Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(112)

Ace patiently waited for the wolf's thoughts and memories to come to him, and after they did, he smiled to himself when he discovered her name.

He wasn't prepared for what happened next, though. Nothing could have ever prepared him for it, not even if someone had told him it was going to happen.

Feelings and emotions that he had never known or felt before swept through him. A foreignness coursed through his veins, but it was welcome, exotic almost. The femininity of the emotions leant a softness to their edges, even in their rawness. He hated them and clung to their power over him at the same time. Nothing had ever been worse or better. It was like night and day, fire and ice, wind and water.

It was Ace and Andromeda. Two parts to a whole, something he had no idea he needed, until now. Why had he never realized he needed this?

For the first time in his existence, he finally found someone he was willing to give up his life for. She was his… his Andromeda.

When he felt the claws in his back retract, he began to shift back to his human form. As he opened his eyes, beautiful pale-green ones stared back at him.

"Andromeda," he whispered. "I am yours."

She smiled weakly. His heart melted.

She threw her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Andromeda! My wolf's name is Andromeda!"

"Mena!" the * who'd tried to assassinate him earlier shouted, and a growl vibrated out of Ace's throat as his head shot around to glare at the guy. If Peanut thought he still had any chance with Andra, Ace was definitely up for the challenge now.


"Get Rhodes out of here!" Phoenix said.

"No—" Alex started, but Roel got in his face and backed him against a wall as he whispered something so low even Ace couldn't make it out, but he guessed it was good advice, because Peanut stopped resisting, and then stormed out of the room without another word.

"Mena?" Phoenix said in a quiet voice.

"I can't talk to anybody right now, Ace," Andra said through his thoughts. "Please, just get me out of here. Tell them I will talk to them after I have rested. I am so tired."

Ace got to his feet, then picked her up in his arms and walked to the cage door.

Phoenix unlocked the door and opened it for him. He met the vampire's gaze as Andra turned her face into his chest, hiding her eyes from their company. "She said she will talk to everyone after she has rested. We will be in my room."

With that, he walked out of the cage and carried her upstairs.





Chapter 56



Phoenix





There could have been worse things to wake up to than a ninety-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback licking your face, Phoenix thought as he pushed Chaos away with a hand, and then groaned as he sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes with his knuckles.

"How did you get in here?" he asked the dog.

"Oh, he came in with me."

Phoenix's head whipped around to see that Ace had pulled a chair up beside the bed, and he was just, well, he was just sitting there.

"What time is it?"

"Daytime."

Phoenix huffed.

"I can't, for the life of me, think why he likes you so much, Andromeda either, but that's why I'm in here, in case you were wondering. I'm trying to figure out what she sees in you. It may be because you smell like cotton candy. It would explain why Chaos is always licking you; he likes cotton candy."

Phoenix looked down at the dog licking his arm and jerked it away with a growl. "I don't smell like cotton candy," he snapped. "Stop licking me!" he shouted at the dog, but it didn't seem to faze him much. Chaos just stretched his paws out in front of him and laid his head down.

"Yeah, ya do," Ace said.

"How is Mena?"

"Her name is Andromeda, and she's sleeping."

"Mena doesn't have to go by her wolf name."

"She is an Alpha, Phoenix. She kinda does."

Blowing out a breath, he snatched his robe from the foot of the bed with the tips of his fingers and put it on before tossing back the comforter. "Do you have an actual reason for being in here, besides watching me sleep?"

"I don't like being sad," Ace said simply.

Phoenix stared at him for a long moment, waiting for something else, an explanation of why he was sharing this piece of private information with him, maybe. Nothing came. "We're not hugging."

Ace shook his head, but his usual confident grin was missing. Was this guy serious? "I don't want a hug from you. I only have two emotions: happy and pissed off. The bond forces me to feel everything Andromeda is feeling, emotion wise. She cried herself to sleep a little over an hour ago. It was a pretty rough night for both of us," he said as he studied his linked fingers.

"That wouldn't have been a problem if you had let her come to me," Phoenix said through a clenched jaw.

"I wasn't stopping her, though I doubt I could have actually let her walk out of the room, knowing she was going to meet you in your bed."

"Are you saying she didn't want to see me?"

"No, she absolutely did, but leaving me was harder for her."

Phoenix's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

Ace shook his head. "I don't know how to explain it. We need each other. Just being awake and down here while she is upstairs…" Ace rubbed both hands over his face. "It makes me anxious to be away from her."