Creed Read online

  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 But it’s outdated thinking when they claim it’s wrong to be without a mate and children after the age of twenty-five.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.”