Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(108)

Ace shrugged as he made his way down the hall after the others, choosing the first bedroom on the left to sleep in for the night, or week… or month, however long he was planning to stay. "No biggie. I'm sure I can handle anything I need to in the front seat of your car. You don't mind if I borrow it for the night, do you?"

Phoenix pressed his lips together, dangerously close to snapping. He had to remind himself that humanity needed this *.

Brad dropped two suitcases and two duffle bags beside one of the rooms as he looked back and forth between Phoenix and Ace. "They're leaving? I thought he was doing the bond tonight."

Waving a hand through the air, Ace tossed his suitcase on the bed and unzipped it with the other. "There's still plenty of time for that," he said. "Care if my friends take your Suburban out for a spin tonight? We're not all going to fit in the Corvette."

"Yeah, I do mind," Brad replied. "My wife will castrate me if it gets scratched."

Ace snorted. "You're married? What a dork!"

"Hey," Brad complained, "Heath is, too."

Ace stopped shuffling through his suitcase and blinked over at Brad in real confusion. "Is that, like, a thing down here, to fall in love and spend eternity with one woman?"

Phoenix interrupted before Brad could try and defend the life decisions he'd made. "When do you plan to bond with her?"

"You in a hurry, nightcrawler? The full moon isn't for another seven days."

"Yeah," Brad said, "but we only have five until Justice breaks our door down."

Ace froze, and the muscles around his jaw began to twitch as he glared at Brad. "Roel told me I was the only one who agreed to bond with her."

"He doesn't have any interest in bonding with her, dumb f*ck," Brad said. "He's coming to kill her so he can take over her pack. Didn't Roel tell you anything, or do you just not give a shit?"

Moving the piece of Trident to the other side of his mouth, Ace began to chew again, and whatever had been going through his mind, was pushed far out of his expression and replaced with a practiced, and well defined, poker face. "I'll meet her tomorrow."

There was more to this, Phoenix thought. The two men had a past; he was sure of it. Had the infamous Justice tried to take over Ace's pride at one time? He didn't know, but he vowed to find out before Ace returned to Nevada.

"Is he ready to do this?" Roel said as he joined them in the doorway.

"Roel!" Ace said. "You have a vehicle, right? Go out with us tonight. We're hitting some clubs. I heard Hellhound is the best club in town. Phoenix, will you watch Chaos while I'm out? Thanks." Without waiting for an answer, he walked to the bathroom and pulled the door shut behind him.

"Wait," Roel said as he blinked a few times. "Did I just get volunteered to take seven lions out clubbing?"

"No, you got told like a bitch that you're taking his pride out tonight," Brad said, after a moment, and then sighed. "I don't like him."

"Neither do I," Phoenix said, glancing down at the dog with a frown. Chaos met his stare then stuck his tongue out to lick his hand. Phoenix jerked it away and wiped the slobber on his jeans.

"Guys," Roel said, "give him a chance. You've just met him."

"I'm a good judge of character," Phoenix said.

"Well," Brad started, "on a brighter note, it doesn't look as if Phoenix will have to worry about Ace taking Mena away from him now."


Phoenix let out a long breath as he turned to go to his chamber, Chaos trotting along behind him. "I wasn't worried," he lied. "Lea," Phoenix called out.

Lea walked from her room. "Yes, Master?"

Phoenix sighed as he looked down at the dog. "Take care of that until morning."

Lea blinked down at the dog, and then a bright smile curved her lips up as she knelt down to ruffle the dog's ears. "Hey, boy! What's your name?"

"His name is Chaos." Phoenix said.

He'd never seen Lea's smile so big before, and he entertained the idea of her having her own dog here. He wasn't particularly fond of animals. It wasn't like he hated them or anything; he'd just never had a pet before, so he didn't really know what to do with them.

If he remembered correctly, Lea had a birthday coming up. A dog wouldn't make up for everything she'd missed out on in the last decade, but maybe it was a start.

"Thank you, Lea," he said, and he wasn't just talking about her dogsitting.

She smiled up at him, and nodded.





Chapter 54



Brad





The smell of bacon drifted through the door that led into the kitchen from the garage as Brad let himself in.

"I'm starv—" he started, but his words, and his feet, stopped once he caught sight of what—or maybe who was better in this sense—was standing in front of the stove, wearing nothing but a pink button-up men's dress shirt, and flipping bacon in a skillet with a fork.

It wasn't so much the girl—that he'd never met before, by the way—or even the fact that she was one-hundred percent human that had him rendered speechless. It was the way Lea stood across the room, glaring at the back of the girl's head, one fist on her hip, the hilt of a silver-coated machete palmed in the other, and Ace's dog sitting on the floor beside her, that had his vocal chords paralyzed.