Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(55)

"She wasn't one of the eight who receded, so I can't be sure there aren't more just waiting for the opportunity to take her out. The others are starting to ask questions, Phoenix. We were all supposed to rotate shifts protecting our Alpha, but I'm not sure who I trust in our pack anymore. Twenty-seven are in the running as Beta, and Mena has only—"

"Twenty-seven!" Phoenix shouted. "I thought there were eight!"

"Umm… I guess you haven't had a chance to talk with Mena much since she met everyone."

Rubbing his tired eyes with his thumb and a finger, he huffed in annoyance. "I guess not. Look, if you have to tell them anything, tell them the detective is too close to have more of them around right now; it would be difficult for Mena to explain without him getting suspicious and somehow finding out about the pack."

"That's what I've been telling them," Roel said, "but they know something's up. They can sense it. It's a pack thing; you wouldn't understand. Anyway, Mena handled the situation perfectly, and Heath and I are on our way to your compound with the traitor. Problem with that is we don't actually know where you live."


"I'll text you the address and you can use GPS to find me. I'll send Lea up to let you in," Phoenix said, then ended the call, and immediately pulled up Roel's number to text him the address. After hitting send, he stood on shaky legs and went straight to his closet to dress for what appeared to be a long day.

On the bright side, he would get to see Mena sooner rather than later and get to torture a werewolf. Win-win!

That was definitely worth a day without sleep.





Chapter 31



Mena





I suppose my wolf wasn't so bad. I mean, it could have been much worse. I could have gotten stuck with someone with the personality of Weird Al Yankovic, someone with a voice like Kristen Schall's or someone with the sense of humor of a red wasp. Worse yet, my wolf could have been of the male variety.

I shuddered at the thought. Just imagine a guy inside my head twenty-four-seven, telling me what to do and filling my head full of vulgar comments every time I took a shower or went to the restroom.

At least she was willing to negotiate on most things. For instance, after I had to wake her up the third time during the meetings, she finally relented and gave me back control over my body. I guess the only threat she saw toward us was that the lawyer and insurance agent might bore us to death. Marc's lawyer was a few years past the seventy mark and had a bit of a hearing problem, so my wolf was constantly having to repeat herself. I learned she didn't like doing that.

The insurance agent reminded me of one of the main characters from the movie Revenge of the Nerds. Of course, Anthony Edwards grew up to be pretty hot, and there was a brief moment when she saw potential in the guy and tried to undress him with my eyes, but I managed to pinch her. I learned that she didn't like that, or the fact that I had that much control when she was supposed to be in full control.

Maybe Karma was starting to like me after all.

As promised to Roel, Heath and Brad, we wrapped up both meetings in record time and were walking out of the law firm building less than an hour after we had walked in.

"I parked over here, Mena," Roel said, but my attention was drawn to a yellow Jeep that was parked in the same spot it had been when my wolf left it. The driver's seat was reclined, and Alex was sound asleep behind the wheel. "He'll be fine," Roel said, and tugged me in the direction of Brad's black Suburban. "I'm sure he'll call you when he wakes up. We need to go. Phoenix is out of his mind with worry over you. He gave direct orders to get you back to him safely or—"

"Wait," I said, and stopped just short of the passenger door, narrowing my eyes at him. There were two things I didn't get. The first being, why the hell was Phoenix so worried about me if he wasn't in love with me? And the second, why did my pack seem to follow Phoenix's orders more than they did mine?

Roel froze with his hand on the door handle, but he made no move to look at me.

"You want to explain to me what's going on, Roel?" I said, but he still didn't turn his head to look at me, so I looked over my shoulder at Heath and Brad. "Either of you care to fill me in? Alex told me what you did last night. I know about the witches."

"You do?" Brad said. "Oh, thank God," he finished on a relieved sigh. Heath smacked him in the chest with the back of his hand, like he'd said something he shouldn't have.

My brow rose as I pointed toward the Chevrolet. "Someone had better tell me what the hell is going on or I'm not getting in that vehicle with any of you!"

Roel huffed. "He should have told you."

"Who should have told me what?" I demanded.

"Phoenix," Heath said in a small voice.

"Well, obviously he didn't, so now the three of you get to do it. Spill it. Now," I demanded.

Roel glanced around the area nervously, and then quickly opened the passenger door. "I swear we will tell you on the way, but we're about to have company, and I bet they are looking for Dana."

I got in and gave Heath a puzzled look when he got in on the driver's side, started the engine and peeled out of there, like we were being chased by the Mob or something. "Shouldn't we stay? We can hide somewhere and see who they are. What if they hurt Alex? You need to turn around, Heath!" I said.