Phoenix Arizona (15 page)

As Phoenix opened his eyes, he saw the man standing at his head, an evil smirk turning up the corner of his lips.

“I think I’ll take my time with you.”

* * * *

Matt’s heart felt like it tore out of his chest as his hands slammed onto the dashboard.
I love you, élan vital
whispered through his mind.

Phoenix.

His Phoenix was calling to him. It was impossible. Something Matt had never heard of. Was it really Phoenix calling to him, or wishful thinking? He knew he could visit his mate in his dreams, but he had never heard of talking to the man when awake.

“He’s calling me, John.” Matt grabbed his chest as a sob tore from his lips. He had to believe that fate was trying to break the vicious cycle as well. He had to hang onto that one thread of hope. They had been all over the city, but Matt hadn’t been able to pick up his mate’s scent anywhere.

“Try and concentrate. Can you see anything, hear anything?” Valentine pulled over and Matt closed his eyes. Images fragmented through his mind. As he tried to grab onto them, they shattered, only to re-form again. It was like trying to grab wisps of smoke. Matt stopped trying to grab at the image and found his center, allowing the smoky image to swirl around his mind and form a complete picture. His pulse quickened when he saw a dirty room and a milk crate. He tried harder, breathing out slowly and opening his mind further. He had never done this before, but if his mate could call out to him, maybe he could connect in the same way.

Show me where you are, pup.

Matt grabbed his wrists as they began to burn. He rubbed the pain away as he fully let go.

* * * *

Phoenix stared out of the dirty window at the Chinese restaurant sign across the street and then closed his eyes. His body was there in the room, but his mind wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Not when he had seen the killer setting up his tools of torture.

He thought of Matt and their day in the country. The way he wrestled with that dang turtle to get him to cross the road. Phoenix could smell the pine trees that surrounded them and remembered that mother bear that had tried to eat him.

He smiled as he remembered the way Matt licked his face in his wolf form. He thought of the fight they had had and how Matt made love to him like he was the man’s very heartbeat. Matt looked at him like he was the center of his universe.

Phoenix understood now.

He knew what his mate had been trying to tell him.

Deeper than a soul mate.

My breath of life.

Since the beginning of time.

Phoenix’s soul cried out to his mate
. Matt!

* * * *

The image crashed into Matt like an out-of-control freight train. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe. “Chang’s Chow,” he shouted at the image in front of his eyes. “Fucking step on it!” Matt screamed out his anger and fear as his fist pounded into the dashboard. Fate was
not
going to take Phoenix from him. Matt wanted more than twenty-four hours with his mate.

He wanted forever.

* * * *

Phoenix was on his knees now, staring out of the dirty window, and knew that all hope was lost. He wanted to vomit and beg the killer to let him go, to give him back to his mate.

This was just a dream.

It couldn’t be real.

He would wake up and Matt would be surrounding him with his strong arms, holding him tight and telling Phoenix how much he loved him.

Phoenix felt the blade touch his throat. A single tear slid down his cheek and dripped off of his chin as he wished he had more time with his mate. Wished for one more hour to make love to Matt, laugh with him, or stare into his beautiful hazel eyes—one more time to run his hands through the soft fur when Matt was in his wolf form. If he was to die right now, his last wish was that he was wrapped in Matt’s arms.

“Make your peace, whore.”

A sob tore from Phoenix as he whispered, “I love you, Matt.”

His throat felt like it was being ripped from his body as the door to the filthy little apartment slammed open and gunshots rang out all around him. A scream broke the silence so loud that Phoenix’s soul vibrated in its wake and then shattered. As he closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of his blood leave his body, Matt’s scent surrounded him.

He was going to get his last wish after all.

* * * *

Matt dropped to his knees and a sound so painful, so wretchedly horrifying left his soul as his mate’s blood poured from his neck. He tried to lick the wound, to seal it shut, to stop the flow, but the blood was pumping out too fast. It was too goddamn fast for Matt to heal.

He cradled his mate in his arms as Matt cried out. “Phoenix, no. Please, pup, no. Stay with me. I can’t live without you. Please. You are my
élan vital.
My breath of life. You can’t leave me here alone, Phoenix.”

Matt’s world came to an abrupt halt.

“No!” Matt shouted and growled, cried and begged as Phoenix lay limp in his arms. Fate had gotten what it had come for, and Matt had no reason to live now. So when the bullet ripped through his chest, Matt didn’t cry out. He didn’t go after the killer who had shot him. No, he welcomed it.

Because he couldn’t live without his pup.

* * * *

Armando stood in Cisco’s arguing. He didn’t care any longer. His Nix was gone, and Armando just didn’t care about anything. He had thought that he and Nix would grow old together, needling each other about finding dates.

Nix was like a brother to him, and Armando loved Phoenix with every single breath he took. As the man he was arguing with spit in Armando’s face, Armando lifted his hand and backhanded the guy.

“You fucking bitch,” the man shouted as he pulled a gun out on Armando.

People screamed as they scattered, but Armando looked at the gun, feeling…nothing. He wasn’t afraid, and he wasn’t angry.

He just wasn’t anything.

Nix was gone. His best friend wasn’t here to talk sense into Armando. To tell him he needed to run and hide before he got his ass shot.

Armando heard the shot ring out through the club. His hand instantly went to his chest, feeling the blood seeping slowly out. He dropped to his knees, smiling up at the man who had shot him, whispering a thank-you.

As Armando pulled in his last breath of air, he called out to Phoenix Arizona, praying that he would see his best friend again.

* * * *

Valentine walked the path he was growing to know very well, whether he wanted to or not. As he approached the hallowed ground, he laid the bouquet of roses down on the two gravestones that were set next to each other. He dusted off the headstone as he kissed his fingers then touched the marble. He couldn’t believe that Matt was gone. He felt the loss of his friend, but mourned the short time Matt had had with his mate.

The ambulance had taken both men away, and then Valentine had been informed that neither Phoenix nor Matt had survived. The only thing that eased his troubled soul was the knowledge that he took part in putting as many bullets in the serial killer as he could.

Valentine hadn’t put too much stock in the legends, but kneeling at the graveside only confirmed their truth.

Matt and Phoenix were each other’s breath of life.

He smiled as he stood, knowing they would meet again someday.

Phoenix stood in the field of daisies and clovers as he cupped his hand over his brows, staring up at the sky as the fat, cushiony clouds slowly moved by. He inhaled the country air and smiled as the wind blew through the pine trees.

It was days like these that he loved the most. The countryside was beautiful.

He glanced to his right when the grey wolf rubbed his wet nose into Phoenix’s hand. “Are you going to stay like that all day?”

The wolf sat back on his haunches and gave a loud whine. Phoenix chuckled and ran his hands over the soft fur. “Okay, have it your way.” He sat down in the grass and laughed when the wolf tried to crawl into his lap. “You are too damn big to try and sit in my lap, Matt.”

Matt shifted and growled as he bowled Phoenix over, trapping him under Matt’s heavy and welcoming weight. “It would help if you stopped leaving the house. I wouldn’t have to hunt you down.”

Phoenix smiled as he cupped Matt’s face, staring up into his mate’s dazzling hazel eyes. “I don’t think I can get hurt out here, unless there are bears around.” Gods, he prayed there weren’t any bears here. Matt had assured him that southern Ohio was bear-free, but he could still remember that mama bear that had tried to eat him.

“Until Dominee’s trial is over, I don’t want you out of my sight. He has thugs who would stop at nothing to silence us. I nearly lost you once, Phoenix. I won’t risk losing you again.”

Phoenix remembered that day vividly. He still woke in the middle of the night screaming at the top of his lungs as he felt the blade slice across his throat. Thank fuck Matt had called ahead for an ambulance. The paramedics had revived him enough to get him to the hospital where he was rushed into surgery.

And thank fuck Matt’s ass hadn’t died either. That was one day that Phoenix would never forget and tried his best not to remember. He still felt the chills whenever he dreamt of that day. His throat had been cut and Phoenix had gone into cardiac arrest. From what the doctor had told him, Phoenix had died and was revived in the ambulance.

Maybe he and Matt had escaped the legend because of this fact. Maybe since both of them needed resuscitating they had cheated the curse.

Phoenix wasn’t sure, but he was grateful that he had more time with the man he had fallen deeply in love with and know had a lifetime to love and cherish him.

“I’m not going to stay cooped up in the house, either, Matt.” The area they now lived in under assumed names was so damn perfect that Phoenix just had to get out and explore. The days were sunny and bright, and winter was just around the corner.

He had never seen snow before and was looking forward to the white stuff just as long as he had his mate to cuddle with him.

Matt stretched out beside Phoenix, plucking a long blade of grass and skimming it down Phoenix’s arm. The feeling made goose bumps surface as Phoenix shivered. “We can go back to our old lives just as soon as it’s safe.”

“But I like it here, Matt. I like working at IHOP, and I like the house we’re living in now. I don’t want to go back to that life.” Phoenix had finally felt like he belonged, and he didn’t want to move. The place was perfect. But of course, any place would be perfect just as long as Matt was with him.

“Then we stay,” Matt said as he rolled to his back, taking Phoenix with him. Phoenix chuckled as he straddled Matt’s lap, staring down at his mate’s bare chest and remembering exactly where the bullet had entered the man’s body. He shuddered and pushed the thought aside.

They were alive, and that was all that mattered.

“How long is Armando going to be gone?” Matt asked as he grabbed Phoenix’s hips and ground his exposed cock on Phoenix’s ass.

“His shift doesn’t end for another hour.”

“Is he still pissed at us?”

Phoenix shrugged. “I think he will forgive us if you find him his own doggie,” he teased. Armando was still pissed that everyone let him believe that Phoenix and Matt were dead. As much of a hard time that Armando gave Matt, Phoenix knew that his best friend had grown fond of the man.

It was just a shocker to find out that Armando not only knew Damonee, but had worked for the man from time to time. Phoenix hadn’t a clue. Armando knew a lot of the gangster’s dirty little secrets.

They had charged Damonee with the crimes he had committed and tucked Armando away someplace safe so Damonee’s thugs wouldn’t come after Phoenix’s best friend until Armando testified at the man’s trial.

If it wasn’t for Matt pulling some strings with his captain—the only man on the force who knew Matt was alive—Armando would have never been placed in Matt’s care, and his best friend would have gone on thinking that his Nix and doggie were dead.

Phoenix was just happy as hell that the shot wasn’t a fatal one for Armando and hated that Valentine was left thinking that Matt and Phoenix had both died that day.

Matt told Phoenix it was a price he was willing to pay in order to keep them both safe.

“That’s a tall order considering we
are
talking about Armando here.”

Phoenix smacked Matt’s chest, letting out an unmanly snort. “He’s not that bad…most days.”

Phoenix leaned forward and nibbled at Matt’s ear, hearing the groan leave his mate’s lips. He smiled and pulled back, staring down at his mate. “Someone has a very large boner poking me in the ass.”

“And that someone would be me.” Matt tapped Phoenix’s hip. “So why don’t you get undressed and let me have my wicked way with you?”

Those words were music to Phoenix’s ears. He stood and undressed, but instead of crawling back onto Matt’s lap—which was Matt’s favorite way of fucking Phoenix—he got down on all fours, wiggling his ass back and forth.