Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(113)

"You love her," Phoenix stated.

"No. It's deeper than that. I can read her thoughts and feel her emotions, and she can do the same with me. I have no secrets anymore. She knows them all, and I'm okay with that. I would have never said that before the bonding ritual, about anyone… ever. I don't regret bonding with her. Even questioning that makes me ill to my stomach. But if I'd known how powerful this thing was, I never would have agreed to do it. I thought I would just be able to bond with her, form an alliance and go back home with seventy-eight new pack members added to my roster. Not to mention your clan would be on my side from now on. I honestly didn't see why so many Alphas passed up the opportunity… until I felt it for myself. This thing is strong, Phoenix. It's not like your nexus spell. This is permanent. It's inviolable."

"I was afraid it might be," Phoenix said, and took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm the blood rushing in his veins. This month had been the best and worst of his life, and he felt like he was about to lose everything. He quelled the desperation rising inside him. Gritting his teeth, he asked, "What would you like me to do about Mena being miserable, and making you miserable in the process? I'm sorry, but we're not moving in together and letting her sleep between us. My door swings a lot of ways, but it doesn't swing that way."


"I want you to break up with her," Ace said.

Phoenix clucked his tongue against his teeth a few times. "Yeah, that's not going to happen in this lifetime."

"I'm totally serious. She's holding on to something that can never happen. When she's sad, I'm sad. When I'm pissed off, she feels my rage. It's not that I don't want her to be happy with you—I totally get the whole love thing now, really—but I can't control how I feel when she thinks about being with you. It's torture, torture for us both. I'm a bonded male. She is mine. That won't change. But as long as she thinks there is a future with you, she will be miserable. If you'll just end it, cut all ties, she will get over you in time. Andromeda refuses to think about the future. When she does, you are there, and so am I. She knows my pride is in Las Vegas, but, in her vision, she shuts down before I leave; she won't face the fact that she can't have us both."

"Do you realize what you're asking me to do? I'm over eight centuries old, and I've never been in love, until her."

"Is it like taking a plastic spoon and cutting your heart out with it? 'Cause that's the vibe I was getting from her last night because she couldn't make herself come to you. Holding her was the only thing that helped. We never even spoke a word out loud to each other; we said everything with our minds. Broken hearts suck, by the way. I've only experienced it through her, but that was enough."

Phoenix shook his head. "No. I can't do it."

"You can't or you won't?"

"Both! I love her!" Phoenix thundered.

"Then set her free so she can be happy!" Ace shouted back.

"I don't know how," Phoenix said in a weak voice.

Ace sighed. "You could always be an * and make her hate you. That's how I usually get rid of cuddlers." He ran his hands through his hair and stalled for a moment. "There's something else."

"I'm not sure I can handle anything else right now, Ace."

"It's kinda important. It's pretty bad." The seriousness in Ace's voice gave Phoenix pause. It was rare, from what he'd seen of the arrogant playboy, and something made him listen.

Phoenix walked to his chair and sat down, letting his head fall back so he could stare at the ceiling, instead of the guy who had just asked him to step out into the sunlight. And now he wanted to pile on more bad news. "Go on."

"I got a text this morning from my cousin, congratulating me on my bonding with Montgomery's pack leader. He said he'd see us both soon."

"That's a bad thing?" Phoenix responded, without lifting his head to look at him.

"It is when your cousin happens to be Justice Keller."

Phoenix raised his head and stared at him. Roel's words of Justice's promise came back to him, and stirrings of panic made ripples of unease up his spine.

"He hasn't ever challenged me, because he couldn't take over my pride—we aren't lycan—but now that I'm bonded with Andromeda, and she is lycan, he can, since my pride is now hers, too. We've always been competitive, and I'm not afraid of him, but if he wants to hurt me, hurting her is the best way to do that. I need to take her with me to Las Vegas for a while where she can be trained to be an Alpha and learn how to fight."

"No," Phoenix said. "I can protect her—"

"It's not an option. I came down here to ask you to end things with her. Don't make me tell you."

"You can't touch me without hurting her, so your argument is—" He caught a clear vial filled with a pink liquid that Ace tossed him.

"It's the potion to release her from the nexus spell. Make her drink it."

Phoenix stared at it in wonder. "How'd you get this?"

"I have my ways. We have witches in Las Vegas, too. I heard she was linked to you and a handful of others. I wasn't coming unprepared."

"If I don't give it to her, then what?"