Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(72)
Ignoring Daryn's unhelpful questions, the wolf kept her murderous glare locked on Jaxon's devilish grin. "She didn't stay long," my wolf challenged. "I'm sure you just missed seeing her leave."
"Are you kidding me?" I shouted through my thoughts. If she thought she could win a battle of intelligence with a three century old vampire with that comeback, we were all f*cking doomed.
"Jaxon," Phoenix said in a low voice from the front seat, but he didn't turn around as Alex glanced toward him. This was about to get nasty. "That's enough."
"She left with Heath and me," Brad said, the lie sliding off his tongue so easily that, if I hadn't already known better, I would have believed it myself. "I could kiss you, Brad!" I thought, triumphant, but the feeling of joy didn't last long.
Jaxon's brow drew down in false confusion, and then his expression seemed to shift to an 'a-ha' moment. "You're absolutely right, Mena! She must have left during the length of time I was in my room. You see, I was suddenly overwhelmed with sexual frustration—"
"Enough!" Phoenix shouted, and my wolf didn't have to turn and look to know he was turned in his seat and eyeing Jaxon, with that beautiful, chiseled jaw working under the skin in irritation at the other vampire.
"Well," Jaxon said, his tone turning softer, "I'm sure you can guess that I was a bit distracted for a while. It's quite possible she slipped out without my knowing. Do tell her I look forward to seeing her again soon."
My wolf and I both drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, relief flooding through our racing veins and easily keeping time with a heart that was beating way too fast. "I doubt any of us will ever see her again. Dana wanted to leave town. The recent events have made her feel unsafe, so she came to speak to me, hoping I would give her permission to leave the city. She didn't mention where she was headed, but she did say that she wanted to cease all contact with the… the group, until all of this blew over. She left her cell phone with me before she left." My attention shifted left, and the wolf briefly made eye contact with Daryn before seeing Jaxon's slow nod out of our peripheral.
"That's a shame," Jaxon said. "I had hoped to get to know her better, but I suppose it's all for the best if she feels that her life is threatened by staying here. It would be terrible for her to turn into a missing person's case, wouldn't it, Detective?"
I guess the rushing blood was getting to me, or maybe it was my wolf's anger causing my blood pressure to soar into dangerous territory. Whatever it was, when I could focus again I discovered Jaxon was no longer looking at me; he was waiting for an answer from Alex.
Alex shrugged. "Yeah, that would suck for anybody, but it's not my department. Dealing with murderers is enough for me. I don't need to add chasing after missing innocent people to my daily schedule; I'd never get any rest."
The wolf forced a grin as her fingers came up to grip Alex's chin, and she directed his eyes back to mine. He didn't look confused—well, no more than usual—but letting this conversation go on could be disastrous for everyone involved. Even I was up for kissing Alex to keep him from answering any more of Jaxon's incriminating questions.
Alex's eyes shifted from mine to my lips then back up. An instant heat swept through me when I felt his erection jerk under my thigh. My thoughts instantly played back the memory of Phoenix's hands on me in the past, but I knew my wolf was only thinking about getting Alex alone in the future.
A soft gasp escaped my lips as his hand slipped up my back to my neck and he pulled me down until our mouths met. Even I was feeling the effects, and I tried desperately not to enjoy myself. It wasn't working.
Brad groaned from the driver's seat, and it was in that moment that I realized that every male in the vehicle who was spelled to me more than likely had a hard-on, including my boyfriend; each one of them was feeling the desire my wolf and Alex felt in that moment. Shit! Maybe the nexus thing wasn't such a great idea after all.
I was just about to give my wolf a mental nudge that she needed to wrap things up quickly, when the vehicle came to a stop and she ended the kiss to turn and look out the windshield at a wrought iron gate. Phoenix was looking at me with a troubled expression. I knew those sad eyes were for me, silently letting me know that he was sorry that I was having to endure this, but the wolf only winked at him, a gesture that told him she didn't regret in the slightest that she'd made his balls ache.
"Do you think the bitches will keep their promise to not put us through hell this time?" Heath said.
"Only one way to find out," Brad said when the gate began to slowly swing open.
Chapter 38
Phoenix
It wouldn't have surprised Phoenix in the least if they had been attacked, like the night before, but it also didn't surprise him when they drove through the gate, up the mountain and parked in front of the witches' cabin without anything trying to kill them or drive their minds to insanity. The witches were unpredictable. Trying to guess their next move would only lead a person in the wrong direction, or worse, get them hurt.
Phoenix had learned that the hard way.
As everyone filed out of the vehicle, the urge to punish his insubordinate, ex-second-in-command grew to an overwhelming need when Jaxon closed the rear door and grinned at him. Any thoughts of reversing his decision to revoke the vampire's demotion was squashed in that moment and swiftly replaced by a desperate necessity to kill the bastard.