Angel Unlocked

Chapter 11

Jasper was glued to my side for the rest of the day. Even though I kept apologizing for running away, he kept saying it wasn’t my fault. I guess Eren had a suspicion about my mixed blood and wanted to confirm it. Azalea was furious with the way he did it though. He could create different emotions along with his glamour. It’s extremely rare to have that skill, Luther explained it to me since everyone refused to tell me. I guess the whole family had a yelling match about what happened. I felt worse about taking off because of that. I guess Jasper was so upset that he threatened his father. Azalea and Isabelle refused to even talk to him at the moment. I felt bad for Eren. He was just trying to confirm everything to protect his son.

I walked around the house looking for him with Jasper glued to my side. My frustration grew the more I searched. No one knew what I was doing but they never asked either. I still hadn’t met Azalea yet, she locked herself in their room. Jasper said she refused to even look at her husband. Well if I couldn’t find him then maybe I should see her. I made my way to her room on the second floor. Jasper watched me curiously as I followed my magic to her door. I had already searched the house with my magic when I couldn’t locate Eren physically.

I knocked on the door lightly. “Go away Eren! I don’t want to see you right now.”

“It’s Angel. I was wondering if I could speak to you.”

I could hear her moving toward the door. Jackson and Jeremy immediately kissed my temples and left. The door opened upon another version of Isabelle. I still couldn’t believe the resemblance. She smiled at me and pulled me into a hug. I felt the shock as always but I ignored it. I knew this was Jasper’s mother.

“Oh sweetheart, I am so sorry. My mate forgets that there are better ways of handling others. I’m so mad at him for scaring you.”

She pulled back to look into my eyes. I smiled, “I wish everyone would let that go. Eren meant well and he was trying to look out for his family. I would have done the same in his shoes.”

Jasper and Azalea looked at me with their mouths hanging open. I just giggled. “I realize that none of you know me very well yet but please believe me when I say that I hold no animosity towards anyone trying to protect their family. I’ve done some pretty dumb things just trying to protect mine. Eren wanted to protect Jasper and I understand that fully. I appreciate his concern. I overreacted. Everyone speaks about the demon races like they are evil personified so I freaked myself out before I thought about any of it.”

Jasper pulled me against his side and kissed the top of my head. Azalea stared at me with appreciation. “I know about the spell on your memories, what I didn’t know was that you were so wise. I believe we need to find my mate before he suffers any longer.” The laughter in her voice about Eren made happy.

Just like her daughter she linked her arm in mine and tugged me towards the stairs. Jasper followed behind us laughing. Isabelle and her mother were so much alike. I felt hope bloom in my heart as we descended the stairs.

“I know where he is. He always goes the same place when I’m mad at him. I know you’re mated to my son but don’t let him off the hook when he messes up. These men need to realize that we may be the fairer s*x but we’re a force to be reckoned with.” I saw Jasper roll his eyes at his mother.

“Don’t worry about that Miss Azalea, I am a force to be reckoned with.”

“Call me Azalea honey. Good, you’ll be able to hold your own when it comes to all these men.” She winked at me and pulled me outside.

“Azalea. Jasper found out when we first met as a matter of fact. I thought he was an intruder so we fought.”

Azalea stopped in her tracks and turned to her son. “You did what!”

“It was my fault honestly. I started it when he was trying to be polite. Don’t worry he wasn’t able to touch me until I knocked him down.”

“Right on my ass in fact.” Azalea laughed at her son.

“Oh that’s even better! I would have loved to see that. Please tell me Isabelle saw it.”

We started walking again towards a run-down cabin set away from the others. “She came in afterwards and yelled at me.” Jasper sounded amused at our exchange.

“As she should. You know better. But this little lady handed you your ass. Your father will love that.” I giggled at her enthusiasm.

We had reached the cabin and I looked around. It looked worse up close. “Eren get out here right now!”

I stifled my laughter as Azalea yelled for him. She sounded as if she was still mad. Even her expression suggested she was still upset. I figured I should play along for now. Eren came out of the rubble with his expression blank. Like father, like son. I looked to Jasper and he had the same blank look. I sighed, this was going to be bad.

“I believe you have something to say to our son’s mate.” Azalea could be an actress, her voice was very curt as she addressed her mate.

“I did not mean to scare you little lady. I was merely testing my theory and ensuring that my son wasn’t being tricked. I see now that I should have handle the situation differently.” I could hear the remorse in his words. I couldn’t keep up my act any longer.

“Eren.” I made my voice soft as I addressed him. “We all make mistakes. I’ve made plenty trying to protect my family. I respect the fact that you want to protect your family. Everyone needs to let this go, I would have done the same thing if our roles were reversed. When I heard the word demon, I acted without thought. That was wrong. I shouldn’t have ran without thinking about what that would mean. Please come back home with us.”

He smiled at me then. I saw Azalea smiling out of the corner of my eye. “You are very wise for one so young. We must work on the spell containing your memories. I would very much like to get to know our new daughter.”

He embraced me and thanked me. I felt Jasper pull me back into his arms. Eren looked at his wife to see if he was forgiven. She laughed and jumped into his arms. I could feel his relief.

“You still aren’t off the hook yet. You should be thankful that our new daughter is so understanding and forgiving.” Azalea teased her husband as we made our way back to our home.

I laughed and veered off from the others. Jasper caught my arm to stop me. I didn’t let them ask, “I have someone to apologize to myself. I kind of did the same thing to someone. I need to make it right. I was angry and let myself lash out.”

Jasper smiled and linked our hands. Azalea smiled at me and nodded. Eren watched me closely.

“Truly remarkable.” It was said more to himself than anyone but I blushed at the compliment.

Azalea hugged the both of us and went in search of her daughter with Eren trailing behind. I didn’t envy them, that conversation will be tough. Jasper allowed me to take the lead. We walked towards our new command center in silence. I saw Jeremy and Jackson come out of the home and head our way. I didn’t wait on them as I entered the cottage. Jason was working on the surveillance system with Tony and Lee. They had started putting up the cameras already.

Jason turned to me as we entered. “Everything is getting set up. Glad you’re better.”

“I just needed rest. Speaking of, when was the last time you got some?”

“Before we got here.” Tony sounded upset. I didn’t blame him.

“Jason.” The reprimand in my voice made Tony smile triumphally and Lee chuckled.

“There’s just so much to do. I have to get everything done.” Jason whined.

“Tony, will you please take Jason and put him to bed. Jason all of this is not more important than you. I want you to get some sleep and let us handle this for now. If we get stuck then you can handle it after you sleep.”

Tony grabbed Jason’s arm and dragged him away as he was grumbling. Lee laughed and returned to his cameras. I walked over to the wall of computers that Jason had set up. That boy really was a magician with electronics. I pulled up a secure line and encrypted it so it couldn’t be traced. Jeremy and Jackson came in puzzled.

“She made him go to bed.” The laughter in Lee’s voice caused me to blush.

“He hasn’t slept since he got here. If I didn’t make him then he would be up for days until everything was set up perfectly.”

Everyone laughed as I hit connect. I waited with baited breath as the line rang. I really hoped John would pick up. I felt terrible for how we had bickered like children. It wasn’t right for him to take his anger and frustration on me, but I was wrong for how I reacted.

“Well, call to threaten me again.” I saw John’s tired face on the screen.

“John. Please, I’m calling to make peace.” I begged for him to hear reason.

“Oh you want to make peace now that anyone can challenge you or your beloved misfits. Makes sense since you have a lot of enemies here.”

I heard a growl from behind me but I blocked everyone out. “Just let me say what I called for and then you can do whatever it is you please.”

“Fine.” The word held more hatred than I thought he was capable.

“I realize now that you are blaming me for everything that took place.” John started to say something but I put my hands up. “I’ve thought about this for awhile now. Even though Blaine was deranged and would have been found out eventually, I was the catalyst. I drew his attention and when I refused to share his bed, he grew angry. Some of the missions I went on were meant to kill me. Like Paris. He was furious when I survived that ambush. He was even more upset that I had killed all of his mercenaries even after they roughed me up pretty bad. The incident created our warning system to each other. I should have told you then about Blaine and his activities but I couldn’t”

I paused as tears fell from my eyes. John was really watching me now. “I thought keeping it from you would spare you the pain of having to dismiss him yourself. I was wrong. Then when Widow betrayed us and he helped her, it brought to light his treachery. I was the one to bring it to light. So I understand that you would blame me. I will take your anger and blame. You can hate me if you want and leave the order on my head. I deserve it for taking your son from you and speaking to you the way I did. Just know that I will always be grateful to you, my adoptive father, for saving me that day and taking me in when you should have left me be. I am your greatest mistake. I will live with that knowledge until death takes me. I am sorry for how I acted earlier. It was uncalled for and childish of me. I want you to know that I hold no animosity toward you and I will leave you and yours alone. I will never actively hunt any of you.”

I sighed as the line went dead. I didn’t want to hear anything he would say. My pain was already too great. I turned around to find the room full. Every was looking at me with a mixture of pity and pride. I wiped the tears from my face that I had allowed to fall and squared my shoulders. I was about to say something when Jake and Sara rushed me. They wrapped me into a hug as they both cried. I tried to fight the tears but they came anyway. Brooks and L joined our hug and openly cried. Jason and Tony joined as well even though they were supposed to be sleeping. Olesia joined next holding on to my hand tightly. Lee finally broke down and joined our group hug.

I could feel the others in the room join into our moment. They were still back enough to let us lean on each other. A phone began to ring in the distance but none of us moved. My tears began to slow as I tried to let the pain go. I felt Jasper, Jackson, and Jeremy in my mind giving me their strength. I cleared my throat and looked at the members of my family. Whether we were misfits or not, I wouldn’t trade any of them for anything.

“John might be right, we are a bunch of misfits. But I wouldn’t change meeting any of you for anything in any world. Through our highs and lows, we grew together and became closer. I am honored to call each one of you family.” I held back the tears and they hugged me again.

The phone rang again. Sara grumbled as she emerged to get it. Jake suppressed the laughter but you could see it in his eyes, Brooks didn’t hold back. Sara gave him a dirty look as she answered the call.

“Talk to me.”

I smiled as Jake whispered I had rubbed off on her.

“Sir? I don’t understand.” She paused listening, “are you sure?”

Sara stared directly at me as she placed the phone on speaker. I didn’t have long to wait as the caller spoke.

“Oh my Angel. I’m so sorry. I removed the orders on you and your crew. Please forgive me for being so foolish.”

The call ended and left us all dumbfounded. We stood in silence trying to understand what just happened. I heard typing after a moment.

“He removed the order. Replacing it with one stating that we are all on personal leave and are not to be harmed.” Jason’s voice held wonder after he found the new order.

“You are all free then.” I smiled at the family I had. “You can take a well deserved break. Maybe go on vacation.”

I heard Brooks snort and Jake grumble, “If you think we’re leaving you then you’ve lost your mind. We’re with you boss lady. “

I felt the happiness in my very soul. “So be it.”