A glittery light displayed before her and she swam in that direction. Were the men nuts or had they simply missed the bright white light that shouldn’t be pulsating from the bottom of the lake? Her lungs started to burn and she resurfaced quickly.
Catching her breath, she was hauled tightly up against Parker’s chest.
“Are you crazy? You could have drowned staying down there that long.”
“Did you not see the bright light surrounding some kind of box?” She panted between words as she struggled to get out of Parker’s embrace.
She needed to get that box in a way she hadn’t before she’d entered the lake. It felt like she was under some kind of compulsion now and while that should have concerned her, it didn’t.
“There’s no bright light down there. I’m sure of that.”
Angel gasped for breath, finally wrenching herself free. “Trust me, it’s there. And I’m going back for it.”
Parker squeezed her shoulders as he reached her again. “Angel, I can’t see it. Tristan can’t see it.
Cullen can’t see it. I might not be very magical but I get the impression they are. If they can’t see any bright light, then there isn’t one. Maybe this is a trick to get you to drown yourself, something your father is doing.”
“If I could interject here,” the red-headed Ashlee, Tristan’s mate, dove into the water.
“Little one,” Tristan hollered at her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to help Angel.”
“This is madness.”
“No.” Ashlee shook her head. “It’s not. This is female stuff. Angel says she can see a box surrounded in white light. I’m inclined to believe her. You guys can’t see it. Well, you can’t call the watchtower winds to assist you in magic either. I can. So move out of my way.”
“But, little one.” Tristan’s voice was low. They were all wolves so they could hear it but at least it gave the illusion of privacy. “You’re pregnant.”
“Pregnant people can still swim, my love.” Ashlee looked at Angel. “You’d think after three children he’d know pregnant didn’t mean disabled.”
Angel blinked, her focus shifting from the incredible need to get back down to the bottom of the lake to the here and now. “You’ve had three children?”
Ashlee looked to be about twenty-two years old. Angel knew that, as a rule, shifters were a lot older than they looked. But still…
“No, I wasn’t sixteen when I had them. I’m forever twenty-two because I’m mated to Tristan and that was the age I was when we met. It’s one of the Alpha things.”
“I’ve never heard of that. It didn’t work that way in New Orleans.”
Ashlee shrugged. “My understanding is that nothing worked the way it should in New Orleans.”
That was true. “Are you coming with me?”
“I will. Even if I can’t see it, maybe I can help.”
“I appreciate it.”
The men were all silent, which Angel found amazing. Apparently when the Alpha’s mate spoke, everyone shut up. She’d have to remember that.
She took a moment to fill her lungs with air before she dived down beneath the water. Since she knew where she was going, she made better time to the bottom of the lake. Ashlee was right behind her and she had to give the other woman credit, she could really swim.
The box lay out before her like a beacon. Angel tugged and tugged until it came lose.
In her arms if felt light but hot like it might burn her fingers off if she wasn’t submerged in water.
Ashlee pulled at her arm, helping her swim upwards with the burden she’d felt so compelled to discover. As she broke through the top of the lake, she wondered if it was going to be blessing she’d gotten the box out or if like Pandora before her, she was going to wish she never had.
Chapter Twelve
Parker’s mouth opened into a giant „O’ as he watched Angel and Ashlee come out of the water carrying the large box. Where the hell had that come from? He rushed forward to grab it from his mate but she shrank back from him.
She gazed at him. Her brown eyes swirled, pleading. “I have to do it. It’s mine to do.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. Every hair on his body stood up in alarm. Her voice wasn’t her own. It was like listening to someone else speak. He suspected she’d been possessed with some kind of magic. Parker would be damned before he’d let anyone—or any spell—have control of his mate.
As he reached out for the wooden box that had somehow managed not to become rotted despite its years under water, he stared her directly in the eyes. “I won’t try to open it. You can do that.
Let me carry it for you. Your burden is my burden, okay?”
Inside of him, his wolf paced back and forth. He understood the sentiment. If something were wrong with Angel, someone would pay for it, possibly with his or her life. He had been alone and not just in the physical way before he’d met her. His soul, his wolf, had longed for something he’d never thought to find. Then Angel had walked into the truck stop diner. He’d thought he was a violent man—he wasn’t. But he would be to protect her. The world would shudder if something happened to Angel Kane.
Ashlee immediately let go of the end of the box she held. He thought for a second Angel would resist or object. Finally, her hands unclenched on the box and she let him hold it. Tristan came up next to him.
“Did you see that down below? I didn’t.”
Parker shook his head. “No way. No how.”
Ashlee, now wrapped in a blanket, snorted. “I told you, it’s female magic. For the record, I couldn’t see it either. Only Angel could.”
“It was mine to find.”
Parker couldn’t wait to be done with whatever this box was.
“I hope that isn’t what I think it is.”
Cullen Murphy had a way with words that made Parker wish they spoke a different language so he couldn’t understand him.
As Parker set the box down on the side of the lake, he looked up at Cullen. “What do you think it might be?”
“The source.”
Tristan cursed. “Is this going to prove to be one of those things you should have told me about, Cullen, that you never did and now it’s going to bite me in my unprepared ass?
Because I have to tell you, buddy, I’ve got so much on my plate right now I can’t possibly handle anything else.”
The wolves surrounding the lake fell silent. Slowly, a strange sound of snickering started in the group. Parker looked up. He had no idea why they were laughing.
Finally, Tristan sighed. “Is it the buddy? Did I use the phrase incorrectly?”
Cullen covered his mouth to hold back a laugh. Finally, he looked at Parker. “Tristan keeps trying to sound more modern. It just ends up with him sounding really funny.”
Parker nodded. “It must be hard, living through all the changes in time and trying to keep up with them.”
Cullen bent over the box. “I found my first grey hair this morning. I started aging several years ago when Summer and I mated. Before that I’d been thirty a very long time.” Cullen smoothed his hand over the lid of the box.
Angel gasped as she threw her body down on top of the wooden box. Everyone’s laughter stopped.
“Angel?”
“Don’t let him open it, Parker. It’s mine to open, not his. If he opens the lid, it will be very, very bad.”
I don’t like this.
Parker agreed with his wolf. I don’t either. I’m about two seconds away from grabbing her, putting her over my shoulder, and getting the hell out of here.
“I’m not going to open it, Princess. I know better.”