17
A knock at the door woke Jared. Angel was still curled up in his arms, her head on his chest and an arm flung across him in sleep. He didn't want to wake her, so he sent out his senses to see who was at the sitting room door.
'Alex? What is it?' he asked through the pack link when he realized who it was.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Alpha," the other boy said through the door before Jared could stop him.
'Ssh!' Jared quickly sent out. He glanced down at Angel as she shifted slightly. She looked like she was still asleep, so he quietly continued. 'Angel's sleeping. Use the link.'
'I'm sorry, Alpha,' came the contrite reply. 'Tommy sent me up here to let you know the other Alpha would be here in forty-five minutes. He thought you'd want to greet him when he arrived. Tabby sent me up here with Angel's clothes, also. She wanted to bring them herself, but I was afraid she'd just barge in here without knocking.' He snorted before adding, 'If she could have figured out which rooms were yours, anyways.'
'Thank you, Alex. Just leave them by the door and I'll get them for her,' Jared said before disconnecting the link. He glanced down at Angel again to make sure he hadn't disturbed her but was not surprised to see her eyes open, and her watching him.
"Tabby sent Alex up here with my clothes, huh?" she asked as she stretched.
"Yes, how-"
"I heard Alex telling you if she could figure out where we were, she would have busted in without asking," she said as she sat up, making sure she took the sheet with her.
"Heard Alex?" he asked, confused before realization dawned on him. "Oh, yes. The bond. I take it you can connect to the rest of the pack through the link now, huh, Little One?"
"If that's what you wanna call the voices in my head now," she laughed before she pushed him out of bed. "You told him you'd bring me my clothes, so go get 'em, tiger! Or I'll just sic Tabby on you!"
Jared pushed himself up on his knees and looked over the edge of the mattress at his mate as she laughed where she sat in the middle of the bed. A mischievous glint showed in his eye as he prepared himself to launch at her. Push him off the bed, would she? He'd show her!
Angel jumped up and ran across the room as Jared went flying, landing where she had been only moments before. Laughter bubbled out of her throat as she watched him turn his head and look at her, an evil grin on his face. She knew before he even opened his mouth what he was going to say.
"Running from me, again, Little One?"
"Of, course, Jared! Aren't we all taught to stay away from The Big Bad Wolf as children?"
Jared burst out laughing as her question hit him. "I suppose you are correct, Little One. Is that why you always ran from me before? You could tell I wanted to eat you up?"
"You've already done that once this afternoon, Wolfy. If we want to meet the Alpha, we don't have time for you to do that again."
Jared pouted as she turned and headed towards the bathroom. His pout quickly turned to a groan as she dropped the sheet she still had wrapped around her to the floor before she entered the other room. He was just about to follow her when her voice reached him.
"Now, go get my clothes so I don't have to wander around the house naked!"
"But, I like you naked!" he called out to her as he quickly retrieved her clothing and followed her to the shower, where he found her waiting for him.
*
Jared and Angel came down just as a black Cadillac SUV pulled up right in front of the house. Angel was wearing the plain white t-shirt and jeans that Tabby had brought for her, while Jared was wearing a similar outfit. Tabitha had thought to bring her everything she would need for the night- shirt, pants, bra, panties, even socks- except for shoes.
Once again, Angel was meeting a new Alpha barefoot.
"It's about time you two showed up!" Tommy grinned at them as they came to a stop beside him. He hadn't been sure if his Alpha couple would make it outside in time to greet the visitors, so he had been waiting on the top step of the porch in front of the driveway.
Angel just rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him as she slipped an arm around Jared's waist. He looked down at her and kissed the top of her head while wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Before he could offer his thoughts to his brother, the SUVs doors opened, and a tall blond middle aged man stepped out. He was soon flanked by two younger men.
The blond man was around six three, with jade green eyes, and as Angel studied him, she decided he looked a little like Karl Urban. The two younger men slightly resembled him, but she didn't think they were his sons. She thought they might be his nephews, or maybe the sons of a cousin.
She watched as the Alpha of the group quietly, but quickly scanned the area around him, not making it overtly obvious that he was searching for any hidden danger to him or his two pack mates. She could tell by this one act that he was not the pompous ass that Robert had come across as. Where Robert used his enforcers, all eight of them, as a first and last defence, even on some one else's territory, this man would not hesitate to jump into the fray to ensure the safety of those under his protection. Angel felt a deep respect for the man, even before they had been introduced.
"Alpha Williamson?" Jared asked as he stepped towards the middle aged man. When he heard his name, the man turned back to Jared and nodded his head as a small smile crept onto his face.
"Ah, Alpha Michaels, I presume?" the older man asked in return as he held out his hand in greeting. "Please, call me Derrick."
"Jared, please," Jared said as he returned his smile and shook his hand before turning to the side so that Alpha Williamson could finally see Angel standing behind him. "This is my Mate, Angel. She happens to also be the woman I referenced in my email to Alpha Andrews. I believe he's the one that forwarded it on to you?"
Derrick just stood there staring at Angel when he finally noticed her. She looked so much like his missing Mate that tears immediately sprang to his eyes. "Oh, Angel!" he breathed before wrapping the girl in his strong embrace and burying his face in her hair.
Angel saw Jared tense up, ready to pull the strange man off of her, but quickly shook her head at him when she heard the quiet sobs coming from the man holding her. She could feel the deep shuddering sobs that wracked his body as he held her to him, and she instinctively knew he was drawing support from her. Slowly, she raised a hand and softly patted the man's back and murmured soothingly under her breath as he slowly brought himself back under control.
When Derrick finally had himself under control, he took a step back and ran both hands over his face, trying to rid himself of any and all evidence of his breakdown. It would not do for an alpha like him to lose face over the fact that there were still tear streaks staining his face. He looked over at his two enforcers and quickly motioned them forward.
Both men had taken a step forward when they saw their alpha embrace the pretty young woman but were frozen in place when they really looked at her. They had grown up knowing that their Alpha's mate had been taken not long before he was to marry her, and everyone in the pack had seen her picture; it was hung in the great room of the pack house. They were all supposed to memorize her features and to alert either the Alpha or the Beta if they ever saw her.
After nineteen years, no one had ever seen her, but looking at Angel, the two men couldn't help but think they were looking at a twin of the woman the Alpha was searching for.
"Jared, these are my enforcers, Andy and Jaxon. They also happen to be my sister's sons," Derrick said as he introduced the two young men to Jared. When he turned back to the young woman he had no doubt was his and his long missing mate's daughter, he told her, "Angel, these are your cousins."
*
Heavy thudding footsteps echoed down the long corridor outside the small cell in the hidden basement. The woman curled up in a small ball in the far corner, as far away from the locked door as she could get before the window opened in the wooden door. The look of pure hatred on the man's face as he glared in at her sent a shiver of dread down her back.
He was angry today.
"You stupid cunt!" The man bellowed at her, and she wished, not for the first time, that more than the few people he trusted, or rather that he intimidated so much, knew about her prison. "You stupid, stupid cunt! Did you think I wouldn't ever find out?"
The shiver of dread that had raced down her spine returned and settled into the pit of her stomach. She could only think of one thing that could have happened to make him so mean and spiteful. He had found her daughter.
"That's right, you stupid whore," he grinned maliciously at her when he saw understanding dawn on her face. "I found your whore daughter. She thinks she so smart, hiding and living with the Alpha of the Dolphus Pack, but I'll teach her. As soon as that moron gets the DNA results back proving I'm her uncle, I'll force that little bitch to come back with me. Then you and your fucking whelp will be reunited."
Rebecca glared at her brother as he stood in the door's window gloating. If he hadn't weakened her wolf by starving and drugging her, she would have broken out and killed him long ago. As it was, she was barely able to gather her strength for a short shift at the full moon when it was easiest. There was no way she could escape on her own.
But she had escaped once.
She had escaped right before she had given birth, but his henchman had found her when she had to slow down because her labor had begun. Robert hadn't known about her pregnancy, and she hadn't wanted him to know about her child. When her daughter was born, she'd convinced her jailer to leave the child in the hospital while he took her back to her brother. She'd promised him she'd never escape again if her kept her secret.
Now that her child's existence had been exposed, she didn't have to keep her promise. Now that it was too late for her to help herself, she was free to try to escape again. She closed her eyes as she leaned her head against the wall and tears fell down her cheeks.
She had hated leaving her daughter to be raised by humans- not even being able to leave her with a name- who would never be able to help her as she grew into the wolf she was destined to be, but Rebecca had held on to the hope that at least she would grow up free.
If Robert had known about her, if she had grown up in captivity, she might not have grown up at all. Rebecca had freely given up her freedom for that of her daughter's. It was the only thing of value she had left, and she had given it her her daughter, her little angel.