Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(8)

It should have been the first thing I noticed but, as I looked back to the room, I realized that every person was on bended knee with their heads bowed low. The sight of all of them, showing me respect as their leader, took my breath away.

"What do I say to get them to stand up?" I whispered to Daryn, who was kneeled by my side.

I heard him chuckle before he replied with, "You may stand."

I nodded, and looked back to my pack. "You may stand."

In unison, everyone stood and placed their fists over the center of their chests.

This was going to take some getting used to.



V''''V





Phoenix





Jaxon was waiting in the parking lot across the street from Hellhound, with a lot of other nosey humans, when Phoenix pulled up.

"They won't let me in," Jaxon said.

"You don't own the club. Why would they?" Phoenix said, and ducked under the yellow strip of caution tape surrounding the building. Jaxon followed.


They were immediately stopped by two uniforms.

"Excuse me, sir. You're not allowed on the crime scene."

Phoenix sighed. He hated dealing with humans. "I own this club."

The shorter of the two officers piped in with, "Well, the club is closed until we are finished." He shrugged. "That could take days."

Phoenix's jaw clenched, and by the look on the cop's face, he knew he had gotten under his skin. Phoenix forced a smile and glanced down at the brass name badge above the pocket on the guy's button-up: J. Harden. He made a note to give Officer Harden a visit at a later time. After all, it had been almost a week since he had fed last.

"What happened?" Jaxon said.

The taller of the two shot Jaxon a hard look. "We aren't allowed to disclose that information to you." They both took a step forward, and Phoenix held up his palms and took a step back.

The radio on the officers' shoulders came to life. "Anybody know how to get a hold of the owner of this place?"

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, but kept his hands up. The cops both appeared irritated, but the shorter one reached up and pressed the button on his radio so he could respond. "He may be out here with us, Rhodes," he said, and then glanced back to Phoenix. "Do you have identification?"

Slowly relaxing his arms back down at his sides, Phoenix reached to his back pocket for his wallet, took out his driver's license and the license he had as club owner of Hellhound, then handed them to the shorter officer.

He looked back and forth between the I.D. and Phoenix several times before reaching up and pushing the button on his radio once more. "He's out here, Rhodes. Want me to send him in?"

"That'd be nice, Harden. Sometime tonight would be great," came the irritated voice back over the radio.

Phoenix fought hard to keep from smiling as the officer released the button and then called the guy a prick. Cowards' blood always tasted sweeter. He found he already liked this detective guy.

"I guess you know the way in?" Harden said shortly as he handed Phoenix back his identification.

Phoenix nodded as he stepped around the officers.

"Wait," Harden snapped. "Who's this guy? He can't go in."

Without turning around, Phoenix replied with, "He's my lawyer, and he's coming with me. I will need one if any of you jerk-offs touched anything of mine without a warrant."

There was a short pause, and then the taller of the two said, "Are you hiding something we should know about?"

Phoenix grinned as he opened the door of Hellhound. "Oh, I have my secrets." He turned and gave the officers a wink, before disappearing into the club.





Chapter 5



Mena





Daryn placed me in the center of the huge room, and then he disappeared somewhere. I was too distracted to look around for him, because there were several people gathered around me, brushing my hair and pinning it up, clipping and filing my nails, powdering my nose and oohing and awwing as they worked. It was difficult to keep up with it all, and I was confused by why they thought I needed pampering in the first place; I thought I had done a pretty good job getting ready.

A large chair was placed behind me and the women around me encouraged me to sit. I did.

The crowd of smiling onlookers parted, and a tall and tanned, and ruggedly handsome male approached me, bright white fabric draped over his large outstretched forearms. He knelt on one knee and bowed his head as he held what appeared to be a dress out for me to take.

I stared at the top of his sand-colored hair in confusion for a moment, until one of the elder females at my side leaned closer and whispered by my ear. "He is bringing you an offering, a gift. It's his way of asking your permission to be in the running to be your Beta. If you accept the gift, you are accepting him as a possible second in command."

I blinked, and turned to look at her. "My… Beta?"

She snickered. "Yes. A female being pack leader has never happened before, but you are the Alpha, dear. You have to pick a second by the next full moon."

"But, how will I choose?" I pleaded in a whisper.

She smiled and patted my arm as she looked back to the male at my feet. "Don't worry, dear. You'll know."