Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(82)

"We'll be there in twenty."

Roel beamed. "Oh, hey, do you mind swinging through Taco Bell and—"

"Go get your own damn burrito, dick!" Heath snapped.

"I'll get tacos for everyone," Roel said. "Hot or mild sauce? Never mind, I'll get both."

"Whatever," Heath said, and then the line went dead.

Rushing to his closet, he grabbed the first shirt and jeans he saw and hastily threw them on. He was damn near giddy after he slipped on his boots and grabbed his keys, and it wasn't because Heath had agreed to come—he knew the guy would, eventually. It was because they could finally let someone else in on their secret.

He hated keeping secrets.





v''''v





Mena





I couldn't do this with Alex. I couldn't let a man I didn't love touch my body for three more weeks without going bat-shit crazy. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't sweet or romantic, and it wasn't Alex's fault. I just couldn't keep up the farce. Alex was all in. He meant every touch, every caress, every kiss. And they all made me internally scream no! I felt violated. There was no way I could let my wolf continue raping me this way.





Chapter 43



Roel





The girls listened—not without interrupting at least a hundred times with questions, mind you—to everything Roel and their husbands told them.


It wasn't the time—not that there would ever be a good time—to let them know the three of them were linked to the moonrising wolf, a human and two vampires. But if nobody died, there was no real harm done, right? And if one of them died, they all would, so none of them would have to listen to the bitching that would surely come after.

Phoenix had better be damn glad he linked himself to us, Roel thought, because there was no worse wrath like a pissed off wife's. He shuddered as he thought about that and was glad he didn't have a permanent female in his life. One woman for eternity?

Ha! Not me. Not ever.

"So, what did you need these for?" Heather asked as she slapped the stack of three-ring binders on the table beside her.

Roel shrugged as he rubbed his chin and studied the pile. "Hell if I know. Phoenix told me to write down all the Alphas and their digits, then go see him."

Heather opened the binder on top. "I have them all alphabetized by state and city, with personal details on each one. Why do we need to write them down again? Can't we just take him the binders?"

"Wait!" Brad said. "Nobody said anything about the two of you going into the vampire's lair. You're not supposed to know any of this."

Heather gave him a look that very subtly told him they would talk more about this in private and that he need not expect to win, but Tracy spoke up.

"Mena is our Alpha, too. If there's something we can do to help, we're going to do it. To hear you three, it sounds like y'all are runnin' around blind. I don't think two extra intelligent minds would be a bad thing in this situation, and if Phoenix has a problem with it, I'll kick him in the balls."

Loud groaning and air being sucked through teeth echoed off the walls of Roel's small kitchen as all three men grabbed their most precious assets.

Heath shook his head as he leaned toward her, placing a sweet kiss to her cheek. "Please don't do that, baby. You and Heather can go. Just leave the brutal and corporal punishments to us."

Tracy rolled her eyes as she grinned. "It's not brutal to me."

"I can't believe you're letting them go," Brad whined. "You know Phoenix is gonna kill us when he sees them."

Roel smiled. "Now that… is something he won't do."





Phoenix





It felt like there was sand in his eyes as he opened them to look at the bedside clock. The digital numbers said it was 4:38 a.m., and his cell phone was ringing.

"Who the—" he started, but cut his question short when he saw Roel's number on the screen. "It's almost dawn. What do you want, wolf cub?"

"You said to come see you when we got the Alphas and their numbers. We're here."

Phoenix pushed himself to a sitting position then rubbed his eyes. "Who is 'we'? You didn't bring the whole pack with you, did you?"

"No need. Brad's wife has all the information in binders. It's cold, *. Are you going to let us in or not?"

Phoenix grunted as he got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom for his robe. "Give me three minutes. I haven't fed in a few days and my body is trying to shut down."

"So that's why I feel like shit," Roel said, and then lowered his voice. "The girls are with us. They don't know about the nexus, so keep your trap shut or we'll all die tonight."

Phoenix chuckled as he made his way to the weapon's room where Lea kept blood bags stored in a fridge. "Gotcha," he said, and then he ended the call and bit into the bag.

Grabbing another, because he had waited much too long to feed, he kicked the door of the refrigerator closed and tossed the first empty bag in the trash on his way out of the room. As he sank his teeth into the second bag, he bounded up the stairs to the first floor, made his way across the kitchen and into the garage.