The Angel Trials

by Michelle Madow

  “And my point is that you can’t communicate with them at all.” He stepped closer—so close that I could smell the now-familiar woodsy scent that seemed to constantly emanate off his skin. “Unless you want to risk putting them in danger?”

  “Why would them knowing I was safe be putting them in danger?” I tried to keep my voice steady, despite how my heart was pounding due to his close proximity to me. I took a step back, but I hit the wall, unable to go far.

  “Because you’re not safe,” he said. “You’re involved in the supernatural world, and you’re coming with me and Sage to hunt demons. The less your friends and family know, the better.”

  “So what?” I threw my hands up in frustration. “I’m supposed to let them think I’m missing? That my mom’s missing?”

  “Your mom is missing,” he said.

  “But I’m not.”

  “To them, you are.”

  We stood at a standstill, neither of us backing down.

  “No one can know where you are or what you’re doing.” He spoke softer now, as if maybe he empathized with my feelings. “I know it’s hard, but you have to cut contact. It’s what’s best for them.” His eyes went distant at the last part. Was he thinking about this situation or about something else—like the reason why he was a lone wolf?

  “Fine,” I said, since the last thing I wanted to do was endanger my family or friends. “But the cops know something happened. They got my 911 call. They’re going to be looking for me and my mom.”

  “They won’t find anything,” he said. “The supernatural world is adept at covering our tracks. You’ll just be two more missing person cases. That’s all.”

  “You make it sound like it happens all the time,” I said.

  “It does.”

  “Well, that sounds… scary.” I shivered, wondering how much crime was caused naturally, and how much was supernatural.

  “It is scary.” His voice was stronger now—harsher—and I stepped back so my back was pressed against the wall. “This is all scary. We’re scary. Haven’t you seen enough of my world by now to realize that?”

  “You’re not scary.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized it.

  “You know nothing about me.” He smirked and backed away. “You wouldn’t think that if you did.”

  “I know you saved my life, and that you’re helping me save my mom’s,” I said. “I trust you. Although now that you mention it, I do have more questions. Mainly about what you are and what you can do.”

  “You can say it.” He ambled toward me, his eyes glimmering in challenge. “I won’t bite.”

  “Werewolf,” I whispered, since the predatory way he was watching me was slightly scary. But I meant it that I trusted him, so I got ahold of myself, not wanting him to think he intimidated me. “I have questions about what it’s like to be a werewolf.”

  He stopped when there was only a foot between us, saying nothing. He just watched me with such intensity that I felt like I was being observed under a microscope.

  I swallowed, staying quiet in fear that if I spoke, he’d shut down on me again.

  The silence stretched out between us. Then he reached forward and pressed his palm to the wall, his arm nearly brushing my shoulder.

  He was so close that he took my breath away. But I tilted my head up to meet his gaze, wanting him to see that I was ready for whatever he’d throw at me. I wouldn’t back down.

  “First of all, werewolves don’t exist,” he said. “Werewolves—creatures who are slaves to the full moon—are from mythology. I’m a shifter. Specifically, a wolf shifter.”

  “Okay.” I steadied myself, trying to stay focused. Was it just me, or was he trying to distract me from asking questions by standing so close to me?

  If that’s what he was doing, I wasn’t going to let him win.

  “So you can shift at will.” I kept my gaze steady, reining in my focus.

  “Yes,” he said. “Although we stay in human form as much as possible.”

  “Why?”

  He tilted his head so he was even closer to me. His breath smelled of cinnamon, and I leaned forward as I waited for his answer, until our noses were almost touching.

  Why was he having such a tantalizing affect on me?

  “The more time we spend in human form, the easier it is to hold onto our humanity.” His pupils dilated as he gazed down at me—apparently I wasn’t the only one affected by our close proximity. “So we only shift into wolf form when it’s necessary.”

  “What happens if you stay in your wolf form for too long?” I asked.

  “You don’t want to know.” He pressed his other hand against the wall, so he was caging me in.

  “Yes I do.” I lifted my chin, annoyed that he was telling me what I should and shouldn’t want to know. “That’s why I’m asking.”

  His breathing slowed, and I could have sworn that his eyes dropped down to look at my lips before turning back to meet my gaze again. “I meant that you might not like the answer,” he said.

  “That doesn’t change the fact that I want to know.” My heart pounded so quickly that I wondered if he could hear it.

  He likely could hear it. After all, he did have enhanced senses.

  From the intense way he was watching me, I wasn’t sure if he was about to shut down, answer my question, or kiss me.

  I hoped it was the latter.

  Then I chided myself for giving into his temptation. Because I needed answers—I didn’t need to lose my focus because of Noah’s attempts at distracting me.

  That was all he was doing—distracting me. Because there was no way he was actually interested in me. Right?

  From the way he was looking at me, I couldn’t be sure.

  Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

  I flinched at the interruption.

  “It’s Sage,” Noah muttered, his eyes flickering with irritation. Then the side of his lip curled up mischievously. “If you want to continue this conversation, we could always tell her that we’re not here…” he said.

  “You know I can hear you!” Sage screamed through the door and pounded on it again. Then she barged in, her eyes widening when she saw how close Noah and I were standing. “Looks like a very interesting… conversation.” She said the last word slower, clearly not believing that was what had been going on in here.

  “It was.” I ducked under Noah’s arm and turned to face Sage. My face heated—I imagined it was so red right now that if I looked back at Noah, he’d instantly realize the affect he’d had on me. “I was learning more about werewolves. I mean shifters. Since werewolves don’t exist.”

  “They don’t exist in this realm.” She shrugged. “As for the other realms, who knows?”

  “Other realms?” I repeated. “And here I thought that this world was the only one I had to deal with.”

  “We don’t have access to the other realms, so this one is the only one we need to deal with,” she said. “But that’s not why I came over right now.”

  “Oh?” Noah stepped up to stand next to me and draped one of his arms over my shoulders. My entire body warmed at his touch. “Because Raven and I were having a very interesting… conversation.”

  I shrugged out from under his arm, not in the mood to be toyed with—now, or ever. “It wasn’t like that,” I said, even though I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Sage hadn’t barged in when she did. “Anyway, what’s up?” I tried to sound cool and collected, even though I’d never felt so far from it in my life.

  “I figured you might want to come with me to my room to see which of my clothes fit you,” she said. “Unless you plan on wearing the same outfit for the entire trip?”

  “Great!” I said. Then I cleared my throat, since I’d sounded way too perky. “I mean, yes. That sounds good.”

  “Perfect,” she said. “Come on.”

  Somehow, I managed not to longingly glance back at Noah as I followed her out of the pool house.

&nbs
p; Raven

  Sage’s room was on the first floor, with a door that led to the backyard so we were able to get inside without running into any other members of the Montgomery pack. It was huge, with a canopy bed, crystal chandelier, and a fluffy pastel pink rug in the center.

  I didn’t know what I’d expected her room to look like, but it certainly hadn’t been something so girly.

  “Won’t the others hear me in here?” I whispered once she’d closed the door. “They were pretty clear about wanting me to stay in the pool house and out of the main house.”

  “We all have sound proof spells around our rooms, for privacy,” she said. “It would get really annoying to live in the same house otherwise.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled.

  “But you were able to hear me scream this morning in Noah’s room,” I said.

  “Noah’s not pack,” she said. “The pool house is for guests, so it doesn’t have a sound proof spell.”

  “How far can you hear?” I asked. “You heard me scream, so can you hear anything else?”

  “Like what?” She waggled her eyebrows.

  “Nothing like that.” I laughed nervously, and I had a sinking feeling that my cheeks were turning red again. “Can you hear our regular conversations?”

  “Our hearing’s good, but not that good.” She ran her eyes up and down my body, as if sizing me up. “I think I’ve got some old stuff that’ll fit you,” she said, walking over to the closet and swinging the door open. It was a walk-in so large that it was nearly the same size as the single rooms in the dorms at school.

  “Wow,” I said. “If my closet were that big, maybe you and Noah wouldn’t have found me when I was hiding out.”

  “We would have found you,” she said. “We could smell you the moment we walked in. All we had to do was follow our noses. They led us straight to where you were hiding.”

  The moment they’d decided to come to my apartment, I hadn’t stood a chance.

  “I’m sorry I stabbed you,” I said. “I was just so terrified when I was in there. I had no idea who was breaking in, so when you opened the door to the closet, I just… reacted.”

  “No need to apologize,” she said. “I would have done the same thing in your shoes. Speaking of…” She dug through piles upon piles of shoes in her closet, eventually holding up a worn pair of black combat boots. “Can you fit into size eights?”

  “I’m a seven and a half, but it should be fine,” I said.

  “Good.” She tossed the shoes over at me, one after the other. They landed right in front of my feet. “Try those on.”

  I did as asked. They were slightly too big, but they’d work. They were also a total different style that anything I’d ever worn. The boots I owned were all shiny and sleek, whereas these laced up all the way to the top. They made me look like way more of a badass than I’d ever felt I had the potential to be.

  “What’s this for?” I asked, poking a strange, narrow pocket on the inner side of one of the boots.

  “For this.” She walked over to her lingerie chest, opened the top drawer, and pulled out a shiny knife. “You got a good stab at me with that crystal wand, but I figured this would be a more practical way to defend yourself in the future.”

  I took the knife from her and studied it. It felt awkward and uncomfortable to hold. I’d always been the non-violent type—I supposed non-violence was bound to rub off on me from living with my mom.

  But I was smart enough to know that while accompanying two shifters on a hunt to kill demons, I needed a way to defend myself. There wouldn’t always be crystal wands—or other everyday objects that could double as weapons—nearby for the taking.

  “You put it in the pocket of your left boot,” Sage said. “That is, assuming you’re right handed?”

  “I am.” I reached down and placed the knife in the pocket. It fit snugly inside, and I took a few practice steps to see how it felt.

  It would take a bit of time to get used to one shoe weighing more than the other, but I hoped I’d adjust quickly.

  “And Sage?” I asked, and she turned back around to look at me. “Thank you. Everything that you—and Noah—are doing to help me find my mom means a lot. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you…”

  “If you pass the Angel Trials, I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” she said with a wink.

  “What exactly are the Angel Trials?” I asked, since no one had given me a direct explanation yet.

  “I’m not sure.” She ran a hand through her hair, as if the question made her nervous. “All I know is that it’s a way for the Earth Angel to decide which humans to turn into Nephilim.”

  “It’s going to be dangerous,” I said. “Isn’t it?”

  “Probably.” Her eyes were serious, but she shook it off, replacing the seriousness with a smile. “But I doubt it’ll be any more dangerous than coming with me and Noah on our demon hunt. And there’s no point in worrying about it yet. Let’s just focus on the task at hand—finding you some clothes that fit so you’re not stuck wearing the same smelly outfit for our entire journey.”

  Raven

  It didn’t take long to find and pack up some jeans and tanks that fit me. Sage also had some never-been-worn underwear with the tags still on, which would last long enough until we could stop by a store to pick up a pack of my own.

  “I think that’s it,” Sage said, zipping up the packed bag.

  “How are we going to fit the bags and ourselves on the motorcycles?” I asked.

  “We won’t be taking the bikes,” she said. “It’ll be too difficult with you tagging along.”

  I frowned at the reminder of how much of an inconvenience I was to them. “Without the bikes, how are we getting to New Orleans?” I asked. “I’m guessing we can’t fly, since there’s no way we’d be able to get all the weapons through security.”

  “We’d have to fly private to avoid security,” she said. “I asked Flint for permission to take the jet, but he said no. My insufferable brother refuses to make this easy for us. So we’ll be taking my car, Margo.”

  “You named your car?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Cars are part of the family.” She crossed her arms, looking truly offended. “Every car needs a good name.”

  “Well, I’m looking forward to meeting Margo,” I said. “And I’m not gonna lie—I’m glad we’re going by car. My hair’s barely survived a few motorcycle rides through LA—I doubt it would make it on a drive halfway across the country.”

  “I’m with you on that,” she said, running her fingers through her own long hair. “But Noah hates cars. He says they’re too confining. He’s why we got the bikes in the first place.”

  “Speaking of Noah,” I started, figuring that now—before we left on the journey—was my time to bring this up without making anything awkward. “Are the two of you together? Like, are you dating?” My voice rose too much at the end of each question, and I felt my cheeks heat up again in the clear indication that they were turning bright pink.

  My attempt at not being awkward had clearly failed drastically.

  “Why are you asking?” She tilted her head, a knowing smile on her face.

  “No reason,” I said quickly.

  “Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think that if Noah and I were dating, I would have been pissed about what I walked in on earlier?” She pointed her thumb toward the pool house, although it wasn’t necessary since I knew what she was referring to.

  “We weren’t doing anything,” I said. “We were just talking.”

  “You were staring at each other like you couldn’t wait to rip each other’s clothes off.” She held up a hand to stop me from speaking. “Don’t deny it—I’m not blind.”

  I pressed my lips together, knowing that denying it would be futile. But I didn’t want to admit to it, either.

  “You’re not mad?” I said instead.

  “Noah and I are hunting partners,” she said. “We’re definitely not dating. It�
�s not like that between us, and it’s not ever going to be like that between us. You can trust me on that.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I asked. “You’re both single, you’re both attractive, and you’ve been doing a lot of traveling together while hunting…” I let the final part hang, since it was more than obvious where I was going with this. “You’re both being extremely generous by helping me find my mom, so if you have any feelings for him, I don’t want to impose. That’s all. Not like I think he’s even interested in me—because I don’t think he is—but I thought it would be best to be up front with each other.”

  Sage shook her head and gave me a close-lipped smile, as if everything I’d just said amused her. “In the conversation you were having with Noah about shifters, I guess he didn’t get to the part about imprinting and mating, did he?” she asked.

  “No…” I said, my eyes wide. I’d never heard of the word “imprinting” before, but I knew enough about mating to have an idea about where this conversation might be heading.

  Sage jumped onto her bed, situating herself amongst the massive amounts of shiny, glittery pillows. “Come, sit,” she said with a smile, motioning to the end of the bed. “You’ll want to make yourself comfortable for this one.”

  I wasn’t sure what had spurned this sudden girlish comfort she apparently felt around me, but I did as she asked, perching on the end of the bed.

  “Do you believe in soul mates?” she asked.

  Apparently, we were jumping straight into the deep stuff.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged, since it was a complicated question. “I’ve always thought it was unlikely that there’s only one person out there for each person. With billions of people in the world, the chances of meeting your soul mate would be slim to none. Those odds are incredibly depressing.”

  “Unless there was a divine plan that made sure you’d run into your soul mate when you were ready to meet them,” she suggested.

  “Maybe.” It was the type of fairy tale idea I’d have scoffed at before, but after being exposed to the supernatural world, I had no idea what to believe anymore. “I guess I’ve always looked at it like this—there are some people who we’re naturally more attracted to and drawn to than others. If both people feel that connection and choose to act on it, they can fall in love and become soul mates. So, a person has a bunch of possible soul mates out there, and eventually chooses the one they want to spend the rest of their life with.”