He sat up quickly, his eyes intense and burning with the beginnings of anger. “You know I don’t, but how can you hold something like this against me when I’m no longer sleeping with anybody, but you’re still fucking that vampire?” Curling his fingers in, he made tight fists and gritted back his rage. “I’m sorry—”
“No, you’re right.” She let out a derisive laugh. “You are absolutely right. You’re innocent and I’m the bad guy—”
“Andra, please,” he pleaded. “Listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me. I won’t be paraded around on your arm, like one of your whores for the next four weeks and be made to look like a fool. I am the Alpha of Montgomery, Ace. I am here to learn how to be the best leader that I can be for my pack. The bond is the only thing linking us together. I do not have feelings for you. I do not want you. We are not dating. Do you understand? I am with Phoenix,” she stressed. “Find me someplace else to sleep. We will touch in only a professional manner and just enough to keep the bond from killing us. You can sleep with as many women as you want. Believe me when I say that I won’t try to stop you again.” The little speech surprised even her, but it had felt amazing to say. She needed to let out her inner bitch more often, make friends with her, maybe even have a few drinks to see just how bitchy she could get. Andra liked her.
Breathing heavily, Ace shook his head as he left the bed and moved toward her. “Don’t do this. I understand you’re upset. You have every right to be. I was a jerk who loved sex—a lot of it—but that’s not who I am anymore.” He laughed dryly. “You have all my memories.” His hands came up to grip her shoulders as he stared into her eyes. The crease in her forehead immediately relaxed at the contact. “You know me, and you know in your heart that you are the last and only woman I want in my life.” He moved his fingers down her arms to her hands then pulled them up to his mouth so that he could kiss them. “I am falling for you so damn hard, Andra, and I know that you are falling for me, too. You wouldn’t be so possessive of me and upset about my past if you weren’t. It’s scary as fuck, but I know that’s what is happening here. It’s okay to be afraid. I’ll be here with you. Please… Let go and fall with me, baby.”
With tears in her eyes, she backed away from him. He let his arms fall to his sides and let out a frustrated groan. “It’s only the bond making you think you feel that way, Ace. I’m not mad at you. I’m angry with myself for letting you believe there could ever be more than just the bond between us. I won’t allow myself to love two men. That wouldn’t be fair to anyone involved. It’s not your fault. It’s fate’s fault.” Lifting one of her hands, she placed it lightly on his cheek. “You deserve happiness, too. I won’t stop you from finding it.” She ignored the fact that this entire situation was not making her happy.
Ace’s face twisted in torment and maybe a little disgust as he covered her hand with his. “I’m not letting you go, Andra, and I’m not going to go in search of something or someone else when I know my happiness is standing right here looking back at me. It doesn’t matter what you do or what you say, you’re still mine—”
She jerked her hand from him and forced it behind her back to keep from slapping him with it. “I am not yours!” she screamed. “I choose who I want to be with, and it’s not—”
“You don’t get a choice!” he roared, and then immediately turned around, blowing air out of his nose as his fists came up to rest on his hips. Even though she was still angry, she wanted to go to him, to make his pain go away. She couldn’t do that or everything she’d said would have been said for nothing, and then she would be right back where she started, still leading him on. “The bond took that choice away from us, Andra,” he said softly. “I’m sorry that you’re not happy here with me. I’m sorry that I don’t have a perfect past. I’m sorry that I’m not good enough for you. Above everything else, I’m sorry that you refuse to love me… because I think that we could have a great love together, a love so great that people would talk about it for centuries.” He turned back to look at her tear-stained cheeks and shook his head. “I’m sorry that the bond doesn’t give a shit what we want, Andra.”
His words hit her like a sledgehammer. He was right. Andra couldn’t deny it. She nodded and sucked in a ragged breath. “Me too.”
“The bond doesn’t make me love you,” Ace said. “I’m doing that all on my own. And you can tell yourself all you want that you’re not falling in love with me, too, but Phoenix will be able to see right through you. You’re only lying to yourself.” Without touching her again, he walked to the door and grabbed the knob, but before twisting it, he said, “Get your things packed up. I’ll have Slade show you to your new room. Breakfast is in fifteen in the dining room. Training starts outside in an hour. Don’t be late.”
Ace left the door open after leaving the room.
Thursday, February 5th 2015 8:30 a.m. PST
Las Vegas, Nevada
Andromeda
She couldn’t afford to worry about Ace’s hurt feelings right now. But thinking that did nothing to stop her from doing so; she felt all his pain and sorrow. The bond was a bitch that couldn’t be reckoned with.
Picking up her cell from the bed, she brought Phoenix’s number up and hit the call back button.
“Hey, Lupacchiotto,” Phoenix drawled in a sweet and seductive voice, nearly making her moan. This was the man she loved. This was the man she wanted. She didn’t want Ace. She couldn’t. Her eyes drifted closed, so that she could imagine Phoenix standing in the room with her as he spoke.
“Is it Sunday night yet?” she said. “I miss you terribly.”
He chuckled. “It’ll be here before you know it.”
Huffing loudly, she knelt to zip up her suitcase. “I wish you were here now,” she pouted.
“There’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be, Mena.” There was a beat of silence, before he continued. “Even being there with your lion would be better than where I am now.”
Her heart stuttered through a pretty cool reggae beat before finally settling into a steady rhythm of pounding against her ribcage as she stood upright. “Phoenix, what’s wrong?” More silence. “Phoenix,” she demanded.
“Nothing… we hope.”
He didn’t sound too hopeful. He sounded like he was in a world full of shit. Blindly, she reached out for the mattress and sat down. “Don’t make me fly to Montgomery and beat it out of you, Phoenix. What the hell is going on?”
“Calm down, Lupacchiotto. We found the moonrising shifter early this morning. We’re all fine.”
She sighed in relief. “You about gave me a damn heart attack.”
The sound of his chuckle was music to her ears. Maybe she was only overreacting because of her fight with Ace. “Nonsense,” he said, amused. “Shifters can’t have heart attacks.”
She grinned. “Has there ever been a report of one going crazy? I think I’m on that train, and it’s headed toward Crazy Town at an alarming speed.”
“Not that I am aware of,” he whispered.
Her eyebrows drew down in confusion. “Did I wake you?” she said, and then recalled that he said they found a moonrising shifter, not that they found and killed one. He’d also mentioned that he’d rather be here with Ace than where he was now. Where was he? “Phoenix, what are you not telling me? Where are you?” More silence. “Phoenix!” she shouted.
He sighed. “I’m in a field.”
“What?” she said, and looked at the digital clock on Ace’s nightstand. It was two hours after dawn here, so it had to be four hours after dawn there. “You’re in a field? It’s daylight, Phoenix!”
“I’m aware.” He huffed. “Actually, I’m in the trunk of Roel’s Mustang. He hit the moonrising wolf and busted the radiator. Your wolf’s ex-boyfriend shifted and ran to Montgomery a little before dawn to get a tow truck. He hasn’t made it back yet.”
She placed a hand over her chest and said a silent prayer. “Is the moonrising wolf dead?”
“Nope,”
he said, “but he is unconscious. The plan is to interrogate him to see if he knows who bit him once we get him back to my compound and in a silver cage.”
“That’s the plan, huh? How the hell are the four of you going to get an unconscious moonrising wolf to your compound, Phoenix?”
“What would you say if I told you that he’s going to ride in the trunk of the Mustang?”
She laughed until she realized he wasn’t laughing with her. “You’re joking, right? Please tell me you are joking,” she hurriedly said. He didn’t respond. “Phoenix!” she snapped out. “You are in the trunk of the Mustang!”
“Mena, he hasn’t moved in hours. I’m fine.”
Her jaw unhinged. “He’s in there with you now? I’m gonna kill Roel.”
“Please don’t, Lupacchiotto. Remember that six of us are still linked.”
Gritting her teeth together, she growled, and then said, “If Ace found a cure for me, he can get more.”
There was a knock on the open door, and she looked up to see Slade. “Ready to go to your new room?” he said.
“New room?” Phoenix repeated.
“Uh… yeah,” she said to both men. “I’m not staying in Ace’s room any longer,” she said only to Phoenix.
She could almost hear his lips slide over his teeth in a mischievous smile. “Shall I ask what happened?”
She huffed in irritation as she remembered the argument she’d had with Ace. “I’ll tell you later. Call me as soon as you get that thing locked up and all of you are safe. I have training later, but I’ll take my phone with me today. And I’ll see what I can do to get a potion that will release the rest of you from the Nexus spell.”
“As long as it doesn’t require you moving back into his bed, I’m all for it,” Phoenix said, amused.
“Oh, trust me, that’s not going to happen.”
“I look forward to hearing what he has done to upset you so.”
“And I look forward to hearing that the moonrising wolf is locked up and you are safe and in your bed for the day.”
Phoenix’s exhale sounded soft, almost sad even. “It will be difficult to rest without you in my bed with me, my love.”
Her throat grew tight with emotion. “You have no idea how much I wish I could be there in your bed with you.”
“Mena…” Phoenix whispered softly.
Covering the speaker with her hand, she cleared her throat then swallowed as she fought the stinging of her eyes. “Yeah?”
“I love you.”
She smiled. “I will never get tired of hearing that. I love you, too. Be safe.”
“I’ll see you soon,” he said.
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her, but it seemed speaking was swiftly becoming an impossible obstacle.
“I need to hear you say it, Lupacchiotto.”
Taking in a ragged breath then blowing it out, she wiped the moisture from under her eyes, and said, “See you soon.”
He ended the call immediately after.
When she glanced up, Slade was standing three feet in front of her, with her suitcase in hand.
“Is this everything?” he said.
She shook her head as she stood and walked to the corner where the rest of her luggage was. “I guess it’s a good thing I haven’t had a chance to unpack yet.”
“It’s a good thing for you, or else you’d miss breakfast. Nobody is late for training with Ace, and he wants you out of his room before then.”
She flinched at Slade’s words. “Did he say that?”
He chewed on his lower lip for a moment, and then gave her a nod. “I dressed his words up a bit. You don’t really want to know his exact words.”
She blinked a few times as Slade grabbed a few more suitcases and turned for the door.
She stood there, staring at the last two pieces of luggage. “I can’t feel him at all,” she whispered, almost inaudibly.
Slade didn’t comment as he walked out of the room.
Phoenix
The musty darkness of the trunk overrode the birds chirping in the distance. Thank God. Two full-grown men cramped in the truck of a Mustang wasn’t Phoenix’s idea of a good time, but desperate times and all that.
Phoenix had lied to Mena. He’d already had to knock out the moonrising wolf once, and was prepared to do it again. To keep from focusing on all the things that could go wrong, Phoenix chose to concentrate on the trust he had in the guys his fate rode on, and his love for Mena. He had to concentrate on something else, or he would go mad.
He was well aware of what the bonding process did to shifters. It was nature’s way of keeping the species alive. Mena and that fucking cat would grow protective of each other, live and die for each other, fall in love with each other. Phoenix’s stomach sank at the thought. She wouldn’t be able to help it. He knew at some point his Mena wouldn’t be able to deal, and he’d have to do something to make her choice easier. Phoenix huffed a sigh, which echoed loudly in the tiny space.
Dammit. He didn’t want to give her up. He’d just found her. Muttering curses under his breath, he shifted in the trunk, desperate to stretch out—just a little.
The moonrising wolf’s breathing altered again. A low groan came from the wolf. With only his well-being in mind, and that of the other five linked to his mortality, Phoenix managed a solid punch to the beast’s jaw, rocking his head back. A solid KO punch that bought him some more time.
“Come on, Alex. Hurry up,” Phoenix muttered. This was a shitty predicament.
Chapter 16
Thursday, February 5th 2015 8:30 a.m. PST
Las Vegas, Nevada
Ace
Instead of eating with everyone in the house and risk seeing Andra so soon after our fight, I quickly found Slade, told him to get her the fuck out of my room, made a short stop in the kitchen for a banana, a granola bar and a protein shake, and then I ran for the gym.
I was pumped, pissed and sick and fucking tired of being rejected by her. She’d made it crystal clear that she was only here to train and learn how to be a good Alpha. If that was all she wanted from me, that’s what I intended to make happen. Starting today.
Slade noticed my mood right off. I’d bet big money the guy would choose a light breakfast, as well. He’d seen this look in my eyes before and knew what was in store for everyone. We were long overdue for a group training day anyway. What better way to break Andra into our pride? By the time I was finished with her, she’d be a finely-tuned, well-oiled machine. Someone who can take care of herself. Someone who can take care of others and protect what she values. An Alpha, like me.
There was no doubt in my mind that she would hate me until that day came. I definitely expected it, and I planned to use her anger as fuel to keep pushing her as mine pushes me.
For me, anger is an ally. I take the rush the emotion bestows upon me and I turn it around to use as an advantage. That’s the reason I am who I am today. It’s the reason nobody else will ever defeat me. Most people lose their heads when they get angry, causing them to make mistakes. Me? The more enraged I am, the clearer I think.
If she wanted to be a great Alpha, I wouldn’t fail her. She would be the best damn Alpha alive, aside from me, of course. At least I could give her that much.
In order for me to be able to be around her today without wanting to choke her every other minute, I needed to prepare myself mentally. It had been a while since I’d meditated. It had worked wonders for me in the past, so I thought I would at least give it a shot.
Settling in on the gym floor, I crossed my legs beneath me and rested my hands loosely on my knees.
After a series of deep breaths in and out, I slowly began counting backward from one-hundred. Somewhere around eighty-two, Andra’s anxiety overwhelmed me enough that I lost count. Easier than I ever had before, I pushed the emotion aside and started counting down at eighty. Focusing on the center part of my chest where the heart chakra is located, I felt the warm tingling sensation that always happened when I
meditated. Very slow and careful, I forced it to spread throughout my body and imagined it radiating on the outside of my physical shell until a sphere surrounded me. Andra’s emotional interruption happened again when I reached forty-nine, nearly causing me to lose my peace. I effortlessly shoved the nuisance out of my body and immediately continued my count with forty-eight. A low, humming vibration settled around my mental bubble, and I experienced a sense of calm that I hadn’t felt in months. At nineteen, I felt a tingle on the outside of my mind, but that was all. Like I did with preventing her from hearing my thoughts, I put up a wall. I imagined finding my soul within my body and blocking any way of entry. After that, I felt nothing but relaxation.
Three… two… one. I opened my eyes and blinked the empty room into focus. I was alone, completely and utterly alone—well, besides Chaos, who was curled up on one of the mats, fast asleep. I couldn’t feel Andra at all. Was it possible that I had found a way to overcome this part of the bond? Moreover, how long would it last? Meditating wasn’t a hardship, and I would do it every hour if I had to, anything to get rid of her damn feelings. I wondered absentmindedly if she could still feel me, and then decided that I didn’t care if she could or not.
I grabbed my protein shake and turned it up, downing all the container’s contents in six big gulps. Setting the empty bottle beside the granola bar and banana, I extended my legs in front of me and began stretching the muscles in my thighs, hamstrings and calves.
Without breaking form, I looked up when the gym door opened and Slade walked in. Chaos’ head popped up, and then he resumed his nap after he realized we weren’t going to be eaten by monsters. Slade’s normally loose raven coif was secured at the nape of his neck by a ponytail holder. It made me miss my long hair, but, instead of telling him that, I always told him that it made him look like a puss. That was usually followed by a jab to my arm or stomach.
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