Angel Blackwood (24 page)

Why
didn
’t my mother tell me about
this. I know I’ve kept secrets from her, but I’m not the Luna of
the pack, she’s the one who said we don’t keep secrets from the
pack.

“Does the pack know about this?
Does my father know about her being a witch?” I ask.

Fabian’s harsh
voice breaks through the air as he stands up angrily. “Your mother
is not a witch! She left her people before she even had a chance to
practice, she left her Coven to mate with a
wolf
!”

“Sit
down
, Fabian!” Noelle scolds
him. Phoenix moves over and sits next to him, taking his hand; he
instantly appears quieter when looking at Phoenix.

Noelle looks at
me.
“Fabian doesn’t like
wolves very much, you have to excuse him. What you need to
understand is that witches and wolves don’t get along. Centuries
ago we all lived freely, but power and greed were the downfall of
the harmony between us. The Wicca don’t believe in having a central
authority figure. Wolves have Alpha’s to lead the pack, but a
Warlock named Nolen felt that he should lead the Wicca. He believed
that we weren’t the equals our descendants had told us for
centuries, he looked down on wolves even though they were created
by mother earth. He thought we were superior to the wolf, creating
a spell making sure werewolves could only turn into their natural
wolf-form on a full moon. As you know your wolf lives for running
free, they hate being caged up, it drives them mad, or so I’ve
read. By creating this spell, werewolves weren’t able to allow
their wolves as much freedom as they wanted. Some wolves went
insane and some couldn’t handle hearing the constant howls of their
wolves from within them, leading many wolves to kill themselves
during those years. Nolen was a brutal harsh man, he had two wolves
as slaves. Whether in their human or wolf-form, he had them
collared and leashed. Full moons became a dangerous time for the
Wicca because during those nights, when the wolves were in their
natural strongest form, they would seek vengeance killing any witch
or warlock they could find. Only one witch was brave enough to go
against Nolen. Her name was Annalisa, and she was as powerful as
him. Her three children were killed when a pack of wolves entered
their camp. Annalisa had been working on a spell to reverse the one
that Nolen created, she was on the brink of performing it when the
wolves attacked the village. Witches have a saying, “If it harms
none, do what you will” meaning you can do whatever you want to do
as long as no harm comes to you or others. We also believe in the
three fold law, meaning whatever you send out comes back times
three, good or bad. Having said that, Annalisa never wanted to
bring any harm to an individual, but once her kids were killed she
wanted to take the life of Nolen. She set out to do so and with
that, black magic was created. She killed Nolen and removed the
spell he’d cast against the wolves. It took hundreds of years for
witches and wolves to learn to coexist, but eventually they did.
Things aren’t perfect, but at least neither of us have to live in
constant fear.” Noelle leaves me speechless, there’s so much more
to this then I could ever know. How many more supernatural things
are out there that I don’t know about.

I hear Phoenix
giggling and I look up to see her looking at me. “It’s a lot to
take in isn’t it? Imagine how we feel, once we start practising we
have all these
trials and
exams we have to pass in order for us to practice magic freely.
Those exams entail the history of Wicca and let me tell you-”
Fabian breaks Phoenix’s rambling as he stands up and takes her
hand.

“You can tell her another
time. You promised to help Carlie with a spell. Let’s
go.”

Phoenix pulls a
face, almost snarling as she rolls her eyes and stands. “I didn’t
promise
anything, I don’t see
why
I
have to teach
your
girlfriend
basic
spells.” I hear their arguing all the way out the front
door and out of sight.

Noelle
la
ughs to herself. “Those two
get on each other’s nerves.”

“Are they related?”

“No not related, you see
any red hair here?” she giggles to herself, pulling a piece of her
curly dark hair.

“I took Phoenix
in about five years ago, she was twelve
. I virtually brought her up when her mother wasn’t
around. Those two are practically brother and sister.”

I nod my head, so many
thoughts going through my mind, so many questions I have to
ask.

Noelle’s tone turns quiet
and she reaches out and holds my hand. “You understand what I was
telling you about your grandparents and mother? I don’t know her
reasons for keeping it a secret from you and your father, but she
must have a good enough reason.”

I nod my head.

“You’re a half-breed,
Angel. But you’re not half-wolf, half-human. You’re half-wolf,
half-witch!”

I leave Noelle’s after
she explains how she is going to teach me and train me. I make my
way up the tree, careful not to let anyone see me. As I’m just
about to pull my leg over the wall a hand wraps around my ankle.
I’m just about to kick at it when Phoenix screams out.

“It’s me! It’s me. Gosh!
Are you always in stealth mode!” She says, backing away from my
foot.

“Sorry. You
surprised me. What’s up?” I say
, looking down at her.

She reaches into her
pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. “Here’s my number, call me
when you wanna meet up. I’m available, whenever.” She shrugs it off
trying to sound nonchalant, even though I can sense how excited she
is.

“I’ll text you
when I
get home so you have my
number,” I say, smiling. She almost jumps for joy, but quickly
covers it up with a stumble.

“Cool.” She nods her head.

“Bye
, Phoenix.” I
chuckle, as she smiles waving her goodbyes.

I climb over the fence
and when I’m out of sight my hearing picks up on the sound of
Phoenix’s footsteps; she’s dancing enthusiastically behind the
wall.

“
I made a
wolf-friend, I just made a wolf-friend,” she says softly in a sing
song melody. I can’t help but laugh out loud. All movements stop
and she’s silent from the other side of the wall.

“Phoenix?” I call out,
it’s a few seconds before she responds.

“Yeah?”
S
he replies
quietly.

“Goodnight.” I walk away
with a smile on my face, the sound of her excited footsteps and
sing song melody continuing in the distance

That is one weird little
witch.

****

Walking out of
the woods and into the clearing of the pack
house
, I find Talon and Tyler
sitting on the steps of the front porch. I keep my walk firm and
pull out my phone sending Phoenix a text and trying to look busy
whilst ignoring the twins. I attempt to walk right between them up
the steps, but Tyler grabs my left ankle. I take another step
forward with my right leg and Talon wraps his big hand around that
one.

“
Get your
hands off me,” I grind out.

Tingles move through my
body every time they touch me. Whether it’s to hurt or caress me,
my body is a slave to them. Their touch makes me want to melt into
their arms, but I can’t have that. Not now.

“Where did you disappear
to?” I freeze at the sound of Tyler’s question. Surely they can
smell the witches on me. I look down at him, right in his eye and
use all the power I can to order him.

“Get. Your. Hands. Off.
Me!” I repeat. Tyler’s eyes widen, then he frowns and slowly
removes his hands. Talon does the same.

They both stand up and
their height seems to crowd me in. I move to walk away, but Tyler
grabs my elbow ever so gently.

“Angel?” I pull my arm from his
loose grip.

“I’m
getting
really
tired of the way you two keep
manhandling me.” I watch as he swallows and shame covers his
face.

“Angel?” I turn to find Nixon
standing in the door way.

I give him a smile and
say excitedly, “We need to talk.” I grab his hand and pull him
towards my father’s office knowing it’s soundproof.

“Where have you been?” he says
after I close the door behind him.

“I went to see
Noelle…
” I cover his mouth
with my hand. “…before you interrupt and get angry, I want you to
know that no one hurt me and she answered so many questions.” I
can’t stop grinning as I explain to him excitedly what happened and
what she said.

I reluctantly remove my
hands waiting for him to release his wrath on me, but he doesn’t,
instead he nods. He sits on of the chair and looks back at me as he
runs his hands through his hair.

“So you’re a
witch?” H
e asks, in a low
tone. My joyful mood dies at his tone. Nixon really doesn’t like
witches at all.

I move to sit
next to him.
“I’m half-witch,
half-wolf. It’s not like I’m going to leave you and go join their
coven or anything.” He frowns at this.

“Nixon? What’s wrong?
This doesn’t change anything. I’m still the same person I was
before I left here tonight.” I put my hand on his arm and he looks
at me.

He continues to look at me for
a few minutes before he nods his head.

“I’m being
stupid. I
f anything, that
magic saved me…saved us when those rogues attacked us back in Point
Bright. You’re still my Angel.” A slow smile forms on his face and
he brings me in for a hug.

A let out a deep breath,
thanking the Fates that I didn’t just lose my best
friend.

On my way back up to my
room my message tone on my cell goes off.

Phoenix at
12:34am:
I hope you don’t mind
that I put a cloaking spell on you to mask our scents. If my timing
is right it should be wearing off in about ten minutes…

I text back a quick reply.

Angel at
12:36am:
Thanks. I would have
been in some serious shit if they smelt a witch. The thought didn’t
even cross my mind until just now.

I guess that’s just one
of the perks of being friends with a witch who knows her
stuff.

W
ith my head swimming
with information overload, I head for the shower to wash yet
another day of secrets, truths and discoveries away.

Chapter 1
3

I wake up
drenched in sweat
. I kicked
all my blankets off during the night, and even thought about lying
in the tub to cool down. I take a cold shower and it cools me down
to an extent, but as soon as I step out, my temperature increases
again. I feel drained and am seriously fighting a losing battle
with the exhaustion that racks my body. Alongside the fact that I
can’t seem to get this damn temperature down, I’m feeling pretty
wrecked.

I look out the
window to see that it’s raining hard outside
and the water droplets are calling my name. I run
downstairs and into the open yard, letting out a sigh of relief as
the droplets cool me. I close my eyes, opening my mouth to let the
drops slither down my dry throat.

I
start to hear faint growling, but I’m
too deep in this nirvana that I don’t even bother to open my eyes.
I then hear an oomph sound followed by more growling. I slowly open
my eyes and jump back, just as Talon tackles one of the younger
guys from the pack to the ground. Tyler has another one by the
throat. Both boys look up to me with black eyes and canines
extended.

The guy
in
Tyler’s grasp passes out
and falls to the ground, and I watch as three more men come out
from the bushes. They’re staring at me and I’m starting to feel
rather uneasy. I take a step back and bump into something. I turn
around as big burly arms wrap around me; I’ve met this guy before,
he’s a friend of the twins.

“Carl, hands off… NOW!”
Tyler lets out a deathly roar as he holds another pack member
down.

Carl ignores Tyler and pulls me
into his body. He pulls my wet hair away from my neck then moves
his hands towards my ass.

I don’t know what the fuck is
happening.

My mind is
telling me to push him off of me
, but the way he’s looking at me and the way he holds me
oddly provides me with comfort. I’m not so heated anymore and It’s
making me lean into his touch. He squeezes my ass cheek and the
growls erupt again.

Why are pack members fighting
pack members? I don’t understand.

“Get her out of
here
… GO!” Talon’s angry voice
breaks through my daze.

A hand tugs on my elbow and I
look to find Nixon’s hard eyes as he stares Carl down.

“Move,
” he says
through gritted teeth.

Carl
reluct
antly removes his hands
from me and I’m tugged into protective arms. Nixon immediately
strides away from the fighting, with me being pulled along behind
him.

“What the hell is
happening, Nix? Why are they all fighting?” I pull my arm from his
grasp and stand firmly. Nixon stops and turns around to look at
me.