Once Upon a Shifter (74 page)

"No, Alex… I don't have a mental illness. I have another—uh…

"Female,"
my wolf suggested.

"…female living inside me."

The burst of laughter from the passenger seat startled me so much that I swerved into oncoming traffic. "Shit!" I shouted as I jerked the Jeep back into my lane. My heart pounded against my palm as I tried to catch my breath. I reached over and slapped him on the arm. "What the hell was that for?"

After he stopped cackling, he said, "I'm sorry, Mena. I've had some crazy girlfriends before, but none that ever admitted it."

"Men are slow,"
the wolf said.
"Maybe we should just outright tell him."

"He wouldn't believe it,"
I replied.

"That's probably true."
She huffed.

"I'm not crazy, Alex. It's true. I am Mena Hoke, and she is not."

I looked at him when I pulled to a stop at a red light. He was staring at me, but he wasn't laughing anymore. My phone dinged, signaling a text. I figured it would be from Phoenix, checking to see if I was telling Alex anything—or everything—but it was from Daryn. I couldn't deal with him right now.

Mena, more have left the pack. You need to handle this before it is too late. And why aren't you answering any of my calls or texts? I just want to help make this right and protect you. ~ Daryn

I quickly typed back a text.
Driving now. Can't talk.
I hit send then tossed my phone in my lap as I put the Jeep in first gear and took a left toward Phoenix's home.

"If it's not a personality disorder, then what is it?" Alex said. "Are you possessed or something?"

"I wish she were only a demon. Maybe that way an exorcism could get rid of her."

"You really think you have another person in your head, don't you?"

My wolf huffed.

I huffed.

"I don't think I do, no. I know I do."

"If it's not a mental illness and it's not a demon…"

I pulled up to Phoenix's security gate and hand-cranked the Jeep's window down. After pushing the button, I waited… in silence. Yep, I was so not answering that question until I had some witnesses.

"Mena—"

"We're here, Alex."

He put his hand on top of mine to keep me from pushing the stick in first gear.

"Talk to me," he said, gently.

"I will, just as soon as we're in the house."

"Why are we here? I know you said that you're going to tell me everything, but why here? Why at Phoenix's house? What does he have to do with all of this? You said you didn't like him—"

"The
other
part of me told you that I didn't like him," I said, and looked pointedly at him.

He leaned back, removing his hand from mine. I shoved the gear shift in first and pulled through the gate.

"Are you seeing him, too?" he whispered.

"Alex, please, just wait—"

"Answer the fucking question," he said, slowly giving emphasis to each syllable.

I swallowed as I killed the engine. "I am seeing Phoenix. She is seeing you. When she's in control, I'm stuck in my head, watching everything through my eyes but unable to speak or do anything. It's the same for her when I'm in control. We negotiated the two of you."

"Phoenix and me?" he said, but he wouldn't look at me. The muscles in his jaw flexed a few times as he clenched his teeth.

The driver's door was pulled open, and Phoenix stood beside me, but he was staring a hole through the side of Alex's head as if he had said something offensive toward me.

"How much did you tell him?" Phoenix said.

Alex threw open his door and got out, slamming it as he rounded the front of the vehicle.

"How long have you been fucking her?" He didn't stop once he reached Phoenix. Alex pulled his arm back and punched Phoenix in the jaw, then again in the stomach, but Phoenix barely moved. One of my hands came up to place over my aching jaw as the other one clutched at my stomach. My wrist and knuckles were throbbing, too, but that right hook had been a doozy. I couldn't let Alex hit him anymore. Not that Phoenix couldn't take the beating, but because I couldn't. This girl wasn't made for hand to hand combat.

"Shit! Alex, stop!" I scrambled out of the Jeep, but there wasn't going to be a fight; Phoenix just stood there, watching Alex cradle a sprained wrist.

Phoenix wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at it as Alex gawked at him in disbelief. "Only since yesterday, but she's been mine since the full moon. So, if you're pissed because you think I stole your girl, I could argue that it's the other way around."

Breathing hard, Alex looked down at the ground, like he was sifting through the memories in his head. "Since the full moon?" He raised his head to look Phoenix in the eyes. "That was the night of Marc's death." Realization flashed in his eyes, and the air whooshed out of his lungs as if someone punched him in the gut. "You killed Marc… didn't you?"

"Why don't we go inside?" Phoenix said, but it was more of a demand than a suggestion.

"Phoenix—" I started.

"I'm not going in that house. You're under arrest for murder!"

"Alex, he didn't—"

Alex pulled the gun from the small of his back and pointed it at Phoenix's chest. Phoenix slowly raised his hands in the air. "Get on the ground!"

Phoenix grinned. "Yeah, that's not going to happen—"

"What the hell's going on out here?" Roel said, and my eyes darted over to see that Brad, Heath, Lea and two other women were with him. "Rhodes, put the gun down, man. You really don't want to do this."

"Were you all in on it?" Alex shouted, never taking his aim off Phoenix's heart. I knew it wouldn't kill Phoenix if he shot him, but he didn't know that. "Is that what the big secret is?"

"Alex… listen to me, please," I pleaded.

After taking a few calming breaths, he said, "I'm listening, Mena, but I doubt I'll believe you."

That stung a little. "Phoenix didn't kill Marc—"

"Mena—" Brad said.

"Don't!" Roel shouted at me, but I ignored all of them.

"I killed him," I said.

The muzzle of the gun dropped a few inches when Alex's head jerked in my direction. He shook his head. "No."

I knew moving toward him could set him off—he already looked as if he felt threatened—so I dropped to my knees on the pavement of Phoenix's circle drive and laced my fingers together behind my head. "If you arrest anyone here tonight for murder, it's going to be me, but I would like to tell you what happened, if you'll give me the chance."

"Just so you know, cop, you ain't leavin' here with my Alpha," Heath said as he aimed one of Phoenix's fancy guns at Alex's head. "You have sixteen bullets in that Glock 19, and not one of them will hurt any of us here, includin' you." He smiled. "But this one will."

Alex's gun came back up to point at Phoenix's heart again. "What are you talking about? You people are all crazy!"

"You're not human anymore, Detective," Brad said.

"Way to let the wolf out of the bag," Roel said. "Don't hold back any. Tell it to him straight."

"What?" Alex's eyebrows popped up. "That's it. You're all going to jail. The judge can decide what to do with you tomorrow." He reached for his cell phone, and Heath pulled the hammer back on the gun he was holding.

"Don't shoot him, Heath," I said, and he growled at me, knowing he couldn't pull the trigger now, since I had given him a direct order.

And that's when it hit me. Even though the shifters who had receded from my pack were rogue, I was still their Alpha, and since one of them bit Alex, that made me his Alpha, too. Any command of mine had to be followed.

"Put the gun down, Alex!" I shouted, and his arm instantly dropped, like it was full of lead. His gun sprung from his fingers and clattered to the concrete.

He stared at it for a moment, confused, and then he slowly raised his eyes to look at me. "Did you do that?"

I sighed as I nodded. "Yes, and now we are all going in the house so this can be explained to you."

I'm not sure if it was the Alpha in me that he sensed and obeyed or if he just realized that he wasn't going to leave Phoenix's residence with a pulse, but he turned on his heel and walked to the open garage door.

Chapter 50

Alex

One hour! They had one damn hour to convince him they shouldn't all go to jail or he was calling in SWAT. He had enough sense to know that the city police wouldn't be able to take them all in without someone dying, and even though Mena had said she'd been the one to murder Marc, he didn't want her to get hurt.

He'd meant what he'd said about loving her. It would kill him to put her in handcuffs, but he couldn't just let her walk. Could he?

The others kept their distance behind him as he made his way down the stairs to Phoenix's massive basement.

He'd wondered why the guy lived under the house the one other time he'd been here, but too much had been going on at the time to ponder it for too long.

As he walked down the long corridor, he noticed there was a door open to a room on the left. The light was on within. It must have been closed off the last time he was here, for he hadn't noticed it at all then.

He hadn't planned to be nosy, but after one glance in the room, his feet damn near tripped over themselves trying to stop. His jaw unhinged as he took a step inside what could only be identified as an artillery room. Over half the stuff was illegal to carry in the United States and the rest was illegal to have period.

Row after row after row of automatic handguns, semi-automatics, high-powered rifles, weird-looking shotguns, three cabinets labeled WMD, with smaller lettering of CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL and NUCLEAR written at the top of each one.

As he let his gaze move to the other side of the room, he felt the eyes of the others on his back, but he couldn't seem to stop looking at all the weapons or thinking what on earth the owner of a dance club would need them for. One thing was certain, Phoenix Mahoney was going to prison for a very long time.

His eyes roamed over a wall full of throwing knives, swords, shurikens, nunchuks, and he froze when a familiar, shiny six-inch dagger caught his attention.

He pointed at it. "The girl at Hellhound—"

"I didn't kill her, Rhodes," Phoenix replied. "The people who killed Katie were trying to frame Mena and me. Both our prints were on the missing dagger. I gave it to Mena for protection, and she lost it a few nights before that girl was murdered."

Alex pulled his hand back, but his mind was still reeling with scenarios. "But the murder weapon came up missing after the medical examiner left with the body."

"I sent Jaxon and a few others to get the knife before you could dust it for prints, but some others had the same idea. There was a scuffle and the murder weapon was taken by them. They still have it. If you haven't heard, the medical examiner has also come up missing. He is one of the people trying to hurt Mena."

"Why should I believe you?" Alex said.

"It doesn't matter to me if you do or not, but if your plan is to put any of us in prison, I can promise you that it's not going to happen; Brad wasn't lying to you; we're not human and neither are you… anymore. I'll be in my chamber when you're ready to discuss it," Phoenix said, then left him standing there.

There is no way any of this is true or even happening at all, for that matter. It has to be a dream, a nightmare, rather. Yeah, the dogs attacked me, and I am now unconscious in a hospital bed. The pain medicine they're giving me through the IV is what's causing this morbid dream. If it's not a dream, then it is definitely a prank.
"This is a joke, right? Am I being punked?"

Mena slowly shook her head. "Come talk to us, Alex," she said, and then followed the rest of them.

"This is a mistake," he muttered to himself. "I should leave. I should transfer to another department and move away from here." He stared at the door a moment, then his feet began to move forward. "Guess it's a night for shouldn't haves."

They'd left the door of Phoenix's chamber open for him. Guess they didn't think he was going to leave after hearing what they'd told him thus far. If this wasn't some kind of sick joke, how the hell could he leave? They had told him he wasn't freakin' human anymore. When had that transition happened? Better yet, how had it happened?

"Have a seat, Rhodes," Phoenix said, his back to him as he poured Scotch into two glasses. "Want a drink? I'm pretty sure you're going to need it."

He noticed most of the others were standing. "No. I'm fine. And I think I'll stand. I'm ready to get to the bottom of this and get the hell out of here."

Phoenix shrugged as he walked to a chair closest to the fireplace and sat down. He looked at Mena. "Would you like me to tell him?"

Her eyes were on the floor as she shook her head, but, after a moment, she glanced up to meet Alex's curious stare. "No. I think it would mean more to him if it came from me."

"The floor is yours then, Lupacchiotto," Phoenix said.

Alex's fingers curled into fists as he glared at Phoenix. He had a pet name for her? Lupacchiotto? What the hell did that even mean? The guy had been lying to him all along about his relationship with Mena. Friends? No, and it pissed him off that he hadn't trusted his gut instinct before. If what Phoenix had said in his driveway was correct, she had been with the asshole only hours before screwing him. There was no happy ending to this story for him, and it made him sick to his stomach to admit that to himself. He somehow knew hearing the rest of what she had to say would only make everything worse, but he couldn't make himself leave.

Mena blew out a huge breath and took a step toward Alex. He took a step back. She stopped, the hurt in her eyes evident. "There is so much you don't know, Alex. I know you won't understand it, but I would like you to keep an open mind and try to. Can you do that?"

"I'm listening," Alex said.