Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(125)

"The full moon is tomorrow night. Have you chosen a Beta yet?"

To test his theory, I imagined cement blocks going up around my mind, and he chuckled.

"You don't want me to know? That's not fair!" he said as he poked me in the ribs. I jumped in response and let out a squeal. His eyes widened, and then he dug all his fingers in, tickling me until I thought I might piss myself. "I can do this all night, Andra. Are you going to tell me?"

"Stop, stop," I said, and he did, but he was wearing a sexy smirk that told me if I didn't tell him something he was going to start again. "Let it be a surprise, Ace. You know everything about me. Please, just let me have this one thing."


He huffed as he rolled his eyes and lay back down, pulling me in close to him. He watched me as I stared at the ceiling. After a moment, he whispered, "Go with me to Las Vegas."

My head turned toward him fast enough to give me whiplash, and I stared into his eyes, horrorstruck. "You're not leaving, Ace. You can't leave. I'm here. I need you."

"And so does my pride. I can't stay here. Somewhere deep inside, you knew this conversation was coming. We need to have it now." The sexy smirk was gone, his mouth now a line of seriousness across the bottom of his face.

I sat up again and looked down on him. "When are you leaving?" I demanded.

He reached out to touch my arm, but I jerked it away from him. His lips thinned.

"Tomorrow night, after the party."

My hand shot up to cover my mouth as hot tears pricked my eyes. Shaking my head, I took my hand away and said, "No. I'm not ready to be away from you—"

"Then go with me, Andra—"

"You know I can't!" I screamed, and the tears brimmed over when I slapped his chest. "My pack is here—"

"Your Beta will take care of your pack until you return. You need to train, Andromeda. You need to learn how to fight and how to kill someone when they threaten what is yours."

I shook my head, refusing to believe this was actually happening to me. I couldn't leave. I wouldn't. I wiped my cheeks. "Phoenix is here. I'm not leaving him, Ace."

It was his turn to stare at the ceiling, but he still hadn't taken down his walls, so I didn't have a clue what he was thinking. I knew I would freak out if he really did leave me. It drove me bat-shit crazy when he was even in another room, out of my sight. I didn't want to think about what six states separating us would do to me. He couldn't leave. I would bribe him, do whatever he needed me to do in order to persuade him to stay.

"Ace, please…"

He reached out and gently caressed my arm with the tips of his fingers, and then he took hold of my wrist and pulled me to him. "Your sadness is killing me. Forget about it for now. We'll discuss it later."

"Is that a maybe you'll stay here?" I asked, hopeful.

"No. It was a 'we'll discuss it later,' now get some rest. You have a big night tomorrow night."

I snuggled in against him, desperately trying not to think about him leaving me. He was right. I did need training. I did need to be taught how to fight, but why couldn't my pack train me? And why couldn't he stay here with me for a while longer, just until I got over my anxiety of being away from him?

"Your Beta could watch your pride until you get back," I suggested.

An irritated-sounding breath expelled from Ace's mouth. "This isn't later, Andra."

"But I need to talk about it now, because you leaving me here isn't an option—"

"Then go with me—"

"That's not an option, either!"

He huffed. "I knew I should have waited—"

"Why? Why would waiting to tell me later that you're going to destroy me be any better than telling me now?"

"You can't stay here, Andromeda. The thing… the thing I can't tell you right now… about Justice, is the reason I need you with me. I thought I'd ask first, to see if you would agree, but I will have to force you on that plane if you refuse to go."

I stared at him, my anger rising to the point of boiling over. "Are you kidding me? I told you not to make decisions for me, Ace. My pack can train me and teach me anything I need to know. Go. Go back to Las Vegas! I'll be fine without—"

He grabbed my arms and pulled me on top of him, then rolled until I was under him. His mouth was on mine, hot and full of need. I couldn't help but respond. Our connection had never been stronger. It was like desire… times a hundred.

You know that perfect kiss that every girl dreams of? This was it. We were so in tune with each other physically and mentally. He knew exactly how I liked to be kissed. His left hand slid down my side, over my hip and around to the back of my thigh, pulling my leg up so he could rub his erection against me through our clothes.

Ace groaned.

I moaned.

There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted this to happen. Fighting it seemed like a foolish and idiotic thing to do, but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was only the bond making us feel like this. Taking this step would make this our date four. Taking this step would move us forward into another status of our relationship. And taking this step with Ace would cause me to lose Phoenix.

I couldn't let that happen.