Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(14)

Katie sat behind the steering wheel and turned to look at me with a smile. "You hungry?"

I laughed. "Starving."





V''''V





She took us to a little corner restaurant a few blocks away and, with the temperature being in the high fifties with almost no breeze, we decided to dine at one of the tables set up outside.

After placing our orders, there was really nothing left to do but wait and get to know one of my shifters.

"Where are the other two? I didn't see them after we got to the courthouse this morning," I said to Katie.

"They are watching. Being discrete and staying hidden is something we do well."

I casually looked around, but never spotted the two men on bodyguard detail with Katie. I assumed they thought I would be more comfortable having a girl with me or that it would look bad for one of them to be seen with me in public, since I had just buried Marc the day before.

At any rate, this was a good time to get to know Katie.

"How long have you been a member of Montgomery's pack?" I said, after making sure there wasn't anyone close enough to hear our conversation.

She seemed to be thinking the question through, and then finally said, "I think… about twenty-three years."

My eyes popped wide in shock as I gasped. "Twenty-three years? How old were you when you were bitten, five?" There was no way she had been a shifter for twenty-three years. It was impossible. Of course, I thought werewolves were nonexistent a few days ago, so there is that.

Her eyebrows rose up over her designer shades. "I was thirty-one."

"But you're—"

She smiled. "Beautiful and so young-looking? I know."

I laughed, but I pulled my own sunglasses from my face, so she could see the seriousness in my eyes. "How?" I said in a low voice.

She snickered. "Hasn't anyone told you?"

"Told me what? I haven't really had a chance to sit down and get the specifics of being a werewolf," I whispered the last word. "I've been trying to cover my ass for two murders, ya know."

"Right. Well, you're immortal, Mena."

The waiter showed up at that moment to set our drinks down, so I had a few more seconds to keep the Oh my God! from bursting through the mouth that was currently hanging wide open. Now I knew why Phoenix had been doubled over with laughter when I'd been concerned that I would only live as long as a dog. Ugh!

After the waiter left, I took another minute to compose myself. "Really? Immortal? What does that even mean, Katie?"

"Unless someone kills you, you will live forever."

"I've only read about things like this in books."

She grinned. "What would you say if I told you all the fairytales are real?"

"That I sorta believe you."

Eyeing me, she picked up her water and took a slow sip, then set it back down on the table before she spoke. "Well, believe it, Mena. Most of them are true."

I fell back against the backrest of the chair. "Good God."

"He is, indeed, but He wasn't the one who created shifters. We were cursed the same time as the vampires. Over two thousand years ago, two men fell in love with a female witch. Her father, also one with the hand of magic, found out about the tryst and cursed the two men, one with the lust for blood, binding him to the night, and one with the lust for flesh, binding him to the moon. He filled their hearts with hate toward one another, and both men were so ashamed by what they had become, they never spoke to the mage's daughter again. They are the other third of the Underworld."

"Who is?"

"The witches. They think they are better than us, but I believe you are going to change everything. No leader has ever even wanted to try anything different. For once, I feel like I can relax. I don't want to hurt them, but I'm not gonna let them kill me, either. Know what I mean?"

"The witches… who is their leader?"


Katie laughed. "Who the hell knows? They all meet and have séances, and they dance around fires and stuff. There are several covens, but none of us know who their real leader is. It's like they are all stronger when they are together. We avoid them. They avoid us. It's just how it's always been."

"Hmmm—" I stopped talking abruptly when the waiter brought out our food. He made sure everything was as we ordered it, and then scurried off to wait on a table of four who had just sat down. "Let me get everything right between the clan and the pack before I go messing with witches." I shook my head. "I have a really uneasy feeling about talking to them right now, and my gut instinct is usually correct. I'm having a tough enough time with my wolf. She doesn't like Phoenix."

"I've never actually met him, but I've never had a problem with him, either. Why do you think that part of you doesn't like him?"

"She wants me to be with someone else, or rather, she wants to be with someone else. I don't guess she gives a damn who I'm with as long as she gets what she wants."

"Huh? Who does she want?" Katie asked.

"Mena…" a male voice said.

I looked up to a guy standing beside our table, and instantly felt like fainting. He had put a white Under Armor toboggan on top of that always perfectly tousled brunette hair of his, and the longer hair around his ears and forehead curled up around the edges of the cap. He wore a green hoodie, zipped only halfway up, giving anyone who cared to see a tease at a beautiful broad chest. White jogging pants and running shoes completed his ensemble and somehow the style fit him perfectly, and made him even more attractive than the blue jeans and t-shirts I usually saw him in did. I opened my mouth to speak, but even my wolf was stunned speechless as those hazel eyes looked down on me.