Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(68)

He glanced over at her. "You look stunning in leather."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she huffed and looked out the passenger window of the car.

Silent treatment. With anybody else, he would have already choked the words from the person's throat, but getting the cold shoulder from Mena felt like he was being stabbed in the head with an ice pick.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I honestly thought you would be happy that I gave you the position. If you don't want it, I can undo it, easy as that."

More silence. Damn.

He sighed as he took the left turn. "Are you mad at me because of the clothes? Because I just thought it would be easier than you running to your house and packing a bag every other night. If it makes you that unhappy, I'll have them picked up and given to the needy."

There was a long moment of more excruciating silence, but finally she looked at him. His heart shot up in his throat at the sight of the tears shimmering in her eyes. He pulled the car to the shoulder of the road.

"God, Mena, I never thought any of this would upset you. I was only trying to make your life easier. I know you have enough—"

"Easier? You think making me a leader over your clan will make my life easier? You think moving me in with you—without even discussing it with me first, no less—will make my life easier? No, you were only thinking of yourself, Phoenix. Have you stopped to think how Alex is going to react to me living with you? He doesn't know anything about vampires and werewolves or the plan you and my wolf have cooked up to share me with him. Let me tell you something about humans, they don't share very well, especially someone they are interested in on an intimate level. When he finds out what you and the wolf are doing, he's going to walk. Do you think my wolf is going to let us be together when he does? If that's what you think, you don't know her very well. And as for you declaring me your second in command, my wolf thinks you only did it to guilt me into making you my Beta. She's not going to let that happen. Ev-er."

Phoenix chewed on his fist to keep from shouting how absurd she was at her. He took a full minute to calm down before he spoke. If all this didn't work out, what her wolf thought of him would be the least of her worries, because they would all be dead. Christ, how he wanted to tell her everything, but instead, he swallowed the urge for now, convinced there would be a better time and place. "I guess you have it all figured out, don't you?" He shoved the gearshift in first gear and stomped on the accelerator, sending a spray of gravel from the shoulder through the air until the rubber of the tires caught asphalt and sent them flying toward Mena's house.





V''''V





Alex





"They're here," Roel said from the window of Mena's living room, and let the curtain fall back into place.

The familiar sound of a hammer being pulled back on a handgun had Alex's head whipping around to look at Heath. "You're not going to shoot her, are you?"

Heath chuckled. "I don't have a death wish, cop. I was checking it for you. Here." Heath held the gun out to Alex, butt first, but Alex hesitated before taking it. "It's loaded, so be careful. I'd hate for you to accidently shoot a pinky toe off or something."

Alex studied the weapon in his hand. It wasn't any brand he'd ever seen, and the weight was lighter than any he'd ever held before. "What is this, a toy?"

Brad snickered. "If you want to test out your theory, you can aim at Daryn."

"Shut up, *," Daryn said moodily.

Brad lost his smile. "Who even invited you, asshat?"

Alex frowned. "Look, I really don't need this. I have my own."

The house fell eerily silent, and he looked around the room at the faces staring at him.

"Um… don't use yours," Roel said, making busy work to check his own weapons. "If you have to shoot anybody, you don't want that shit tracing back to you, do you? That one is Heath's extra, and it's custom made, not registered, if you know what I mean."

"I am a cop, you know. If I need to shoot someone, I can if it's justified." Alex pulled the hammer back to inspect the bullet. It was silver in color and definitely custom made, too. Who the hell are these people? "Why do I get the feeling that there is a huge, obvious secret that I'm missing?"

Brad shrugged. "I know of no secret." He glanced around at the others. "What about any of you?"


"Nope," Heath said.

"I know nothing," Roel said.

Alex's eyes fell on Daryn, but the guy just looked at him, his thoughts unreadable in his expression.

Alex sighed. "Well, then I suppose I'll find out when all of you do, since we're all ignorant."

The door opened, and a smiling girl clad in black leather and weapons ran up to him then threw her arms around his neck. It took him a few seconds for his brain to register that the girl was Mena. Holy shit, she is hot!

She pulled away enough so she could rise up on her toes and press her lips to his in an innocent kiss.

A growl escaped his throat when she tried to move away. "Where're you going?" His fingers snaked around to the back of her neck, and he pulled her back to him, crushing his mouth to hers, taking full possession and advantage of the woman in his arms. If she was going to go public with her feelings for him, he was damn sure going to make sure the public knew his feelings for her were mutual.