Once Upon a Shifter (48 page)

Despite the scene with Rhodes and Mena's wolf outside, Phoenix had to smile. He liked this Roel guy.

He let the drapes fall back into place and gave the cop his moment alone with Mena. It was killing him on the inside, but the main reason was because he knew Mena was in there somewhere and experiencing it all. He could only imagine how livid she was with him for pulling out her wolf to agree to something she herself had disagreed with.

Her safety was more important to him than whatever this was that was blooming between them. Waiting to take her to his bed wouldn't be impossible—irritating as hell, but not impossible—and he would never be able to have sex with her if she was dead, so he could and would keep his word about not touching her when she came to his compound.

Once she saw things his way, she would get over her mad spell. Hopefully. He hated to think that he was doing all this just so the wolf could get her man.

Something had to be done to get the ball on the roll, though. If Mena thought her wolf was joking around about not allowing them to be together unless she could have the cop, then Mena was slower than he gave her credit for. From just the few brief minutes he'd spent plotting out a plan with Mena's wolf to help her get Rhodes, he'd known three things right away: the wolf was extremely intelligent, she was a conniving bitch and she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

Working with her was his only option, because the bitch had complete control; she'd proven more than once that she could take over Mena's body whenever she wanted to. It wouldn't kill any of them if the wolf got her way, but he wasn't born yesterday; he had every intention of getting his way, too.

That's where the negotiations had come into play: the cop gets the wolf during the day and he got Mena at night. Everybody's happy and Mena stays safe.

At the sound of Katie's name, Phoenix blinked out of his daydream. Nearly a quarter of Mena's pack were sitting or standing around the living room, and trying to strategize a plan to find some wolf named Jessica.

"Mena knows how to find her," Phoenix said, and every tongue in the room stopped wagging. He brushed over the red stain on his shirt. "Yeah, um… Mena can feel each and every one of you. She snuck out of the house earlier while you were consumed with what happened to Katie. I followed her for a mile or so, and then I grabbed her. I was only trying to scare her enough so that she would know how stupid her plan was, going off on her own like that to find eight werewolves, but she stabbed me before I could say anything. If any of you doubt that she is the right leader for your pack, you will be the one surprised in the end."

Phoenix shifted toward the window when the engine of the Jeep roared to life. The front door opened and his head jerked around to see Mena walk in the house, with a glowing smile, her eyes twinkling and her cheeks rosy. He'd seen her look that way before, every time he'd kissed her. It was obvious what Mena's wolf thought, but he wondered what Mena thought about the kiss with Rhodes.

The jealousy was eating at him, but he pushed it away and tried to think of something to say besides how much he wanted to kill that asshole for putting his hands on Mena's body. What came out sounded a bit strangled and desperate. "Well?"

Mena nodded, that smile getting wider and tearing his heart to pieces. "He's going to help us."

Cheers erupted throughout the large room, but all Phoenix could do was stare at her with pleading eyes. He wanted to tell Mena he was sorry, but the others wouldn't understand and they would start asking questions. So, instead, he only nodded.

Chapter 19

Mena

Bastard!

I couldn't believe he even had the balls to look at me after doing that. What the hell was he thinking? That I couldn't handle any of this on my own? Yes, it was obvious from the conversation he'd had with my wolf that they both thought I was incompetent.

"Let me out, bitch! I'm not going to Phoenix's compound! I'll kill him if you make me!"
I screamed at my wolf, but she only smiled and ascended the grand staircase to pack a bag for the night.

"Ugh! Please, don't do this."

"Everything is going according to plan, Mena—"

"Yeah, your plan and his plan, but not mine!"

"You never had a plan, and now I can't sense where the rogue wolves are anymore. You need to trust me."

I wanted to argue with her about that, but she was right. All I knew was going to Phoenix's bed at night and Alex's during the day was not in any plan I would have ever had. I felt betrayed and—and used.

"Calm down, Mena. You can't stay here. Jessica blew up your car. Do you really think she will stop there? Phoenix and I are helping you, whether you want to see that or not."

"Helping me?"
I said, aghast.

"Yes, now be quiet so I can pack. I'll give you back control over your body once we get to Phoenix's home. Don't bother trying to leave once we arrive; I will take back over if you do."

My nonliteral eyes narrowed as I stewed in my anger. I wanted to punch her in the face, but that would only hurt me.

Why did I have to be the one to end up with a crazy wolf? I rolled my eyes at my inner monologue as the answer came to me: Karma. Great! I hoped I was entertaining enough for her. The bitch had been playing with me for days!

"How mad is she?" I heard Phoenix say from the door of my bedroom.

"I'm pissed, asshole!"
I shouted, and was delighted when my wolf winced.

She sighed as she glanced over at him. He really was beautiful, and that look of alarm on his face was damn right comical, but he wasn't getting out of this unscathed. I had every intention of hurting him bad.

"She will be fine once she realizes we are trying to help her instead of hurt her," my wolf said through a clenched jaw. I had a feeling she was talking to me more than she was to him.

"I don't need your help!"

"Yes, you do, Mena! I'm not going to let you get us killed. Whether you like it or not, this is my body, too, and I aim to keep it alive and out of prison!"
she shouted back as she flung a small suitcase onto the bed.

"Your body is hairy and has four legs, bitch!"

"Screw you—"

A rush of anger surged through my body and my hand came up swiftly to slap myself across the face. Had
I
done that? I was so stunned that I didn't know what to say or do. Better yet, neither did she.

"Mena?" Phoenix whispered, and my head rose up so I could see him approaching cautiously.

I giggled and, before long, the teeters turned into full-blown manic laughter.

My wolf huffed as she threw the suitcase open and started for the closet. "Your girlfriend is mad, Phoenix—crazy mad."

I heard him chuckle. "That's one of her finest qualities."

I could feel his eyes on me as my wolf loaded the overnight luggage with clothes and personal hygiene items, but she avoided looking at him. That was fine; I had no interest in seeing him until I had full control of my body, so I could do some real damage. He had a magic way of calming me down before the bomb in me exploded and I didn't want that. I wanted him to know how angry I was with him.

I felt my lips curl up.

"What the hell are you smiling about?"
I said to her.
"I'm not done with you, either."

She didn't respond, but the grin faded as she took the handle of the suitcase and met Phoenix at the door. She looked up at him and spoke quietly. "You might want to consider keeping your private chamber locked once we get to your home and I give Mena back her body. I won't help her hurt you, but I'm not sure she would need me to."

Those dark eyebrows popped up in dismay. "Noted. Thank you."

She nodded once. "I can't sense the location of the rogue shifters anymore. It's like they've fallen off the grid or something. I'd feel it if they had died, so that isn't it. I think going to your home is the best thing for us right now, at least until I can feel them again." The wolf didn't wait for a response from him, before closing the bedroom door and leading the way down the staircase.

The number of heads in my house had at least tripled since we left them to pack my bag. It appeared the whole pack was present. Some were crying and some were hugging, but all of them seemed to be angry about what had happened to Katie and what had almost happened to me.

One by one, each head in the room looked up to me as I descended the staircase, and then they fell to one knee, their right fists coming up to cover their sternums.

I was never going to get used to it. "Please, stand up," my wolf said with the use of my mouth, and waited until the shuffling ceased. "What has happened to Katie has indeed hit us where it hurts and caused us much grief. We won't let this weaken us, though. They will pay dearly for taking her life and they will regret having ever chosen to mess with me or any of my pack. Go home. Grieve for your friend. Find the strength they have attempted to steal from you, because we are going to find them, and when we do, we are going to unleash hell on them!"

I was surprised the windows of my home stayed intact as cheers and shouting erupted from every man and woman in the foyer of the house.

I let my eyes drift out across the riled crowd. I felt safe to have these people surrounding me. Even if one or two of them were conspiring against me, I found I trusted the others to watch my back and help me weed them out.

Chapter 20

Jaxon

Pushing against the garage door that led into Phoenix's compound, Jaxon walked into the house to hear an obscene amount of cursing and shouting.

Someone wasn't happy, he thought, and he rounded the corner to see Santino's fangs bared and his hands balled into tight fists. The guy was doing a whole lot of huffing and puffing through those clenched teeth as Lea screamed at him, spittle flying from her lips as she stomped her foot and poked at his unyielding chest with the tip of her pointer finger.

What the hell had he done or said to cause her to be so outraged? Jaxon had never seen her so upset before.

They were so consumed by their argument that they didn't even notice Jaxon in the room. He had to do something or that big Latino would have Phoenix's vampire assistant as a midnight snack, and that would be strike three for Santino. Not that Phoenix wouldn't kill anything that breathed for hurting Lea on even a first offense; the girl knew exactly what the high vampire of the city wanted her to do before he knew it himself. Finding skills like that in a personal assistant to a vampire didn't happen every day, and Jaxon knew that Santino was aware of that, too, or else the guy would have already tasted her sweet blood on his tongue.

"Lea?" Jaxon said calmly, and when she didn't acknowledge that he'd spoken, he raised the volume of his voice to a level that wouldn't go unheard by anyone in the huge house. "Lea! Back the hell up! Have you lost your damn mind?"

Lea turned red-rimmed, shimmering eyes on Jaxon, and then a hand shot up to cover her mouth as a sob racked up her throat, her entire body giving a violent jerk as she struggled to claim her next breath. Her knees buckled and Jaxon rushed forward to catch her just before she collapsed to the floor.

Cradling the trembling woman in his arms, Jaxon turned angry eyes on Santino who hadn't moved an inch or said a word since his arrival. "What did you do to her?" he growled. "Phoenix will—"

"I didn't know he was her brother!" Santino bellowed. "She's always here. I didn't even know she had family. He must have followed her or something," he said, his voice calming the more he talked. "The guy busted in here all hot-headed and demanded I give him Lea. I guess he thought I was dating her and keeping her away from him. I thought he was a psycho ex-boyfriend and—and I handled it," he finished quietly, his voice dropping so low human ears wouldn't have been able to hear the words spoken.
"¡Chingado!"
he swore under his breath as he ran both hands through his thick, black hair. "I'm really sorry, Lea—"

She flinched against Jaxon's chest and cried out as if Santino had struck her.

Santino threw his hands up in the air in frustration, a long stream of Spanish cursing quickly flying through those lips as he spun around and left the room, anger quickening his step.

Jaxon caught sight of a crumpled form on the hardwood floor near the fireplace and instantly knew who it was.

"Damn," he said on an exhale. He would have to dispose of the body later, after he got Lea calmed down. He supposed he could even find it in his heart to dig a hole and have a proper ceremony, for Lea's benefit. Of course, the small funeral would have to be at night, and she wouldn't be able to invite other family members—if she had any more—or even tell them what had transpired; they didn't need any more humans to come up missing or the police knocking on Phoenix's door.

Santino couldn't be blamed entirely, though; Jaxon, or even Phoenix, would have done the same thing if some stranger managed to break his or her way into the compound. He supposed the locked iron gate wasn't enough security and would need to be improved upon immediately. Jaxon would have to come up with a solution to that problem before Phoenix found out about Lea's brother. That would be the first thing the high vampire would ask.

After a moment's hesitation, Jaxon let out a long sigh and carried Lea through the compound, to his quarters.

She didn't need to be alone tonight, but what was even more important, Lea didn't need to be anywhere near Santino.

V''''V