Was that love? No, that was insanity. The woman made him bat-shit crazy. No matter what it cost him, he knew he couldn’t let her just walk out of his life for the sole reason that he didn’t love her.
He liked her.
He lusted after her.
He wanted to make her his. Of course, he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about him being hers, too, but he could think about that later. He was almost positive it would only take one more kiss to make up his mind about that one.
He smiled as the memory of her mouth on his flashed through his mind.
It had been too long, he thought. Much, much too long. How long had it been? A week? No, he hadn’t even known her a full week. Their last kiss had been right before Katie’s death… last night!
He growled in frustration as he slammed the door of his chamber and headed for the shower. “Maybe Rhodes was right,” he said to himself. “If you aren’t in love with her, it’s definitely something close.” Then he chuckled as he shook his head, refusing to believe such absurdity could happen to him. “It’s just a crush, Phoenix. It is only a silly crush. Nothing more.”
Chapter 30
The Wolf
If Phoenix thought she was dumb or that she was going to let that shit fly, the cute little vampire clearly underestimated her.
“You deal with your man and let me deal with mine, Wolf,” Mena said through her mind, causing a broad smile to creep across her face.
“As long as your man doesn’t keep me from getting what I want, I won’t have to deal with him,” the wolf said.
“Well, if your intention is to screw Alex with my body later today, you’re going to have a lot more to deal with than my boyfriend. It’s not going to happen.”
The wolf sighed and theatrically rolled her eyes as she pushed the button for the elevator. She didn’t miss that Brad was sitting in the front lobby with a magazine hiding his face.
Since when did Phoenix take it upon himself to start giving her pack orders? Hmmm…
“Good morning, Brad,” she said, and the magazine fell away as he shot to his feet.
“Mena!” He gave her a surprised and embarrassed expression. She frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Save it. I know Phoenix contacted you and ordered you to come here and watch over me. I assume I will bump into Heath and Roel on my way to Jack’s office, as well. Am I correct?”
Brad looked at the floor. She approached him slowly, and it appeared as though he was smart enough not to back away. “Yes, ma’am. Phoenix didn’t want anything—”
“The next time Phoenix gives you an order, you’d better clear it with me before you obey him,” she said, just a little above a whisper. “He isn’t your Alpha. Am I making myself clear?”
He nodded once. “Yes—yes, ma’am.”
She huffed in annoyance. “Very well… I suppose there is no point in sending the three of you away, now that you are already here. Man the lobby and text me if you see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brad said as she turned around and headed for the elevator doors that were just beginning to part.
“And Brad?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Don’t call me ma’am.”
“Yes, ma’am—I mean, no… Mena, I won’t do that anymore.”
Grinning as she stepped into the elevator car, she decided to use the short amount of time it took the elevator to get to the third floor to powder her nose and apply red lipstick.
“Stop putting all that gunk on me,” Mena snapped. “You’re making me look like a two-dollar whore!”
“A little color never hurt anybody, Mena. It brings out our eyes. Relax,” the wolf said as she put yet another coat of mascara on Mena’s thick lashes.
“Give me back control during the meetings. I don’t want you coming on to my late husband’s lawyer or the insurance guy.”
The wolf giggled. “Oh, please, I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize our reputation.”
“MY reputation! Nobody even knows about you!”
“Ugh!” The wolf massaged Mena’s temples. “Will you please stop shouting? Honestly, it’s not like I’m your enemy.”
“The jury is still out on that one,” Mena said, and the wolf could tell she had crossed her arms over her non-literal chest and was now pouting.
She grinned as the elevator doors opened, but just as she took a step forward, she was quickly shoved back into the box, spun around and thrown up against the far wall by someone very strong. Only seeing that the person was clothed in jeans and a black hoodie, the wolf couldn’t identify the person without them speaking, but she was almost certain the person was a female.
Mena’s wolf laughed lightly. “And here I thought it was going to be a boring day. I don’t know whether to kick your ass or thank you.”
The forearm of the person pressed into the back of Mena’s neck, causing the side of her face to squish against the elevator wall. She was almost certain the culprit was of the wolf variety; he or she was too strong to be human, and any of Phoenix’s clan couldn’t come out in the daylight, so it must be one of the eight who had receded from her pack or a spy on the inside. Either way, this person was no ally.
“Fight back!” Mena shouted. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m sure he or she has some sort of silver-coated weapon pointed at your back, Mena. Believe me when I say that you do not want me to move just yet.”
Loud pounding sounded from the doors just after they closed.
“Mena!” Roel’s voice shouted as the elevator car began to move up. “Christ, Mena, answer me!”
“What do you want?” Mena’s wolf said in a low, steady voice.
A girl laughed wickedly from behind her. “What do I want? You once offered to challenge me. I’m just accepting the offer.”
“It’s Dana!” Mena shouted. “She was screwing Marc. I challenged her the night I accepted the moon. She cowered—”
“I remember,” the wolf interrupted, and grinned slyly as she said aloud, “Are you sure you want to do this, little wolf cub?”
There was a short snort, and then the girl spoke again. “Are you kidding me? You got lucky when you killed Marc. I’m over a century older than you—”
Mena’s elbow quickly shot back and nailed the girl right in the mouth, and then she turned and threw her to the floor with one hand, pinning her there with a knee to the throat while she grabbed the blade with the other. She pressed the sharp tip of the silver into the flesh just beside the jugular vein and Dana cried out, the searing pain the silver was causing evident in her wails. The wolf glared at her panic-stricken expression with silver eyes, feeling no sympathy for the stupid girl.
“Please…” Dana squeaked around the weight that was nearly crushing her esophagus. “They made me do it.”
“There is only one Alpha in Montgomery, and I can assure you that I’m it. Too bad you won’t get a chance to tell them you failed.”
The elevator car shook when something heavy landed on its roof, and Mena’s head jerked up in alarm.
“Mena!” Heath shouted.
“I’m all right, Heath,” she said as she removed the knife from Dana’s neck long enough to reach over and hit the button for the ground floor, and then she swiftly replaced the blade at the girl’s throat, poking a different place with the silver this time. Dana screamed, but didn’t dare attempt to move. “Meet us in the lobby.”
“Will do, Boss Lady,” Heath replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
“You’re weak, Dana,” the wolf said. “After I finish with my meeting, that you so rudely made me late for, I am going to show you just how weak you are. In the meantime, you can spend some time in a cell at the High Vampire’s compound fearing what’s to come. I promise it will be epic.”
The elevator doors whispered open, revealing Roel with wide eyes, while Brad was busy persuading two guys in suits to take the stairs.
“There is a problem wit
h the elevator,” Brad said to the men. “We’re working on it, but it keeps getting stuck in between the second and third floors. We should have it back up and running by noon. Thanks, guys. Have a great day.”
As the men walked through the door of the stairwell, Heath ran out and Mena’s wolf jerked Dana to her feet, forcing her out of the elevator with her hand around the girl’s throat. “Call Phoenix. Tell him you’re bringing him a care package. Take the back door out, and come back for me once you get her settled into a cell. I’ll try to make my meetings short. And, Roel?”
“Yeah?” Roel said.
“Make sure Phoenix knows that nobody is to touch her until I get there.”
“No!” Dana screamed. “I’m sorry! Mena, I swear—”
“Shut her up.” The wolf tossed Dana to a smiling Roel who quickly put a stop to all the squealing by putting her in a sleeper hold. Dana’s body fell limp and unconscious within seconds.
“Text me after she is locked behind silver bars and you’re on your way back. Brad, stay with me. You can be my escort to Jack’s office and stand guard outside.”
“Yes, Ma’—ena.”
The wolf watched as Roel picked Dana up in his arms and carried her away, and then she turned and walked back into the elevator, with Brad right by her side.
“That went well,” Mena said, dryly. “Want a dog biscuit?”
“Admit it, if you’d been in control, we’d be dead by now.”
“I’ll admit it if you let me out to play with Dana later. I have a few bones to pick with her.”
“I have no problem doing that.”
“Good,” Mena said, “then you were right to stay in control earlier. I’m no fighter. And I am not too proud to admit that.”
The wolf smiled. “I think we are going to get along just fine, Mena dear.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Wolf.”
The wolf laughed, and Brad turned to give her a puzzled look as the doors opened. She shook her head. “Don’t ask.”
He nodded then led the way to Jack’s office.
Phoenix
Something had been nagging at Phoenix the whole time he had been in the shower, and he’d done his best to ignore it, but it was a new feeling, not something he’d encountered before.
Maybe a side effect to the crush, he thought as he gave his head a shake in disgust. The dreadful feeling grew stronger as he made his way to the bed, sweeping over and nearly consuming him to the point that he reached out and grabbed the edge of the nightstand to keep from falling. The momentum of weight against the object caused it to shake and the lamp atop it to crash to the floor.
Easing himself down, Phoenix leaned his back against the iron bed frame and drew in long, deep breaths. “Sleep… you just need rest to recharge, and then you’ll be—”
His phone buzzed where it lay on the mattress behind his head, and somehow he knew who it was before his fingers even closed around the device.
“What happened?” he said, without checking the caller ID.
“Mena’s fine.” Roel sighed into the phone. “One of our pack members tried to attack her—”
“What?” Phoenix barked, sitting up. “There were four of you there, Roel! How could you let anything—?”
“She wasn’t one of the eight who receded, so I can’t be sure there aren’t more just waiting for the opportunity to take her out. The others are starting to ask questions, Phoenix. We were all supposed to rotate shifts protecting our Alpha, but I’m not sure who I trust in our pack anymore. Twenty-seven are in the running as Beta, and Mena has only—”
“Twenty-seven!” Phoenix shouted. “I thought there were eight!”
“Umm… I guess you haven’t had a chance to talk with Mena much since she met everyone.”
Rubbing his tired eyes with his thumb and a finger, he huffed in annoyance. “I guess not. Look, if you have to tell them anything, tell them the detective is too close to have more of them around right now; it would be difficult for Mena to explain without him getting suspicious and somehow finding out about the pack.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling them,” Roel said, “but they know something’s up. They can sense it. It’s a pack thing; you wouldn’t understand. Anyway, Mena handled the situation perfectly, and Heath and I are on our way to your compound with the traitor. Problem with that is we don’t actually know where you live.”
“I’ll text you the address and you can use GPS to find me. I’ll send Lea up to let you in,” Phoenix said, then ended the call, and immediately pulled up Roel’s number to text him the address. After hitting send, he stood on shaky legs and went straight to his closet to dress for what appeared to be a long day.
On the bright side, he would get to see Mena sooner rather than later and get to torture a werewolf. Win-win!
That was definitely worth a day without sleep.
Chapter 31
Mena
I suppose my wolf wasn’t so bad. I mean, it could have been much worse. I could have gotten stuck with someone with the personality of Weird Al Yankovic, someone with a voice like Kristen Schall’s or someone with the sense of humor of a red wasp. Worse yet, my wolf could have been of the male variety.
I shuddered at the thought. Just imagine a guy inside my head twenty-four-seven, telling me what to do and filling my head full of vulgar comments every time I took a shower or went to the restroom.
At least she was willing to negotiate on most things. For instance, after I had to wake her up the third time during the meetings, she finally relented and gave me back control over my body. I guess the only threat she saw toward us was that the lawyer and insurance agent might bore us to death. Marc’s lawyer was a few years past the seventy mark and had a bit of a hearing problem, so my wolf was constantly having to repeat herself. I learned she didn’t like doing that.
The insurance agent reminded me of one of the main characters from the movie Revenge of the Nerds. Of course, Anthony Edwards grew up to be pretty hot, and there was a brief moment when she saw potential in the guy and tried to undress him with my eyes, but I managed to pinch her. I learned that she didn’t like that, or the fact that I had that much control when she was supposed to be in full control.
Maybe Karma was starting to like me after all.
As promised to Roel, Heath and Brad, we wrapped up both meetings in record time and were walking out of the law firm building less than an hour after we had walked in.
“I parked over here, Mena,” Roel said, but my attention was drawn to a yellow Jeep that was parked in the same spot it had been when my wolf left it. The driver’s seat was reclined, and Alex was sound asleep behind the wheel. “He’ll be fine,” Roel said, and tugged me in the direction of Brad’s black Suburban. “I’m sure he’ll call you when he wakes up. We need to go. Phoenix is out of his mind with worry over you. He gave direct orders to get you back to him safely or—”
“Wait,” I said, and stopped just short of the passenger door, narrowing my eyes at him. There were two things I didn’t get. The first being, why the hell was Phoenix so worried about me if he wasn’t in love with me? And the second, why did my pack seem to follow Phoenix’s orders more than they did mine?
Roel froze with his hand on the door handle, but he made no move to look at me.
“You want to explain to me what’s going on, Roel?” I said, but he still didn’t turn his head to look at me, so I looked over my shoulder at Heath and Brad. “Either of you care to fill me in? Alex told me what you did last night. I know about the witches.”
“You do?” Brad said. “Oh, thank God,” he finished on a relieved sigh. Heath smacked him in the chest with the back of his hand, like he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
My brow rose as I pointed toward the Chevrolet. “Someone had better tell me what the hell is going on or I’m not getting in that vehicle with any of you!”
Roel huffed. “He should have told you.”
“Who should have told me what?” I demanded.
“Phoenix,” Heath said in a small voice.
“Well, obviously he didn’t, so now the three of you get to do it. Spill it. Now,” I demanded.
Roel glanced around the area nervously, and then quickly opened the passenger door. “I swear we will tell you on the way, but we’re about to have company, and I bet they are looking for Dana.”
I got in and gave Heath a puzzled look when he got in on the driver’s side, started the engine and peeled out of there, like we were being chased by the Mob or something. “Shouldn’t we stay? We can hide somewhere and see who they are. What if they hurt Alex? You need to turn around, Heath!” I said.
“We’ll find out everything we need to know tonight,” Roel said from the backseat, and I turned in my seat to look at him.
“Keeping you safe is the most important thing right now, Mena,” Brad said, and my gaze locked on him.
“Go back!” I shouted. Heath kept driving. Nobody said anything. “Heath, I gave you an order to go back.”
“I can’t,” Heath said, and I glared at him, waiting for an explanation. He fidgeted in his seat, before saying more. “We physically can’t do anything that might put you in harm’s way, Mena. The spell the witches did for Phoenix has taken effect now. Anyone who contributed to it can now sense when you might be in danger, even before you know it. Any other order you give will be followed without fail. I’m sorry. We just assumed Phoenix would have told you about it this morning or we would have said something.”
I thought back to the morning’s events with Phoenix. The breakfast he had prepared, the story about his parents and then our argument had taken up all our time together until Alex had shown up. If I hadn’t begged him to tell me the story he might have possibly informed me of what he had done the night before with part of my pack and my wolf’s boyfriend. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. I really, really did. I did not want to be upset with him for something else. It seemed like he was always screwing up. Was he trying to? I honestly couldn’t make myself believe that.
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