Chapter 12
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.”
“What is it, Cullen?” Now Tristan sounded genuinely annoyed.
Parker wanted to scream. Instead he forced himself to remain calm. “What is the box doing to Angel and how can I stop it?”
“I never mentioned this before because I didn’t believe it actually existed. I thought it was legend.”
“Cullen…” Tristan growled and Parker agreed with his sentiment.
“Legend said the source of this pack’s power, the ability to shift, to perform magic, was kept from the Alphas. No one wanted their Alpha to become so powerful he could rule over the pack with an iron fist.”
Tristan sighed. “Like Dad wanted—and still wants—to do.”
“Exactly.” Cullen touched the box again. “Legend said it was taken away from the Alphas and hidden. As a dual protection, a female shifter could only handle whatever was in the box. She would have to decide her Alpha was worthy enough to get whatever is inside the box. If she didn’t think he was good enough to warrant it, he didn’t get it.”
Theo, one of the Kane brothers, stepped forward out of the crowd. “You do understand what this means? Whatever is in that box is so powerful it could enable us to win this war, Tristan. Angel can open the box and give it to you.”
Parker could feel Angel’s tension like it was a palpable entity between them. He took her hand and reveled in the softness of her skin against his. All of this was way too mystical for his liking. When it came down to it, he was a really basic man. Even though he carried the soul of a wolf inside of him, even though he could become one at will, he still liked to be able to see, feel, and touch the things he dealt with.
This box that he hadn’t been able to see under the water proved to be the limit of what he could handle.
He stood up. “Give it to him, Angel, so we can be done with this.”
“No.” Tristan put out his hands in front of him. “Don’t give it to me, Angel. I don’t want it. We’ll win this war against Dad using our wits and our abilities. Not by using some source of magic someone thought was so dangerous they hid it in a lake and made it so only you could find it.”
“But, Trip…” Theo clearly wanted to argue the point and Parker wanted him to win. He wanted that thing away from Angel.
“No. We wouldn’t want that power anywhere near Dad and I’m not going to trust myself to handle it either. It was entrusted to the females in our line. Cullen might not have known about it but I can guarantee Dad does. That’s why he wants Angel dead. He doesn’t want her to be able to give that to me.” He pointed at the box. “You keep it safe, Angel. I’m sorry to have to burden you with anything, baby sister. But it’s yours. Keep it.”
Having said that, Tristan turned on his heel and stalked away from the lake, Ashlee right behind him. Parker could feel the stunned silence around him.
Angel looked up at him, her gaze the most wounded he’d ever seen. “What am I supposed to do with it if he doesn’t want it?”
He scratched his head, knowing she’d reject his suggestion even before he said it. “Put it back?”
Angel frowned at him, the beautiful curve of her eyebrows slanted downwards. “Not going to happen.”
“Do you think it’s a good thing to cart it around with us? What if someone steals it?”
Not that he would ever let someone get close enough to her to actually grab the box but the point had to be made. At some point, they were going to have to sleep. It might be possible to pilfer the source of magic then.
“I was given a vision to go and get it.” Angel stood up. As she placed her hands on her hips, her eyes sparked with anger. “I’m not going to simply ‘put it back.’”
Parker felt tremendously relieved to see the flare back in her eyes. Maybe the magic waned. He could hope at least.
“Alright.” He nodded as he walked over to pick up the box. “We’ll take it back to the mansion with us until we figure it out.”
“You’re not going to argue with me?” Angel didn’t move even as he walked forward.
“No.”
She ran to catch up with him. “You just got your voice up and running, you don’t want to use
it to yell at me? To tell me I’m acting nuts? That I’m possessed by some kind of crazy magic in regards to this box?”
He smirked. “Sounds like you’re saying all that stuff all on your own—or you wolf is—either way, you don’t need me to say it.”
“I don’t deserve you, Parker.”
He stopped, turning around to look at her. “I’m not sure I deserve you, Angel. You’re royalty. But you’ve got me. I’m your mate. I will always do whatever you need me to do. For whatever reason, right now you need me to haul this box, with gods-know-what inside of it, to the mansion. So that’s what I’m doing.”
She stroked his arm, her warm fingers heating his skin. “Thank you.”
They walked in silence together toward the mansion. It was peaceful, which was why he found it so odd that his wolf woke up and started pacing around inside of him.
After a moment, he had to ask. Something wrong?
I’m not sure. Something has me worried. Something is amiss.
That didn’t sound good. What do you mean?
The first explosion threw him forward onto the ground. Parker’s ears rang and his vision blurred. He turned around searching for Angel and after a second caught her shape as she shifted into her wolf form.
He grabbed the box. If they were under attack, he had to get his mate’s precious cargo out of the line of fire. Angel ran up to him in wolf form. She nudged at his leg and he petted her head. He was fine.
“I know, you want me to grab the box. I’ll get it.”
I’m more concerned about you, Parker. You were closer to the blast than me. Are you okay?
He smiled at that, petting her head. Thank you. I’m fine.
Tristan tore through the clearing. “Anyone hurt?”
“My Alpha,” Cullen called from behind them. “Remove yourself from this or I will have someone remove you. You’re too valuable to us. We can’t lose you.”
Tristan growled. “I’ve told you before, I will not hide when the fight comes to us. I want the women and children back to the mansion.”
“He’s got another thing coming if he thinks I’m going to run and hide.”
Parker would have been shocked if she had. His mate shifted back into her human form.
“Put the box down, Parker.”
He couldn’t believe he’d heard her correctly. “What? Now?”
“Yes, now. The fact Tristan doesn’t want it means he should have it. This was given to me to find by whoever decides these things and I’m deciding to give whatever is in there to my brother.”
“We’ve just been firebombed. The enemy could be here any second.”
She shook her head. “So we can’t waste any more time debating this.”
She pulled open the lid. It groaned, as the wood strained to release from where it had been sealed for gods knew how long. A burst of bright white light exploded from the inside hitting Angel square in the chest.
She screamed as she fell backwards onto the ground. Parker’s heart stopped beating for a second before he rushed forward.
“Angel.”
If she were dead, he would kill Kendrick and every one of his men before he followed her. The evil bastards didn’t know the meaning of pain. He would teach them knew ways to hurt.
She raised her hand touching his chest as he approached. “I’m okay.”
He took a deep breath as his world righted itself again. Okay, he could breathe. The rest of the pack was deeply involved in making sure everyone was okay.
“Give me a hand.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Not able to resist, even given the circumstances, he pulled her strong body up against his own. Maybe he needed reassurance she breathed, maybe he simply needed to feel her. Either way, she didn’t seem to begrudge him the moment.
Finally, he let her go.
“We need to get to Tristan.”
Parker took her shoulders. “No. You need to tell me what happened to you. A white light exploded out of the box and unless I’m imagining things it went right into your body. Are you okay? Explain what’s going on.”
“I can’t, Parker. I’m asking you to trust me. Can you do that?”
He ran a hand through his hair. The woman was going to be his undoing. When this was over he was getting a whole new slew of tattoos to remind himself to be patient. “For now.”
She brushed her lips against his. “Thank you.”
Then she was running. He had to give Angel credit, when she was on a mission, she moved fast. He caught up with her as she reached Tristan.
“Little sister, I realize this has been a terrible time for you to join the pack. But I’m afraid this is our life. We are always under attack. I need you to get yourself back to the mansion with the women and children.”
Angel shook her head. “You can ask Parker. I’m not really a stay-in-the-mansion kind of girl. But that’s not why I’m here.” She took a deep breath. “I opened the box.”
“You did what?”
Parker took a step forward to be closer to Angel. He knew Tristan was okay but he didn’t want him yelling at her.
“I had to. Tristan, this whole thing—leaving New Orleans, running away, finding Parker, coming here—it’s been like chaos for me. Only Parker was peace for me.”
He felt the same way about her. In the stream of endless mess, Angel was a bright and shiny existence.
“That’s nice, sister, but I’m afraid that I’m a little busy…”
She held up her hand. “Let me finish. Then I got hit with this bright light when I opened the box. Suddenly everything made sense. I could see all of it. Dad is making his miscreant wolves using what is now inside of me. Mom hid it from him in the lake but he managed to get some of whatever it is before she could. But now it’s in me and it’s my gift to you. It’s how you’ll beat him.”
“Angel, I don’t want that responsibility. What if I do something really bad with it?”
Parker had to speak. “She’s right. It’s because you don’t want it that you should have it.”
“Give me your hand, Tristan. Our ancestors want this done. It’s enough already. When Dad comes back—when he comes himself—you’ll finally be able to beat him.”
Tristan blinked and Parker wondered if he was still going to refuse. At last, he held out his hand to Angel.
“Parker, you too. You’re my mate, part of me. I need you for this.”
Parker stepped forward. Even when he’d lived on Westervelt, they hadn’t been royalty. It seemed a little bit strange to be part of some mystic ceremony involving the Kanes now.
Tristan regarded him silently. “I don’t hold to ceremony, Parker. Every member of my pack is as equally important to me as any other member. The days of my father’s rankings are long behind us.”
He placed his hand on top of Angel and Tristan’s. “Can you read minds too, my Alpha?”
“I wish. Then I would at least know what Cullen talked about most of the time.”
The laughter in Parker’s soul stopped abruptly as a slew of images he’d never seen before crossed before his eyes. Generations of wolves crossed before his vision like they were really there with them. He gasped as one woman stared at him with what he would swear were his mothers eyes.
All of them turned to look as they crossed in front of them.
“What’s…”Parker barely got the word out before the scene changed. As the world revolved around them, it felt like Parker, Angel, and Tristan stood still. Voices that sounded like whispers bled into his ears. He couldn’t make out one word from another.
“It’s going to happen now. The power is going to transfer from me to you, Tristan. With Parker as my strength, I’ll be able to handle the task.”
The first thing Parker realized was his hands burned. He looked down at them as he tried to make sense of what happened. For a person who hated the mystics, he was rapidly approaching his limit. But he would handle anything that
Angel needed and that included this craziness.
Tristan gasped, his wolf eyes getting huge. “Wow. I can feel the entire pack and I mean the entire pack. The ones who have passed, it’s like part of them is now inside of me. I can feel the members of the pack who are still lost to us, who haven’t come home yet. I don’t know them but I can feel their souls reaching out to me.”
“Tristan!” A yell sounded, pulling all of them back into the here and now. Angel staggered as she let go of Tristan’s hands.
Parker caught her before she fell, pulling her against him until their bodies were pressed into one another.
“You okay?”
“I think the magic really sucked the heck out of my energy.” She blinked a few times. “But the good news is that whatever mojo was happening with that box has left me now. I’ve officially transferred it to Tristan where it belonged.”
He sighed, as he stroked her dark hair. “Good.”
“I don’t think I could have gotten through this without you.”
He leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m never leaving, isn’t it?”
Angel blinked a few times again. He really needed to get her back to where she could get some rest. Unfortunately, the scream that had jerked them back from magic reality to the present continued. There were strange looking wolves everywhere. They didn’t smell right and the Westervelt wolves were battling them.
“Come on sweetheart, I’m taking you somewhere safe.”
If such a place existed. He wasn’t sure it did anymore.
“I’ll go anywhere you want, Parker, but I don’t think we can leave Westervelt. We belong here; you can feel it, like I can, can’t you?”
His wolf smiled. He could feel it. And once he got his mate away from all the action she was too drained to handle, he was going to enjoy shifting and showing these funny smelling wolves what he thought about them messing up his newly rediscovered home.
In two swift moves, he scooped Angel up in his arms.
“I’m your wolf, Angel. Wherever you want to go, I’ll go. But, yes, I can feel it. We belong here. We belong in this fight.”