Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(17)

Great! My wolf was finally talking back to me, and she was crazy! "How is this best for us? He is the detective working the case of a man that I murdered. He's not going to just let me walk free if and when he discovers that important piece of information!"

"You'd be surprised what a man would do for a woman he is in love with," she said.

"Love?" I shouted. "You cannot make this man fall in love with me—"

"Not you, Mena—me."

"I won't let you do this—"

"You don't have a choice if you ever want to see that vampire who is so enamored with you. I know he's trying to help you make this pact between the werewolves and vampires work, which is why I haven't ripped his throat out already. I do believe it is a good idea, but I'm not going to sit idle while you get what you want, when what I want is right here in front of us."

"A compromise. You want to negotiate with men? You really are psycho."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, what the hell am I supposed to tell Alex when he shows up at my house and Phoenix is there? Neither guy seems the type to share. And two, this is my body, not yours! I don't—"

"Have a choice, Mena. I can take over your body anytime I feel like it, and I don't have to give it back. But I will, if you agree to my terms. I won't make a fuss about the vampire if you agree to let me take over when Alex is around. But if you don't agree, I will keep your body and you can stay right where you are. It's awfully lonely in there, isn't it?"

I huffed. "You still didn't answer my question of how I'm supposed to explain Alex to Phoenix and Phoenix to Alex."

My wolf smiled with my lips. "You take care of your man and I will take care of mine."

Lovely.

"Do you accept?"

I sighed. "Like you said, I don't have a choice."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, that's a yes!" I snapped. "Now, give me back my body!"

"I will as soon as Alex leaves. We don't want you to run the cute detective off, now do we? That could be very bad for Phoenix."






V''''V





Chapter 11



Alex





Alex just stared at the mansion as he pulled in Mena's driveway, and then he took his Jeep out of gear and killed the engine. He must have misread the signals earlier, because this girl was seriously way out of his league. On his salary, he wouldn't be able to afford to even pay the taxes on a place like this, much less the house payment.

He turned around in his seat when a truck pulled in behind him, and then turned back around when Mena's car pulled in the circle drive in front of him.

"You should come in. I think my family wants to meet you."

He blinked a few times and nodded. "Okay."

Since it had been so nice that morning, he'd decided to take the doors and top off his Jeep, so now he didn't have an excuse to go around and open Mena's door for her. He waited awkwardly at the front of his vehicle until she joined him.

She handed the to-go box to the woman who had been with her at the restaurant, and turned to Alex as two guys walked up behind them.

"Alex, this is Katie, Brad and Heath," Mena said, and then her gaze moved to the truck pulling quickly into the drive. "And that is Daryn and Roel. You've met Daryn. I'm pretty sure he'll be nicer to you this time."

The two guys eyed Alex as they got out of the truck and shut their doors. As they walked slowly toward Mena, Alex felt like he needed to grab his handgun out of his Jeep. Were all of these people her cousins?

"C'mon in," Mena said, leading the way into the house.

Alex was the last to enter. He didn't want any of the guys that were giving him dirty looks following him. The instant he walked in, he felt underdressed in the place. He wasn't even sure it could have been called a house. It was more like a museum.

He started to take his running shoes off, but Mena waved a hand at him.

"Don't worry about it, Alex. The maid comes in every day through the week. Nobody takes their shoes off. It's okay."

He looked at her for a moment to make sure she was serious then noticed that none of the others had taken their shoes off, either. Raising an eyebrow, he nodded once.

"Who's up for a game?" Roel said as he twirled a pool stick around with his fingers. "Daryn?" He tucked the stick under his armpit and pointed the blue tip at the guy.

Daryn shook his head. "Nah, I need to talk to Mena for a sec. I'll play the winner."

Roel rolled his eyes and turned the stick toward Brad. "What about you? You ready to lose again?"

Before Brad could answer, Mena spoke up. "Why don't you ask Alex if he would like to play?"

Alex smiled. "I'm good. I think I'll watch a round or two."

Roel frowned. "You scared, cop? If you're scared, it's all right to say you're scared. We'll only laugh a little."

"I just don't play very much anymore. I'd like to size up my competition first—if it's all the same to you."

Roel cocked his head back and stared down his nose at Alex, then finally nodded and turned the stick to Heath. "C'mon, buddy, we gotta show the cop how much you suck at pool, so he won't feel bad when he loses to me."