Authors Note: Sorry everyone for taking a bit longer to post this. I had it for about a week, but just never had the time to send it. Again thank you all for your comments. This is really getting exciting for me, as the story is progressing. I am even more excited with all the emails I have also been getting. Thank you all for supporting me so far. It does mean the world to me. Please don't forget to vote and comment! Enjoy...
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Later that night...
"Where is she?" Cullen bellowed from the great hall. He had summoned someone to fetch Angel from her rooms. He was anxious to see if the room pleased her. Not only that, he wanted to talk to her a bit more about what happened during dinner. He spoke with Layla and her followers, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Until Angel could put them into their places, they will continue to act the way they act—its part of being a wolf. When the omega returned to say that no one was in the room, the frustration Cullen had been feeling since their separation exploded.
"I know she has to be there. I already saw Glynis return back to her chores, as well as for Eilis." He glared at Gavin. "Search this compound until she is found. I want to know who she saw and when. And most of all, Gavin, I want to know where the hell she has been."
Gavin took his Alpha's anger in stride. He knew that it was fear driving him now. Fear that he had somehow lost her or worse...fear that she has been hurt.
Cullen paced the great hall wondering where Angel could be. She wouldn't have left him. The extra clothing he purchased for her were still on the bed. She did vow she would not stay in this compound and that she would give him hell. Could she really have meant it? Fear for her safety gnawed at him. His pacing increased as person after person returned with bad news.
"She was not at the library, Alpha," said one of the omegas'. "Nor has anyone been seen going or returning from the northern gates since you both arrived," informed another omega.
"Brian here, Alpha," one of the betas' gasped, winded. "I am sorry, but I only saw the lass when she arrived. I must say she is an enchanting, if not a little confused, creature. I hope that she is found without harm. It would be a shame to lose such an unusual lady."
Cullen swift turned and said in a biting tone, "She will be found. And God help anyone who touches even a single hair on her head."
Brian would normally have been surprised at his laird's harsh response. Cullen usually reserved his anger for the battlefield. But, because Brian had met the intriguing lass himself, he understood the Alpha's reaction.
"Brian, do you have any more to offer? Did she say where she might be?" Cullen asked brusquely.
"No Alpha. Glynis was showing the Lady the stable when I first spotted her. I was easily able to detect the Lady's love for the horses. And after she spent time with Toireann, and then..."
Cullen turned and hollered. "Toireann? Who in the devil is Toireann?"
"One of the horses, Alpha. She really took a liking to the big black horse, and, " Brian continued, shocked a bit as he remembered, "and the horse seemed to have a liking to our Lady as well."
Cullen was a bit shocked to hear that. That horse hasn't been broken in yet, and was still very wild. No one has been able to get too close to it yet without being hurt.
"I actually said that the Lady can come out to the stables any time she wants to, to visit the horse. She was quite happy about that," said Brian.
Cullen stifled a sigh. "Aye. Continue. And then..."
"Well, then, Glynis came to bring the Lady back to her room. She was very upset about something, staying in a room right next to yours I believe. Said she wouldn't do it. Then she mentioned something about the abandoned west wing rooms..."
Cullen did not listen to the rest of Brian's account. He abruptly turned and ran out the hall and across the foyer. He knew exactly where she would be. As he climbed two stairs at a time, everyone seemed to move out of the way when they all saw the look of determination on their Alpha's face.
As he approached the one room in the west wings that had a light on, he could see Angel stoking the fire through the small door opening. Her hair was free and she was still wearing her dress. All the fear that he had been experiencing the past two hours converted into anger. She had refused his selection of the room he had chosen, his offer of clothing, and his orders.
He knocked loudly on the door.
Angel had been preparing herself for Cullen's arrival. She knew that, once he discovered her defiance, he would come. She told herself that he really didn't care whether or not she stayed next to him or not. It was only pride that brought him here. If she could find a way to salvage his self-respect, surely he would let her stay in this room.
Suddenly the door caved in and he was standing in front of her in the small main room. He was huge and radiated a primitive masculine vitality. He had bathed and changed into new clothes and his shirt was unbuttoned. Seeing him towering just inside the door, arrogant but powerful, was almost her undoing. She had to remain firm, she told herself. She had to stay strong. If she surrendered now, she would not be able to maintain her distance in the future. She had to get him to leave before she threw herself into his arms, damning rules of propriety and discarding all of her dreams of love and finding the happy ending she always wanted.
She cleared her throat. "Why, Cullen, what brings you here so late in the evening? I was just preparing for sleep myself," she said, trying to sound nonchalant as if they were having a normal conversation.
Cullen took a step closer. "Were you, Angel? But you are so far away from your room," he countered, his expression ominous.
She retreated as he advanced. "You mean that bedroom you had prepared for me right next to your own?"
"The same."
"Well, Cullen. I appreciate the offer. I really do, but I cannot accept. I will feel more comfortable here in this room. My staying here will help stop fueling everyone's overactive imagination that I am something other than just someone you are helping out till the danger clears.
"You know you are much more than that."
Angel shivered at the dangerous softness in his voice. "I do? Cullen, I am afraid that I do not. We discussed this, and you know how I feel."
"Nothing has changed, but I gave you my word that I would protect you. I cannot do so with you sleeping all the way at this end of the house."
She straightened her shoulders, her lips thinning with anger. "But what of your other wolf members? They are at other wings, far away from you."
"They are wolves," Cullen replied as if that explained everything. He then picked her up and began carrying her back toward their wing.
"Cullen MacAllister! You put me down right now. You have no right! Just because you are bigger and stronger does not mean that you can just have your way."
"Looks like it does, Angel," Cullen retorted, feeling somewhat mollified by the feel of her in his arms.
When he first opened the door and saw her in the firelight, he could hardly breathe. Her hair flowed in waves of curls-no longer hidden, with her putting it up in a ponytail or bound in some way.
As she half-heartedly struggled in his arms, he was reminded how soft she was. Her scent washed over him, and he felt his desire grow. He had no idea how he was going to uphold his promise to stay away from her till she settled in a bit more. She had an essence about her that attracted not only him, but also the wolf on all levels, not just the physical.
Once in the hallway that over looked the foyer, he let her go and put space between them. It did not help.
"Angel, that bedroom I have shown you earlier is the room you will be staying at."
"I will not. You can drag me here, Cullen, but I will just leave again. I promise you, you will not win this war of wills. You may be an Alpha, but I assure you, I can match your damn stubbornness!" she shouted at him, not holding any of her frustrations back.
The commotion in the hallway caught the attention of many in the house, and they came to investigate the noise. The shock of finding their Alpha arguing with an arresting, and still yet a stranger to most member, was intriguing.
"Love, if I have to drag you here one more time, it will be you, not I, regretting it."
"Oh, save your bluster for your members. You would not strike a lady, child, or even a horse for that matter. And don't bother denying it." Angel remembered seeing his horses had no scarring what so ever, which showed he was a firm master but never one to scar.
Cullen closed his eyes in brief, savage annoyance. "Don't tempt me, Angel. I meant what I said, do not leave the wing again or you will be regretting the deed."
"Are you saying I am a prisoner? I cannot wander through the halls or even step outside to walk through the gardens?"
"Not alone, no. At least not while I am away from the compound. I can only be assured of your safety if you are behind these walls. You will stay here, you will sleep in the adjoining room, and I will not be saying so again."
Angel saw the cold anger in his eyes and knew she was defeated. She also realized that there was quite a large crowd gathering listening to them argue. She had never been so embarrassed. Her pride had been battered these past few days, and each time it had been due to an argument with this hulking man. Whether she continued her unladylike behavior or gave in to his demands, her pride was going to take another blow. It surely did not matter if she stayed here now. No one would believe she was a well-brought up young lady after this display.
"Fine," she murmured with undertones of frustration, "but Cullen, I promised you, and I will promise you again right now, you will rue this."
Cullen laughed aloud. The woman did have spirit and courage. No one could deny that. And as she stood there in front of him, with her eyes changing to a storm cloudy grey-green coloring, he could not imagine anything more lovely.
"I imagine I will, love. But it will have to be when I return. I leave on the morrow with Brian to visit a neighboring pack."
The news startled Angel and her anger was instantly, if only temporarily, forgotten. "Tomorrow? Why are you going there?"
"It is just some small business that I must attend to. I normally would only be gone for a few hours, but I will need to have a meeting with one of my betas' that just arrived from Scotland to see how everything is doing."
Angel nodded. "Oh, Cullen, before you go. Can I ask something of you?" asked Angel.
"Go on..."
