Chapter 11 Angel
Angel
Touch? We’re supposed to touch her?
Not in this lifetime.
No way am I touching her.
She rolls onto her back, and I edge closer to the side of the bed, leaning over her. I don’t know why I’m in here. Just watching the flirtatious way she was touching my pack and my twin infuriates me. It would be so easy to snap her neck.
She turns and twists on the bed, restless, her seductive whimpers inflaming me more.
I creep even closer and reach out, my fingers itching to wrap around her throat and squeeze the life out of her.
Hazard catches my hand, I turn my head and stare at him.
He shakes his head. I could break his hold, but this is Hazard, and I would never do that to him.
I bring our hands back from her. She whimpers again, but instead of staying, I stalk out of her room, Hazard on my heels.
He follows me out to the porch where I pace, gripping my head, trying to drown out the past.
“She’s not them.”
I whirl on Hazard, growling. It’s hard to remember who everyone is when the past is riding me like this. It’s hard to remember why I let everyone live.
Hazard doesn’t fight me when I slam him back from me because he’s the last person I want to hurt. He’s the only one I trust. Truly trust.
“She’s our owner. She is exactly them.”
“Yet, all she’s done is treat us with respect and dignity. I won’t let you hurt her, Angel.”
“You would choose her?” I hiss, outraged.
“No, I’m choosing you, and you would regret hurting her.”
“You’re wrong. I would feel nothing but pleasure.”
Hazard laughs. “Don’t you remember? We’re two halves of the same soul, Angel. I know that you would hate yourself forever and a day.”
“We’d be safe, though.”
“Would we, though?” Hazard edges closer, lifting his hands slowly and cupping my face. I close my eyes as he presses our foreheads together.
“She’s not them.”
“She has the bracelet.”
“She’s our salvation, Angel.”
I bark a laugh. “Oh, you’ve drunk the koolaid have you?”
“I don’t need to drink anything; all I need to do is stop seeing the world through the lens of our past. She’s kind and considerate. She’s not the same.”
“You’re infatuated with her!” I accuse.
He shrugs. “Yes. I am. I like her a lot, Angel. Casey is everything I feel like I was always looking for. She’s kind and good, and she takes care of us, like we’re a pack. She fed us, she feeds us. Gives us blankets to keep us warm. Cares about us like we are people, shifters, and alphas.”
“Anyone would do that-” I cut myself off because isn’t that the exact opposite. No one has done that. Just her.
Twelve owners, and no one cared about feeding us or giving us blankets so we didn’t get cold. We even have a bed. And a mattress on the floor in case the bed is uncomfortable. She lets us share her things.
“She’s our owner!” I hiss.
“She’s Casey.”
“Casey,” I snap, finally saying her name, even though I’ve been avoiding it. “Fuck Casey.”
“Angel, give her a chance. For me.”
I scoff and turn away from him. “This is ridiculous.”
“It’s not, though. I know you feel something, the connection. That thread between us all. Casey is someone we protect, Angel.”
I snarl at him and turn away, looking up at the star-filled sky. They wouldn’t allow me to go outside. I didn’t see the stars or feel the wind. I didn’t get to go wolf. Chained to beds, forced to kneel.
She’s got no locks on the doors. I can come and go as I please. She’s not ordered me to kiss her, to kneel before her. I can feel the wind and the stars. I can spend days wolf. Is she different?
“I’m going for a run.”
Hazard leans back against the wall of the building. “Do you want company?”
“So you can stop me from killing what I want to kill? No, stay here and rot your heart-shaped eyes out of your head.”
It doesn’t matter how much venom I put into my tone, Hazard never takes it to heart. But then he’s the only person on the planet who truly understands me. He’s got the smile and the charm.
I’m the depth and danger.
I spring into my wolf shape and race across the grass clearing, racing through the woods. It doesn’t take long before I’m picking up a trail that intrigues me enough that I stop thinking about anything else.
The scent is delicate, like flowers, but it makes me hungry; it smells wild and intriguing.
I follow its faded trail until I get to the spot where Wrath kissed her.
Under the dip where she was hiding in the creek, that’s where the smell is coming from.
I duck under there and find a small bundle of clothes. I nose around them, inhaling the scent.
Lilacs.
It’s lilacs.
And something else that puzzles me. I leave the clothes there and step out of the creek, jumping up onto the bank, pausing when I remember a story my dad told me when Hazard was out one night.
The story was a bloody one. Lots of people died.
But the alpha and his omega disappeared from the field of battle when a rival pack had come to destroy them.
They were never seen again, but their bodies weren’t among the dead either.
It’s a warning about how dangerous an omega can be and the lengths her alpha will go to to protect her.
Two wolves against a pack. The pack didn’t survive.
I stare at the overhang, thinking about the smell, thinking about what it means. Wondering how a human would have the scent of an omega wolf and not have a wolf.
Suspicion rises, and I look up at the sky. I can only see a few stars through the trees.
“Omegas attract the worst fortune. You will rarely find anyone more traumatised by a world that hates them than an omega. They are fearsome in battle, terrifying, but the most beautiful and graceful creatures you’ve ever seen,” My father whispers.
“What should I do if I see one?”
“You should kneel, my son. Kneel, and hope she honours you.”
I shake my head. There’s no way. I will never kneel.
But just in case, I walk back to the cabin, determined to watch this woman carefully. She will show who she truly is, eventually. Either enemy or ally.
Omega or just another human whore.
And…if she proves to be the latter…well, not even Hazard will be able to stop me slitting her damn throat.