Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(90)

Even though he'd fed and was much stronger now, every punch he threw felt like a brick to his own cranium.

"Stop!" Lea cried. "Jaxon, please stop. You're going to kill him!"

He paused long enough to shout, "That's the f*cking plan! Now, get in the bedroom!"

A low growl vibrated from beneath him, and when he looked back down at Roel, the guy's eyes were shining silver. He barely registered that sirens were going off before he was tossed across the room from the violent power of Roel's shift.

As he got to his feet, a massive black wolf rounded the sofa, stalking toward him, its head hung low and its teeth bared.

Jaxon smiled as he cracked his neck, then palmed the hilts of the twin silver daggers he kept on his outer thighs. He crouched, ready for the fight. "C'mon, puppy," he snarled, and was just about to make a run at him when Lea jumped between them, tears rolling over her cheeks, a cell phone in each of her hands, one toward him and the other toward the wolf.

With the adrenaline pumping so wildly through his veins, he couldn't decipher what was being shouted over the speakers of the phones, but he knew Phoenix was the voice on one and Mena was the voice on the other. It was just a bunch of jumbled words until both Phoenix and Mena shouted in unison, "Stand down!"

A whine came from Roel as he lay down on the plush, burgundy carpet. It was clear Mena's order had more of an effect over him as a wolf than Phoenix's command had over him as a vampire, because Jaxon still wanted to cut the mutt's heart out, or at least give him a dose of silver poisoning. He honestly believed the only thing stopping him was Lea. She was knelt by Roel's wolf form and petting him.

"Christ!" Jaxon swore. "What are you doing, Lea?"

Her head whipped around and she glared at him with tear-filled eyes. "Leave, Jaxon!" she demanded. "Get out of my sight!"

"I can't! Phoenix gave me an order to stay here and protect you!" He pointed at Roel as he shouted. "I'm gone for forty-five minutes and come back to him trying to swallow your face!"

"We talked, we laughed and then we kissed! Nobody has shown me as much attention in thirty-two years as Roel did in half an hour!" she spat the words at him. "I may not be a shifter or a vampire, but I am a person; I have feelings, Jaxon; I have needs, and nobody has ever given a f*ck about them until now!" She swallowed and took in a few calming breaths as he stared at her, stunned. "Just leave… please. I feel safer with him than I ever did with you."

He sheathed the daggers, then ran both hands over his face in frustration, torn between whether or not she was telling the truth or just lashing out in anger. He'd never known her to lie.

"Fuck it," he muttered, then walked to get his phone that was on the floor by her knees.

"Stay there," Phoenix's voice said just before Jaxon picked up the cell phone. "I'm on my way."

Jaxon stared at the phone with wide eyes, just now realizing that the call with his master was still in progress. Shit!


"I can be there in ten minutes," Mena said from Roel's phone. "That hotel is only a few blocks from Alex's apartment."

"There's really no need—" Jaxon started.

"I'll pick you up, Mena," Phoenix said. "It's best Rhodes doesn't tag along on this trip."

"I'll be ready when you get here," she said, cheerfully, and both calls ended at the same time.

"Ahhh…" Roel groaned and stretched, then realized he was naked in a hotel room with Lea, and quickly grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on to cover himself. It was a throw pillow from the sofa. "Uh… I probably need to apologize for a lot of things, but I'd like to be clothed when I do it."

Jaxon sighed as he fell into a chair. "I have clothes in my duffle bag in the bathroom. Be my guest."

"Thank you seems odd to say after what just happened, but so does the fact that you are loaning me clothes. I'm not going to look into it much, since I'm the only naked man in the room."

"That's the reason I'm loaning you clothes, dummy."

Roel clutched the pillow to his midsection and walked backward to the bathroom. He gave Lea a little wave and smile before shutting himself inside.

She laughed.

Jaxon sighed. "Why him, Lea?"

She turned on him, a challenge in her eyes. "Why not him, Jaxon?"

He shook his head. "If he hurts you…" He let the rest of the sentence trail off as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry… about earlier, I mean. I didn't mean it when I said I didn't feel safe with you. You've always taken good care of me, Jaxon. I was just angry with you. You shouldn't have attacked him. He wasn't doing anything wrong. I kissed him back," she said quietly.

"It's not wise to get mixed up with him, Lea."

"I need a reason why. He's shown me nothing but kindness the whole time I've known him."

"I will kill anyone who even thinks about hurting you, but I can't touch him. I lost my mind when I walked in and saw him touching you. I didn't even think. I just reacted. I nearly ruined everything." He chuckled. "Phoenix will probably put me in a cell for a century. Aw, who cares? I deserve it, right?"

"No, you don't deserve to be locked in a cage. You weren't really going to kill him."