“It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid. Unless he gives up his pack affiliation, you will always be our pack too.”
Angel grabbed her head and Parker knew she could now hear the voices he could hear.
“You knew this would happen. This was what I was asking you about.”
The joy he’d felt moments earlier dimmed until it was almost out. He’d wanted this and he hadn’t even known it but his mate did not. He could see it as clear as day. She was not happy to have Westervelt in her mind or her soul, which left him no choice.
For Angel he would do anything.
For Angel he would give them up.
Chapter Eleven
Angel picked herself up off her knees and tried to regain some semblance of the dignity she’d clearly just thrown out the window. The only noise in the room she could hear was the sound of her racing heart. That was saying a lot. She could always hear everything around her.
Finally, Parker sighed. “We’ll leave. I’ll drop the pack.”
The throaty, rough sounds of Parker’s voice made her shiver and she turned to look at him. She might feel differently in a year—or maybe ten—but right now she couldn’t imagine there being a time when she wouldn’t want to listen to him speak.
She reached out her hand for him to take. Their fingers entwined, she smile at him.
“You would, wouldn’t you? And just last week we both wanted out of this mating.”
Heat infused his cheeks creating a small red tinge to his tone. She had to grin. No one else would notice he blushed. They’d be too leery of his size and his manifesto of tattoos to see the heart inside the gentle giant that was her mate. She squeezed their joined fingers before she glared at Tristan.
“You knew and you deliberately evaded my question when I asked what would happen.”
“I suspected.” Her brother met her gaze not dropping his eyes or even looking sheepish about what he’d done. She had to give him credit for that. He at least stood behind his boneheaded decisions.
“You should have told us that freeing Parker’s voice would make him part of the pack.”
“He’s always been my pack. You should have been my pack.” Tristan raised his voice. “As far as I’m concerned I simply set things back to the way they should have always been.”
“Now you’re a god?”
Her older brother roared a sound that could only be called more wolf than man.
Parker tried for her attention. “Angel.”
She didn’t listen. In all honesty, listening had always been a problem for her followed by her second biggest issue, which was to know when to shut up. At the moment she didn’t care.
“What? No one here questions you? No one here tells you when you’ve done something really bad? Guess what? The leaders in the New Orleans pack hated everything about me. They were desperate to find some man who could mate me and shut me up. It didn’t work for them and it’s not going to work for you—no matter how loud you howl.”
Tristan had the audacity to laugh. Not just a snicker either but a downright loud snort through his nose. Angel couldn’t believe it. She put her hands on her hips. There was nothing she’d just said that should have been at all amusing let alone warranted that much humor.
“What are you laughing at?”
He shook his head. “You. You are the female version of Gabriel.”
“Gabriel?” Had she met a Gabriel? “I don’t know who that is.”
“And you won’t for a while because, apparently, while our world is imploding and we are considering plans to run away, he’s off having a nervous breakdown.”
Angel looked at Parker but he seemed as confused as she was. “Should I be insulted by the Gabriel remark?”
“No, it means you’re family. I’m Tristan, you know that. I’m the Alpha of our pack but the third oldest in terms of our brothers. Michael is the oldest, he’s mated to a former pack mate of yours.”
“Scarlett Knoll. I saw it in a vision. I thought she must be here against her will.”
Tristan raised his eyebrows. “They’re only here a little while but I can’t imagine anyone making Scarlett do anything she didn’t want to do. Michael would take off their head.”
“I know the feeling.” Parker stepped forward. “I would destroy anyone who dared approach Angel disrespectfully.”
“You’re very intense. I can feel it in my mind as I can feel all the members of our pack. You will be an asset to us whether we stay to fight or have to go into hiding.”
Angel could feel Parker’s pride at those words swimming through her veins. She wasn’t going to ask him to leave this. No way, no how. It was enough he’d been willing to go. The longer she spoke to Tristan, even with his prickly ways and his reference to her looking like their dad, the more she liked him.
“Who else? Who else is in the family?”
Tristan and Parker regarded her silently and she shrugged. “What’s the big deal? If I’m going to stay I might as well know who my family is, right?”
Parker caught her meaning first and she could feel the love radiating off of him towards her.
Their mating bond was tight.
“So you’re staying?” Tristan voice sounded strained.
“Oh yes. You wanted me, now you’re stuck with me.”
Her brother smiled and he looked younger, more relaxed than she could have imagined him.
“After Gabriel there’s me, then Theo. He’s here with his mate Faith. Then Azriel. And then the baby is Rex—Randolph—but we call him Rex. He’s not here either.
He’s off hunting a witch.”
“What is it with you people and witches?”
But his reference wasn’t lost on her. She still had something to do. Her mother had come to her in her magical coma and shown her the lake that was right outside of Parker’s home. That had to mean something. She didn’t particularly like having a destiny but she would fulfill it nonetheless.
As she chewed on her fingernail, she moved forward. Parker had gotten his voice back. It was time to figure out what was important about the darn lake.
“Where are you going?” Parker’s voice called after her.
“The lake.”
In two strides, Parker had caught up to her. “Feel like a swim?”
“Mom came to me in my dream. Showed me a scene of you and your dad fishing in that lake. I think it’s important.”
Tristan was right behind them. “Do you have a lot of visions?”
“Yes.” Angel paused looking back at Tristan. “Doesn’t everyone here?”
“No. I mean we all have powers, the women have stuff they can do, but a lot of visions?
Absolutely not.”
“Maybe that’s why your father wants you dead,” Parker supplied.
“That’s as good a guess as any.”
She didn’t give a flying fig why Kendrick Kane wanted her dead. She had no intention of not being alive. He would have to get used to disappointment.
Taking the stairs two at a time, she made it downstairs a lot faster than she’d made it up. Of course this time it was Parker chasing her and not the other way around. The lake stood out in front of them and she almost tripped on her makeshift toga that Parker had insisted she wear so no one saw her naked.
She hated the thing. It smelled. It was old and it was itchy. Not a great combination.
Dropping it to the ground, she raised one eyebrow as she dared Parker to complain. She’d just agreed to pack for him. The least he could do was let her be naked if she wanted to be naked.
At that moment, out of the woods like they’d appeared out of thin air, came what looked to be the entire Westervelt pack. She swallowed, now aware more than ever about her nudity.