She scratched her head. Something about this didn’t seem right. How could she have somewhere to be when she wasn’t even sure where ‘here’ was? Grumbling to herself, she kept walking. This felt off somehow and it troubled her more than she could imagine to not have her wolf with her.
A movement caught her eye and she turned around. The sight she witnessed made her want to jump for joy. It was her inner wolf. She’d never seen her like this before—somehow separate from herself. Still, she’d recognize her anywhere with her dark brown coat speckled with white patches like a permanent dusting of snow.
Her wolf turned to regard her before darting forward into a patch of thick woods. Angel ran to catch up, feeling as if her feet weighed two tons each. She’d never moved so slowly in her entire life.
As difficult as it was, Angel had no intention of giving up the chase. There was something really weird going on and she wasn’t going to get answers standing around.
Finally, she caught up to her wolf. Out of breath, she gasped and choked like she’d run a marathon instead of a brief jog. Her wolf batted her with a paw and she scratched the animal between her ears.
“What is this place?”
Her wolf nudged her until she turned around to regard a scene taking place on the other side of the lake.
A little boy sat holding a fishing pole with an older man.
“Who is that?”
It frustrated the heck out of her that her wolf couldn’t respond to her since apparently her canine half knew what was going on, which was more than she could say about herself.
“Angel.”
She swung around as soon as she heard someone calling her name. A woman stood behind her watching the same scene of quiet reflection. She could have been her twin if she hadn’t been slightly older than Angel.
Not able to help it, Angel raised her hand to stroke the other woman’s cheek. Usually she didn’t like touching anyone but her near doppelganger’s skin felt smooth under her hands. The still unnamed person smiled at her caress and Angel pulled her hand back suddenly ashamed of her odd behavior. As a rule, she wasn’t a real touchy-feely sort of person. She certainly didn’t caress people she didn’t know really, really well.
“Do you know who I am?”
“No.” Angel rubbed her arms suddenly feeling a cool breeze that seemed intrusive on this episode. “Who are you? And while we’re on that track, where the hell am I?”
“Such language.” The woman sighed. “You wouldn’t use it if you’d been raised with me.”
“Why would I have ever been raised with you?”
For a second, Angel could feel the answer to her own question burning its way through her subconscious. She blinked and the sensation left her.
“I’m your mother.”
“You’re my mother.”
Angel didn’t answer as a question. It seemed plausible, as possible as anything else that happened, and besides there was something about this place that simply made her feel accepting of all things. Her wolf was missing from inside of her while she roamed around on her own—sure why not? She couldn’t run because her feet felt too heavy—okay, that works. A woman appears with nearly her same face, claiming to be her mother—well it wouldn’t be the strangest thing that happened to her today.
“And as for your other question, this is somewhere you shouldn’t be. At least not yet. As best as I can tell, something must have happened to you—something that has put you on the brink of life and death.”
Now that news shook Angel to her core. Goosebumps appeared on her skin and she rubbed her arms. The cool breeze picked up, making Angel feel like she’d stepped out into the middle of a typhoon.
She held her hair back with her hand to avoid being whipped in the face by the long dark locks. If she’d known this was going to happen to her, she would have shaved her head.
“So how can I go back to life, Mom? I don’t want to be on the brink of any kind of death. I still have too much to do.”
An image of Parker filled her mind. She knew she needed to separate herself from him but she couldn’t exactly remember the reasons why anymore. They blurred in her thoughts until they were colorless, emotionless, and virtually impossible to recall. She shrugged. It probably didn’t matter.
“You mated with the boy. With Parker Liberty.”
She smiled at his name. “Yes, with him.”
“So if you die, you bring him with you. That’s how it works. He’ll be compelled to end his own life and follow you.”
Angel’s heart stuttered. All the years she’d lived with the New Orleans pack she’d never heard that.
“Are you making that up?”
Her mother laughed aloud. It was a light, feathery sound like a bird twittering. “No—haven’t you seen true mates before?”
“Apparently not.”
What had she been witnessing in New Orleans if not true mating? Angel could recall the miserable women trapped in loveless, endless sexual ordeals with men they couldn’t stand and certainly hadn’t chosen. When she’d finally reached adulthood, it had terrified her to think at any moment she might have to undertake sexually pleasing a man she felt no desire for.
Fortunately, she’d been good at making money—something a mated female was not supposed to do—so the pack had left her alone. That had given her ample time to plan her escape.
And now, of course, she might die. Angel rolled her eyes. Why was she surprised? Life wasn’t fair, at least not for her. She’d just found Parker and now thanks to whatever had happened to her she might be condemning them both to death.
She motioned to the pastoral lake scene with her chin. “What is that all about?”
Angel tried to figure out if she’d ever seen this place before and she drew a blank. So either she’d forgotten it like she’d forgotten why she couldn’t stay mated to Parker, or this was something brand new. In any case, if it helped her get out of here then that was fine by her.
“I’m not sure. This isn’t my creation. It’s yours. I’ve been living in my own version of this for thirty some-odd years waiting for your father.” Her mother put her arm around Angel’s shoulder, which should have been jarring but actually felt kind of nice. “Let’s walk down and check it out.”
They fell into an easy pace as they approached the lake. This time Angel’s legs worked just fine, the leaden feeling of earlier having disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
“Why are you still waiting for Dad if he should have killed himself when you died?”
Angel had so many questions flowing through her mind she could have built a raft and rode them all the way home.
“Your father made bad decisions. They have…delayed him a bit.”
As far as Angel was concerned almost every male wolf shifter she knew made bad decisions. They were an aggressive, mean, murdering bunch of ego-driven Alpha-wannabes. The exception to that rule being her silent Parker with his shy ways and sensitive soul. She couldn’t imagine him ever going ‘bad’ even if he had made the tremendous error of ordering her around.
She bit down on her lip. In retrospect, if she’d listened to him, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.
Together they finally arrived down at the lake. Angel blinked twice as she realized what she looked at. It was clearly Parker—as a child—seated by the water with his father.
“That’s Parker.” She kept her voice barely a whisper even though she doubted the memory she observed could hear her even if she shouted.
“I remember him from when he was a child.” Her mother stood silently for a moment. “That’s his father, Jack. They were so close. Jack always had a glow in his eye when he talked about his little pup.”
Angel exhaled loudly. “The question is, of course, why are we viewing this? Why is this significant here and now? Is it just happening because Parker is my mate or am I supposed to be getting something from it?”
“I have no idea.”
/> Angel stared at her mother. That wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping to get. Shouldn’t a woman who had been dead for nearly forty years have gained some kind of universal understanding of all things?
Her mother smiled, like she knew just what Angel had thought and found it amusing.
A jolt traveled through Angel’s body and she shuddered. Glancing down, she realized her hands shook, which made her gasp. What the hell was going on?
“Mom?”
Her mother sucked in her breath. “You’re going back.”
“Back?”
“To your life, Angel, to your life.”
That was good news but Angel’s heart picked up speed just the same. “I still need to ask you about the book you gave me and removing Parker’s curse—”
Her mother interrupted. “No time. Just remember there is a reason he wants you dead beyond his desire to kill all of them. There was a reason you were hidden. Find the reason, reclaim the female line.”
With a start, Angel sat up. Her breath came in short bursts as she clutched her chest. It felt tight and she wondered if she was having a heart attack. That would be awful. She just got back and now she would die? She looked left and right as she tried to figure out where she was. Her senses went haywire. Smells and sounds she’d never encountered before overwhelmed her and she had to close her eyes to stop the sensory overload that threatened to undo her.
“Ssh, calm down.” A woman’s voice spoke to her while a cold washcloth was pushed onto Angel’s head. “You’re safe.”
Angel didn’t know if that was true. Her wolf prowled inside of her, angry at the assault of the unknown. Angel shoved the washcloth away as she whirled to look at the person trying to calm her down.
The woman who stood next to her didn’t seem like she was much past twenty years old but that could be misleading. Although she wasn’t clear on the details of exactly why, Angel knew wolf-shifters stopped—physically aging at around thirty. Sometimes that could happen earlier. Angel herself appeared no more than thirty and some people swore it was less. She got carded frequently at bars. For all she knew, the woman who stood before her could be hundreds of years old.
“Who are you?” Her voice sounded rough to her own ears and she winced at the sound. This wasn’t proving to be a moment of personal power and there was nothing she disliked more than appearing weak. Where the hell was Parker? If they’d hurt him…
“You’re safe.”
She narrowed her eyes hoping the other woman could see the threatening wolf that wanted to come out and destroy. “Answer my damn question.”
“She’s a Kane, Ashlee. She’s bound to be surly when she’s uncomfortable.”
Angel jumped up onto her knees to see the other woman who spoke. There were too many scents in this place. She couldn’t tell one from another and she hadn’t even known there was more than one person in the room.
The woman who’d held the cloth on her had been young and redheaded. The new speaker also looked about thirty with dark brown hair.
“Faith, that’s not helpful.” The washcloth holder finally spoke and Angel turned to regard her again. “I am Ashlee Kane and this is Faith Kane.”
Kane.
Both of them were Kanes.
Her own last name had never sounded so appalling. There was only one reason Kanes surrounded her, which meant somehow she had ended up on Westervelt—the last place on earth she wanted to be.
The dark haired woman—Faith—spoke again. “You’re Angel.”
As Angel swung her legs over the bed where she laid, she considered lying. It wasn’t a good sign they knew who she was.
“How do you know that?”
The redhead grabbed her arm. “Don’t move so fast. You’ve been in a magical coma for days.”
“Days?” Angel’s mind whirled. She wanted to sit down. Of course her desire to do that warred with her need to shift and tear some heads apart. “Where is Parker?”
Faith stepped forward. “Is he the tall, dark haired wolf with all the tattoos?”
“Yes.” Now Angel heard herself snarl. “What have you done to him? Where is he?”
Ashlee raised her hands as she stepped between Angel and Faith. “He’s okay. He doesn’t say anything. We didn’t know if he did this to you so Cullen and Theo have locked him up. But he’s unharmed.”
Angel moved until she was within striking distance of both Faith and Ashlee. Neither of them seemed particularly tough. “Bring me to him. Now.”
Faith raised any eyebrow. “Yep, she’s their sister.”
Angel couldn’t care less what they wanted to say about her. She had no interest in seeing her brothers, who she had to assume were married to these women. All she wanted was to free Parker and get off Westervelt before the residents did something bad to her.
“A little gratitude might be nice. We did save your life, after all.”
Faith had a sharp tongue, something Angel might have respected under different circumstances. At the moment, however, she wasn’t in the mood to make friends.
“Thanks.” Angel took another step forward. “Now take me to Parker or I’ll shift and we’ll see which one of us is the most lethal.”
Ashlee growled. “You can’t threaten us, Angel. You wouldn’t get within two inches of us before more than thirty pissed off wolves would come in here and tear you to shreds—sister or no sister—so I’d advise you to tone it down. We’ll take you to Parker.”
“You can’t very well expect me to be pleased that you’ve locked up my mate when he clearly brought me here for help.”
She’d have to speak to him about such a stupid decision but she was sure that was why he’d done it.
“Your mate?” Ashlee’s aggressive posture lessened a bit. “We’ll let him out immediately.”
“Ash…”
Ashlee interrupted Faith. “It’s her mate, Faithy. Imagine if it was Theo in there. I’d say she’s being downright calm, considering the fact that she’s a Kane.”
“Take me to him.”
Faith took a step back, giving Angel some breathing room. “He’s on his way to you now.”
“You’re speaking telepathically to other people?”
“We do that as a pack.” Ashlee moved until she sat down on a chair across the room. “Can you not hear us?”
“No. Why would I be able to do that?”
Because you should be in their pack.
It was the first thing her wolf had said directly to her which meant she must be calming down from wanting to kill all the people in the room.
Why is that?
Because you are their husbands’ sister. You’re family.
Well, I can’t hear a damn thing…
You’re completely cut off.
That might be true but at the moment the only thing Angel wanted to focus on was getting Parker back.
“He’d better be unharmed.”
Ashlee nodded. “He is. It’s a miracle, really.”
“That he’s unharmed?”
“No.” Ashlee laughed as if Angel had made a joke. “That you came back to us when we’ve been searching for you everywhere.”
“Yeah, it’s a real miracle. That’s just the word I would use.”
“Angel? You’re okay?”
Parker’s voice filled her mind and Angel exhaled. Calm filled her body and she felt less like committing homicide. It was like the world had been placed back on its correct axis because he was okay.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“Better now that you’re back.”
Faith sat down next to Ashlee, a smirk on her face. If the other women knew Angel and Parker communicated then that was fine. Everything was fine now.
“We need to get out of here, Parker. They’re not to be trusted. They locked you up!”
“I’m coming to you.” There was a pause. “They locked me up because I couldn’t speak and they couldn’t trust me. I didn
’t resist. I just wanted them to fix you. I’ve been listening to a lot of stuff, eavesdropping. You’re father is a really bad man. He has done some terrible things. The people here? I can’t communicate with them but I think they’re okay. Even if they assume I can’t make myself understood.”
“What?” Angel walked over to the window. She was in a tall building that overlooked some woods and a lake. “They don’t have pen and paper here? You couldn’t have written them a note?”
“Things got chaotic when I showed up trying to get over to the island. There wasn’t a lot of time to explain anything.”
Looking out the window, Angel gasped. She knew that lake. She’d been standing by it in her vision watching Parker Liberty and his father Jack fishing. What had been important about it?
Angel bit down on her lip. Her mother had said to find out why he wanted her dead. She had a feeling the answers would be found by that lake, which meant she had one other thing to do before she could leave here with Parker. One more task to fulfill.
Chapter 8
PARKER stormed through the door like the hounds of hell chased him. He realized, belatedly, that if he replaced the word hound with the word wolf, it might not be so far off track. The Kane men were intense to say the least. He’d be glad to be off Westervelt and away from them. It also struck him as sort of amazing that not one of them had recognized him. Although perhaps it made sense since only Rex Kane had been his own age and he hadn’t seen that particular family member.
He took the stairs two at a time while his dual guards, whose names he didn’t know and didn’t care to learn, followed close behind him. As he burst through the door, he scanned the room. Angel stood by the window with two other female wolf shifters watching her from a slight distance.
She whirled around and it looked to Parker like a million separate emotions passed over her face in the span of a few seconds.
Angel.
He wished he could howl her name to the moon. The quiet, unmoving slumber she’d fallen into had seemed endless on the drive to Maine. Only the smallest shreds of what remained of his faith in life had sustained his belief that she might be okay.