Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(70)
Roel blinked at him a few times. "Damn, and I thought Daryn was dumb. You should win an award for 'Biggest Douchecanoe of the Year' or something. What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I care about her and I wanted to do something nice for her, Roel. I'm not good at this sort of thing."
"What the hell is wrong with flowers?" Roel piped back. "You've only known her a freaking week—less, even. I know what you need. You need a night out with the guys. We'll help you out, bro."
Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Aren't you single?"
"Pfft! Yeah, but only because I wanna be. I'm immortal. Chicks don't get that, ya know. They either think I'm crazy when I tell them or they get all clingy and freak me out." Roel shuddered. "I do okay. I'm not lookin' for anything permanent. Picking out drapes ain't exactly my thing."
"It wasn't my thing last week," Phoenix mumbled as he shouldered the sling of a rifle.
Roel snickered. "You're falling for her, aren't you?"
Phoenix's head shot up and he glared at the werepup. "Shut up, Roel. I'm not falling for her. I just like her… a lot," he said, and then started walking toward the others.
Phoenix heard Jaxon's motorcycle before he saw the headlight and rider. Mena had been right, demoting Jaxon and putting her in his place had royally pissed the guy off, but it hadn't stopped him from showing up and having his back. Mena didn't want the position anyway, but Jaxon had had a few too many mishaps of late. It was something Phoenix needed to think about for longer than five minutes, and it wouldn't hurt the guy to brood a while, so he shoved it to the back of his mind.
Jaxon nodded to the others as he dismounted his bike, and Phoenix passed around introductions.
"We're just going to talk to the witches tonight. If we luck out and get a location, we're only going to scout and see what we're up against, so think before you act. Do not do anything unless Mena or I okay it. Everyone should pair up, so find your buddy now in case we need to split up later." Phoenix's gaze fell on each person present, skipping over Rhodes and Mena's wolf, to make sure they were all doing as he'd instructed. When he got to Daryn he pressed his lips into a hard line. He didn't know who had told Daryn of their plans, but he did know that he wasn't letting the little shit out of his sight. "You're my buddy."
Daryn opened his mouth to protest, but Phoenix shot him a disgruntled look that said 'disagree and you go home'.
Ignoring Daryn's malicious glare, Phoenix opened the passenger door of Brad's Suburban and got in. There weren't enough seats for everyone, and Phoenix knew from the sound of approval coming from the cop's throat exactly where that bitch wolf was sitting.
Alex was keeping up small talk with Mena and, every once in a while, she would giggle or whisper or sigh. He didn't know if the wolf was doing it on purpose, but it was grinding him in a bad way. If it wasn't for looking at Mena's face when he did it, he would choke that bitch until her face turned blue, let her get a breath and then commence to repeat the process of strangulation until he forced the mutt out of Mena's skin.
Interrupting one of those irritating giggles, Phoenix cleared his throat. "Mena, if we have to split up, you need to take Jaxon and Roel with you," Phoenix said, and the cab of the vehicle went totally quiet except for the low hum of the Chevy's engine.
"Alex is my partner," she said matter-of-factly. Phoenix looked over his shoulder, shooting her a death glare. She smirked at him. "He's coming with me."
"I assumed that already," he said shortly. "The extra protection was for him." He let the 'not you' go unsaid.
"I can take care of myself," Alex said, frowning as his focus moved back to Mena, "and you."
Mena grinned as she looked back at the cop. Phoenix groaned silently as he turned back to look out the windshield. "I know you can, baby," she said, "but maybe an extra person or two wouldn't hurt. It could get really dangerous tonight."
"It's one person trying to kill you, Mena. I've been trained to take down more," Phoenix heard Rhodes say.
"Uh, well…" Mena began, "…eight members of the group I run cut all contact and went missing after Marc was murdered and I became their leader. One of the girls was dating a guy that died in a car accident that same night. We think it's possible she may have gone a little crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one who murdered Marc and caused Chris's accident to happen. We think the other seven are siding with her and are out for revenge."
"Revenge?" Rhodes said, stunned. "But why? I wish somebody would tell me something. Let me in, Mena. I'm here, and giving up everything I know for you and this insane hunt."
A breath of air expelled from Mena, and Phoenix knew what the wolf was doing; she was baiting Rhodes. "I would, Alex, honestly, I would, but it is still too soon for you to know everything. You have to be one-hundred percent committed to the group to get in, and you aren't even close. If I told you everything now, you would leave, and possibly turn us all in, but that would only be because you wouldn't understand. I promise when you understand, you will stay. It's worth waiting for. In the meantime, we at least have a lead on Katie's killer. Hopefully these witches know what they're doing."