His wolf rolled its eyes. Go search her soul a little bit. She’s as much a princess as you are a cat.
She’s a woman and she needs us, so leave the insecurity at the door. Let’s get down to business.
He didn’t usually agree with anything his wolf said but in this case he was going to have to admit his furry half was correct. She was a woman. He could attest to that—and wouldn’t mind attesting to it again. And again.
“I need to see your Alpha—Tristan—that’s his name.”
The man nodded. “Princess, your brothers would all like to see you. We thought it best to give you some time to adjust to being here before springing the whole family on you.”
“I don’t need to see them. In fact, I have no interest in a reunion. I just want to speak to Tristan for a moment.”
“Angel, I think you should meet your brothers.”
She turned to regard him, her dark eyes meeting his. “Why should I do that?”
He shrugged. “Once in a lifetime opportunity?”
“The only things I’m concerned with right now are getting your voice back and figuring out some of the things I saw in my weird dream.”
“Angel…”
He cut off what he was going to say before he said it. People surrounded them. It would be weird to stand in silence and communicate telepathically while everyone stared at them. Also, he wasn’t entirely sure of the protocol for telling someone that since you held their soul you knew they had a hankering for family they’d never expressed.
Besides, he had learned very quickly his mate did not like being corrected. It really pissed her off.
“I have spoken to my mate.” The redheaded woman, Ashlee, spoke. “He’s on his way here to see you.”
“That’s good because the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave.”
“Princess.” The man he recognized as Cullen Murphy spoke again. “Clearly you can communicate with your mate. We couldn’t get him to speak a word. Can you explain?
Has he taken some kind of vow of silence?”
“Do people still do that?”
Angel laughed aloud, covering her mouth as she did so. Her eyes briefly lit up with delight, and he sighed. He wished he could keep her laughing all the time.
“A spell has affected Parker. I’m interested in figuring out how to get rid of it. He hasn’t spoken in nearly forty years, but, yes, I can communicate with him telepathically.”
Cullen turned to him. The older man had not recognized Parker but Parker remembered him quite well. You didn’t forget the people who terrified you as a child.
Kendrick had led the pack. Cullen had enforced it. Every child had been terrified that if he stepped out of line Cullen Murphy would come down on him like a ton of bricks.
“His scent is familiar to me except I can’t place it.”
His mate, Summer, crossed to Cullen. She laughed as she kissed the man. “Are you getting old, Cullen? Can’t remember things?”
Angel put her hands on her hips. “He isn’t deaf. He can hear you just fine. If you have something to say to him you can speak directly to him. I assure you, he can understand every word you say.”
Cullen blinked. Clearly, he wasn’t used to being addressed that way. Parker took a step forward.
He might be a dumb oaf but he wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Angel.
Whatever fear he’d had of the other man as a child was long gone.
His wolf growled inside of him. We’re bigger than he is.
“I didn’t mean to be rude.” Cullen held up a hand, this time looking directly at Parker. “I have no intention of making an aggressive move toward Angel. You can tone down the testosterone. This situation has thrown all of us for a loop.”
“Ask him how.”
Angel raised an eyebrow. “How? Why has it thrown you for a loop?”
“We’ve had people looking for you all over the country and then you showed up here unconscious with a man who couldn’t speak.”
Angel opened her mouth and Parker had a feeling whatever she wanted to say was not going to be pleasant. However, she never got the chance. Ashlee stepped forward instead.
“Explain to me why he can’t talk aloud.”
“I’m not explaining anything to you.”
“Angel.”
Parker remembered enough of these shifters to know that they could be brutal, even vicious. He stretched his neck, getting ready to shift. He never wanted to have to become a wolf again but he would to get Angel out of here if that was necessary.
“Look, I get it.” Ashlee sighed. “You’re hostile towards us. You’ve probably heard things about us that make you think we’re horrible people. I imagine you think we go around killing witches.”
Angel laughed. “That might actually be a good thing.”
“A very nice witch helped save your life.”
She sighed. “Parker has just informed me that a witch helped save my life. Perhaps I shouldn’t be quite so bloodthirsty.”
“Anyway,” Ashlee finished. “I’m really good at magic. Maybe I can help you—or if I can’t, one of the other women here can help you fix it.”
In all the years he’d worked at the diner and never communicated verbally with anyone, he’d never felt as isolated as he did right now. It was absolutely humiliating to have his mate communicate for him as if he wasn’t capable of performing the basic task.
The women continued to discuss what they were going to do about him and he zoned out on the subject. Truth was, there probably wasn’t anything that could actually be done—otherwise he knew Angel would have already performed the task.
Parker walked to the window. He hadn’t really taken any time to look around when he’d run to see Angel earlier. Staring out at the lake he felt…nothing. Shouldn’t there be some kind of feeling about being back „home?’ Shouldn’t something move him? This is where his parents had lived, loved, and died. If that hadn’t happened it was likely he’d never have left this place. He paused. He felt exactly the same way about this place as he had about the highway he’d stared at every day for the last twenty years. It was like one big old dose of…nothing.
“You’re Parker Liberty.”
Not used to being surprised, Parker jolted out of his thoughts to regard Cullen Murphy.
“I know I’m not losing my memory. It just took a few minutes for it to come back to me but now I know it’s you. You’re Jack Liberty’s son. You vanished right after the horror of thirty years ago.”
That was an interesting way to put it. Yes, he’d vanished and there had been lots of horror. It was kind of funny to hear it summed up so succinctly.
Parker stared at Cullen. What did the other man want? It wasn’t like he could answer him. Did he want him to do a dance or mime?
“I didn’t recognize you. To say you’ve changed would be an understatement. I can’t say that in all of my considerable years I’ve ever seen a wolf-shifter as tattooed as you.”
He’s probably not seen one who refused to shift either.
Parker rolled his eyes at his wolf. He could do without the personal banter. He looked down at his own arms. Each tattoo had meant something to him at the time he’d had them inked.
The turtle on his left bicep had been because the days had seemed time was endless and moved slowly. He had chosen the turtle to remind himself of that old children’s nursery rhyme where the turtle had beaten the hare in a race. The design made him feel like maybe there was a purpose to the day-to-day monotony. Maybe something good would come of it.