Rebecca Royce: Angel’s Wolf

She gasped. Shit! Was it hurting her?

“What is it?”

“Your soul, Parker. It’s giving me part of your soul.”

“What?”

Suddenly he was hit with it. A bright red light consumed him before plunging into the center of his chest. He sucked in a hard breath, not because it hurt. No, by contrast it was incredibly filling, like warm apple cider when he’d been freezing all day. He realized it was her—it was Angel’s soul, filling him with heat.

Color after color entered his lonely insides and filled them up with her. At first it was simply a feeling of being hot but then he could make out the individual sensations for what they were. Love: Angel had a capacity for it beyond that which he’d ever understood. Loyalty: she’d been betrayed practically since the moment she’d been born and she was searching—desperately—for someone to share her gift of trust with.

Happiness: even amongst all of her pain and trauma, Angel was happy and joyful, finding life delightful and funny. Kindness: she was nice to everyone until they betrayed her.

Vengeful: like Parker, her wolf side knew how to get even for evilness.

He smiled. Yes. He closed his eyes. This felt as good as anything ever had. This was mating. Yes.

His eyes shot open.

This was mating . He glanced at Angel. Her eyes were filled with tears and he wondered if the gifts she’d gotten from him were not as wonderful as the ones he’d gotten.

He shook his head. He couldn’t dwell on that. His heart pounded fast.

Angel…

“I know.” She reached out and touched his face. “We’re connected now.”

He swallowed. To him, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing. He’d really loved having sex with her.

She was filled with so much goodness, it would be nice to have her around.

“Is that a bad thing?”

She sniffed. “No, I mean, yes, I mean I don’t know. Didn’t you have a life to live before you met me? Now you’re stuck with me. Plus, I know what happens to mated couples. The man ends up killing the woman. If I’d known having sex would do it…”

She wouldn’t have done it. He didn’t need her to say the rest aloud. Her words sunk into the pit of his stomach. She wasn’t wrong. He knew all about the violence that male wolves could do to their mates. He’d seen it too.

The memories flooded his mind like a dam breaking and even as he tried to shove them back, there was no stopping them.

He’d been ten years old standing on the dock with his father. It was early in the morning. The sun hadn’t even come out yet but they’d planned to go fishing for weeks and afterwards his father was going to show him how he could shift again. Some day soon—maybe in the next three years if he was lucky—he would get to it himself. His father was everything to him. Strong, capable, and loving, he took care of their small family. He wasn’t sure but he thought they were important pack members.

Before he had left the island, Kendrick Kane—the Alpha who scared the hell out Parker every time he saw him—called at the house all the time to speak to his father. He wanted to be just like his dad when he grew up.

They’d left his mother sleeping in the house. Dad had said it was important she occasionally had a break and even though he wasn’t sure what that exactly meant, he knew his father always spoke the truth.

A sound in the distance caught his attention. What was it? He turned around trying to identify what his senses had picked up. He didn’t have a wolf yet so sometimes he couldn’t do more than a regular human could do when it came to hearing and smelling.

He spun around to stare at his dad. His father would know what the roaring sound was.

His father stood motionless, his eyes staring off into the distance, a glazed look in his eyes.

“Dad?” His voice was barely a whisper. He couldn’t explain why or what made him feel this way but his hands had started to shake and he was afraid, maybe more frightened than he’d ever been in his life.

His father covered his eyes with his hand and groaned, nearly doubling over.

“What is it, Dad?”

His father raised his head and stared at him. “Son,” that’s what his father always called him.

“Run.”

“What?”

“Run away.”

With a growl as he shifted, his father ran back toward the house. For a second, Parker stood motionless. Then, with a sudden burst of energy he took off after his dad.

He’d never disobeyed him before but this felt important. Something was wrong with his father.

Maybe he’d need his help.

He ran as fast as his legs would take him and as fast as he was, he reached his house moments later. He was out of breath and he thought his chest might explode. The door to the house hung open and Parker ran through it.

He’d entered his home maybe thousands of times. He’d never bothered to keep track.

His feet made the floorboards creak. Stopping his movements, he stood still to try to figure out what was going on.

That’s when he heard her scream. His beloved mother was howling from upstairs. He ran, taking the steps two at time. One after another until he reached the top. Rounding the corner, he reached his parents’ bedroom.

His father stood over his mother on the bed, his hands on her throat. She wasn’t screaming anymore. No, she was making this strange gurgling noise.

“Dad?” He shouted his question. This wasn’t right. He was hurting her. He was causing his mother pain.

His father growled and whirled around. His eyes were wolf but not the way they should have looked. No, they were…what…he couldn’t tell but it reminded him of Kendrick Kane.

Parker backed up two steps. There was something evil in his Dad’s eyes.

His distraction might have been enough. His mother leapt up and pushed at his Dad from behind.

“Parker!” She shouted. “Run! Now!.”

This was the second time he’d been told to run and like the last time, he couldn’t seem to listen.

Instead, he charged at his father, hoping he could tackle him down.

“No, Parker!” His mother’s voice barely registered with him as his struggles did nothing to his father.

No, for all of his effort, his dad didn’t even budge. He screamed as he pounded on him. Seconds later, he was out in the hall on the floor, his arms and legs aching like he’d been beaten.

His father had tossed him through the air like he was a sack of feathers and he’d landed hard on the floor. His eyes filled with tears. Gods, he was so useless and this was like a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.

He forced himself to stand up. Limping, he made it back into his parents’ room. His parents faced each other, his mother’s face tear streaked.

She raised a hand in Parker’s direction. “Don’t move darling. There is dark magic in here. I can feel it. Your father wants to kill me.” Parker could see her neck muscles clench. “I’m going to try to undo it.”

Dark magic? His father had done dark magic? When? Out by the lake? Why would he want to kill his mother?

She raised her hand. His mother was powerful, he’d heard that all the time. The female wolves in the pack were the ones who controlled all the magic. She taught magic to the other wives. They got together once a week.

Parker took a deep breath. She’d handle this. He knew she would. She would make all of this okay.

Like he could sometimes read words fast on a page without having to really look at them, he could see his father’s intent in his wolf eyes. He was going to kill Parker’s mom.

There was no question and his mother wouldn’t have time to work her magic to save them.

Parker was a man…or he would be. And he knew what men were supposed to be.