Angel Blackwood (5 page)

“You want his
hands all over you, is that it?
” Talon asks through our mate link still glaring at Greg
behind me.

I need to learn how to
control our link, I don’t want anyone inside my head; I have too
many secrets I need to keep hidden.

“I will teach
you everything you need to know, Angel. Don’t let their words hurt
you. They’re in pain and their wolves are punishing them, they’re
taking it out on you.”
Faith’s
voice echoes reassurance.

“He’s
probably
one of the many men
you’ve been stringing along. Isn’t he?”
Tyler links back in disgust. I can hear my wolf
whimpering from within me because of the way our mates are speaking
to us.

“Out of
interest, just how long is this list Lexi? What number were
we?”
Talon continues. Greg
obviously isn’t included in our link, but he stands perfectly still
watching as we communicate to each other without actually saying
the words out loud.

“Remember when
you
told us that we needed to
start treating people better? You said that one day we’d meet our
mate and she probably wouldn’t like the people we were. Guess you
should’ve listened to your own advice,”
Tyler sniggers.

Since
when
did Tyler turn into such
a dick? He was always the sweet one, I inwardly think.

I don’t
bother to respond, truth is I have
nothing left to say. Maybe I do deserve all of this, maybe I don’t…
I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve never been this harsh to
either of them. I would never want to cause them pain, I would
never intentionally do anything to hurt them.

“Yeah...
I should’ve…” I whisper out loud,
forcing myself to calm my anger. I look back up between the two
boys and give them a sad smile. “You two better get back to your
girls.”

Both faces turn
pale and Talon looks as if he’s about to reach out for
me
, but I don’t give him the
chance.

I turn
to
Greg. “How about we get
outta their way for a little bit?” I beg him with my eyes. He looks
down at me then at the twins behind me.

“Yeah sure, babe, we can
do that.” He smiles, grabbing my hand and pulling me into his side
as we walk away. I don’t look back at the twins, but I feel the
sadness radiating from behind me through our bond.

Their
growls don’t deter Greg from his
mission as we make our way to his motorcycle. Greg doesn’t ask
questions, he hands me a helmet, settles on the bike before taking
off towards the exit of the woods.

He drives us to the edge
of town before turning off onto another dust road. There are no
cars around and even though I know Greg doesn’t exactly have the
greatest track record when it comes to girls, I needed to get away
from the twins; I’m going to have to give him the benefit of the
doubt. He did see me in action when I took out those two rogues
back in Point Bright, so hopefully he won’t be stupid and try hurt
me. I really need a friend right now and I think Greg knows a thing
or two about what I’m going through.

He stops the bike under a
big tree and I jump off. We leave our helmets resting on his
motorcycle and he sits down on the ground leaning against the tree.
It’s a sunny day outside but it’s cool under the shade so I bend
down and sit next to him, leaning my head against the tree. Greg
doesn’t say anything, he just sits there looking out into the grass
field that surrounds us. I let out a deep breath, feeling the tears
that start to fall. I lean my head back closing my eyes, letting
the tears flow freely.

I feel a big
rough h
and take mine and hold
it tight. I bite down at the uneasiness his touch causes, relishing
instead in the comfort it brings. He doesn’t say a word, just sits
there waiting. I don’t even know what to say. I can’t find the
words to explain why I’m so upset. Where do I even start? His thumb
gently strokes my hand; his gentleness makes me cry harder as I
lean my head against his shoulder.

I use my other
hand to wipe away the tears
.
When I feel his eyes looking down at me, I look up to him; his eyes
are moist but no tears fall.
Why does he look so sad?

“You’re a wolf
now
, Lexi. Because of your
relation to the Alpha of this pack I practically feel your sadness
and hurt within me. You need to keep up those walls darlin’. Some
wolves are strong enough to feel what you’re feeling and hear what
you’re thinking without you even knowing.” He gives me a sad
smile.
Seems to me like this
whole wolf thing has more flaws than perks.

“Angel,
” I say,
looking out into the green field

“What?” He says, raising
an eyebrow confused.

“I’m Angel
now.
Angel Blackwood actually.
Alexia Eden is long gone,” I say flatly.

“And what
happened to Alexia?”
He asks
curiously.

“She was a
horrible person who played
games with people’s emotions without caring for the
consequences. She was a naïve confused girl; I left her behind in
Point Bright. I need to get the new life I’ve created here sorted
and forget about that silly girl.”

He looks at me with a
raised eyebrow. “I thought that girl was pretty fucking
amazing.”

I
let out a small laugh, shaking my
head. I don’t have a response for that because I simply don’t
believe it.

He’s quiet for a few seconds
before continuing.

“Well in that
case,
if you’re Angel then I’m
Nixon,” he says casually, leaning his head back against the tree
looking into the distance.

“Nixon?”

“Yeah, my birth
name is Nixon. E
veryone at
Point Bright called me Greg though. Long story,” he says in a
softer tone. He keeps his eyes focused on the scene in front of us
and away from me. It doesn’t seem as if he’s keen on explaining so
I don’t ask questions; he will tell me when he’s ready.

“What happened
to you Angel? You know you can trust
me, you saved my life and brought me here; I owe all my
happiness to you. Talk to me, let it all out, you may think you’re
all alone but you’re not. Talk to me.” He turns to face me as he
pleads with eyes so sad. He feels my pain and I know he’s been
through rejection, at least we have that in common. I really need
someone to talk to, but I don’t want to deal with any judgement
right now.

It takes me a
few moments before I can say the words.
“He rejected me.”

“Who? Drake?” he asks
clearing his voice.

“No.
That
ass found his mate. I caught them in bed together;
even
that
idiot didn’t reject his mate.” I hear Nixon
inhale next to me but I continue, “I’m talking about Jax. He was my
mate, I knew it the second I touched him but he didn’t even give me
a chance… he just rejected me.” He squeezes my hand with not one
bit of judgement in his eyes.

“The pain of
rejection,
worst pain ever
huh?” He says.

I cringe
remembering it. “I will
never
forget that
pain. I think it was almost as bad as turning for the first time. I
really thought I was going to die.”

“And the worst part is,
everything inside of you is telling you to fight the pain, to not
give in, but the only way to stop the pain is to accept the
rejection. Pretty fucked up I’d say.” He looks down at me giving me
a sad smile.

“I really wanted to fight
it, show him that I’m not just some weak human, but it just hurt
too much. I needed to get away from him before I started grovelling
at his feet and embarrassing myself. I came running here thinking
I’d be safe since this is my happy place, then I run smack-bang
into my second chance mates. Now it’s only a matter of time before
they reject me too.” I lean my head back against the trunk of the
tree letting out a deep frustrated breath.

“I think Jax is
a tool for rejecting
you.
You’re a good person, Angel. I bet he’s already regretting his
decision.” He gives me a friendly smile and then frowns. I can tell
he’s going over what I just said in his head.

“Wait!
Y
ou found your second chance
mate already? He’s here? In this pack? Why the hell would he reject
you?” He moves away from the tree turning to face me fully, all
tense and serious looking.

“They’re
here
Nixon. They have
girlfriends and unlike Drake, they’re trying to make it work with
them until they figure out what to do about me being their mate.”
Letting out a deep breath I sigh. “I guess if the roles were
reversed I would’ve wanted my boyfriend to at least try to stick it
out for me; especially after all the shit he put me through. Jesus,
I need to stop thinking of the entire Drake situation, I’m lucky I
got out of there alive,” I say the last part out loud and as soon
as I see Nixon’s confused expression I quickly continue. “I have so
much running through my head now that I’m on the receiving end of
my mate’s nastiness. I just don’t know what to do about them or how
I should feel. Too much shit has happended this past 24 hours.” My
shoulders slump.

“How
do you
feel?” He asks.

“Sad, hurt,
angry...
broken?” I pull my
knees up and wrap my arms around them.

Nixon
growls, “Talon and Tyler
right?”

I nod my head.

“You have two mates,
Angel. Do you realise how rare that is? And those fools are wasting
their time when they could be with you? You don’t deserve this; no
one does! Maybe you should speak to them and tell them what
happened with Jax and Drake. For all you know they may still think
you’re with Drake? Maybe they’re under the impression that they’re
the first mates that Fate chose for you; that you still have a
second chance mate out there?”

“No
way
, Nixon! Petty as it
sounds, I don’t want the reason they accept me to be because
they’re my last chance at having a mate that the Fates choose. I
don’t want that, Nixon. I want them to choose me because
they
want
to be with me. I don’t need them to choose me out
of guilt, realising later that they’ve made a huge mistake
accepting me when they were really in love with their current
girlfriends.” I let out another deep breath knowing it’s going to
hurt to say this out loud, but it’s the truth and it’s exactly how
I feel.

“The
y deserve
happiness too. You don’t know how much shit I’ve put them through.
I just want them to be happy. I love them enough to give them that.
I’ll tell them everything I promise; just not right now… I can’t do
it. I need to stay away from them for a little while, clear my
head. My brain turns all mushy when I’m near them.”

“It’s hard
right? You feel so drawn to them and all they seem
t
o do is push you away,” he
says reminiscing.

“I really don’t know how
they do it. They can be so mean to me, but I still want to jump
them every time I’m near one of them. I don’t know what the hell to
do?” I huff.

He chuckles and
I frown.
“Nixon, this really
isn’t a laughing matter!”

He puts his hands up
still laughing. I push him playfully, giving out a small laugh
which feels kinda good considering the situation. “I’m sorry,
Angel, but they obviously haven’t thought this through.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, what’s going to
happen when you go on heat?” He asks raising an eyebrow.

“What?
What do you mean,
heat
? No
one said anything about being on heat?” I raise my voice in a
panic. This makes Nixon fall onto his back on the grassy earth
laughing hysterically. Faith starts giggling inside my head
too.

“Not
funny
, Faith,” I say through
gritted teeth rolling my eyes.

“Huh?” Nixon asks out of
breath but finally looking up at me.

“My wolf thinks this is
hilarious…” I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Enough about her
though, what does this heat entail exactly?” I sit up on my knees
stretching my achy body. I haven’t slept all night and it’s really
starting to catch up with me.

“Heat cupcake,
it’s exactly how it sounds. Luckily us guys don’t have to go
through it but I’ve heard that it’s quite an experience for
females. If you meet your mate and you don’t complete the bond by
the next full moon you will go into heat
every full moon
till your bond is finally completed or until you are
rejected. They don’t say how long you stay on heat for, but not
many last long before giving into the temptation. I think the
longest heat period I heard about lasted roughly a week,” he says,
now looking back into the distance trying to avoid my
eyes.

“Nixon, what do you
mean?” I touch his bicep and his concerned face turns to look at
me.

“How do you stop it? What
is going to happen to me?” I whisper.