And yet here she stood—alive, whole, and staring at him with her dark eyes that seemed to see into the parts of himself he’d always kept hidden from everyone else.
After a second, he felt huge and awkward. The wolves in here were sleek, well put together. He was like an elephant in a china shop. One false move and he might destroy everything.
Angel ran to him in two long strides. She launched herself into his arms and he pulled her to him.
She pressed her lips to his. He closed his eyes, feeling the essence that was purely Angel envelope his insides until he was warm and secure. She smelled like sunshine after a long winter.
“I am so happy to see you. I was terrified you’d never wake up.”
She blinked away the tears in her eyes and he sucked in his breath. Angel Kane should never, ever cry.
“Parker, everyone is staring at us.”
He sighed. “They’re probably trying to figure out how their baby sister ended up being mated to an oaf like me.”
She whacked him—hard—on his arm and he rubbed the spot as he let her slide back down to the floor onto her feet.
Angel turned to regard the room.
“Who is in charge here?”
Parker realized he could listen to her speak all day. In fact, at that very moment it didn’t matter to him whether he ever spoke again. He’d be happy to simply stand by Angel and watch her take over the world by sheer force of will.
A broad-shouldered wolf shifter moved forward. “Princess, that would be our Alpha, Tristan.”
“Don’t call me Princess.” Angel spoke through clenched teeth. The reality of what had just been said struck Parker.
She was a Kane.
She was a princess.
He was mated to a princess. Wow, he was completely unprepared for handling royalty. Clearly, fate had made a terrible mistake.
Inside, his wolf snarled. She was made for us. Don’t you dare screw this up. You heard her. She’s not a princess.
Whether she claims the title or not, she is, in fact, a princess.
His wolf rolled its eyes. Go search her soul a little bit. She’s as much a princess as you are a cat. She’s a woman and she needs us, so leave the insecurity at the door. Let’s get down to business.
He didn’t usually agree with anything his wolf said but in this case he was going to have to admit his furry half was correct. She was a woman. He could attest to that—and wouldn’t mind attesting to it again. And again.
“I need to see your Alpha—Tristan—that’s his name.”
The man nodded. “Princess, your brothers would all like to see you. We thought it best to give you some time to adjust to being here before springing the whole family on you.”
“I don’t need to see them. In fact, I have no interest in a reunion. I just want to speak to Tristan for a moment.”
“Angel, I think you should meet your brothers.”
She turned to regard him, her dark eyes meeting his. “Why should I do that?”
He shrugged. “Once in a lifetime opportunity?”
“The only things I’m concerned with right now are getting your voice back and figuring out some of the things I saw in my weird dream.”
“Angel…”
He cut off what he was going to say before he said it. People surrounded them. It would be weird to stand in silence and communicate telepathically while everyone stared at them. Also, he wasn’t entirely sure of the protocol for telling someone that since you held their soul you knew they had a hankering for family they’d never expressed.
Besides, he had learned very quickly his mate did not like being corrected. It really pissed her off.
“I have spoken to my mate.” The redheaded woman, Ashlee, spoke. “He’s on his way here to see you.”
“That’s good because the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave.”
“Princess.” The man he recognized as Cullen Murphy spoke again. “Clearly you can communicate with your mate. We couldn’t get him to speak a word. Can you explain? Has he taken some kind of vow of silence?”
“Do people still do that?”
Angel laughed aloud, covering her mouth as she did so. Her eyes briefly lit up with delight, and he sighed. He wished he could keep her laughing all the time.
“A spell has affected Parker. I’m interested in figuring out how to get rid of it. He hasn’t spoken in nearly forty years, but, yes, I can communicate with him telepathically.”
Cullen turned to him. The older man had not recognized Parker but Parker remembered him quite well. You didn’t forget the people who terrified you as a child. Kendrick had led the pack. Cullen had enforced it. Every child had been terrified that if he stepped out of line Cullen Murphy would come down on him like a ton of bricks.
“His scent is familiar to me except I can’t place it.”
His mate, Summer, crossed to Cullen. She laughed as she kissed the man. “Are you getting old, Cullen? Can’t remember things?”
Angel put her hands on her hips. “He isn’t deaf. He can hear you just fine. If you have something to say to him you can speak directly to him. I assure you, he can understand every word you say.”
Cullen blinked. Clearly, he wasn’t used to being addressed that way. Parker took a step forward. He might be a dumb oaf but he wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Angel. Whatever fear he’d had of the other man as a child was long gone.
His wolf growled inside of him. We’re bigger than he is.
“I didn’t mean to be rude.” Cullen held up a hand, this time looking directly at Parker. “I have no intention of making an aggressive move toward Angel. You can tone down the testosterone. This situation has thrown all of us for a loop.”
“Ask him how.”
Angel raised an eyebrow. “How? Why has it thrown you for a loop?”
“We’ve had people looking for you all over the country and then you showed up here unconscious with a man who couldn’t speak.”
Angel opened her mouth and Parker had a feeling whatever she wanted to say was not going to be pleasant. However, she never got the chance. Ashlee stepped forward instead.
“Explain to me why he can’t talk aloud.”
“I’m not explaining anything to you.”
“Angel.”
Parker remembered enough of these shifters to know that they could be brutal, even vicious. He stretched his neck, getting ready to shift. He never wanted to have to become a wolf again but he would to get Angel out of here if that was necessary.
“Look, I get it.” Ashlee sighed. “You’re hostile towards us. You’ve probably heard things about us that make you think we’re horrible people. I imagine you think we go around killing witches.”
Angel laughed. “That might actually be a good thing.”
“A very nice witch helped save your life.”
She sighed. “Parker has just informed me that a witch helped save my life. Perhaps I shouldn’t be quite so bloodthirsty.”
“Anyway,” Ashlee finished. “I’m really good at magic. Maybe I can help you—or if I can’t, one of the other women here can help you fix it.”
In all the years he’d worked at the diner and never communicated verbally with anyone, he’d never felt as isolated as he did right now. It was absolutely humiliating to have his mate communicate for him as if he wasn’t capable of performing the basic task.
The women continued to discuss what they were going to do about him and he zoned out on the subject. Truth was, there probably wasn’t anything that could actually be done—otherwise he knew Angel would have already performed the task.
Parker walked to the window. He hadn’t really taken any time to look around when he’d run to see Angel earlier. Staring out at the lake he felt…nothing. Shouldn’t there be some kind of feeling about being back ‘home?’ Shouldn’t something move him? This is where his parents had lived, loved, and died. If that hadn’t happened it was likely he’d nev
er have left this place. He paused. He felt exactly the same way about this place as he had about the highway he’d stared at every day for the last twenty years. It was like one big old dose of…nothing.
“You’re Parker Liberty.”
Not used to being surprised, Parker jolted out of his thoughts to regard Cullen Murphy.
“I know I’m not losing my memory. It just took a few minutes for it to come back to me but now I know it’s you. You’re Jack Liberty’s son. You vanished right after the horror of thirty years ago.”
That was an interesting way to put it. Yes, he’d vanished and there had been lots of horror. It was kind of funny to hear it summed up so succinctly.
Parker stared at Cullen. What did the other man want? It wasn’t like he could answer him. Did he want him to do a dance or mime?
“I didn’t recognize you. To say you’ve changed would be an understatement. I can’t say that in all of my considerable years I’ve ever seen a wolf-shifter as tattooed as you.”
He’s probably not seen one who refused to shift either.
Parker rolled his eyes at his wolf. He could do without the personal banter. He looked down at his own arms. Each tattoo had meant something to him at the time he’d had them inked.
The turtle on his left bicep had been because the days had seemed time was endless and moved slowly. He had chosen the turtle to remind himself of that old children’s nursery rhyme where the turtle had beaten the hare in a race. The design made him feel like maybe there was a purpose to the day-to-day monotony. Maybe something good would come of it.
He wondered what tattoo he would choose to represent how he felt right now. What symbol could illustrate how much he felt like a fish out of water?
His wolf grinned. Or a wolf in a kitten parade?
Angel came to his side, grabbing his arm. “What’s going on here?”
“I know who he is.”
She stared up at Parker, her gaze seeking for some kind of answer from him. He wished he had any to give her. If she wanted to leave, they would leave. If she wanted to stay, they would stay. He rubbed the back of his neck to try to release some of the tension forming there.
Angel squeezed his arm. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin.”
Angel turned to look at Cullen. “Is there somewhere he and I can be alone for a few minutes?”
“I thought you wanted to see Tristan.”
Angel held up her hand. “I know what I said. Now I’m changing my mind.”
Summer stepped forward, grabbing Cullen’s arm. “Yes, there are several guest suites. I’ll show you where they are. Then we’ll all talk around dinnertime. How does that sound?”
“How does that sound to you?” Angel’s voice in his head was like a warm balm.
“Right now, the only thing I can focus on is getting out of this room.”
“That sounds fine. We’ll do that.”
Angel took his hand and tugged on it. He moved with her toward the door as they both silently followed Ashlee. He thought it would be better when they left the room only it wasn’t. The lights in the hallway weren’t fluorescent but they might as well have been.
The glares made his head feel as if he was going to explode.
“Seriously, sweetheart, are you okay?” Angel’s voice was low but Parker knew Summer could have heard them across a courtyard. It was one of those wolf things.
“Sweetheart?” He tried to keep his tone light. He suspected he failed. “Does this mean you’re not going to get rid of me?”
“Get rid of you?” Angel covered her mouth as she realized she’d spoken aloud. He would have laughed if his head hadn’t felt as if someone had put a jackhammer inside of it. “What do you mean?”
“You want to end our mating.”
Angel stopped walking. “You wanted to end it, too.”
“Do you still?”
Something flashed in her eyes, something he couldn’t identify. She reached up and stroked his cheek. “Parker, your eyes, they’ve gone totally wolf and you look like you want to claw your way out from six feet underground. What is going on?”
“Answer the question.”
“I don’t think whatever is wrong with you has anything to do with my answer to that question.”
He sighed. “Answer it anyway.”
“No, I don’t want out of our mating.” She smiled. “I’ve gotten used to how cozy your soul feels inside of me.”
She squeezed his hand and they moved again catching up to Summer who stood outside of a door. The whole building felt like some deranged hotel. Twists and turns led all over the place and if he didn’t have his sense of smell he wasn’t sure he could have found his way out again. Still, as long as the guest suite had a bed where he could lie down he would be happy.
Summer smiled as she opened the door and they walked in quickly. Their guide made some innocuous remarks he didn’t listen to. Instead, he waked straight to the back where he assumed the bathroom was and turned on the water to the shower.
He somehow managed to not tear the clothes from his body as he forced himself under the hot water. He hadn’t lied when he said he wanted to claw off his skin. He did.
Let me out.
Parker’s eyes got huge. You? You’re doing this?
Actually, I’m not. His wolf snorted. This place is. We’re meant to be wolves here. Be a wolf.
No. He heard himself growl.
Nothing bad happened when you let me out to protect Angel. Nothing bad will happen now.
I decide when and where.
The shower curtain sprung back and Angel stood before him still fully clothed.
“Seriously, what is going on?”
“I feel funny.”
As he watched, she pulled her shirt over her head. His eyes widened as he looked down at her. She had on no bra, and her breasts—heaven help him—her perfect breasts laid out in front of him like beacon of lights in the darkness. He reached out to grasp one and she stepped back so he couldn’t reach.
“Define funny.”
“It feels as if my skin is going to peel off my body. This place, for some reason, it makes me want to shift like I’ve never wanted to before.”
Angel pulled her pants off leaving only a pair of sensible but oh-so-hot white panties on her body. She had the longest legs he’d ever seen and he wanted to drop to his knees and lick her from her toes to the pink tips of her rounded breasts. After that he’d make love to her neck…
“So why don’t you shift?”
“Right now I have other things on my mind.”
She raised an eyebrow. Her dark gaze held a grin even as her mouth stayed serene. “Aside from that, why don’t you shift?” She toyed with the waistband of her panties.
“You’re going to torment me into talking about this?”
“Now you’re catching on.”
“I don’t shift because I’m dangerous. I watched my father brutally destroy my mother. I won’t be that man. I won’t give into the animal any more than I have to.”
She was silent for a moment. “You shifted for me. You shifted to rescue me.””
“I did.” He shrugged, not able to meet her gaze and not wanting to explore why that was.
“Why?”
He looked at her. He had heard women insisted on talking all the time and apparently that was going to prove to be true. “Why do you think?”
Finally, she smiled. “We weren’t mated yet.”
“You smelled the same mating signals I did. There was no way I was going to let you get hurt.”
With one finger, Angel slowly drew her panties down her legs. There was, however, nothing slow about how quickly his cock hardened as he watched. He hissed in his breath. She was this exquisite creature and she was all his. Like a man possessed, he couldn’t pull his gaze from her lingerie until she slipped them over her feet.
Finally, he pulled
his gaze up to meet Angel’s.
“Parker, first we fuck, then we shift. You’re about as dangerous to me as a bunny rabbit.”
She jumped into the shower, pushing into his arms. He had one moment to be grateful he caught her before he lost himself into the sensuous assault that was Angel’s mouth on his own.
Chapter 9
ANGEL couldn’t get close enough to Parker. It was a good thing he was so strong because she had foregone supporting her own weight immediately after jumping him. He held her up against the wall like she was a feather. Which she knew was not the case since she was five-foot-ten and not skinny.
She thrust her tongue into his mouth and he groaned. It was a glorious sound. She felt powerful. But then she always felt powerful when she was with Parker. Not because he was wimpy. By contrast, having him stand next to her so strong and steadfast showed the world she was to be taken seriously. Right now, however, her power came from the fact that she could make this strong, beautiful man quiver beneath her touch.
Parker raised a hand to trace the side of her face and now it was her turn to shudder. He was just so gentle. Even though she was tall, strong, and a wolf-shifter he could easily knock her down if he wanted to. Instead, every touch was a loving caress.
She pulled back to look at him. “I can’t believe you asked me if I wanted to undo our mating.”
He raised an eyebrow before splashing her with some of the water. “We both wanted to get out of it in the beginning. How was I to know you’d changed your mind?”
“I knew you’d changed your mind. I have your soul. I have a pretty good idea of what you want and don’t want. Doesn’t my soul tell you I’m a committed, strong person who is looking for love and family?”
He laughed. “Yes. It does. But it didn’t tell me anything about your lack of confidence.”
She wrapped her legs more tightly around him and squeezed. He yelped as he pushed her harder against the wall. Their lips met. For a while she wasn’t sure where her mouth ended and his began. She simply knew the heat that was always present between them flared to life again. Being up against Parker was like holding the sun and it warmed her in places that had been frozen for so long she hadn’t believed they could be thawed.
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