Angel Blackwood by Sophie Summers Page A

I welcome his touch and lean into him.
    I knew it was
too good to be true because the next thing I know he’s pushing me against his chest too
harshly. The fingers on my waist dig into my skin, over the tattoo
that holds his name as well as his brothers and all the people I
love. The hand holding onto mine squeezes me to the point where I
give out a little hiss. I look up confused and all I see is black
unforgiving eyes.
    He leans into
my ear and I try to pull away,
but this only causes him to pull me tighter against him. I don’t
want to cause a scene so I don’t call him out on his behaviour.
With my high heels I’m able to see over his shoulder. To everyone
else we probably look like any other couple on the dance floor, but
they can’t feel how hard he squeezes my side and how tight his grip
on my hand is.
    “Looks to me as if you
have another poor soul under your love spell,” Talon spits. I close
my eyes, he obviously saw my exchange with Caspian and thinks more
of it.
    “No, Tal-” I
try to speak but he harshly interrupts me. “No, Lexi …,” he
says, full of distaste.
    “We told you we
needed time to figure things out. You had my brother and I fixated
on you the entire time you had a boyfriend? After you came home
that night all beat up, you left us in the cold. You wanted nothing to do with us and we were
only trying to help you.”
    “No, Talon, it wasn’t
like-”
    “No, Lexi,
that’s exactly how it was. Now you better fucking listen good. You
played us and when you were done you wanted nothing to with us. We
were done waiting for you so we found girls who treat us how we
deserve, girls who appreciated us . We are not going
to give them up just because you’ve now found out we’re mates and
you need us. If you continue to act like a whore, you know
what we will do… then you can find your second chance mate and I
hope he is a piece of shit.” A sob escapes my mouth and I feel a
tear fall down my cheek. His eyes watch the tears trail as I watch
his eyes turn back to their usual blue. His expression changes and
he almost seems shocked by the words he just spat, looking back and
forth between my eyes and the tears that are making their way down
to my jawline.
    I’m still new to this whole werewolf
thing, I don’t know how linking works, but I’m trying desperately
to call out for Nixon. Hopefully he can feel my connection and let
down his walls enough to hear me calling out for him.
    “You’re hurting me,
Talon,” I whisper, looking down at his black bowtie.
    He sucks in a
quick breath and loosens his hold as if he wasn’t even aware he was doing
it.
    “Let . Her. Go,” I hear
Nixon growl behind me. A few people nearby stop and look our
way.
    Talon lets go of
me.
    “Wait, Angel… God…”
Remorse covers his face but I’m done playing this cat and mouse
game.
    I
immediately run past them and
out of the marquee. I walk past a few couples as they laugh and
chat and head down to the little swing at the bottom of the
secluded yard.

    ****

    I stop in my
tracks , sniffling and wiping
my tears away.
    “You think I’d
accept you? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Kate shouts. Axel takes a small step forward.
“Please…” He sounds so hurt. “Don’t do this. You’re my mate, Kate.
We’re meant to be together.”
    Kate stands looking at him, it looks as if
she wants to go to him, but she’s having an internal battle. She
shakes her head. “No. No. No. I can’t! Look at you! Look at all
that ink on your skin. I can’t do it. I can’t be with you. What
will my parents say? The Fates chose you for me?” She looks down at
her shaking hands.
    I come out of
the shadows and they both look
up at me. I don’t care if I’m overstepping and I don’t care if I’m
butting into their business. If I can stop what happened to me
happen to someone else, it’s worth a shot.
    I look at her, “Don’t do it! Look past
his appearance. You haven’t even given him a chance yet. Don’t
reject him