Once Upon a Shifter (69 page)

To Phoenix, Tracy seemed stronger, intelligent, too, and he wondered if the girl had already figured everything out before she was told or if she was a realist, like him, and expected the worst in every situation, never worrying about anything until something actually happened. He didn't know, but he was grateful she was there for her friend. He only knew how to give facts. Even he had to admit that maybe he was too blunt at times when those facts were delivered.

Brad moved in to hug his girl, and all Phoenix could think about was comforting Mena. He knew the hell she was going through, and it killed him that he couldn't take her pain away. In fact, he had told her to let it happen. Locking her in a cell would have been a better idea, and he still wasn't positive he wouldn't resort to doing that before their time was up.

"Let's call it a day," Heath said. "I'll be better at communicating and negotiating after I've had some sleep."

"Yeah," Phoenix agreed. "I think we could all use some rest to recharge. Leave me a binder. If I wake up before you five get back, I'll start making calls."

"I'm staying here," Roel said. "I just need a bed or a couch to crash on for a few hours."

"Good," Phoenix said. "You can go up and make sure the garage and gate are secure after they leave. Jaxon took Lea to a hotel. I'm going to need you to relieve him tonight so he can feed."

Roel raised an eyebrow.

Phoenix shook his head. "Long story, but you can sleep in his room that is adjacent to mine."

Seeming to accept that, Roel followed Brad, Heath, Heather and Tracy out, pulling the door closed on his way out.

v''''v

Mena

I did as Phoenix asked and didn't think about what had gone on at the witches' cottage. Instead, every time my thoughts attempted to wander in that direction, I would think about how much I missed him.

Rolling to my back in Alex's bed, I realized there were only rumpled sheets and emptiness beside me. That was a relief. For some reason my wolf had retreated to the far corners of my mind and let me have full reign. I could only guess the previous night's activities with the detective had worn her out, but I wasn't about to complain; being trapped inside my head was driving me insane.

I guessed she wasn't too worried about me running away, since my clothes were nowhere to be found.

A delicious smell wafted through the open doorway and my stomach grumbled in response.

I scrunched up my nose as I looked around the room and tried to decide on my next move. If I wrapped the sheet around me, that might suggest to Alex that I wanted morning sex. I could always put on several layers of his clothing and feign sickness of some kind, telling him that I had a fever and was possibly contagious. What sort of virus lasted three weeks? Hmmm…

"Mena—"

I jerked and let out a scream as I clutched the sheet to my throat when Alex interrupted my inner conversation with myself. I prayed what I was thinking wasn't displayed on my face, but his wide eyes only told me that I had surprised him with my outburst.

I laughed lightly. "I'm sorry, Alex. I just woke up. I guess I was still a little disoriented. It took me a minute to figure out where I was."

The dimple in his right cheek grew deeper when he grinned at me, and I noted that it was one of my favorite features on him. I was a dimple girl.

He stayed by the door, waiting for me to make this even more awkward than it already was. I didn't want him to feel awkward. It was okay that I did, but none of this was his fault. He was just a man interested in a woman, a man that had no clue of the hell storm he was getting himself into.

"My clothes?" I asked.

His expression didn't change as he responded to my question. "They're in the dryer."

My brow rose. "My leather pants and jacket are in the dryer?"

He laughed. "No, but the tank and your underwear are. They should be finished soon. They'll probably swallow you, but I can get you a t-shirt and some jogging pants until your clothes are done."

I nodded, shyly. "Yes, please."

"I ran to the grocery store earlier. Would you like breakfast?"

I smiled. "I'm starving."

"Scrambled eggs and bacon okay with you or would you prefer fruit and cereal?"

"I'll have eggs and bacon. It smells great. Thanks."

He turned to leave, but stopped and just stood there with his back to me. I could tell he was about to say something, possibly about what we'd done last night, but instead he only took a deep breath and walked away.

About half a minute later, Alex walked back into the room with something navy and white in his hands. I smiled as he handed me the cotton and sighed when the soft fabric touched my hand. I could already tell they would be comfortable whether they were too big for me or not.

"Thank you—"

"I didn't hurt you last night, did I?" he said in a rush, like he'd finally got up the courage to ask the question. I wished he would have still been too chicken to talk about it, because I still was. "You would tell me if I did, right?"

I pressed my lips together for a second then shook my head. "No, you didn't, and yes, I would."

He let a big gust of air expel from his nose as he stared at me. "I had a great night, Mena. I don't want to ruin anything. You just seem… I don't know… different now, like you're trying to distance yourself from me. I can read people pretty well. I just thought maybe the handcuffs—"

I so didn't need a recap of the night before from him. I was having enough trouble forgetting about it as it was. "Alex… I'm okay. I'm just not a morning person. I enjoyed last night," I lied. "Coffee would probably help a lot," I suggested, then gave him a small smile.

He blew out a breath in relief. "I made coffee."

"I'll be back to my old self in no time then."

He grinned then walked out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

I blew out a heavy breath of my own.
"I don't know where you are, but I'm not an actress, wolf. He's going to know I'm not interested in him. I can't believe I'm saying this, but you need to take back over if you don't want him dumping me by noon. I can't flirt with him. He's not my type."

"Sorry. I slept in,"
she said, and then actually yawned.
"Anything interesting happen?"

"Just our chemistries clashing, that's all."

"I'm up."
She sniffed.
"Bacon! Yummy!"

Alex

What the hell had he been thinking last night? It had been too soon for sex. He'd known better. She was going to bolt!

Two arms wrapped around his waist from behind him. "Good morning," Mena said, and then placed a kiss in between his shoulder blades that sent a shiver all over his body.

Turning around in her embrace, he pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head, grateful that it was possible he'd been worrying over nothing. He'd expected her to come into the kitchen and tell him she wanted to go back to Phoenix's house or that she hadn't meant to let things go so far last night, but definitely not this.

"I thought we could eat breakfast then go to your house and pick up some of your clothes."

"I have a suitcase packed at Phoenix's. Maybe—"

The doorbell rang, but Alex wasn't about to let her get away from him, especially not after she'd just mentioned Phoenix.

After grabbing the handgun from the counter drawer beside him, he took her hand in his and pulled her to the door with him.

"Who is it?"

"Lexi," a female voice said, and Alex's brow drew down in thought. He didn't know anyone by that name that he could recall. "I was sent here to give something to Mena. I haven't had much sleep, so if you could open the door and let us in, that would be great."

Us?
He looked at Mena. "Do you know her?"

She shook her head.

"She doesn't know you. Leave whatever you brought on the doormat."

Alex heard another pair of footsteps on the concrete outside his door then Lexi talking to the person. "He won't let us in."

"He'll let us in," a familiar voice said, and then someone was beating fist to door again.

"It's Roel," Mena said, and grabbed for the doorknob, but Alex placed a hand over the knob first and pushed her behind him with the other.

After looking through the peephole and confirming that it was indeed Roel and a familiar-looking redhead, Alex twisted the knob and opened the door about six inches. The girl blinked at him, giving him an annoyed expression as she noisily chewed her gum, clothes hangers gripped in her hand and the clothes on them slung over her shoulder and spilling down her back.

"Thanks, cop. Phoenix would have been pissed if I'd left these on the doormat to get dirty," Lexi said, and then pushed her way into the apartment and past him. That's when he recognized her as the waitress from Hellhound.

Roel came in behind her grinning from ear-to-ear, carrying a suitcase and another small bag full of what might have been clothes. He handed the bag to Mena. "Phoenix told me to tell you that this is socks and non-sexy underwear, but that the 'other things' would stay at his place as long as you stayed here with Rhodes."

Mena rolled her eyes, but took the bag from him.

Alex's brow popped up. "Other things?"

She huffed, and shook her head as she led Lexi to his bedroom to find a place to put her belongings. "Don't ask," she said over her shoulder. "Believe me when I say that you don't want to know what Phoenix's idea of 'other things' is."

Roel handed the suitcase to Alex and turned to walk back out the door. "I could use a hand getting the rest out of Phoenix's Escalade."

"The rest?" Alex said.

Roel chuckled. "Aww, c'mon. You didn't think that was all, did you? We haven't even brought in the shoes yet."

"Shoes?" Alex said, and gulped.

Roel flashed him a devilish grin. "Lots and lots of shoes."

THE LAST QUARTER MOON

Chapter 45

Roel

After he double-checked to make sure the room number Phoenix had given him was correct, Roel tapped on the hotel room door.

Jaxon opened up after a few seconds to let him in.

As he walked in, he wasn't a bit surprised that Phoenix had splurged for a suite for Jaxon and the girl—Lea, he thought Phoenix had called her, though they had never been properly introduced.

"I'll be back in an hour or so," Jaxon said. "She's in the bedroom, asleep. Touch her and I'll make you sorry you did."

"Do you think Phoenix would send me here to relieve you if he thought I meant her any harm?"

Jaxon chortled sarcastically as he headed to the door. "Who knows what the hell Phoenix is thinking? Remember what I said, asshat. I'll break off your damn fingers and feed them to you."

"I wonder if your fingers would be ripped off if you did."

Jaxon shook his head, then closed the door behind him.

Roel blew out a breath as he tossed the binder he'd brought with him on the coffee table then flipped to Tennessee. Was it just a coincidence that the Alpha wolf of Knoxville was named Justice? There were at least four times as many in his pack than Mena had in hers.

He studied the page for a long moment, trying to figure out a different approach than the six of them had been using to interest the alphas, and then he rubbed his palms on his jeans and dialed the number under the physical address listed below the name.

It only rang twice before a male voice said hello.

"Is this Justice?"

"That's a possibility. Tell me who you are and how you got my number then the conversation might be continued with my introduction."

"Right, uh… this is Roel from the Montgomery—"

"David said someone from your pack would call. I'm not interested—"

"Wait! I don't think you understand—"

"That your pack was too stupid to tell your new Alpha that she needed to name her wolf or she would turn into a moonrising wolf? Yeah, I think I was informed well enough. Listen, if I come to Alabama, it will only be to kill your Alpha and take over her pack. If that's what you want, I'll be there by morning."

Roel sighed in defeat. "No, and thank you for your time."

"Sure thing. Call me back if you change your mind. Oh, and, Roel…"

"Yeah?"

"You have until five days after the first quarter moon to let me know the moonrising wolf is under control before I come anyway. I won't be coming for handshakes or to save her. Do you understand?"

"Ye—yes, sir," Roel stuttered.

The call dropped, and Roel fell back against the backrest of the hotel room chair.

He was just about to call Phoenix with the awesome news, when the bedroom door of the suite opened and Lea stood in the doorway, her huge bright blue eyes staring at him.

His heart did a little quick beating at the sight of her. Of course, he'd seen her before, but he had either been too consumed by other issues or never really paid her much attention. She was beautiful. Her hair was such a deep shade of brunette it looked like a rich chestnut in the dim lighting of the room, and the shiny, wavy locks hung almost to her waist.

Jaxon's threat thundered in his mind as his eyes roamed over the curves of her body, and he quickly averted his gaze from her, back to the open binder in front of him.

"Jaxon will be back in a little while. I relieved him so he could go take care of his nutritional needs."

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" she asked.

Sit with me?
Roel thought.
As in, with me in the chair or on my lap?

His confusion must have been written all over his face, because she smiled and pointed to the sofa at the right of the chair he'd been sitting in. "I meant that I would sit on the sofa. You can stay there. Jaxon seems to think I'll get over what I'm going through with sleep, so he has been making me stay in bed. I'm not tired."