Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(43)

"Thank God. Is everybody okay?" he said over his shoulder, no longer feeling the weight of the spell within him.

"Yeah," Brad said. "But please tell me there is another way home. I don't think I can go through that again unless you knock me out."

Phoenix chuckled as he stopped the SUV in front of a cabin. "It won't be like that when we leave." Slapping Roel on the shoulder, he said, "You can look now, Cub. We're here."

Roel slowly removed his locked limbs from around his head and looked around. "I—I wasn't worried."

"I'm not going to ask what the hell that was," Alex said. "I doubt I would get an honest answer anyway."

"You'll learn what you need to know when you need to know it, Rhodes. Be patient. Your mind will refuse to accept it if we tell you everything too fast," Phoenix said, and then he opened the door. The others followed suit, but Phoenix's gaze was drawn to Alex as he emerged from the vehicle last. The guy seemed to have more than two eyes as he took in everything around him; Phoenix could practically see him snapping mental images and filing them away somewhere in that Inspector Gadget head of his, so he could go back and comb through each detail later. Once a cop, always a cop, he thought, and then rolled his eyes as he started toward the cabin.

"You said we came here to see a woman named Meridia, but you mentioned them and they a few times since. Who are the others?" Alex asked.

"Her sisters," Phoenix replied, but didn't elaborate.

Phoenix stopped just before the first step leading up to the porch. "Wait," he said, throwing out his arm to keep Brad from making a huge mistake. "They like to play games, so be careful what you do and what you say. Look there." Pointing to the step, he waited until everyone present noticed the tiny holes in the wooden stair, and then he picked up the broom that was leaned against the rail and tossed it on the step. Six-inch spikes quickly shot up through each hole. "Just so you know, those are silver-coated."

"Holy shit!" Brad said. "I'm beginning to think they don't like company."

Phoenix skipped the spiked one and took the rest of the steps to the top. "Don't be silly. They're expecting us."

"Well, a warning would have been nice," Heath said, being careful to step in the same exact spots Phoenix had on the wood.

"You did have a warning: me. I wasn't so lucky the first and only other time I've been here."

Jaxon laughed menacingly. "At least you were fortunate enough for them to have been silver nails instead of flamethrowers hidden in the bushes or a pet werewolf as their guard dog. You know… something that could actually kill you."


"Pet werewolf?" Alex said, and chuckled. "You're kidding, right?"

Roel laughed as he slapped Alex on the back and gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "Of course he's kidding. Werewolves don't exist, Cop. The flamethrower would be pretty cool, though."

Phoenix gave Jaxon a hard look, but his second in command's expression was just as challenging as he stared back. Pressing his lips together, Phoenix turned and knocked on the door, avoiding the look of confusion on Alex's mug. Guess Jaxon was still a little perturbed about the whole boyfriend thing. Regardless, Jaxon knew better than to say anything like that in front of the human. If they didn't all play their cards right, the cop would find out too soon and bolt. That would ruin things for Mena's wolf with Rhodes and, in return, ruin things for him with Mena. But if there was one thing Phoenix was good at, it was getting even; Jaxon would pay dearly for that mistake. He would just have to deal with him later.

A slight wind picked up and the smell of burning wood wafted through the air as the door creaked open on its own.

"Remind me again why I agreed to come," Alex said as they all just stood there staring into the darkness beyond the door.

"Because you hope finding Katie's killer will get you to second base with Mena," Brad said.

Alex stared at Brad in disbelief, his eyes wide and his jaw nearly unhinged. He gave the others a brief look before responding. "Do all of you really think that I'm only doing this to get Mena to sleep with me?"

Heath shrugged. "Nobody blames you; she's hot, man."

Brad cleared his throat. "Uh, actually that would be a home run—"

"Do you asshats think maybe you can have this conversation later?" Phoenix said, his tone clipped. "We have more important matters to worry about than the cop getting to see what color Mena's panties are."

"That's third base, Phoenix," Roel whispered.

Phoenix's only response was to shake his head and take the first step inside the cabin.





Chapter 26



Alex





This night has to have broken some kind of record for being the weirdest, Alex thought as he followed Roel into the house.

Even with as strange as it was, he didn't feel threatened… well, not entirely so anyway. Maybe he should say that he felt safe instead of not threatened, because there was definitely a threat lingering in the air. But he actually felt protected by his company, as if they had placed him in some sort of invisible, impenetrable bubble. What they could do that the piece at the small of his back couldn't, he didn't know, but he was almost positive that he was missing something huge and important where his new friends were concerned.