Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(101)

Mena blew out a huge breath and took a step toward Alex. He took a step back. She stopped, the hurt in her eyes evident. "There is so much you don't know, Alex. I know you won't understand it, but I would like you to keep an open mind and try to. Can you do that?"

"I'm listening," Alex said.

She wrung her hands together in front of her as she spoke. "I'm not sure if telling you what you are first would be better or if I should start at the beginning, and tell you what I am."

Alex crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. "Start at the beginning. We'll get to what you think I am later… if I stay that long."

She nodded. "Do you remember at the restaurant when I told you that Marc struck me and I left him?"

"Was that a lie, too?"

"No, it wasn't. I have never lied to you."

"You said you weren't seeing Phoenix."

"I didn't tell you that. She did."

"Just get to the point, Mena."

"All right. After Marc and I fought, I left him. I was going to my brother's house across town, but I couldn't see well through the storm, and I nearly hit a pack of wolves as they crossed the highway."

"Wolves? In Montgomery?" Alex rolled his eyes, but didn't comment further.

"I pulled into a motel parking lot, intending to check into a room for the night. I had no business driving in the condition Marc put me in. I ran into Jaxon there. At first I thought he was trying to kidnap me, but after I saw the wolves closing in on us, I realized he was trying to save me. And he did… try."

"There haven't been any reports of wolves being spotted in Montgomery, Mena. You need to get—"

"Will you shut up and let her talk, Cop?" Heath said.

"I'm tired of being lied to. You've all made me look like a fool—" Alex's words were cut short when Brad stepped forward and started taking his shirt off. "What are you doing?" Brad took his boots off then unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans.


Brad shrugged. "Heather gets pissed when I shift in my clothes. It rips them to shreds."

Alex's brow lifted, silently questioning what he'd just heard the guy say. "Shift?"

Brad winked at him as a grin spread across his face. "Yeah. I'm a werewolf, dude." And before Alex could even comprehend what he'd said, Brad dropped his boxers and fell to his hands and knees.

Alex stared in horror as the muscles under Brad's flesh began to move unnaturally and, from one blink to another, a massive wolf leapt toward him, its teeth bared and snapping at Alex's neck.

It took him a full five seconds to realize that he was lying on his back on the floor and that a real live wolf was about to kill him. His hands were pushed against its chest. The gray fur was real; he could feel it on his fingers. The growl was real; he could feel it vibrating through his palms and up his arms. The wolf's breath was real; he could feel the heat of it on his face as the wolf snarled at him.

"That's enough, Brad. Let him up," Mena said.

Alex could have sworn the wolf chuckled as it stepped away.

Using his heels and elbows, Alex crab-walked backward about ten feet, his eyes wide with terror.

"That's one way of getting to the point," Roel said on a chuckle.

Alex blinked a few times. "A were—werewolf?" he stuttered.

The blond girl huffed as she picked up the clothes Brad took off before he'd turned into a huge dog. "C'mon, honey. You nearly gave him a heart attack." She walked to the bathroom, with the massive wolf following behind her, wagging its tail as it went.

"Did he just—"

"He's not very patient," Heath said. "He hates waiting for the punch-line of a story, even if he already knows it."

"He just turned into a dog!" Alex shouted after he got to his feet.

"We aren't of the canis lupus species," Mena said. "We're shifters. We are lycanthrope shifters."

"We? You're like him?" Alex said, aghast.

"As are you… now," Heath said.

"Actually, Mena is the Alpha Lycanthrope shifter of Montgomery," Phoenix said. "She is their pack leader. And she is your pack leader, too, Rhodes."

Alex bent at the waist and put his hands on his knees as he tried to figure out if this was a nightmare or not. Waking up would be nice.

"Those weren't dogs that attacked you," Mena said. "The gun you shot one with didn't kill it because your bullets aren't silver. However, the bullet that pierced Marc's heart was. The whole time I was married to him, I didn't know his secret. He was the Alpha. He showed up at the motel with a dozen of his pack to get me. After Jaxon fled with me, Marc shifted and chased us down. He bit me, and then I shot him. That's why I'm their Alpha now, because I took his life. Jaxon brought me here, so Phoenix could tell me what I am."

Doing a whole lot of heavy breathing, Alex raised up to look at the guy she'd just mentioned. "Are you one of them, too?"

"Who me? No, I'm something much better." Phoenix's grin was devilish as he flashed his teeth, and then something happened that Alex thought couldn't be possible; the guy's canines lengthened behind his lower lip. He opened his mouth and put a finger to one of the pointy fangs, toying with it. "I'm what the humans call a night-crawler, the undead, a kindred, a cainite, a sire, a sect, a prince… a master." Phoenix leaned forward in his chair, placing one elbow on a knee. "I am the High Vampire of Montgomery, Detective. Tell your Chief that and see if you don't earn yourself a pretty new straitjacket."