Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(102)

"I'm dreaming. This is all a big nightmare, right?"

Phoenix smiled as his fangs slowly retracted. "I'm afraid not, but now that you're one of them, there are some things you need to know."

"One very important thing," Mena said, and Alex turned to look at her. She had crossed the room, to where Phoenix's bed was, and she was looking at a small purple bottle in her hand. She twisted off the top.

"Mena," Phoenix said as he stood, "what are you doing? We only have one—"

She brought the lip of the bottle to her lips and turned it up, downing all its contents.

"No!" Phoenix shouted.

"What was that?" Roel said as Mena placed a hand to her stomach, an ill look on her face.

"Damn it!" Phoenix yelled as he picked up a vase and hurled it across the room where it shattered into a million, tiny blue pieces of crystal all over the stone floor. "Why did you do that?" he screamed at her.

"I can't sense her," Mena said. "She's asleep now. You need to lock me up, Phoenix. I don't know how much time the elixir will give us, but you have to tell Alex about the rest. She can't know that we know what he needs to do now. He has less than forty-eight hours before we will have two moonrising wolves to deal with. She'll know after he names his. I think that was her plan, for them to take over the world together. If you don't lock me up, she will grab him and run."


Phoenix brought his hands up to place them on his hips as he shook his head, the angry scowl still in place on his face. "I'm not locking you in a cage until the next full moon, Mena."

Alex watched her as she went to him and held out her hand. "Give me the key. I'll do it myself. You need to tell Alex what to do, because I'm running out of time. She can't know about what we're doing unless she's locked up where she can't get to any of you or run away."

"She won't kill me, Mena. She's linked to us."

"She will run, though. And she'll make sure you don't find her until after it's too late. Lock me up. Find another Alpha and, if for some reason you can't do it in time, you know what has to be done. It will be easier to take my life if she can't get away from you."

"What?" the brunette girl said. "Nobody is killing you, Mena. You're linked to my husband!"

"If I don't say her name in time, everyone else on the planet will become what she is; you know that, Tracy."

What the hell did she say? It didn't make any damn sense! "Wait…" Alex said, "…what?"

"Give me the key, Phoenix."

He sighed. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I'm sure it's the only way." Mena held out her hand. "I'll toss it out of my reach once the door is locked. Come and get it later when you bring me something to eat," she said, a small smile playing across her lips.

"The key is silver. You can't touch it without it burning you. I'll do it. The others can fill Alex in about naming his wolf while we're gone."

She turned her head to look at Alex, and then she walked to him, taking his hands in hers. "I'm really sorry she pulled you into all this mess, Alex. I never wanted you to get hurt or become like me. It's too late now. You need to listen to them. Do what they say. I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with me after all this—I won't force you to stay—but naming your wolf is important. Promise me that you will."

"Mena, I don't understand. I still don't believe any of this."

She gave him a soft smile. "I know you don't, but that doesn't make it any less real or dangerous. Promise me that you will listen to them and do as they say."

He stared in her pleading eyes, scared for her and afraid for himself for what was still to come. His hands came up to frame her face, then he leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. He frowned when she didn't respond to the gesture. Was she really telling the truth? Was there another woman—wolf—inside her that had been controlling her and dating him? He didn't want to believe it, but this didn't feel like a joke anymore. He huffed. "I will do whatever you need me to do."

"Help them find the rogue wolves. Make sure they pay for what they've done to Katie and to you."

"And to you," Alex said. "I promise."

"She is going to wake up soon, Mena. Meridia said the potion would only last long enough for you to do what needed to be done to save yourself."

Mena nodded as she backed away from Alex then took Phoenix's hand. "I'm sorry," she mouthed the words again as he led her out of the room.





Chapter 51



Roel





Roel clapped his hands as Brad and Heather emerged from the bathroom, startling Alex. "Time for business. Sit down, Rhodes."

To his surprise, the detective did as he was told. Roel guessed Alex realized it was only a matter of time before his knees buckled beneath him and his ass landed on the floor, anyway.

"This isn't real," Alex said. "Werewolves and vampires are just myths used to scare children."

"Humans aren't that creative, Cop," Heath said. "The stories had to come from somewhere."