Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(25)

The corner of Phoenix's lip twitched, but his face was completely solemn when Alex turned his heated gaze on him. He held his hands up. "We're just friends, man. Her safety is just as important to me as it is to you."

Backing toward the emergency responders and the growing crowd of people, Alex shook his head as he glared at Phoenix. "I seriously doubt that."

Phoenix watched him go and wondered exactly which part of what he'd said did the cop not believe: that they were only friends or that her safety was important to him. Coming to the conclusion that it didn't really matter, and knowing that Mena wasn't going to let him in, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed Jaxon's number.

It rang only once before Phoenix heard Jaxon's voice. "We're looking for the dagger. How's Mena holding up?"

"I think she'll be fine. It's a little hard to tell right now with her aggravated at me. Look, start a detail of four men outside Mena's house, starting tonight."

"You got it."

"Where are you now?"

"Santino and Jobe are on a stakeout outside the morgue waiting for that mutt to show back up. Daniel and Morgan are with me down by the old ferry. We caught a scent earlier, but they must have jumped in the water or taken a boat or something, because now it's gone."

Phoenix swore under his breath as he walked to his car. "Stay there. I'm on my way. We need to find this—" Something moving in a tree on the north side of Mena's house caught his attention and he stopped talking. It was Mena, dressed in the leather and weapons he'd given her the first night they'd met. She had crawled out of her bedroom window and was now stealthily descending the limbs of the tree, like a ninja. "What the hell are you up to, Lupacchiotto?" he whispered.

"Phoenix?" Jaxon said.

Phoenix smiled. "Go on without me. I have another mission that requires my immediate attention."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Call me if you find anything else. And, Jaxon…"

"Yeah?"

"You know what to do with them when you find them."

Phoenix could hear the smile stretch across Jaxon's face before he answered. "Yes, I know exactly what to do with them."

Without saying goodbye, Phoenix ended the call and followed Mena.





V''''V





Chapter 16



Mena





I'm not going to say it was a good idea, but it was the only one my wolf could come up with, and I didn't even have one. We just couldn't sit in that house, watching the emergency crew pick Katie piece by piece out of what was left of my Audi. We'd both go crazy. So, we had to find Jessica before she found me.

As the pack leader, I had something in me the others didn't: I could sense each of my wolves as if they were a part of me. I had noticed it the first night after I was bitten, before I had the privilege of meeting any of my pack. I had sensed them coming long before Lea told Phoenix that she needed to get me away from his compound. And I had known they were in the woods, on each side of the road Lea was driving down, just waiting for her to stop, so they could claim me.

I could sense Jess and, if my wolf was right, she didn't know that I knew how to find her.

The element of surprise. Finally, Karma was on my side.

Going by myself was risky, but I didn't know whom I could trust. I finally got a chance to read the text messages Phoenix had sent a few nights earlier. With the eight that had rebelled against me and left the pack, Phoenix still believed there could be more traitors staying in so they could get close enough to take me out when the time was right. That would be a clever plan, so I didn't want to chance that Jessica hadn't thought of that.


Knowing that made me want to change my mind about staying in my home with round-the-clock werewolf bodyguard detail.

Whom could I really trust? Phoenix for one. Alex for another, even though he was human and would probably get killed. I knew my wolf didn't like me thinking like that, but it was the God's honest truth. I suppose I trusted Jaxon, Daryn, Roel, Brad and Heath, but literally any one of my pack members could be on Jess' side, and I wouldn't know it until it was too late.

My built-in werewolf radar led me east, and I glanced over my shoulder often. I felt like I was being watched, but the members of the pack had been in a huddle talking about Katie and Jess, Alex had been accessing the crime scene and Phoenix had been on the phone and headed toward his car right before I jumped from my window to a maple tree limb, so it wouldn't be any of their eyes, if there were any on me. I palmed the hilt of the dagger on my right thigh and took it from its scabbard. I couldn't afford to be careless. This bitch wanted me dead.

With everyone thinking I was angry, I was taking a wild guess that it would be at least thirty minutes before anyone realized I was gone. That was a good head start. From the vague vibe I was feeling from Jess and the other traitors, I was looking at covering a distance of about four miles. I ran that nearly every morning, and the time it took to get there would allow my wolf and me time to figure out what we were going to do when we got there.

Cutting the bitch was what my wolf wanted to do, and I couldn't honestly say that I wasn't on board with that plan, but I was smart enough to know that I couldn't take on eight werewolves on my own. I would have to find their hideout and come back with my pack. Bringing Phoenix and his clan to watch my back in case any of my wolves were really on Jessica's side was a smart thing to do, so I would let them come, too, not that I would really get a choice in the matter; I doubted he would stay behind even if I begged him to.