Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(80)

"Lea?" he said as he rose from his seat to go to her.

She stilled just before he reached her, and he froze, not quite sure how to comfort his assistant. She was clearly overwhelmed, confused or frightened, none of which he was designed to understand, much less reverse.

"Has someone hurt you, Lea?"

She shook her head, but still refused to look him in the eye.

Pressing his lips together, he tried for another question because he honestly believed touching her in any way would cause her go off on him, something she had never dared do. "Tell me what the problem is, Lea. I will make it right."

Her eyes flicked to his, then quickly away again.

Against his better judgment, Phoenix reached out to touch her shoulder and was relieved when she didn't shy away or run screaming from the room. Whatever it was, it couldn't be that bad. She already appeared to be calming under his touch, though her body was still trembling.

A loud noise from the other side of the door had Phoenix's head jerking up in alarm, and then he heard a male shouting, followed by a door slamming and the person shouting his name.

"What the hell?" Phoenix muttered, and strode toward the door, but just as he reached out to take the knob, the door burst open and Jaxon practically fell into the room on top of him.

"Jaxon—" Phoenix started, but stopped the instant he saw the horrified expression on the guy's face as he stared wide-eyed at Lea. She didn't move. She only stood there, with her head down and her hands clasped loosely in front of her.

"Why, Lea?" Jaxon demanded from the girl, and Phoenix was still stunned speechless, not knowing what to say because he still didn't know what had happened. "I could have done something! I thought you were okay," he pleaded, but she acted as if she hadn't heard him at all.

Shock. She was in shock, Phoenix thought.

Phoenix strode across the room to her and guided her to a chair. "Sit down."

Her knees buckled and she landed on the soft cushion of the chair.

Turning his head to look at Jaxon, he waited for an explanation, but with all the recent events and the look on the other guy's face, he finally came to the conclusion of what might have happened. "Santino," he mouthed, and Jaxon closed his eyes as he nodded once. "Christ," he muttered on a long sigh.

The room became small all of a sudden. There was no sense in asking Lea why she had killed one of his vampires, because he already knew the answer: vengeance. He scolded himself inwardly for not handling what Santino had done to her brother better.


Any of his vampires would have done the same that Santino had, but he should have dealt with it, made him leave the city or transfer to another clan until… until what? Lea died from old age? That wouldn't happen as long as she was taking vampire blood—it slowed the aging process of a human by seventy-five percent. Lea had only been his assistant for a little over twelve years, but she didn't look a day over twenty-two, only two years older than she had been when he had approached her about the position. She had told him then that she didn't have any living relatives, and he had needed someone to do daytime things for him, so he had taken her at her word.

Now that this had happened, he doubted she would feel safe staying here, at the compound. Santino was a well-liked vampire, and Lea was only human; it was possible that she wouldn't trust anyone for a while.

It was clear the girl needed help, someone to talk to, another female perhaps. The Lord knew he wasn't cut out for such tasks. Mena was the first person to enter his mind, but he doubted the wolf would let her out long enough for Mena to talk to her. Screw it, he thought; it was his only option.

"I'm going to get you some help, Lea," he said, but she didn't move as he stood and retrieved the cell from his pocket.

Bringing up Mena's number, he just stared at it a moment, trying to figure out what to say. Sending her a text saying that Lea had killed Santino wouldn't be wise. What if the cop saw the message as he was handing her the phone? Calling her would be better, but he didn't want to talk to the wolf, and he was almost sure she was the one in charge at the moment.

"Want me to take her to a hotel?" Jaxon quietly said. "I can stay with her until you figure out something else."

"It could be days, Jaxon. You can't stay with her during the day."

"I'll cover the windows. I'll be fine. She's been staying in my room since…" his eyes fell on Lea, "…since the other night. I thought she was getting better, Phoenix, honestly, I did, or I would have said something to you."

Waving a hand through the air, he dismissed Jaxon's apology. "You are not at fault here. I appreciate you letting her stay with you. She needed someone. I don't know how to be that someone, nor have I been thinking about anyone except myself or Mena for over a week now. If anyone is at fault, it is me." After a moment's thought, Phoenix nodded. "Yes, get a hotel. I'm not sure I trust anyone else to stay with her for long periods of time without feeding from her. I'll have Brad, Heath or Roel relieve you at night so you can hunt. Keep me up to date with her condition."

"What about the wolf?" Jaxon said. "What are we going to do to help Mena since the witches bailed on us?"

With the spell that had been over Jaxon in Brad's Suburban earlier, Phoenix didn't feel comfortable discussing the plan with him. What if whatever had control of him then still has control of him now? He shook his head. "Let me worry about the wolf."