The Wolf's Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel (15 page)

Scrubbing his face with his hands, he knew
Jason was right. “We’ll go stay at my mom’s. A half dozen pack
members live in her development and they have security cameras and
patrols.”

Nodding his approval, Jason sent the patrol
over to the development and Linus said goodnight to them and took
Karly home to pack a bag. She seemed lost, shaken, not herself. He
knelt in front of her on the bed and took her cold hands in his.
“Sweet angel, I promise I will keep you safe. I didn’t wait my
whole life to find you to have some fuck think he can scare me off.
You’re mine. Forever.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Linus.” Her
voice was trembling, a fine shiver of fear in her words.

He straightened and leaned over her, letting
his wolf spill out into his eyes so they changed color and his
fangs elongated. His voice came out edged with a growl, “You are
mine, Karly. I will not let you be taken from me.”

Sniffling, she nodded and hugged him.

His mother was waiting for them, the wolves
in the development were on alert, and Karly called her father and
told him what happened. Linus’ first conversation with her father
wasn’t about marriage and children like he’d wanted it to be.

“Don’t take anything for granted with
Phoenix. He’s unstable,” her father Kamren said.

“I won’t, sir.” He glanced at Karly as she
accepted a mug of hot chocolate from his mother. His grandparents
had even driven over to the house to offer support.

“When he broke her arm, Linus, I want you to
know that I was going to kill him. But the alpha is very
traditional and he declared him deserving of pack justice and would
forfeit his life if he was caught before dawn. I have never
witnessed a wolf confuse an entire pack of males intent on his
death, but he was like something possessed. I’m sorry that I let
her down.”

“I’m going to do everything in my power to
keep her safe.”

“I know you will. As a wolf with an angel
mate of my own, I can tell you that there isn’t any more powerful
mating between two creatures than what you now share with my
daughter. I trust you to do your best for her. Perhaps the best
thing to do is for you two to make your way up here sooner than
March. Maybe getting married will send him packing for good, show
that our pack supports you together.”

“I’ll talk to Karly.”

As he hung up, his heart lifted even as it
deflated. He would love to marry her tomorrow. But not because of
her nutcase ex.

Chapter 11

“Phoenix,” Karly rolled over under the covers
with a yawn, “I have class tomorrow. You need to go.”

“Nah, come on.” He tweaked her butt cheek,
“Make love to me once more. Please?”

“We’ve already done it twice and my dad gets
up early, so no.” She peeked at him from under the covers and he
scowled but he couldn’t keep it up long and he grinned.

“You know what the first thing we’re going to
do when we’re mates is Lynnie?”

“Stop calling me by that nickname?” She said
hopefully. He was the only one that had ever called her Lynnie and
she didn’t care for it.

“I’ll never stop calling you that. No, we’re
going to go for a nice, long honeymoon. Somewhere warm enough to
have the windows open all night and a breeze to keep the room just
the right temperature.”

She pulled the blanket down far enough to
really look at him. Sometimes, he surprised her. He was jaded,
hard. He fought his way up from the bottom of the pack and had the
battle scars to prove it. He was a punch first, ask questions later
sort of man. But there were times, when they were alone, that he
showed her a softer side of himself and this was one of those
times.

She stroked the scar on his jaw. It was still
angry red and healing from a rank fight the day before. One of the
unmated males a handful of years older than her had asked her to
have dinner at his house and she had said yes, only to have him be
challenged in a rank fight by Phoenix and then wind up in the
hospital. She didn’t know why Phoenix was fighting so hard suddenly
to move up in the pack, but it was like he was on a mission.
“You’re a damn romantic when you want to be, Phoenix.”

“Just for you. I was thinking maybe we’d
spread out in a couple years, make our own pack somewhere. Would
you be interested in that?”

She hummed in her throat. “I don’t know. Ask
me when I’m 21 and my angel nature has picked my mate, okay?”

His eyes darkened. “I’m certain we’re meant
to be mates, Lynnie.”

Now his jealous side reared up. “I know you
feel that way, Phoenix, and I care about you a great deal, too, but
it’s not up to me. My nature will choose my perfect mate for me.
It’s my destiny.”

His anger seeped away suddenly and she
recognized the gesture as him trying to control himself for her
benefit. “We're perfect together. I love you. I want to spend the
rest of my life with you.”

“Well, if either of us are going to have a
life in the future, then you need to scoot before my dad wakes up.”
She never told him she loved him, because it wasn’t right to say
that to him, knowing it was possible he might not be her mate in
truth.

“Fine.” He groused and then flashed her a
winning smile. He pulled on his clothes and leaned over to kiss
her. “I’ll see you later Lynnie. Sweet dreams.” He swung his legs
over the window and dropped down two stories to the ground, landing
with a bare thud and then the sound of footsteps and then
quiet.

* * * *

She woke up and stared at the ceiling. She
hadn’t given Phoenix much thought since she found Linus. True, she
had mentioned that she had a crazy ex but she hadn’t been specific
at all because she didn’t really think it was anything to mention.
Her father’s pack had friends at the Canadian border. If he crossed
back into the states, they would have been notified. So the
questions at the forefront of her brain now were: how had he gotten
back, how long had he been back, and just how the hell had he found
her? After leaving her parent's home after Christmas, she had gone
south immediately because of the weather and stopped for New Year's
at a pack in southern Ohio. She hadn’t even bothered signing a
lease. The pack was entirely mated. After one night, she’d moved on
to the pack in Allen and had been in her apartment almost 2 weeks
before Linus found her in the snow.

“Are you thinking about him?” She didn't know
how long Linus was up before he spoke.

“Kind of.” She looked at him as he went up on
one elbow and looked down at her. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you
everything. I would have told you eventually, but I thought he was
done with me. I thought I was safe now.”

He growled unhappily and she realized her
slip. “No, Linus, no. I’m sorry. I know I’m safe with you, I just
mean I thought that, oh hell, I don’t know what I thought.”

He let out a slow breath. “It’s not as if you
could have predicted this would happen. Even if I had known the
extent of his insanity, I would have believed the same as you, that
he was still up in Canada since your dad’s pack wasn’t notified he
tried to cross over. I just…baby I don’t want you to be afraid. You
are more precious to me than anything else I’ve ever known, and I
will do my damnedest to keep you safe.”

Sincerity poured off him in waves. “I know
you will, Linus. I love you.”

He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth and
whispered against her lips, “I love you, too, angel mine.”

Unable to sleep, they lay together for a
long, quiet while and eventually just got up. If they were home,
she probably would have suggested a nice round of sex to distract
them, but aside from not really being in the mood, she just
couldn’t imagine having sex in his childhood bedroom with his
mother and grandparents in the house.

With coffee in their hands, they cuddled on
the worn couch in the front room and watched the sun rise over the
trees that lined the small street that was part of a gated
community for the older generation of wolves. What was most
interesting about the Tressel pack was that when the young wolf
alpha Jason took over, the older pack members – his father’s
generation – stepped down.

“Why is that weird? Isn’t it normal for the
best ones to be the top ranked?”

“Well, sure, but you said they just stepped
down. They were barely middle age and they just walked away from
leading. The second in command didn't take over leadership or fight
Michael for his position, right?”

“No.” He looked at her in silence for a
moment. “I never gave it any thought. The pack has always been lead
by a Garrett. Are there any wolves your age ranked high in your
dad’s pack?”

“Hell no,” She laughed. “The alpha is a
vicious fighter and so are all his highly ranked men. And anyway,
if someone wanted to take over, he’d have to fight his way up and
besides my father’s passionate study of martial arts giving him an
edge, the third ranked is a pro boxer in the were-circuit and the
fourth ranked is a retired Navy Seal. When my father was fighting
his way up the ranks back when he was young, he said that the only
reason that he made it to second is because the alpha arranged them
himself after a fight between the three of them that showed them to
be evenly matched in strength and determination. It’s been that way
for decades and it works for them.”

“Wow, I’d probably be low man on the totem
pole with your dad’s pack.”

“It wouldn’t matter to me anyway. The pack is
very traditional and many of the younger generation my age leave
after a few years to find less constrictive packs. The alpha’s son
is hopeful that by the time his dad is ready to step down that the
entire old guard will be ready to also step down so he can take
over, but unless my dad is too old to lead, then he doesn’t have a
prayer.”

“I never really thought about it, but I guess
the way things happened in our pack isn’t normal at all. When Peter
got injured and Jason took over in interim, none of the older
wolves questioned him, and when he stood up to take over full time,
there were no challenges and then when rank fights were initiated,
they all stepped back. The former second, Peter’s right hand Henry
told me once that he had 15 years as second and thought that was
plenty long enough to keep young wolves in line and he wanted to
enjoy his grandkids without having to deal with pack
responsibility." He sighed and went quiet for a moment.

“Karly, there’s something your dad said that
I wanted to run by you.” He put their mugs down on the coffee table
and turned to face her. Taking her hand in his, he twisted the ring
on her finger. “Your father suggested we come up to see them and
get married. He said that perhaps showing the pack’s support of our
marriage would show Phoenix that its time for him to move on.”

She ran the back of her hand across his
cheek. “You don’t really look thrilled with the prospect.”

“No, baby, I do want to marry you, I just, if
we do this right now because we’re trying to send a message, than
it’s like he’s forcing our hands. I’m not really crazy about giving
him that much power.”

She chewed the inside of her lip. Yes she
wanted to marry Linus, but he was right. It seemed almost like a
last ditch effort to keep Phoenix off their backs. And then they’d
always know that the timing was born of violence.

“Well, you know, there’s an angel mating
ceremony. My mother would oversee it. It’s kind of like the wolf
ceremony, done in front of the pack. My mother always expected to
do it twice, once for my home pack so that my mate would be welcome
as an honored friend and once with my new pack like a joining
ceremony. If we went up to my parents’ pack and did the angel
ceremony, that’s as good as being married to them and will give us
something like an alliance with that pack. For both of us.”

“Yeah? That’s pretty cool.” He scrubbed his
fingers along his jaw. “Are you okay with that?”

“Sure. I want you to meet my parents and my
home pack. When we went up for our visit in March she probably
would have wanted to do it anyway to bind us all together as
family. It’s important to angels that their girls are happy and
their mates are welcome in their pack. My parents were in the same
pack, they grew up together, so the angel mating ceremony was done
at the same time as the pack joining ceremony and the legal
marriage.”

She explained the ceremony was done at
sunrise, so the world would look new on the mated pair, and that
ancient and sacred prayers of her kind were spoken over the couple
that were draped in orange blossoms, signifying a sweet life. Then
the males of the pack would embrace the couple to commit their
scent to memory, so that if help was called for, they would be able
to find both and support them. The females of the pack would bring
mating gifts for the couple of prepared hides and blankets for
their new home and then the male would go on a hunt with his
angel’s pack and the kills would be brought back for a feast that
would last until midnight. Then the mated couple left to spend the
night together in the home of her mother, that signified the mother
and father supporting the daughter and her mate in the first steps
of their life together.

“It’s really incredible,” he murmured,
cuddling her into his side. “I had no idea how much we were all
missing out on because of the modernization of our pack. You make
me want things to be different.”

“Just because your pack is modern doesn’t
mean that you have to raise our children that way, and I want our
family to embrace the laws and the spirit of the old ways. Our sons
are going to be alphas. We have to prepare them for that
burden.”

“And our daughters will be Angels,” he added,
kissing the tip of her nose with a soft smile. “They have to be
prepared for that, too.”

“I’ve always thought that Peter was the
detriment of the pack,” a rumbling voice said behind them and they
both turned around in surprise to see Linus’ grandfather, known as
Pops, leaning heavily on his cane in the doorway.