downright calm, considering the fact that she’s a Kane.”
“Take me to him.”
Faith took a step back, giving Angel some breathing room. “He’s on his way to you now.”
“You’re speaking telepathically to other people?”
“We do that as a pack.” Ashlee moved until she sat down on a chair across the room.
“Can you not hear us?”
“No. Why would I be able to do that?”
Because you should be in their pack.
It was the first thing her wolf had said directly to her which meant she must be calming down from wanting to kill all the people in the room.
Why is that?
Because you are their husbands’ sister. You’re family.
Well, I can’t hear a damn thing…
You’re completely cut off.
That might be true but at the moment the only thing Angel wanted to focus on was getting Parker back.
“He’d better be unharmed.”
Ashlee nodded. “He is. It’s a miracle, really.”
“That he’s unharmed?”
“No.” Ashlee laughed as if Angel had made a joke. “That you came back to us when we’ve been searching for you everywhere.”
“Yeah, it’s a real miracle. That’s just the word I would use.”
“Angel? You’re okay?”
Parker’s voice filled her mind and Angel exhaled. Calm filled her body and she felt less like committing homicide. It was like the world had been placed back on its correct axis because he was okay.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“Better now that you’re back.”
Faith sat down next to Ashlee, a smirk on her face. If the other women knew Angel and Parker communicated then that was fine. Everything was fine now.
“We need to get out of here, Parker. They’re not to be trusted. They locked you up!”
“I’m coming to you.” There was a pause. “They locked me up because I couldn’t speak and they couldn’t trust me. I didn’t resist. I just wanted them to fix you. I’ve been listening to a lot of stuff, eavesdropping. You’re father is a really bad man. He has done some terrible things. The people here? I can’t communicate with them but I think they’re okay. Even if they assume I can’t make myself understood.”
“What?” Angel walked over to the window. She was in a tall building that overlooked some woods and a lake. “They don’t have pen and paper here? You couldn’t have written them a note?”
“Things got chaotic when I showed up trying to get over to the island. There wasn’t a lot of time to explain anything.”
Looking out the window, Angel gasped. She knew that lake. She’d been standing by it in her vision watching Parker Liberty and his father Jack fishing. What had been important about it?
Angel bit down on her lip. Her mother had said to find out why he wanted her dead.
She had a feeling the answers would be found by that lake, which meant she had one other thing to do before she could leave here with Parker. One more task to fulfill.
Chapter Eight
Parker stormed through the door like the hounds of hell chased him. He realized, belatedly, that if he replaced the word hound with the word wolf, it might not be so far off track. The Kane men were intense to say the least. He’d be glad to be off Westervelt and away from them. It also struck him as sort of amazing that not one of them had recognized him. Although perhaps it made sense since only Rex Kane had been his own age and he hadn’t seen that particular family member.
He took the stairs two at a time while his dual guards, whose names he didn’t know and didn’t care to learn, followed close behind him. As he burst through the door, he scanned the room. Angel stood by the window with two other female wolf shifters watching her from a slight distance.
She whirled around and it looked to Parker like a million separate emotions passed over her face in the span of a few seconds.
Angel.
He wished he could howl her name to the moon. The quiet, unmoving slumber she’d fallen into had seemed endless on the drive to Maine. Only the smallest shreds of what remained of his faith in life had sustained his belief that she might be okay.
And yet here she stood—alive, whole, and staring at him with her dark eyes that seemed to see into the parts of himself he’d always kept hidden from everyone else.
After a second, he felt huge and awkward. The wolves in here were sleek, well put together. He was like an elephant in a china shop. One false move and he might destroy everything.
Angel ran to him in two long strides. She launched herself into his arms and he pulled her to him.
She pressed her lips to his. He closed his eyes, feeling the essence that was purely Angel envelope his insides until he was warm and secure. She smelled like sunshine after a long winter.
“I am so happy to see you. I was terrified you’d never wake up.”
She blinked away the tears in her eyes and he sucked in his breath. Angel Kane should never, ever cry.
“Parker, everyone is staring at us.”
He sighed. “They’re probably trying to figure out how their baby sister ended up being mated to an oaf like me.”
She whacked him—hard—on his arm and he rubbed the spot as he let her slide back down to the floor onto her feet.
Angel turned to regard the room.
“Who is in charge here?”
Parker realized he could listen to her speak all day. In fact, at that very moment it didn’t matter to him whether he ever spoke again. He’d be happy to simply stand by Angel and watch her take over the world by sheer force of will.
A broad-shouldered wolf shifter moved forward. “Princess, that would be our Alpha, Tristan.”
“Don’t call me Princess.” Angel spoke through clenched teeth. The reality of what had just been said struck Parker.
She was a Kane.
She was a princess.
He was mated to a princess. Wow, he was completely unprepared for handling royalty. Clearly, fate had made a terrible mistake.
Inside, his wolf snarled. She was made for us. Don’t you dare screw this up. You heard her. She’s not a princess.
Whether she claims the title or not, she is, in fact, a princess.