Twenty-four years later
Angel parked the rental SUV next to her parents’ home and turned off the engine. It had been only four months since her last visit but she still wished she could see them more often. It was tough finding work in the middle of Nowhere, Alaska, so she’d moved to Washington state. She’d already used up her two weeks of annual vacation, but she’d gotten an unexpected call that had sent her rushing home.
She removed the keys from the ignition and slid out the driver’s side door. Her gaze instantly turned toward the cliff that overlooked their valley.
Was he up there watching her?
She glanced at her watch, seeing the time. It was just past noon. She’d managed to snag an early flight, catch a bush plane, and the drive was only three hours from the small airport. He was probably still sleeping, since he kept guard at night.
The front door of the cabin opened and a grin split Angel’s face. “Mom!”
The woman with waist-length black hair ran down the steps and grinned back, her arms opening. They hugged. “My baby.”
Angel closed her eyes and held on tight. “What’s wrong? I got here as fast as possible. Is Dad okay?”
“Yes. He’s great. He’s out hunting with the men. I told you we were fine on the phone.” Her mom eased her hold around her middle and leaned back, still smiling. “Thank you for dropping everything.”
“You called and said it was important. My boss isn’t happy but he’ll survive. I put in enough overtime to deserve an emergency family visit. I told him I had an uncle who died. And I reminded him that I have a bunch of unused sick days.”
Her mother shook her head but looked amused. “Lies are bad.”
“So is getting fired. You have to play their games when one is in the human world.”
“I wish you lived closer.”
“Me too but I love my job. The winters are way better there than here. That’s an upside. So what’s wrong?” She glanced around. “Where is everyone?”
“The younger ones are hunting and the older ones are all at Joe’s, enjoying his air conditioning and satellite television. I think they are watching some kind of sports game.”
That amused Angel. She forgot how out of touch with the world everyone in the village could be. “A sports game? Any hint of what kind?”
“Who cares?” Her mother reached up and touched her hair. “When did you stop dying it black?”
She’d been so worried when she’d gotten that call that she’d forgotten. “Um…”
“It’s beautiful blonde. I’m not complaining. It’s just that you’ve kept it black since you came to us.”
Angel decided to be honest. She hated to lie to her mom. “I only darken it when I come home. The rest of the year, I let it be natural.”
“Why?”
“Um…”
Her mother arched her eyebrows.
“I know we had to dye it when I was a kid so no one became suspicious of a blonde little girl living here with black-haired parents. But I got tired of keeping it up and decided to just let it be. I didn’t want to hurt you or Dad’s feelings, so I use temporary coloring that lasts a few weeks before I visit every summer.”
Sadness crept into her mother’s features, and Angel wanted to kick her own ass.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I would have dyed it but I forgot. You called and I literally shoved stuff into a pack and drove to the airport so I’d be on standby for the first flight this way. What’s going on?”
Rava held out her hand. “It’s fine. Come inside. Your father can bring in your bag when he gets back. I’d like to speak to you before he does. This is woman talk.”
“Oh no.” She clasped her mom’s hand but it was with dread. “I know I’m turning thirty at the end of the year, or at least what we think I should turn thirty, but please don’t tell me you want to set me up with more men to see if I’ll hit it off with one of them. I’m happy being single. I have the worst luck with men. Besides that, I tried the whole date-a-Werewolf-from-one-of-the-packs, and it didn’t work out. Remember? I’m human, and they don’t let me forget it.”
Her mother chuckled, opening the door and leading her into the kitchen. “Sit. I’ll get you milk and cookies.”
“Shit.” Angel collapsed into a chair. “That’s bad. You always go for the cookies and milk when you want to share upsetting news. Don’t tell me you and Dad listened to the elders and arranged for me to mate a stranger from some pack in Washington. I won’t do it. I heard it from them before I left, and they say the same thing every time I visit. But it’s outdated thinking when they claim it’s wrong to be without a mate and children after the age of twenty-five. Modern times and all that.”
Her mother placed two glasses of milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven on the table. She took a seat across from her. “We’d never do that. We love you and want you to be with someone you can be happy with. We realized long ago that you probably wouldn’t settle down with a nice Lycan.”
Angel picked up a cookie and took a bite. She’d missed them. “Yum.”
It gained her a smile. “I know they’re your favorite.”
“So what’s up? Cut to the chase.” An inkling of fear rose. “Is this about Anna? Did someone come searching for me?” She barely remembered her life before she’d been brought to the pack. The few memories she had weren’t good ones. Her biological father had been a mean drunk, and his girlfriend made him seem like a sweetheart in comparison. She had taken to living with Werewolves relatively easily at that age. The pack had accepted and loved her. She’d never stop being grateful to them and her parents. They’d given her a wonderful life. “Nobody has ever searched before. They either didn’t care when I disappeared or were relieved. Hell, they probably thought they killed me so they never reported it to the state troopers.”
Anger tightened Rava’s features. “I wish I knew where they were. I would have killed them.” Tears filled her eyes. “You were half-starved and covered head to foot in bruises. Bugs had feasted on your little legs and they were infected from the bites.”
Angel reached across the table and gripped her hand. “You saved me. I love you so much. You and Dad are the best.”
“You were and are our greatest gift. We wanted you so much.”
Angel blinked back tears. “Stop or we’re both going to end up bawling. It will upset Dad when he walks in.”
“You’re right.”
“So, what’s going on and why am I here if it’s not that?”
Her mother bit her lip. “Did I ever tell you how wild I was before your father came into my life?”
“You’re a Werewolf. No need to explain. All those crazy hormones and no mate. You had game going on with some hot guys.”
Rava laughed. “Lycan. You’ve spent too much time in the human world, but yes, I did have game, as you call it.”
“Uh-oh. Did some old lover show up and you need me to help you talk Dad out of killing him because he still has the growls for you? Is this Were trying to lure you away from your mate? Is he that stupid?”
“No.” She laughed. “That’s not it. I just wanted to remind you that I did have a life before your father. I was twenty-one when I met him. I knew he was the one the moment I saw him. It’s what happened when I was nineteen that we need to discuss.”
“Okay. You have me very curious,” Angel admitted.
“We’ve had a guardian for a long time. It wasn’t always Creed.”
The mention of his name made her heart beat faster. “I know the story. The pack made a deal with his people a long time ago. They guard our valley to keep everyone safe at night from Vampires or other things that might want to do this pack harm, and in exchange, any of the unmated women will consider traveling to where they live to meet some of their single men to possibly take them as a mate.” Her stomach clenched. “No. I’m not going there to meet guys.”
“It’s not that.”
Angel blew out a relieved breath. “Good.”
“This is about me right now, and my past. The guardian before Creed was named Monolith. He was this gorgeous hunk of man. He had silver-blond hair and these startling blue eyes.”
Angel grinned. “You did him?”
Her mother blushed.
It was something she had never seen before and it made her laugh. “You went to bed with a GarLycan? Wait. Was he a half-breed Lycan and Gargoyle or was he a full-on Gargoyle? I know some members of that clan aren’t mixed-bloods.”
“He was a half-breed, and don’t look so amused. I was curious and young. Back then, we had a lot more women than men in our pack. It’s why I had such a difficult time finding a mate. All the good ones were taken right off the bat and what was left wasn’t so great. The older girls would tease the strong, good-looking younger men before they were even at the age of consent, so when they reached it, they already knew who to claim. I didn’t stand a chance until your father visited our pack. He was looking for a new home. I found my mate.”
“You once thought about mating with a GarLycan?”
Her mother hesitated. “It’s not that simple. You know how we go into heat?”
“You went into heat so you decided to jump on this Monolith?”
“No. GarLycans don’t suffer from heat but they do have this thing called the ravage.”
Angel laughed. “Wow. He ravaged you?”
“Be serious. This is important.”
“Okay.” She sobered.
“It happens every thirty years for them. It lasts one night. You know they aren’t the most feeling or emotional beings.”
Pain sliced through Angel. She knew that all too well. “I do. Stone cold is their motto, or so it seems.”
“Exactly. For one night, they lose all control. They’re emotional, and I don’t know how to explain it except it’s their version of going into heat. It’s some kind of instinctual or hormonal thing that happens to make certain their race survives. Like we go into heat so we’re assured that we birth children. Monolith knew the ravage was coming on, and he asked the single women in our pack to volunteer to spend that night with him. I put my name in and he chose me.”
Angel studied her mom. Lycans aged slowly. Her mother didn’t look a day over twenty-six, even though she was actually fifty-five. “Of course he did. You’re beautiful, Mom.”
“Thank you. They have this ritual they do. I was so nervous about that, but I was the adventurous type. He wasn’t looking for a mate. He just needed someone to be there for him.”
“You mean he needed someone to have sex with.”
Her mother nodded.
“What kind of ritual? I’m curious.”
“They ask for single women to volunteer, then the guardian will choose which one he wants. The evening of the ravage, he’ll ready his bedroom to receive her and she will prepare her body.”
“Okay. Weird.”
“She removes all her body hair from the neck down and soaks in a bath so only her natural scents remain without artificial ones. They don’t like any chemical smells.” Her mother glanced at her hair and bit her lip. “Then they tie the woman down on their bed. It’s to prevent her from getting hurt.”
“He tied you down? Kinky, Mom.”
“It was for my safety. Monolith explained it to me beforehand. He knew he’d lose control, and that I didn’t want him for a mate. He wasn’t looking for one, either. They tend to avoid it for as long as possible. It’s a weakness or something to them, when they mate. You know how solitary they are.”
Boy, do I. Bitterness still left a bad taste in Angel’s mouth, remembering her teens and right before she’d moved away. She just nodded.
“They don’t get totally naked. He had me wear this thin gown. Think like a towel wrapped around your body that hooks together under your left arm. It falls from breast to mid-thigh. He wore one around his waist. They just move them out of the way where necessary. It’s to avoid as much skin contact as possible so they don’t get the urge to claim a woman as a mate.”
“It sounds cold.”
Her mother blushed again. “Not exactly.”
Angel arched her eyebrows. “Do you want to expand on that?”
Her mother glanced out the door, then lowered her voice when she looked back at Angel. “He had me drink some of his hormones first.”
“What?” That stunned her. “You had to bite him?”
“No. It’s complicated but it’s just a little drink, and it kind of put me into heat, only more intense than that. It’s what they do.”
“Don’t tell me you had to give him a blow job or something. I don’t want to hear that. You’re my mom.”
Rava laughed. “No. I probably would have if he’d asked, but I was tied down for that very purpose. No touching him. It helps them not mate a woman during the ravage.”
“You had to kiss him?”
She turned her head and pointed at the base of her skull. “They get this bump right here. It fills with their hormones. Don’t tell anyone. He swore me to secrecy but I was as curious as you are. I didn’t want to drink just anything he gave me. They use a needle to withdraw it. It’s how they know the ravage is coming on. It starts to build up there and they can feel it. Anyway.” Her mother paused. “It was amazing. I’ve had great sex before, but he was very memorable. I couldn’t even talk for a day afterward. I was hoarse from screaming.”
“T.M.I, Mom.”
“Your clit swells up and throbs. You hurt from wanting sex. He touched me and I came. Then he entered me and we went at it for hours. Lycan men are excellent lovers, but a GarLycan during the ravage is far more intense. I lost track of how many times he made me c—”
“Okay. Enough. Got it. Get to the point—besides shocking me with your past sexual exploits.”
Her mother bit her lip again. “Yesterday, Creed showed up and spoke to the elders. The ravage is upon him. He asked for volunteers. It’s tomorrow night.”
Angel forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. Pain squeezed her chest. “You brought me here for that? So I could know which woman he chooses?”
She stood so fast she almost knocked over her chair.
“You know he rejected me when I practically threw myself at him. I…” She blinked back tears. “I was in love with him. I don’t want to know. Why did you call me here?”
Her mother stood and rounded the table. She wrapped her hands around her upper arms and locked gazes with Angel. “I called you because no one volunteered. He’s not as social as Monolith was when he was our guardian. Creed rarely speaks to anyone except the elders and our alpha. The women are afraid of him, and there aren’t many single women who haven’t taken mates.”
Angel let that sink in, and more pain flooded her. “So you called me because you think I still want him? Even for a night? I practically begged him to give us a chance. Then he flew away every time I even approached him after that. He’d stay up on his cliff and not come down. No thanks. He’d reject me even if I offered. I’m human. He went to the elders asking for a Lycan woman, didn’t he?”
Her mother tightened her hold. “Yes, he did. I’ve never lied to you. I won’t start now. I know he hurt you. You always had the biggest crush on him. He brought you here and rescued you from your before life. You almost had hero worship. I know it pained you so much when you told him how you felt and he stopped talking to you.”
“He broke my heart.” Angel blinked back more tears.
Her mother nodded. “I know.”
“Then why did you call me?”
“Monolith shared something else with me when I was with him for the ravage. Creed could die if he goes through it alone.” Her mother spoke quickly. “I debated on calling you or not. In the end, I didn’t think you’d ever forgive me if he died and I didn’t give you the opportunity to save him.”
The information stunned her.
Her mother nodded. “Imagine being cold inside for thirty years, and then all of a sudden having all those emotions overwhelming you at once. That’s what happens to them. They don’t know how to handle it. The ravage can make them insane if they don’t have someone to focus it on. Monolith told me some just attack the walls and become self-destructive. Others do worse. He lost his brother that way. He flew into the air as high as he could and then allowed himself to plummet to his death. They injure themselves so badly that they can’t heal fast enough. He said it’s rare but it happens. I’m not saying Creed will face that horrible fate, but he is at risk.”
Angel closed her eyes.
“I wanted you to have the choice, baby.”
Angel nodded. “He won’t agree to it though.” She looked at her mom. “I’m human.”
“You might be all he has. He needs you now, Angel.”
“I have to think about this.”
Her mom released her. “I understand.”