Tristan stepped forward. “Cullen.”
The broad shouldered man who seemed to be around all the time came forward holding out some clothes for her. Angel nodded, hoping her gratitude showed in her eyes.
She’d never been particularly good at expressing thanks. Cullen nodded back and she had the feeling he understood.
Quickly, although far less graceful than she would have liked, she managed to shove on the grey sweatpants and matching t-shirt. Finally covered, she turned to look at Parker.
His eyes held amusement and she had the impression he laughed at her.
“What’s funny, Parker?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You are, Angel. Even if you don’t know it.”
Gods, she wished they were alone and not standing in front of the entire pack like some kind of weird show they all wanted to watch.
“Um…”
Cullen interrupted her as he handed Parker a set of clothes similar to her own. “I see you managed to return his voice, my Alpha, and might I inquire if they are also members of the pack?”
“They are. Although, my baby sister is not thrilled about it.”
Parker’s love traveled through their connection and she grinned. “The idea is growing on me.”
She cleared her throat. “But there is something I have to do.”
Tristan rolled his eyes. “Yes, you mentioned that. Something about the lake?”
“Right.” She walked forward, aware all eyes were on her. She hadn’t strode much of a distance when a familiar face stopped her.
In front of her stood Scarlett Knoll. She’d been a member of the New Orleans’ pack where Angel had been raised. The other woman had been abused by the terrible leaders there and Angel knew she’d spend the rest of her life feeling guilty about not being able to help her.
Scarlett reached out to grab her arm. “I’m so happy to see you.”
“As I am to see you.” Tears threatened to pool in her eyes and Angel blinked them away. “Are you okay? I understand you’re mated.”
“To Michael, yes.” Scarlett grinned. “I’ve never been better. I mean in my entire life I’ve never felt as right as I do now. Angel, I can shift.”
She’d been with Michael in her dream. It was incredible to see her looking this good in person.
“You can shift? Scarlett, that’s incredible…”
“I know.” Scarlett squeezed her arm. “We have all been worrying about you. Almost the entire pack is here now and everyone is so…different. It’s incredible what Tristan and Michael and Cullen have done…”
Angel’s head whirled. There was so much information to digest, so many things she was going to have to spend time relearning and thinking about.
“But I think you were on your way somewhere and now everyone is staring at us.”
Scarlett dropped her gaze. Angel sighed. It was a Beta thing. Even as wonderful as she looked, even with the glow that lit up from the inside of her, Scarlett wouldn’t hold her eye contact very long.
Just get to the lake already. Her wolf snorted.
She decided to do just that. Walking as fast as she could, she made it down to the lake that seemed a lot smaller in person than it had in her dream. The image of Parker fishing with his father flashed into her mind and dissipated as quickly as it formed. Yes, there was clearly something important about that lake.
Angel supposed it actually looked more like a pond. It was oval, rather than round and held a green mossy film on the top of it that she supposed was some kind of algae although she knew very little about these things.
“What are we looking at?” Parker’s voice was right above her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her cheek.
“You keep doing that and I’m going to have to leave all of these people and take you somewhere to be by ourselves.”
He laughed, a low guttural sound. “Say the word.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I need to figure out what I have to do. I had this vision of you and your dad fishing here.”
“We did that a lot. Maybe you were simply cued into one of my memories.”
Angel bit down on her fingernail as she considered what he said. “It’s possible, I suppose. But that doesn’t feel right to me.”
“It doesn’t feel right?”
She elbowed him hard and he oomphed. “Don’t make fun of me. I’m making this up as I go along. Do you have some sort of concrete game plan I don’t know about?”
“Just to love you forever and ever. That and to do whatever you want whenever you want it.”
His words made her cheeks heat up. “Then what I want is for you to help me figure out why I’m so consumed with this…pond.”
“Is there something in the pond? In your vision, I was fishing. That implies I was catching something underneath the surface.”
“Now, you’re giving me something I can use.” She tugged at her shirt and he pulled it back down.
“What are you doing? Keep the clothes on.”
“I’m not going to swim fully dressed.” She wasn’t that great of a swimmer on a good day. If she didn’t have a suit, it was better for her to be in the buff.
Parker pulled off his shirt. “I’ll go in. If there is something in there, I’ll find it.”
“No, I don’t think…”
But he’d already stripped. The site of his tight, nude ass made her catch her breath.
Distracted, she didn’t complain when he dove into the water instead of her.
“What is he doing?”
She jumped as Tristan and Cullen came up behind her.
“Well, brother, I have a feeling there is something in the lake and he is checking it out for me.”
Tristan and Cullen looked at each other. Seconds later, they’d both shoved off their clothes and dove into the water. Angel rolled her eyes as she waited for Parker to surface.
He came up for air and dove back down.
“Did you find something?”
She didn’t like being left out of this. It was her vision and the men had usurped her role in it.
“Not yet, love. Don’t get your panties in a twist. It’s called delegating.”
She put her hands on her hips. “I’m not wearing any panties, big guy.”
He groaned. “Thanks for reminding me of that.”
Just then all three heads resurfaced from the water. Parker spoke first. “I’m sorry, Angel, we can’t see or sniff anything down there.”
Angel stomped her foot. No, that wasn’t right. There had to be something. She felt her eyes turning wolf and she wondered why she was getting so upset over this. Maybe it had been a stupid dream; maybe it had been meaningless, maybe…
Maybe they can’t see it or sniff it. Maybe only we can.
Her wolf’s voice made her stop. Yes, that was the answer. Before anyone could say anything else, Angel pulled off her clothes.
“I assure you, Princess, we looked everywhere.”
She cut off Cullen’s assurances as she dove under the water. If she was wrong, then there really was nothing lost. She had a feeling most everyone in the pack probably already thought she was nuts already.
The water felt cool to her hot skin. As she opened her eyes under water, she took a moment to appreciate the serene beauty of the moment. Had she ever done this before? If she’d grown up on Westervelt—before everything went to hell—she imagined the kids did this all the time. Parker probably swam regularly simply for the fun of it.
In her whole life, Angel had never done anything for the pure enjoyment of the experience.
Some day that would have to be fixed.