Once Upon a Shifter (75 page)

She wrung her hands together in front of her as she spoke. "I'm not sure if telling you what you are first would be better or if I should start at the beginning, and tell you what I am."

Alex crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. "Start at the beginning. We'll get to what you think I am later… if I stay that long."

She nodded. "Do you remember at the restaurant when I told you that Marc struck me and I left him?"

"Was that a lie, too?"

"No, it wasn't. I have never lied to you."

"You said you weren't seeing Phoenix."

"
I
didn't tell you that. She did."

"Just get to the point, Mena."

"All right. After Marc and I fought, I left him. I was going to my brother's house across town, but I couldn't see well through the storm, and I nearly hit a pack of wolves as they crossed the highway."

"Wolves? In Montgomery?" Alex rolled his eyes, but didn't comment further.

"I pulled into a motel parking lot, intending to check into a room for the night. I had no business driving in the condition Marc put me in. I ran into Jaxon there. At first I thought he was trying to kidnap me, but after I saw the wolves closing in on us, I realized he was trying to save me. And he did… try."

"There haven't been any reports of wolves being spotted in Montgomery, Mena. You need to get—"

"Will you shut up and let her talk, Cop?" Heath said.

"I'm tired of being lied to. You've all made me look like a fool—" Alex's words were cut short when Brad stepped forward and started taking his shirt off. "What are you doing?" Brad took his boots off then unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans.

Brad shrugged. "Heather gets pissed when I shift in my clothes. It rips them to shreds."

Alex's brow lifted, silently questioning what he'd just heard the guy say. "Shift?"

Brad winked at him as a grin spread across his face. "Yeah. I'm a werewolf, dude." And before Alex could even comprehend what he'd said, Brad dropped his boxers and fell to his hands and knees.

Alex stared in horror as the muscles under Brad's flesh began to move unnaturally and, from one blink to another, a massive wolf leapt toward him, its teeth bared and snapping at Alex's neck.

It took him a full five seconds to realize that he was lying on his back on the floor and that a real live wolf was about to kill him. His hands were pushed against its chest. The gray fur was real; he could feel it on his fingers. The growl was real; he could feel it vibrating through his palms and up his arms. The wolf's breath was real; he could feel the heat of it on his face as the wolf snarled at him.

"That's enough, Brad. Let him up," Mena said.

Alex could have sworn the wolf chuckled as it stepped away.

Using his heels and elbows, Alex crab-walked backward about ten feet, his eyes wide with terror.

"That's one way of getting to the point," Roel said on a chuckle.

Alex blinked a few times. "A were—werewolf?" he stuttered.

The blond girl huffed as she picked up the clothes Brad took off before he'd turned into a huge dog. "C'mon, honey. You nearly gave him a heart attack." She walked to the bathroom, with the massive wolf following behind her, wagging its tail as it went.

"Did he just—"

"He's not very patient," Heath said. "He hates waiting for the punch-line of a story, even if he already knows it."

"He just turned into a dog!" Alex shouted after he got to his feet.

"We aren't of the canis lupus species," Mena said. "We're shifters. We are lycanthrope shifters."

"We? You're like him?" Alex said, aghast.

"As are you… now," Heath said.

"Actually, Mena is
the
Alpha Lycanthrope shifter of Montgomery," Phoenix said. "She is their pack leader. And she is your pack leader, too, Rhodes."

Alex bent at the waist and put his hands on his knees as he tried to figure out if this was a nightmare or not. Waking up would be nice.

"Those weren't dogs that attacked you," Mena said. "The gun you shot one with didn't kill it because your bullets aren't silver. However, the bullet that pierced Marc's heart was. The whole time I was married to him, I didn't know his secret. He was the Alpha. He showed up at the motel with a dozen of his pack to get me. After Jaxon fled with me, Marc shifted and chased us down. He bit me, and then I shot him. That's why I'm their Alpha now, because I took his life. Jaxon brought me here, so Phoenix could tell me what I am."

Doing a whole lot of heavy breathing, Alex raised up to look at the guy she'd just mentioned. "Are you one of them, too?"

"Who me? No, I'm something much better." Phoenix's grin was devilish as he flashed his teeth, and then something happened that Alex thought couldn't be possible; the guy's canines lengthened behind his lower lip. He opened his mouth and put a finger to one of the pointy fangs, toying with it. "I'm what the humans call a night-crawler, the undead, a kindred, a cainite, a sire, a sect, a prince… a master." Phoenix leaned forward in his chair, placing one elbow on a knee. "I am the High Vampire of Montgomery, Detective. Tell your Chief that and see if you don't earn yourself a pretty new straitjacket."

"I'm dreaming. This is all a big nightmare, right?"

Phoenix smiled as his fangs slowly retracted. "I'm afraid not, but now that you're one of them, there are some things you need to know."

"One very important thing," Mena said, and Alex turned to look at her. She had crossed the room, to where Phoenix's bed was, and she was looking at a small purple bottle in her hand. She twisted off the top.

"Mena," Phoenix said as he stood, "what are you doing? We only have one—"

She brought the lip of the bottle to her lips and turned it up, downing all its contents.

"No!" Phoenix shouted.

"What was that?" Roel said as Mena placed a hand to her stomach, an ill look on her face.

"Damn it!" Phoenix yelled as he picked up a vase and hurled it across the room where it shattered into a million, tiny blue pieces of crystal all over the stone floor. "Why did you do that?" he screamed at her.

"I can't sense her," Mena said. "She's asleep now. You need to lock me up, Phoenix. I don't know how much time the elixir will give us, but you have to tell Alex about the rest. She can't know that we know what he needs to do now. He has less than forty-eight hours before we will have two moonrising wolves to deal with. She'll know after he names his. I think that was her plan, for them to take over the world together. If you don't lock me up, she will grab him and run."

Phoenix brought his hands up to place them on his hips as he shook his head, the angry scowl still in place on his face. "I'm not locking you in a cage until the next full moon, Mena."

Alex watched her as she went to him and held out her hand. "Give me the key. I'll do it myself. You need to tell Alex what to do, because I'm running out of time. She can't know about what we're doing unless she's locked up where she can't get to any of you or run away."

"She won't kill me, Mena. She's linked to us."

"She will run, though. And she'll make sure you don't find her until after it's too late. Lock me up. Find another Alpha and, if for some reason you can't do it in time, you know what has to be done. It will be easier to take my life if she can't get away from you."

"What?" the brunette girl said. "Nobody is killing you, Mena. You're linked to my husband!"

"If I don't say her name in time, everyone else on the planet will become what she is; you know that, Tracy."

What the hell did she say? It didn't make any damn sense!
"Wait…" Alex said, "…what?"

"Give me the key, Phoenix."

He sighed. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I'm sure it's the only way." Mena held out her hand. "I'll toss it out of my reach once the door is locked. Come and get it later when you bring me something to eat," she said, a small smile playing across her lips.

"The key is silver. You can't touch it without it burning you. I'll do it. The others can fill Alex in about naming his wolf while we're gone."

She turned her head to look at Alex, and then she walked to him, taking his hands in hers. "I'm really sorry she pulled you into all this mess, Alex. I never wanted you to get hurt or become like me. It's too late now. You need to listen to them. Do what they say. I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with me after all this—I won't force you to stay—but naming your wolf is important. Promise me that you will."

"Mena, I don't understand. I still don't believe any of this."

She gave him a soft smile. "I know you don't, but that doesn't make it any less real or dangerous. Promise me that you will listen to them and do as they say."

He stared in her pleading eyes, scared for her and afraid for himself for what was still to come. His hands came up to frame her face, then he leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. He frowned when she didn't respond to the gesture. Was she really telling the truth? Was there another woman—wolf—inside her that had been controlling her and dating him? He didn't want to believe it, but this didn't feel like a joke anymore. He huffed. "I will do whatever you need me to do."

"Help them find the rogue wolves. Make sure they pay for what they've done to Katie and to you."

"And to you," Alex said. "I promise."

"She is going to wake up soon, Mena. Meridia said the potion would only last long enough for you to do what needed to be done to save yourself."

Mena nodded as she backed away from Alex then took Phoenix's hand. "I'm sorry," she mouthed the words again as he led her out of the room.

Chapter 51

Roel

Roel clapped his hands as Brad and Heather emerged from the bathroom, startling Alex. "Time for business. Sit down, Rhodes."

To his surprise, the detective did as he was told. Roel guessed Alex realized it was only a matter of time before his knees buckled beneath him and his ass landed on the floor, anyway.

"This isn't real," Alex said. "Werewolves and vampires are just myths used to scare children."

"Humans aren't that creative, Cop," Heath said. "The stories had to come from somewhere."

"I know you will have a million questions, but you have to name that bastard in you first."

"Are you even sure I'm a were—a were—"

Brad wrapped his hand in a handkerchief and picked something up from the low table beside the couch. He tossed it to Alex. Alex's reflexes kicked in, and he reached out to catch it, then hissed and immediately dropped it to the floor, shaking his hand in the air then looking at his blistered fingers and palm.

"That bullet is pure silver, Rhodes. Ever been allergic to silver before?" Brad said.

"That real enough for ya?" Heath said.

Alex looked up though his eyelashes at Roel. "What do I need to do?"

"You just have to say out loud that you are naming your wolf…" he pointed at Alex, "…and then say whatever you choose to name him."

Alex glanced around the room. "What, like now?"

Roel shrugged. "Better now than after he's already named himself and you won't ever have control of your mind or body anymore. You typically have about forty-eight hours, but I wouldn't wait until the last minute, unless you want to end up in a cage, like Mena."

"This seems silly. Do I have to do it in front of anyone?"

Roel nodded toward the bathroom. "Go in there. Be sure to look at yourself in the mirror when you do it. It's a trip."

"What's going to happen?" Alex said.

Roel grinned. "You'll see."

Chuffing loudly, Alex stood up and walked into the bathroom, pulling the door behind him, but leaving about a two inch gap. Roel could see his arm braced against the sink from where he sat.

"Do you think he'll do it?" Brad said.

"We'll kill him if he doesn't," Roel whispered. "He's not blood linked to us; killing him shouldn't kill us."

"Shouldn't?" Heather whisper-shouted. "I think you need to educate yourself a little more on that before you kill him!"

"He'll do it," Roel said, and then waited. Sounds of items skidding across the vanity, thuds, swearing and glass breaking could be heard from the other room, and Tracy shot to her feet in alarm, but Roel only smiled. "Seeing the silver eyes for the first time is freaky."

After a few minutes, Alex stumbled from the bathroom, with a mixture of terror and disbelief in his eyes.

"It's okay, buddy," Brad said. "C'mon over here and sit down. It's gonna get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. I swear."

"Where is Mena?" Alex said. "I need to talk to Mena."

Heath chuckled. "If that elixir has worn off, I can promise you that you don't want to see her right now. She's probably hairy and ready to rip out a few throats, everyone in this room included."

"I don't understand why she has to be locked up," Alex said as he practically fell into a chair.

Brad snorted. "A half-hour ago, you were ready to lock all of us up. Tell a guy he's immortal, and everything changes—"

Alex's head whipped around to stare at Brad. "Immortal?"

Brad's face scrunched up. "Did we forget to mention that part?"

"Did he name his wolf?" Phoenix said as he entered the room, a sullen and tired look on his face.

Alex stood up. "How is Mena?"

"Not Mena anymore," Phoenix replied.

"She pissed?" Heath asked.

"Yep," Phoenix said, letting the 'p' pop on his lips.

"It was the right thing to do," Roel said.

"So she thinks," Phoenix said as he crossed the room to the bar.

"I'll take one of those now," Alex said.

"What would you like?" Phoenix said as he poured Scotch in his glass.

"Whatever's strongest."

Phoenix walked to a tall cabinet and opened the left door, grabbing a half-gallon bottle of Jim Beam Bonded 100 PROOF, and then handed it and a glass to Alex as he walked to his seat.

Alex studied the bottle for a moment, then twisted the cap off and poured the glass full. "Thanks."