Chapter 5 - Angel on Fire

The resident on-again-off-again so-called

couple of Silverdale University were unbearable to stomach at the best of times, but today Angel was feeling exceptionally sensitive and so she ducked into the nearest restroom with the intention of giving herself a moment to

breathe.

What she didn’t intend was to find somebody crying inside. Cringing at how loudly she had entered the restroom, she thought for a moment of turning right back around and heading out again. Maybe whoever was having a full-on snot session inside the farthest stall wouldn’t hear them come in over their own crying. Yet the moment the door clicked shut behind Angel, the

crying stopped. She held her breath, waiting, listening.

“Who’s there?” the voice sounded almost immediately, breaking up on a sniffle before it came again, “Angel, is that you?”

Angel cringed all over again. Why did it have to be a werewolf? Super hearing, super sense of smell, always alert even when sobbing their heart out.

Yet Angel’s own heart ached the moment she realized just which werewolf it was.

Again she thought of turning right back around and pretending she hadn’t heard, as if that was even believable. Mixed feelings tore at her stomach. On the one hand, she wanted to do the right thing but on the other, she remembered all too well the harsh words from the night before and how she had been treated like a piece of roadkill, laid into before being thrown aside and forgotten.

Sucking in a deep breath and closing her eyes for only a moment, Angel knew there was only one answer. “Yeah, Ree, it’s me.”

The nickname came out so automatically that Angel bit the inside of her lip the moment that it was out, wondering if Reebah would instantly raise her hackles and remind her that they weren’t friends anymore. I can’t call her that now!

But Reebah seemed unfazed by it. In fact, she was clearly preoccupied with whatever she had been crying about because for a moment there was silence and tension filled the air in the restroom, making Angel once more want to run.

Then the stall lock clicked open and Reebah stepped out looking as if she had just gone ten rounds in a boxing ring. Angel bit back the urge to tell her so and instead asked, “Reebah, what’s wrong?”

At first, the raven-haired woman didn’t respond. Instead, she threw the wad of tissues she had been wiping her face with into the nearest waste

bin and headed for the sink to splash water over her face. Angel hesitated for only a moment before approaching the counter and laying a hand on her exbest friend’s shoulder. She did so only lightly at first, holding her breath as she waited for Reebah to object. When she didn’t, Angel began to squeeze gently and the two women met each other’s gaze in the mirror hanging above the sinks.

“It…it’s nothing,” Reebah said at first, “I’m just having one of those days.”

She shrugged as if to illustrate her point and Angel lowered her hand, but the sensation in her gut told her she knew the woman well enough still.

She was definitely lying.

“Reebah, you should know better than to try and lie to me,” Angel pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest and standing up straight to show

that she’d block the way out if she had to just to get it out of her. Reebah turned to face her then and scowled at her, looking as if she was going to remind Angel that they weren’t friends anymore. Angel mentally prepared herself, knowing she’d take the sting of such words if it meant that she could be there for her old friend even for a moment.

“It…it’s…” Reebah stammered and her lip began to quiver. Angel had to fight the urge to pull her into her arms and comfort her. Having been like a

sister to Reebah for the first eighteen years of her life, it was like losing a part of herself not to be able to. “My dad gave me some bad news last night. That’s all.”

With that, Reebah turned her attention back to the mirror and began to reapply her nude lipstick. Unsure as to whether she should press for more, Angel merely stood and waited, hoping that her friend might have unblocked the dam. It seemed that Angel really did know her friend as well as she thought she had because Reebah turned after only a few moments and blurted

out,

“He is marrying me off to one of the men challenging Layon!”

Angel’s jaw practically hit the floor the moment she heard the words.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Even as she said the words, Reebah began to shake her head.

“Nope. He says that it’s the only way our family will stay in control if Layon loses,” Reebah insisted, though she sounded as doubtful as Angel felt.

Not least of all because Layon was the strongest and smartest of all the young wolves who had been entered into the challenges, as much as Angel hated to admit it.

“How can your dad possibly know which one to marry you off to?”

Angel asked and Reebah shook her head again, her face paling as though she hated the uncertainty of it as much as Angel did.

“He doesn’t, but he knows who the favorite is to win after Layon”

Reebah said, shrugging as though it was of little consequence, but Angel could see tears brimming in her grey eyes once more.

“This is bullshit!” Angel snarled, her hackles rising with the sudden urge to get her claws into something.

“Your dad is as healthy as he’s ever been and besides, a lot can happen between now and when he passes.”

Reebah’s eyes brimmed with further tears and glinted with agreement, but she didn’t speak. Another thought quickly occurred to Angel.

“What about Chris?”

At the mention of her fairy boyfriend, Reebah instantly tensed and looked as though she wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears for another moment. Then a change came over her so suddenly that it shocked Angel to see. Her entire being seemed to harden, as though someone was pouring concrete over her. She turned away from Angel and glared into the mirror even as she stated,

“We all knew that was destined to fail from the beginning. He’s a fairy and I’m a werewolf. It could never work.”

Angel opened her mouth to protest but Reebah continued, her voice even harsher than before.

“Just forget I said anything, Angel, go back to being the traitor’s daughter.”

For just a moment Angel was confused by the sudden change in her old friend. The woman’s changing moods were beginning to give her

whiplash. Last night she had been distant and even unkind, and yet this morning Angel had thought they were making some kind of breakthrough.

Now it seemed they were right back to square one.

The moment Angel heard the door behind her swinging open, she quickly realized what had suddenly changed between them. They were no

longer alone.

Shit! Angel bit back the urge to exclaim aloud even as she darted for the nearest stall. Even as she did, she heard Reebah whisper, “Thanks.”

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give Angel hope that her old friend wasn’t entirely lost to her. In the next moment, she heard Reebah

turning to greet the newcomers.

“Hey, Lara, Tanny, Britney.”

Angel’s stomach clenched harder with each name she spoke and her heart began to race, realizing she was basically cornered by the women she’d come inside to avoid. Why did I have to get distracted by Reebah? Angel

asked herself. If only she’d come in, taken a breather, and headed back out again, she might not be stuck in this damn situation now.

“Hey, Ree,” Lara replied in a sickly-sweet voice that was as sly as it was cutesy. Angel’s throat constricted. Up until a few years ago, she had been the only one to call Reebah that.

"What’s with you talking to the traitor’s daughter?”

Angel’s anxiety instantly turned to anger and she couldn’t help but ask herself why she was so frightened of this girl. No, she wasn’t frightened. She was cautious, just as she was of every member of the pack because of the way they had treated her for the last few years. In Lara’s case, it had only gotten worse. Though the two of them had never really gotten along, they had

at least been civil, mainly because of Reebah insisting on being friends with them both. But now…

“Don’t you know you aren’t wanted here, traitor?” Lara demanded, and Angel could practically feel the bleached blonde glaring at her through the

stall door. Angel held her breath, hoping she might be able to slow her racing heart so that the werewolves on the other side of the door wouldn’t hear it. Yeah, right, a good joke, Angel.

“Leave her, she’s not worth it,” Reebah snarled in return. “She’s a nobody. Less than a nobody.”

Though Angel was certain after their conversation a few moments earlier that Reebah was speaking from a place of wishing to protect her, her words still stung and Angel had to hold back tears. Her claws began to protrude, digging painfully into her palms, but she did not dare to let out even a whimper.

The sound of sucking breath suggested that Lara was about to go off and Angel braced herself for whatever scathing remark or open insult she was

about to throw her way next. Yet when she spoke, her tone suggested to Angel that she was smiling ever so sweetly.

“You are right, Ree, let’s leave the traitor in the toilet where she belongs.”

Tanny and Britney laughed openly at their lead bitch’s words. What are we, twelve? Angel thought but she continued to hold her breath, not daring to give back all that she wished she could. For the longest time she had wanted to fight back against all the members of the pack who taunted and abused her, and yet her self-preservation instincts wouldn’t allow her to.

She waited in utter silence until she was absolutely certain that the women, along with Reebah, were gone. Then, she unlocked the stall and headed to the door, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before the first bell rang to announce the beginning of the first period.

Still holding back tears, she opened the restroom door and glanced both ways down the hall before stepping out. All too late she realized her

mistake. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, right around the corner, and right into her. He was no longer wearing the leather jacket he’d been wearing when Angel had overheard him at his locker earlier that morning, but Layon was just as drop-dead gorgeous. And he might as well have been a damn brick wall from the way she stumbled right into him. The only difference was

the fact that a brick wall wouldn’t have instantly reached out to steady her.

The moment she felt his hands on her forearms, Angel’s heart began to go wild. All her anxiety and frustration, all her tension and her wishes to

simply disappear suddenly collided into one and the tears began to stream down her face.

“Whoa, hey, Angie,” Layon exclaimed, still holding onto her as though he thought she might fall over if he let go.

“What’s going on?”

Drawn in by his stormy grey eyes, Angel found herself unable to speak for a moment. The warmth of his palms on her forearms was soothing and enticing, and it made her entire body sizzle with desire. Her teeth gritted even

as her tears stopped and heat began to pool between her thighs.

Then just like that, the bell that hung above their head began to ding raucously, announcing the first period, and the spell he seemed to have cast upon her was suddenly broken. Angel yanked her arms out of his grip and glared at him as she snarled,

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

The tears began to stream down her face once more and she cursed herself for showing him such weakness, especially when all she could see was concern on his face.

“Angel, what is wrong? Let me help you,” he told her, stepping forward as if he wished to touch her again. Wincing away from his hand, she half-turned and began to walk away.

“Why don’t you just go back to worrying about being a big bad alpha?”

She threw over her shoulder, hating herself for being so harsh, especially when she felt as if she could feel the sting of her own words in his

chest. No, that’s impossible, I can’t sense his feelings, Angel growled at herself even as she stumbled outside, half-blinded by tears. There was no way in hell she was going to sit through a mind-numbing lecture in this state. She could feel Layon’s eyes lingering on her, burning between her shoulder blades, even as she burst through the double doors at the far end of the hall. She swung left and began to race for the university gates, skirting right around the car park. Angel had never understood everyone’s need for vehicles in Silverdale’s locked community. Everything you could possibly need was within half an hour’s walking distance. Yet in that moment she wished she at least had a bike so she could get away from Layon just a little faster. If only I could shift, she thought, her she-wolf grumbling in agreement