Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(66)

I shrugged. "I'm sure we would argue about it and, of course, I would win, but then we'd get to find out how good make-up sex between us is."


"With your stubbornness and my temper, I doubt it will be very long before we find that out anyway."

I giggled, and then immediately gasped when Phoenix pulled me under the shower head and flipped the lever up.

So cold!





Chapter 34



Mena





Phoenix led me farther into the depths of the underground compound and into a large room full of people. A raised area near the back of the room had a podium sitting atop it. I was only guessing that was where he stood when meetings were convened, because he hadn't said a word or even looked at me since he left me to dress for this meeting and the outing later to talk to his magical connections.

I watched the back of his head as we walked down the aisle, and then he stopped beside the stairs and held out his hand so I could go up before him. He still wasn't looking at me, and that worried me. Was he having mixed feelings about us now that we'd had sex? Was he nervous about seeing the witches again or was he keeping something from me—again? Maybe he didn't know what his clan would think about their High Vampire being with a Werewolf Pack Leader. That had to be it. Maybe I could help him with his nerves a little, I thought as a smile spread across my face.

I took two steps up the short staircase and stopped directly in front of him. His eyes briefly registered surprise before I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my mouth to his.

His lips hummed against mine, and then his hands ran swiftly down my torso until he was cupping my butt in his palms. Swiftly picking me up, he pulled my legs up by the back of my knees so I could wrap them around his waist, never breaking the kiss as he continued up the remaining steps.

As he put me down, I realized that we had an audience, a big one from the sound of it. Catcalls, shouts and whistles echoed off the walls of the room and I felt heat rise to my cheeks as I smiled against his mouth.

"You matter to me," I said as I tried unsuccessfully to catch my breath.

Instead of responding with words, Phoenix's fingers dove into my hair and he crushed his mouth down on mine, taking possession and owning the right to call me his. His whole body trembled as he held me, touched me, kissed me, and I wondered if the man that was in my arms was possibly even more afraid than I was.

Did I love him? Was it really love or was Phoenix's theory about love correct?

"Yes, moron, you love him," my wolf said. It was the first time she had spoken to me since the Dana incident, so it caught me off guard a bit. "Even I can see that, and I'm not a hearts and flowers kind of girl, though I do enjoy chocolate. You should tell him to buy us chocolate."

"No, you're more like a Kibbles n' Bits kinda girl, aren't you?"

"Ha! Did you just make a joke? Funny. It's about time you got your sense of humor back. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to turn into a piece of white bread: stale, plain and dry as hell."

I ignored her and deepened the kiss. It was quite annoying to have a conversation with another voice in my head when I was trying to enjoy the feel of Phoenix's lips on mine. My guess was that was her intention all along, to annoy me.

Phoenix breathlessly pulled away and leaned his cheek against mine. "I was counting the seconds until you kissed me again, Mena. Do you have any idea what you do to me? I was counting the damn seconds."

"Well, if you hadn't ignored me after our shower, you might not have had to count so high."

He snickered as his lips brushed across mine once more. "I was only thinking, Lupacchiotto. It's nothing for you to worry about," he said, but there was a touch of doubt in his voice, as if he was unsure how I would take what he was keeping from me.

I resisted when he tried to pull me to the podium. His face was puzzled when he turned back to look at me. "You want me to trust you, but it's obvious you're keeping something from me," I whisper-shouted, my eyes cutting over briefly to look at the crowd staring up at us.

He raised an eyebrow, but the corner of his lip twitched, like this scene had been planned all along and I was playing my part perfectly. Bastard! "I'll tell you now," was all he said, and then he held out his hand for me to join him in front of the podium.

"Phoenix." I warned him with my eyes, but he reached out and grabbed my hand then pulled me against his unyielding body, holding me firmly in place by a hand at the small of my back. I instantly became putty in his hands when his fingers came up to caress the side of my neck. Whatever he was about to do didn't matter to me anymore, because all I could think about was the memory of our naked bodies tangled together in his bed only an hour before.

"Relax, Mena. It'll be fine. They will love you. I promise."

I stepped out of his embrace so I could collect my thoughts and looked out across the room, suddenly anxious about what Phoenix's clan's reactions would be about a werewolf pack leader being on their home turf. Several members had seceded from my pack, but Phoenix had been his clan's leader for over a century, and I doubted any of them would leave just because they didn't agree with their master's plans. He hadn't said anything about any of them disagreeing with him, but, then again, he hadn't shared anything with me about his clan and he knew all the current affairs about my pack.