Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(128)

"What is that?" I asked.

He grinned. "Oh, nothing important," he said, with a wink and pinned the two ends of the sash together with the brooch. "It's just… something fit for a Queen."

From that arrogant smile, I was guessing the brooch was more important than he was letting on, but if he didn't want to gloat, I was completely fine with that.

Phoenix offered me the crook of his arm, and so did Ace. I took them both, and we walked out of Phoenix's chamber together.





v''''v





The Full Moon





Mena





After conversing with Heath and Brad, their wives and Roel about it earlier in the day, we'd decided to have Alex accept the moon first. Yes, he was a werewolf already, but accepting the moon gave him immortality—or else he would continue to age and eventually die.

Brad informed me that some still chose not to accept it, believing they wouldn't go to Heaven if they chose immortality, since it was not God's will.

I actually hadn't given it much thought, but it wasn't like I had a whole lot of time for thinking between the time I killed Marc and my pack found me, since I had been bitten on a full moon. There had been plenty of time for Alex to think about it, and I thought he was ready to do whatever his heart was telling him to do.

He'd been to visit me the day before, too. We chatted for hours, like old friends do. I was extremely pleased that he had no intentions of turning me in for Marc's death, Chris's death, the girl found murdered at Hellhound's death—though I still didn't know who'd killed that one—Dana's death or Daryn's death. My, you'd think I was a serial killer or something. Alex also wasn't angry with me for not caring about him the way he did about me. I was a little flattered to learn that he'd had a crush on me since high school, though. But I was relieved when he told me he could clearly see that Phoenix was the right guy for me, and that he could finally move on knowing I was happy. I still didn't know if I was happy how everything had turned out, but I did feel that my life was moving in a positive direction.

My seventy-eight pack members, Ace and the six werelions gathered around Alex, and Phoenix's clan surrounded all of us.

"The choice is yours, Alex," I said, when he glanced up at me from his knees.

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he simply nodded, and then looked up at the full moon.

With a clenched jaw and a hiss, Alex grabbed his side with one hand as the palm of his other slapped the concrete. Throwing his head back, he cried out as the weight of the moon was laid on him.

"Just accept it, Alex," I whispered. "It'll stop."

Another violent spasm put him on his side, curled up into a ball. The veins at his temples popped out in contrast under his skin. It was painful to watch him go through this, but I knew from experience that he was feeling far worse right now than I was.

"Alex, tell it yes or no! Stop torturing yourself!"

"Yes," he gasped. "I accept you." He rolled to his back and gazed up at the starry night, focusing in on that massive, white moon. "I accept you."

I smiled as everyone began to clap, and then Roel's loud tenor broke through the noise.

"One… Two… Three!" he shouted, and then everyone shouted at the same time, "Yea, Peanut!"

Alex was laughing as Brad and Heath helped him to his feet.

I had one last thing to do tonight before I could say my month as an Alpha pack leader was complete: I had to choose my Beta.

Phoenix had offered the room where he had told his clan that I was his new second in command for the night's festivities. He planned to give that particular position back to Jaxon, since I didn't want it, but, for some reason, he thought making the guy sweat a little longer was a good idea. I wasn't getting in the middle of his politics; I had plenty of my own to deal with, and now I had Ace's pride to worry about.

I made my way up the steps to the stage and walked alone to the podium. Both Phoenix and Ace had requested to join me, but I felt this was something I needed to do on my own. I was their Alpha, after all.

The ring Jess gave me that had belonged to Chris was warm in my hands as I stared out at over two hundred faces. I cleared my throat and began.

"I'm going to make this as brief as possible. I know long speeches are a bore, and I know most of you are hungry. First off, everyone give Phoenix a hand for letting us borrow the space and catering for us tonight."


The room boomed with noise as I smiled down at my boyfriend. This was the first time his clan and my pack had been in such a small location together. I was praying for the best and trying to keep the mood light.

Phoenix bowed and waved a hand in the air at the crowd.

"I haven't exactly been the best Alpha in the last four weeks, but it wasn't because I didn't want to be. Each and every one of you has a special place in my heart, and I vow to do everything in my power to be there for you, whether it may be a broken heart or something threatening you. We'll conquer it together. I have grown to love a few in this pack over the last month. They have gone above and beyond what was asked of them to make sure I didn't give up on myself. I would like to call them up here for recognition. Bradley Rutherford…" I clapped, and the audience joined in as Brad made his way to the stage to stand beside me. "…Heath Crowley…" Another round of applause broke the silence as Heath skipped up the steps and across the stage. "And Roel Sullivan."