Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(94)

"Phoenix, Mena, I am so sorry about what happened—" Jaxon started, but Phoenix held up a hand to stop him.

"We didn't come here to bitch at the two of you for being stupid. I hope you both know how serious that could have turned out and will think twice before acting in the future. Mena and I came here to make sure Lea was all right."

Lea looked up at him in surprise, and then her attention moved to me. "I'm fine. You needn't have come all the way over here for me—"

"Lea," I started, "you are important to us. We care about you."

She smiled shyly. "Thank you. I—" she paused when her voice cracked, and then she cleared her throat and swallowed before continuing on, "—Thank you."

Phoenix went to her. "I never expected you to give up everything, Lea. I apologize for not making that clear when you started working for me."

"You're okay with her dating a werewolf that is linked to us?" Jaxon said, aghast.


Phoenix shrugged. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? I don't think Roel is a bad guy or I wouldn't have chosen him to be one of Mena's protectors. Besides, I'm not her father; I'm her employer."

"Because, well… because we can't kill him when he breaks her heart—which he will, by the way. The guy has more commitment issues than you do."

Phoenix's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he pulled me to his side, and then I laughed when he leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Yeah, because I clearly have commitment issues."

Jaxon rolled his eyes, and huffed as he grabbed his leather jacket. "I'm out. Roel can stay with his girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Lea said. "We just kissed once, Jaxon. Why are you being a dick?"

"You can be if you wanna be," Roel said with a playful smirk.

Lea blushed, and shook her head. "The kiss was nice, Roel, but too much is going on. I wouldn't be a very good girlfriend right now."

"Does that mean I have to stop kissing you?" Roel took a step closer to her and brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek. "Because I definitely want to kiss you again," he whispered.

Jaxon's face flamed red.

"Isn't it obvious?" Heath said, and laughed. "He's jealous."

Jaxon froze with his hand on the door handle, and after a moment he turned around to glare at everyone in the room. "I'm not jealous of anything that mutt has," he spat, and then jerked the door open and stormed out.

Lea covered her face with her hands and fell into a chair. Phoenix stood there, looking at her like he wasn't sure what to do. I knelt by her side, wrapping my arms around her in a gentle embrace.

"This is all my fault," she said.

"Shhh…" I said. "No, it is not. Men are pigs."

She laughed a little through the sniffling.

"Has he ever shown you any interest, Lea?" Roel said, and she looked up at him then, shook her head.

"No, he's just always been protective of me. He has never touched or kissed me or even acted like he wanted to. He's just always sort of taken care of me, you know, like a big brother."

"Maybe the reason he never tried anything was because he thought I wouldn't approve," Phoenix said.

"Or maybe he didn't see her as someone he liked until someone else took an interest," Brad suggested.

"I don't mind staying here with her," Roel said. "I brought a binder with me. I can do what I need to do from here."

"No," Lea said as she stood. "I'm going back home where I'm needed. I'm going stir-crazy in that bedroom."

"Aren't you worried about the other vampires trying to hurt you?" Phoenix said.

Her brow furrowed. "I cut Santino's head off, Phoenix. Why would I be afraid of any of your vampires?"

He chuckled in response. "And that's why I hired you." He draped an arm over her shoulders as we headed toward the door. "Let's go home."

"Oh, wait! I have to get our things."

"I'll get them," Roel said. "You can ride with me. I doubt there's room in the Corvette, if that's what Phoenix brought."

Lea smiled. "Thank you."

He winked at her then ran to the bathroom to gather her and Jaxon's belongings.





v''''v





Mena





We rode back to Alex's apartment mostly in silence.

Something was nagging at me. I'd had a lot of bad gut feelings lately, but this somehow seemed different. Maybe I was just overwhelmed by everything going on. My wolf usually handled that for me, but maybe she was feeling a little overwhelmed, too.

I knew Phoenix wanted to ask me to stay with him tonight, and I also knew the reason he hadn't yet was because he already knew what my answer would be: I can't; Alex thinks I'm in a monogamous relationship with him.

For now, we had to play by the wolf's rules or everything would fall apart.

Being around Phoenix and the others I was linked to made it more difficult not to think or ask about their progress of finding salvation. I couldn't even allow my mind to wonder what might happen if Phoenix's promises fell short of the mark. Or worse yet, if for some miracle everything worked out according to his plan.