(Damien.) Angelica called the next day around ten in the morning.
(What?) Damien replied.
(Where are you with my groceries? I thought you were bringing them today.)
(I was told not to.)
(By who?) Angelica demanded.
(Your new friend.) Before Angelica could reply she heard a knock on her door. She closed the link with Damien and walked over to look through the tiny peephole up top. Her old door had not had one but Alex had told her that he thought she might like being able to look outside every now and then.
She smiled when she saw the side of his head and his green hair. He had it spiked up today and the sight made her want to laugh as it stood four inches and rock hard in the air. Then she remembered what Damien had said. Her new friend had told him not to bring her food. The only real friend she had was Alex... Was that who he was talking about?
Alex heard the many locks unlocking and he tried to fight back his racing pulse as he waited for the door to open. He was irritated that he was even here. Irritated that the thought of hearing her voice and seeing her smile had had him pacing his apartment until a late enough time for him to show up. Irritated that Tony has spent half the night telling him what a prude he was after he had once again turned down Candy's invitation for sex and kicked her and her friends out of his apartment.
He smiled broadly when he saw her but then the smile quickly turned into a frown when he realized that she did not look happy to see him.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked.
"No. My friends are angry with you." Angelica replied. Alex couldn't help but noticed that her cheeks were full, not a bit sunken in and they were flushed pink with anger as she crossed her arms (also more full and toned) over her chest and glared at him. For a second he found himself wishing he could see her body in something other than a baggy dress but then he mentally bitch slapped himself. Friend. Friend. Friend. He seemed to be reminding himself a lot the last two days that she was only a friend.
"Okay, so when you say your friends are angry with me, it means you are angry with me. What did I do?"
"Did you tell Damien not to bring me what I need?" she demanded and Alex let out a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uh.. Yeah. Yeah I did."
"I thought we were friends? Why would you do that to me?"
"We are friends and that's why I did it!" Alex replied loudly and he saw her flinch and take a nervous step back and he reminded himself to keep his voice calm and gentle. "It's not okay for you to lock yourself up in this cabin and never go anywhere, Angelica."
"I'm fine! I'm not crazy! I just don't like to go places! He has spies everywhere, Alex! Everywhere!" she exclaimed loudly, her wide, blue eyes full of panic and fear.
"Please calm down." he said and without giving any thought to what he was doing, he grabbed her hands (which she was wringing nervously), in his and pulled her closer to him so that less than a foot was separating their bodies.
"You need to trust me, Angelica. I know how smart you are and I know how strong you are. Hell, only one really tough broad would still be kicking and screaming after everything you've been through." He grinned and she felt a small smile tugging on the corners of her mouth despite her fear and anger. "I am your friend and I won't let anything else bad happen to you. I'm not asking you to drop yourself into downtown New York City all alone." He saw her shiver and knew that that must sound like her idea of hell.
"I will be with you. Anytime you leave here, I'll be at your side and we'll go together. There is a small town not far from here." Angelica looked as if she might agree for a moment and then she pulled her hands away from him and shook her head.
"You need to leave! I thought we were friends but you want them to find me." Alex shook his head and stepped toward her.
"I don't want anything bad to happen to you, Angelica. I want to help you."
"Then leave." she said and she felt her heart breaking apart in her chest. The fear that she had lived with for so long still held her prisoner to her cabin. She trusted Alex as long as he was here in her home but did she trust him enough to leave and go out where the spies could find her? No.
"Leave?" Alex asked and he wondered why this simple word caused him so much pain. Of course the wolf in him was throwing a fit and rebelling against the thought of leaving, but the man in him didn't like the idea either.
"Yes. I will not go anywhere. It's not safe."
"I would keep you safe." Alex promised, and he wondered where these words were coming from. He'd never been the heroic and big promises type.
"No. No. No. I can't leave." Angelica said, shaking her head roughly.
"Calm down, Angelica." Alex said, hearing the hysterical tone to her voice.
"Please just go." Angelica begged. She was about to have a breakdown and she didn't want him to see it. Not him. Not the one person who didn't treat her like she was crazy.
"Okay fine. I'll go, but I'm coming back tomorrow." he promised. He took a few backward steps away from the door and was about to dash when she cried out his name and ran to him. She grabbed his arm and tried to tug him back toward the house and he dug his boots into the grassy ground and stood still.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"They're here!" Angelica exclaimed, all logic and intelligent thought disappearing as her fear overwhelmed her. Alex looked around and flared his nostrils to smell the surrounding forest but everything seemed calm and quiet. There was even a group of rabbits hopping around in the long grass
"Who's here?" he asked in his calmest voice even as her fingernails dug into the skin on his forearm.
"The spies." Alex looked down at her and he felt his own heart hurting for her. She looked so scared and pitiful as she clung to him and yet he knew how strong and smart she was. What kind of fear would make a tough woman like her act like this? It made him wish that he could bring Victor and Rotan back from the dead and kill them himself.... Which shocked him since he had never had truly violent thoughts before in his life.
"What spies?" Alex asked as he looked around again. Angelica pointed into the yard.
"Them. They are here everyday, watching me!" Alex followed her finger and couldn't help but laugh when he realized she was pointing at the rabbits.
"The bunny rabbits?" he gasped and she nodded, flashing him an angry look as he laughed.
"Yes." she said while he tried, and failed, to stifle his laughter.
"Come on now, Angelica! Bugs Bunny and his friends are not evil demon spies and you know it."
"They are." she said but she didn't sound as sure.
"How about I catch one and prove to you that they are just bunnies?"
"They'll get me!" she exclaimed, releasing his arm and taking a step back.
"No, they won't. They eat clover, not pretty women with tough green haired body guards." Alex replied with a wink and his words were enough to jerk Angelica from her fear. Had he just called her pretty? Surely she had heard him wrong. But he was still just standing there with that goofy grin on his face.
"Promise you won't let them hurt you?" she asked quietly and his smile got bigger.
"Now it's me you're worried about?" he asked and instead of answering she just smoothed out her dress and ran her hand through her hair. Alex walked inside the door and grabbed her shotgun. He handed it to her and then sighed.
"I'm gonna go in the woods and change to a wolf since it'll be easier for me to catch one that way. If the bunnies attack you..." he couldn't hide the amusement in his voice as he said those words, "...just shoot them. But don't shoot the black wolf that comes into the yard because that's me."
"I won't shoot you." Angelica promised. Alex nodded and then walked into the woods. Why was he doing this? Because he couldn't stand to see the fear in her eyes.
He pulled off his clothes and folded them on the ground. He pulled the four steel hoops from his ear and sighed. Once he changed his ears would heal and he'd have to get them pierced all over again. But Angelica's peace of mind was worth it. Holy shit, am I falling for the woman? he asked himself. You just might be. he replied and then he slapped his forehead. Hanging around her had caused him to start hearing voices too. He changed quickly to his wolf form and then loped out of the woods and into the yard.
He looked up at Angelica who was staring at him with a mixture of shock and awe and he prayed she wouldn't shoot him. He knew that as a wolf he wasn't all that impressive. He was bigger than his dad's wolf but much smaller than his uncle Jakes. He was jet black, but his eyes remained bright blue and he was long and lanky.
He let out a yip as he took off after the rabbits. The wolf in him was excited about the chase and he played with the rabbits for a few longs minutes, before finally deciding that Angelica had waited long enough and he grabbed one of the rabbits in his jaws, careful not to harm it and then ran back into the woods.
Changing back to a man was interesting seeing as how he had a five pound, struggling rabbit in his mouth. He pulled his pants on and then cradled the rabbit in one arm, while grabbing his shirt with the other hand and walking back into the clearing and up to the house.
"Your hair!" Angelica exclaimed when she saw him and Alex grumbled when he realized that his hair would be black yet again and hanging a little past his ears.
"This is what it looks like if I don't dye it." he replied with a nod. Angelica tilted her head.
"Your rings on your ear are gone." she said. Alex nodded and then turned his attention to the rabbit.
"Do you want to look at it?" he asked holding it out. Angelica shrugged.
"Why would I?" she asked. "It's just a bunny rabbit."
"Are you freaking kidding me? I'm gonna be spitting up fur balls for a month from carrying this thing in my mouth and suddenly you're not afraid of it?"
"Why would I be afraid of it? Rabbits can't hurt you." Alex rolled his eyes and then held the rabbit up less than a foot from her face but she didn't flinch.
"I thought it was some kind of spy that was going to come grab you and take you to certain death?" he demanded and Angelica laughed and waved her hand.
"Don't be ridiculous." she said and Alex had heard enough. He put the rabbit down and then quickly pulled his shirt back on as it hopped away.
"You aren't crazy but you sure as hell are going to make me that way, woman!" he exclaimed and Angelica sat down the gun and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly and she was surprised that when his arms wrapped around her and held her tight, she felt nothing but comfort and a strange heat... .None of the fear and panic that she normally felt at physical contact with another person.
"Thank you for showing me they weren't anything to be scared of. I promise I'm not crazy but he really did have spies watching me when he was alive. I was so scared of going back to him." Alex pulled away from her, trying to ignore his racing pulse and the heating in his blood.
"He's gone now, Angelica. You can get your life back."
"I never had one." she replied sadly as she looked at the forest and wrapped her arms tight around herself. "I was fifteen when he found me. He paid good money for me and took me from my parents... I've never been anywhere or seen anything. I'm afraid of crowds and people and I can't even think about going somewhere with either of those things without having a panic attack." Alex reached out and smoothed her long hair from her face, pushing it behind her ear.
"I'll take you anywhere you want to go, Angelica." he promised.
"Why? Why do you care?"
"Because we're friends."
"But why are we friends?" Angelica asked as she looked up at his handsome, warm face. "I'm ugly, scarred and crazy. I dress like an old woman and live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere like some kind of hermit. My hair is ugly and scraggly and I talk to thin air. Why are you my friend?" Alex was shocked by her outburst and didn't know what to say at first. He could tell her it was because he was her mate but that wouldn't be the whole truth.
Sure the fact that he was her mate made him want to be around her but the caring about her and wanting to make her unafraid and hear her laughing and happy? That was something different entirely. Something he still wasn't quite ready to deal with so for right now he was calling it friendship.
"I don't think you're ugly." Alex said matter of factly and he was surprised that it was the truth. He didn't know when the change in his thinking had come but it had come none the less. He could see that beneath those scars she was beautiful. "You do dress like an old woman and I've been wondering why and I would like to get you out of this cabin and back around people so you're not a hermit anymore. Your hair is not ugly or scraggly, it's long and silky, and talking to thin air just seems normal when you do it."
"Maybe I should have shot the rabbits. Are you sure they aren't spies?" Angelica asked as she picked her gun back up and Alex couldn't help but laugh at the sudden change of topic, that signified that she was uncomfortable with the conversation. She rolled her eyes and looked beside her.
"Shut-up... . I like him... I don't care what you think... .Yes I like him without the rings better too, but I miss the green hair..... I liked the green hair so I don't care what you think..." she said to the air and Alex smiled.
"So are you coming shopping with me?" he asked and she bit her lip and shook her head.
"I'm not ready yet.... Will you have patience with me? I'll try someday to go with you." Alex tried to hide his disappointment and nodded.
"Yeah, I'll have patience." he replied. "Since we're not going shopping then I gotta get to work." he added. It had been almost a week since he'd volunteered at the nursing home and he had a gig late tonight at a bar.
"Okay, are you coming back?" she asked quickly and he smiled yet again.
"You know you don't have to ask me that. I'll be back tomorrow." he took a few steps away from her. "Take care of yourself, Angelica, and no shooting bunny rabbits." She smiled in the sunlight and the sight took his breath.
"I won't. They eat clover not pretty women, right?"
"That's right." he said with a smile and then he disappeared. Angelica walked into the house and shut the door. She started doing the door locks and then stopped halfway down. She didn't need all ten of them locked. Alex told her she was safe and she believed Alex. She unlocked all of them but one and then walked over and flopped down on the couch, stretching out her legs and folding her arms behind her head.
She thought of Alex running out of the woods shirtless. He looked so different from Victor. Victor had been built like a dangerous warrior. Covered in demon script tattoos and made for killing. He was different from Rotan too who had been bony, evil, cold and sadistic.
Alex was perfect. He was tall and small enough to look welcoming and friendly, but big enough that people would know he wasn't helpless. His stomach had been lean and his shoulders had been broad. His arms hadn't been heavily muscled but they had been toned and defined. She had seen the tattoo across his stomach that has said 'Live, Laugh, Love' in Chinese. Most men would not have a tattoo like that, thinking that it made them less of a man to have such a caring statement on their skin but the fact that Alex wore it proudly showed her even more that he was a good guy who stood up for what he believed and that made her trust and want him close to her even more.
She couldn't wait for tomorrow when he would come again. She knew the day and night would drag by until she got to see his warm, caring smile again.