Once Upon a Shifter (42 page)

I wanted to cry as I watched her leave me there alone with only my wolf and Alex Rhodes. I desperately wanted to pick up my phone and text Daryn or Phoenix or even Jaxon and have them come get me and put me in a cage until my wolf gave me back control over my body, but I couldn't do anything except stare at the man who was going to put us away forever when he found out I was a murderer.

Chapter 9

Alex

Alex sat down in the seat the girl who had been dining with Mena had vacated, and pushed the plate of food to the empty spot to his left.

"Would you like something to drink, sir? A menu, perhaps?" the waiter said.

Alex shook his head. "I'm not eating, but I will have a water and," he pointed to the plate of food beside him, "a to-go box for that."

The waiter smiled. "Right away, sir." He looked at Mena. "Everything fine with your meal, ma'am?"

"Yes, it's delicious. Thank you," she said, and Alex watched as a genuine smile crept across her face. As far as he could tell, she hadn't even touched the food yet.

The waiter nodded then left.

"So… Alex… are you not working today?"

He realized that she was looking at his chest, and gave her a sheepish smile. "I work every day, Mena. I just left the gym. Working out helps clear my head, so I can focus on whatever case I'm working on."

"I see. Any leads on Marc's case?"

She didn't seem upset to talk about Marc. He studied her for a moment. Her long dark hair was tied to one side, and the wind made a few soft-looking curls caress her pale skin at the top of her dress shirt. And he hated that she had put those sunglasses on over those gorgeous light green eyes of hers.
Christ, I need a distraction before I start imagining her out of business clothes and in something a lot more comfortable, like my bed. Focus, Alex! Focus! She's a widow, not the girl you've had a crush on since high school! Not today. Not ever, dumbass! You're not good enough for someone like her.
He cleared his throat. "Are you sure you're ready to discuss this?"

"I don't see why not."

"You did just bury him yesterday, Mena. If you were anybody else I would have already talked to you, but you are…" Alex ran his hands over his face and sighed, "…you are you, Mena. I know you, and I knew Marc. I wanted to wait until you were ready before saying anything."

She shrugged. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

He huffed and leaned back in his chair as the waiter sat the glass of water in front of him, then he took the empty Styrofoam container for Mena's friend's food, and the guy left without a word. "I don't have any leads to Marc's death—yet. I can't figure out what he was doing in that part of town."

Her body went still for a brief moment, and then she seemed to realize it and relaxed. "Well, maybe he was trying to find me."

Alex's eyes widened in disbelief. "You? Why would you be in that part of town?"

She sighed. "I left Marc that night. I went—I went to a friend's house, and Marc knows I always drive that way to save time. I don't know why he stopped there, unless he thought I would stay there because he knew it would be the last place he would find me."

Alex waited for her to elaborate, and when she didn't, he said, "Why did you leave Marc, Mena?"

"I discovered he was having an affair and confronted him about it. He didn't deny it, but when he realized that I had intentions to leave him, he struck me. I packed up a few clothes and left my cell phone on the bedside table in my hurry to get away from him. There was only one missed call on my phone from him and no voice mail when I got back home after finding out about the murder. I assume he tried to call me once and realized that it was ringing from the bedroom and that I was no longer there. I didn't tell the press that in the release earlier. A lot of people think highly of Marc, and I don't want to ruin the memories they had of him by slandering his name. What he did to me has nothing to do with who he was to them."

Alex's fingers flexed and curled into a fist under the table as he ground his molars together. He had never liked Marc, and the guy hitting Mena only made him dislike the son of a bitch even more. He couldn't honestly say that he wouldn't have done the same thing to the guy after hearing he had laid his hands on Mena in that way.

"Alex?"

He inhaled deeply through his nostrils as he avoided her gaze. He hadn't been prepared to hear that come out of her mouth, and he wasn't quite sure what his next words would be if he opened his mouth now.

"I'm sorry," he said after another moment. "You were right to leave him. Do you happen to know who the other woman was?"

She shook her head when he finally looked back at her. "No. All the signs were there: the smell of perfume, the lipstick on his collar, phone calls to the house and nobody speaking when I answered. I put two and two together and asked him about it." She only shook her head, and Alex's chest closed up tight.

How could anybody treat Mena like that? Why would they even want to?

"Well, if you happen to get any strange calls or notice anyone following you, please don't hesitate to contact me. Your safety is important to me."

"It is?"

The question caught him off guard, and he realized exactly how he had worded the sentence.
Shit!
Well, it was too late to take it back, so he played it off the best he could. "Of course, it's my job to keep you safe."

She gazed at him from behind those dark sunglasses and he could have sworn there was humor in her eyes. "I thought you were a homicide detective, not a patrol officer. Don't you deal with the people after they are already dead?"

Damn! The girl seriously didn't miss anything.
"I am a cop, Mena. It's my job to protect."

She looked down at her food and pushed it around the plate with the fork in her hand. "I apologize, Alex. Forgive me if I was rude. I was actually trying to make a joke. I'm quite aware that you are very serious about protecting the citizens of Montgomery."

He fought to keep from blurting out that he had no interest in protecting anyone in Montgomery except for her. Instead, he simply shrugged. "I do what I can."

She popped a crouton in her mouth and chewed. "Tell me something."

His brow rose in interest.

"Why aren't you married, with a houseful of children?"

He chuckled. "Well, that's a longer story than we have time for."

"Give me the short version," she said, then picked up her fork and stabbed a grape tomato.

He watched in anticipation as she raised the silverware and took the little red ball between her teeth. It disappeared behind her lips and she chewed.

Alex looked away and desperately tried not to fidget. Placing his elbows on the table and linking his fingers together, he decided to explain the shortest version he could come up with without saying too much. "None of my past relationships ever worked out. I guess I'm too involved with my job to give a woman the time and attention she deserves."

"Maybe the right one just never came along—the one who deserved to be put above your job," she said.

"Maybe the right one was already taken by another man who also put his job before his girl." So much for not saying too much, he thought, but before he could try to reword what he had said or try apologizing, Mena started talking again.

"Maybe that girl's no longer with that man."

Alex stared at her. She couldn't possibly be insinuating that she was interested in him; she'd just buried her husband! Yeah, the guy had been an asshole and cheated on her and hit her, but wasn't it still too soon? Hell, who was he kidding? There was no way she would want someone like him. Mena was out of his league on so many levels.

"Maybe," he heard himself say.

Chapter 10

Mena

Oh. My. God!

I have to get back in control or my wolf will have the detective in my bed before the sun goes down!

"Hey!"
I shouted.
"Give me back my body!"

"Be patient, Mena,"
a female voice said back. It sounded a lot like my own.
"You have to trust me. This is what's best for us."

Great! My wolf was finally talking back to me, and she was crazy!
"How is this best for us? He is the detective working the case of a man that I murdered. He's not going to just let me walk free if and when he discovers that important piece of information!"

"You'd be surprised what a man would do for a woman he is in love with," she said.

"Love?"
I shouted.
"You cannot make this man fall in love with me—"

"Not you, Mena—me."

"I won't let you do this—"

"You don't have a choice if you ever want to see that vampire who is so enamored with you. I know he's trying to help you make this pact between the werewolves and vampires work, which is why I haven't ripped his throat out already. I do believe it is a good idea, but I'm not going to sit idle while you get what you want, when what I want is right here in front of us."

"A compromise. You want to negotiate with men? You really are psycho."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, what the hell am I supposed to tell Alex when he shows up at my house and Phoenix is there? Neither guy seems the type to share. And two, this is my body, not yours! I don't—"

"Have a choice, Mena. I can take over your body anytime I feel like it, and I don't have to give it back. But I will, if you agree to my terms. I won't make a fuss about the vampire if you agree to let me take over when Alex is around. But if you don't agree, I will keep your body and you can stay right where you are. It's awfully lonely in there, isn't it?"

I huffed.
"You still didn't answer my question of how I'm supposed to explain Alex to Phoenix and Phoenix to Alex."

My wolf smiled with my lips.
"You take care of your man and I will take care of mine."

Lovely.

"Do you accept?"

I sighed.
"Like you said, I don't have a choice."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, that's a yes!"
I snapped.
"Now, give me back my body!"

"I will as soon as Alex leaves. We don't want you to run the cute detective off, now do we? That could be very bad for Phoenix."

V''''V

Chapter 11

Alex

Alex just stared at the mansion as he pulled in Mena's driveway, and then he took his Jeep out of gear and killed the engine. He must have misread the signals earlier, because this girl was seriously way out of his league. On his salary, he wouldn't be able to afford to even pay the taxes on a place like this, much less the house payment.

He turned around in his seat when a truck pulled in behind him, and then turned back around when Mena's car pulled in the circle drive in front of him.

"You should come in. I think my family wants to meet you."

He blinked a few times and nodded. "Okay."

Since it had been so nice that morning, he'd decided to take the doors and top off his Jeep, so now he didn't have an excuse to go around and open Mena's door for her. He waited awkwardly at the front of his vehicle until she joined him.

She handed the to-go box to the woman who had been with her at the restaurant, and turned to Alex as two guys walked up behind them.

"Alex, this is Katie, Brad and Heath," Mena said, and then her gaze moved to the truck pulling quickly into the drive. "And that is Daryn and Roel. You've met Daryn. I'm pretty sure he'll be nicer to you this time."

The two guys eyed Alex as they got out of the truck and shut their doors. As they walked slowly toward Mena, Alex felt like he needed to grab his handgun out of his Jeep.
Were all of these people her cousins?

"C'mon in," Mena said, leading the way into the house.

Alex was the last to enter. He didn't want any of the guys that were giving him dirty looks following him. The instant he walked in, he felt underdressed in the place. He wasn't even sure it could have been called a house. It was more like a museum.

He started to take his running shoes off, but Mena waved a hand at him.

"Don't worry about it, Alex. The maid comes in every day through the week. Nobody takes their shoes off. It's okay."

He looked at her for a moment to make sure she was serious then noticed that none of the others had taken their shoes off, either. Raising an eyebrow, he nodded once.

"Who's up for a game?" Roel said as he twirled a pool stick around with his fingers. "Daryn?" He tucked the stick under his armpit and pointed the blue tip at the guy.

Daryn shook his head. "Nah, I need to talk to Mena for a sec. I'll play the winner."

Roel rolled his eyes and turned the stick toward Brad. "What about you? You ready to lose again?"

Before Brad could answer, Mena spoke up. "Why don't you ask Alex if he would like to play?"

Alex smiled. "I'm good. I think I'll watch a round or two."

Roel frowned. "You scared, cop? If you're scared, it's all right to say you're scared. We'll only laugh a little."

"I just don't play very much anymore. I'd like to size up my competition first—if it's all the same to you."

Roel cocked his head back and stared down his nose at Alex, then finally nodded and turned the stick to Heath. "C'mon, buddy, we gotta show the cop how much you suck at pool, so he won't feel bad when he loses to me."