Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(61)

"The bitch has lost her damn mind," Heath said.

"Will you make her stop that, Mena?" Brad said. "I can't hit a girl. I'd kill one in wolf form, but I can't hit one, not like this."

Mena punched Dana in the mouth, knocking her head back, but she only laughed harder. "What's so funny?"

"You are!" Dana said, and burst out with laughter again.

"The fact that I'm about to torture you until your immortal shell is lifeless is funny to you? I find that hilarious, too, but I'll save my titters for later, after I've poured your ashes into the Alabama River."

Dana became quiet and looked up at Mena through her lashes. "You're supposed to be an Alpha and you don't even know what your own pack and this vampire have done to you. That is what is so f*cking funny, Pack Leader," she sneered.

Mena blinked in confusion, but she didn't risk a glance at Phoenix who uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "What are you talking about, girl?"

Dana sighed. "Look at them," she said, and Mena did. "I bet if you picked that dagger up and shoved it through your heart, you'd all die. Looks to me like you're all linked together by a nexus spell, and he will only have to kill the weakest link in order to kill you all. I wonder whose bright idea that was," she said, and grinned as she turned her head to look at Phoenix.

"He will?" Brad said. "Don't you mean she will? As in Jessica?"

Phoenix swallowed as he made eye contact with her. Brad's question seemed important to him, but Mena—or her wolf, rather—wasn't hearing anything right now. Shit! "Mena, we need to talk—"

Mena's eyes flashed silver and she growled, low and menacingly.

He held his palms out toward her. "Hear me out—"

There was no slow shifting this time as she gave Phoenix a murderous glare. Mena dropped to her hands and knees and a massive silver wolf burst from her human body, crouched low and ready to pounce on him.

His eyes widened in fear, and then he was swiftly jerked from the cage by Roel.

"Talk later, dummy," Roel said. "She's not going to listen to you right now."

Heath slammed the cage door, locked it, then jerked the key free just as the wolf's claws came through the bars, barely missing his arm.

The wolf snarled at the four men, baring her razor sharp teeth.

"You can't kill him, Mena," Roel said, and silver eyes fell on him. "Dana is right. If any of us die, we all die, including you. We did it to protect you, because we would all die to protect our Alpha. He pointed to Dana and the girl's smile faltered. "She's the enemy, not us!"

After a long, agonizing moment, the wolf finally turned and stalked toward Dana.

Dana's eyes grew wide, but she barely had time to open her mouth to scream before Mena's claws were sinking deep into her flesh and her teeth into her throat.

To Phoenix, it looked more like the wolf was showing them what would happen to them once they unlocked the door. Maybe leaving her in there until they figured out the wolf's name wasn't a bad idea, he thought. Meridia had said there was no going back after the nexus spell took effect, but the witch had lied to him before; she could do anything if the money bag was heavy enough.


"She's not going to be satisfied with that kill," Roel muttered under his breath to Phoenix. "I pray she values her own life more than she does ours."

"Amen," Phoenix said as he watched Mena rip Dana apart, one limb at a time.

"Are you going to let her out?" Heath said.

Phoenix's phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out to read the text message.

I'm still at the law firm but Mena isn't answering her phone. I fell asleep and woke up feeling sick. Should I go inside and look for her?

Phoenix knew very well why Rhodes felt sick, and he huffed as he glanced up at the wolf. Dana was in pieces, scattered all over the cell and the wolf was staring at him with a blood-red face and rage in those silver eyes.

"Your boyfriend wants to know if he should go inside the law firm building and look for you. Should I take a picture of you like this and tell him what you are or are you going to cooperate with us?"

After a moment, the wolf's eyes turned to a pale green and her body began to shift back to human form.

Mena stood upright and walked to the cage door, naked. "I need a shower, and then I would like to go home. We're not staying here any longer."

"Mena, it's not safe to stay at your house. Jessica knows…" Brad said, but her calm gaze settled on him and he stopped talking.

"Then I will stay with Alex. Tell him to come pick me up now. I don't trust any of you anymore."

Phoenix let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't be angry with them. This was all my doing. They didn't even know—"

Mena turned around to look at the floor, then went to retrieve her shredded jeans. She reached inside the pocket, pulled out her cell phone and began typing out a text to Rhodes.

"Wait—Mena, don't text him," Phoenix pleaded as he reached through the bars and placed a hand over her bloody ones. "Meridia requested that we bring you with us tonight. Maybe she can do something to reverse the nexus spell. Rhodes is coming, too. You can leave with him after we meet with the witches. I won't stop you."