Angel Blackwood (37 page)

Talon convinces his brother to
calm down enough to speak to Jax inside his office where no one can
overhear, but before the door is even closed, Jax is already
halfway across the room and heading for Tyler. Ronny and Talon try
to pull each of them away, but it’s no use.

Jax keeps going for
him.

“Jax stop!” I yell. He freezes
and looks over at me.

“They don’t
deserve you!
This
is your family, Lexi. You belong here
with us!” He yells and pushes Ronny away to get to Tyler, but Jax’s
words now have Talon all riled up. Jax won’t stand a chance if both
brothers decide to attack. I need to stop this.

Talon gently moves Tyler away
and walks up to where Ronny is holding Jax back.

“She belongs
here?” He scoffs, “Not once have one of us ever tried to kill her.
Your Beta has hurt
our
mate
, not once but twice now,
and you still have him as your Beta? If you hadn’t looked past the
first time he whipped and beat her then we wouldn’t be in this
situation right now! You still think that she belongs here? You
can’t even keep
Angel
safe from your own, and you think you
can keep her safe from other rival packs?” He spits the words as he
talks, anger laced with venom in every word.

The twins are taller than Jax,
so he has to lift his head to look up at them. Jax tries to
straighten himself up and show that he’s not afraid, but I can see
that Ronny is. Her knees are trembling and I’m pretty sure she is
close to peeing herself standing in between the two of them.

I stand in front of Talon
with my hands on his chest trying to get him to back down, but
these damn wolves are too fucking stubborn for their own
good.

“You don’t want
her. S
he’s your mate and you
don’t want her! I want her. I love her!” I can feel his pleading
eyes on my back and I’m frozen in place as he speaks.

“I made a
mistake, Lexi.
I regret it
every damn day. I should never have rejected you, if I could take
it back I would. I want you here… I love you. God, I love you so
fucking much!” Jax speaks with so much sincerity and emotion, even
though my back is towards him. Talon’s struggling stops and he lets
out a deep breath stepping away from me. My hands fall and I can’t
bear to look either of them in the eye.

The secret is out.

“You were rejected.” I hear
Tyler’s soft voice, but it’s not a question, he’s simply stating
the fact.

“He rejected you?” Talon says
in a voice so deep, chills go down my spine.

“We’re your second chance
mates,” Tyler whispers.

Chapter
20

The silence in the room is
deafening, my heart is pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears.
My hands are shaking and my body feels so heavy. Tyler takes a step
towards me, but I step back. I look up at him and all I can see is
his pity and sorrow. He’s most probably rethinking every little
nasty thing he’s said to me these past few weeks. I look up to
Talon, he has the same look.

Yeah they’re definitely
rethinking things.

Ronny comes up to my side and
places an arm around my waist as she leads me to the sofa.

“Shhh come on… let’s get you
seated. You must be exhausted, Lex.” I flinch when the cold leather
hits the back on my bare legs. It’s freezing and the shock seems to
awaken me from my thoughts.

“
I think the
three of them need to talk; alone.” Ronny looks up to Jax and he’s
shaking his head.

“No, what we
need to do is get her out of this fucking place. We can talk when
we get you home and safe.” Tyler turns to look at Jax emphasising
the word
safe
, then he walks up
to me and reaches out to grab my hand.

“Come, Angel.” His voice
is firm. I look to Talon and he nods his head. “Let’s go,
Angel.”

“Lex- Angel.” Jax shakes
his head running his hands through his hair. “Angel, don’t leave
like this. Please. Just give me two minutes.”

I look to Talon, because I know
I have no way in hell getting through to Tyler right now.

“Please can you two give me a
few minutes alone with Jax.” Talon’s jaw clenches and he looks from
me to his brother.

“No fucking
way. That is
not
gonna happen, Angel. We’re leaving
now,” Tyler says. I look down at my feet knowing that would be the
answer; I don’t even have the energy to argue with either of
them.

“Tyler.” Talon’s firm
voice has me looking up. He glares at his brother. “Angel needs to
speak to Jax. After everything she’s been through tonight, I think
she deserves whatever the fuck she asks for.”

Tyler lets out a sigh of
frustration, then points at Ronny.

“If
she
stays with the two of them, I’ll agree to wait outside of
the room,” he says, looking back at Talon.

“I know she won’t let
any-fucking-thing happen to Angel,” Tyler says.

Ronny nods. “You know
it.” Tyler heads straight for the door and leaves.

Talon looks back at me, then
back to Jax. I can tell he’s reluctant to leave, he wants to say
something but he doesn’t, he just quietly leaves the room shutting
the door behind him.

Ronny leans against the door
looking at her feet.

“Don’t leave Lexi. Stay with
me, stay with us… be part of this pack.” Jax grabs my hands and
holds them within his.

I look up at him and shake my
head. “I can’t, Jax.”

“Is it because of Drake? We
will get him help, he won’t hurt you again.” I frown at that and
pull my hands away from his.

“Get him help?
Are you fucking kidding me right now, Jax? Drake has completely
lost it, there
is
no helping him. He can’t control his
wolf, he’s out of control and no amount of help will fix that.
Can’t you see that? Maybe once he finally kills me, you’ll open
your eyes and see what he’s become!” I yell at him, shaking my
head.

“What do you want me to
do, Alexia? Lock him up? Kill him? He’s my brother, blood or not…
He’s my brother.” I stand there quietly looking at him.

“Say something!” He roars,
making me flinch. Luckily the office is sound-proofed, otherwise
the twins would have brought that door down by now. I see Ronny at
the corner of my eye take a step forward.

“You’re the Alpha now,
Jax. It’s must be hard, but these are decisions you’re gonna need
to make.”

“You don’t have any fucking
idea!” He yells, using the back of his hands to wipe at his eyes.
He turns around, tilting his head up to face the ceiling; he
doesn’t want us to see the tears and his struggle not to break down
right now.

“This is exactly why I can’t
stay here, Jax,” I whisper, pulling the jacket tightly around
me.

He turns
around.
“You’ve already made
up your mind.”

“You don’t see what Drake has
turned into. You still see him as the person he once was, the happy
go lucky boy next door who was like a brother to you. The gentle
Drake that everyone loved and adored. You need to wake up, Jax.
Stop the parties, stop the drinking and see what is going on around
you! You’re the Alpha now, you’re going to have to make some tough
decisions. I know you love Drake, but you need to think of the
safety of your pack.” I walk up to him slowly and take his hand in
mine. Opening his palm, I close my eyes and place a soft kiss to
the centre of it, taking in his scent one last time.

He stands completely still as I
whisper the words, “You were born to be Alpha of this pack, Jax. I
want you to find happiness and someone to love. I forgive you for
rejecting me, I don’t ever want you to think this has anything to
do with that. I’m making this decision because I know I could never
leave my pack; my heart truly belongs with them. It is where I
belong.” I pull away from him. He knows I won’t change my mind, the
slump of his shoulders tells me he knows that no matter what he
says it won’t change anything.

“I have to go, Jax. Be safe.” I
turn and head for the door.

Ronny has tears running down
her cheeks. I need to get out of here before I break down
completely. I grab Ronny’s hand as I walk past, giving it a
squeeze.

“Be safe too, Ron. Tell
Chloe I said goodbye. If you guys ever need anything you call me,
anything at all,” I whisper then quickly leave the room.

Tyler paces the hallway and
Talon leans against the wall, his eyes fixated on the door from
which I just came through.

“You okay?” Talon says,
standing to his full height.

I nod my head unable to form
words. My body hurts and I’m tired as hell.

“Let’s get out of this fucking
place, your father is freaking out.” Tyler heads out the door
without another glance in my direction.

“Tell me about
it.Y
our parents are giving me
a freaking migraine.” Talon walks past rubbing his temples and
heading for the open front door.

I follow them looking down at
the floor, pulling the jacket tighter around me. I’m scared of what
might happen or what they will say once we’re alone. I know Tyler
has kept his cool in front of Jax, but I know he’s about to blow at
any moment.

****

It starts raining the minute we
get into the car. The twins sit quietly in the front, I’m sitting
behind Tyler, but I feel his eyes on me every so often through the
rear view mirror. The tension in the cramped car is suffocating me.
All I wanna do is open my window and get some air, but it’s raining
too hard. They won’t even put the damn radio on. Aside from the
sound of the rain hitting the windscreen and the squeaky sound of
the windscreen wipers as they go back and forth, the sound of Tyler
squeezing the leather of the steering wheel is enough to make me
scream.

As soon as we pass the
territory line, I start to feel my wolf stirring within me.

“Faith?”
I call out
for her.

“Angel! What
happened? It went dark, I couldn’t find you.”
Her cries sound distant in my my mind, causing an
ache in my heart.

“I’m so sorry,
Faith. I crossed territory lines and somehow we lost contact. I
couldn’t reach you. I didn’t know that would happen.”
I feel our connection growing and can
now hear her clearly in my head.

She’s quiet for
a few moments, but I still feel her presence within me.
“
You should always feel my
presence, it shouldn’t matter whether you crossed territory lines
or not,”
she says, sounding
confused.

I explain what Drake said about
knowing a witch, that maybe it’s the reason we lost contact. She
agrees that it’s definitely something we need to speak to Noelle or
Phoenix about.

What happened,
Angel? I feel your pain. Are you injured?”
Her voice turns frantic, but before I have chance to
answer, the car is skidding to a halt. My injured hands push
against the back of Tyler’s seat so that I don’t hit my
face.

I look out the window and
my mind goes back to the present. We’ve pulled to the side of the
road with no other cars in sight. Talon tilts his head to either
side and lets out a deep breath as if he’s trying to calm himself.
From where I’m seated, I see one of his hands squeezing the side of
his seat extremely tightly. The tension in the car has risen, and I
flinch when Tyler slams his palms against the steering wheel three
times.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell
us?” He screams, looking at me in the rearview mirror; I swear the
car shakes. I’m too scared to speak and my hands are shaking in
fear. I look towards Talon’s back, needing him to help me out,
needing him to calm down his brother or something.

“
Answer him,
Angel,” Talon responds, in a deep growl.

“I don’t know,” I mumble
softly, my voice breaking.

“You don’t know?” Tyler roars
again.

I don’t respond. I just turn my
head and keep my eyes focused on the little rain drops running down
the window.

The car switches off and Tyler
opens the door and steps out into the rain before slamming the door
once again. My eyes are fixated on his movement as he paces in
front of the car in the pouring rain. The rain soaks his clothes
and his perfectly combed over hair is now sopping wet.

My eyes move to Talon. He’s
leaning forward, resting his head in his hands and is taking in
deep breaths. He looks far too big for this car. His body looks
uncomfortable sitting there, even with both his and Tyler’s seats
so far back that my legs actually touch the back of the driver’s
seat.

I want to reach out and touch
him, but the anger coming off of him tells me its best I give him
his space to calm down. I tremble in my seat. My eyes look through
the front windscreen to see Tyler standing right in front of the
car staring at me with black eyes. His fists sit firm at his hips
and the veins in his forearms are pumped up. He blinks as the rain
droplets fall from his face, but he keeps his gaze pinned on me
before suddenly moving with purpose to my side of the car. I lock
the door knowing that it won’t stop him from getting to me, but
doing it on instinct anyway. My hands tremble as I move away from
the window and towards the middle of the seat staring at Tyler as
he stares right back at me through the glass.

A low growl forms and I slowly
move my head to the side to find Talon’s black eyes about an inch
away from me.