Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(84)

"We all know," Heath, Tracy, Heather and Roel said together.

Phoenix leaned forward, letting his elbows rest on his knees. It took a while to answer, because it was the first time he'd said it out loud to more than Mena. Somehow it made it more of a reality when you said things out loud. He hadn't been ready to say it. He still wasn't ready, but he supposed he needed to in order to move on to the next step and make right on at least one of his two promises.


"I'm going to do everything in my power to get Mena back in full control over her wolf or I am going to die trying. I expect no less effort from any one of you."

Brad stood up and grabbed the binders, then started walking out of the room.

"Where're you going?" Roel said.

Brad stopped, turned, and said, "Downstairs. We're not going to be finished making phone calls before the sun comes up, and I don't intend on dying this month."

Heath stood and followed him. "The boy's got a point."

The girls followed immediately after, leaving Phoenix and Roel in the living room, alone.

"Can you do it?" Roel said, quietly. "Because I'm not sure I could."

"I don't have a choice. I promised her one or the other would happen, Roel. I won't fail her."

Roel gave him a weak smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You did it, didn't you?"

"Did what?" Phoenix asked, but he already knew what the guy was going to say.

"You wouldn't be able to give her away or kill her unless you had fallen in love with her. That may sound morbid, but in this case, it's the truth. You may be the only one who can do it."

"Like I said, I won't fail her, Roel."

"Just say it," Roel said teasingly as Phoenix walked by him to join the others.

"I am well aware that either fate I choose for her will leave me dead…" he stopped just before walking downstairs, and turned to look over his shoulder at Roel, "…or with a shattered heart. Is that good enough?"

Roel nodded as he frowned. "I know we've been enemies for over a hundred years, Phoenix, but if this is the last few weeks I have to spend on this Earth, I'm really glad we're not anymore. And for what it's worth, I hope you can find a way to be with her. You make her happy, and a happy Alpha makes a happy pack."

Phoenix stared at him a moment longer before nodding in agreement. "I'm glad we don't hate each other anymore, too, Roel, but I'm a realist. This won't end in my favor." He shrugged as if it didn't matter. "It's just not written in the stars for some people."





Chapter 44



Phoenix





They were on their second break, and each of them looked and felt beat to the bone.

After Heather tossed a closed binder to the floor in front of her crossed legs, she leaned back against Brad's knees and kneaded the stiff muscles in her neck. "We need to come up with a different strategy. Not one Alpha has agreed to even come meet her. I had two cuss me out for our pack's stupidity for not telling our new Alpha about naming her wolf, and the Alpha of Louisville, Kentucky just laughed at me."

"Most of them hung up on me after I told them I was the High Vampire of Montgomery," Phoenix said, defeated. "They think Mena is crazy, and they don't want anything to do with trying to form an alliance with my kind. I even left out the part about us being together. I was afraid they might bring their packs and try to kill her."

"Little Rock, Arkansas, is a maybe, but he wouldn't give me a direct answer. Said he needed to think about it," Roel said. "He was interested about our pack and your clan joining together, though. If we get enough on our side, maybe it will convince the others to at least listen. None of us thought this new way would work over night. There are bugs still needing to be worked out, like anything. It's going to take some time."

Heath nodded. "I got about the same from Houston, Texas."

"How are you already on Texas?" Tracy said. "I thought we were going in alphabetical order."

Heath shrugged. "I started at the end. All of Wyoming was a no," he said with a frown.

"Maybe we would have better luck with Alphas from another country," Heather suggested.

"I'm not ruling that out, but we need to start here," Phoenix said. "The biggest threat from the moonrising wolf will be here first. I don't think any of them are grasping how dangerous this will be for humanity. She'll be ten times harder to kill than a regular Alpha once she is in full control."

"I had a few offer to come kill her for us," Brad said. "They didn't seem to care that five others would die right along with her. They only saw it as 'problem solved.'"

The room fell eerily quiet as everyone stared at Brad.

Roel covered his face with his hands when Heather asked what he meant about five others dying if Mena died.

"What is he talking about, Heath?" Tracy said, her voice quivering already.

"You stupid jackass!" Heath shouted at Brad.

Phoenix stood and walked to the bar for a drink, wanting to stay out of that particular conversation as much as possible. It was inevitable that his name would be brought up soon and he would be dragged into it, since he was the one who had the witches link them all together, but he wasn't going to offer up his neck for the chopping block right off the bat to two pissed off werewolf wives. And he was sure they both soon would be. Maybe it was best to just rip the bandaid off and get it over with. Glancing over his shoulder, he opened his mouth to tell the girls it was his fault, but Roel started speaking first.