Once Upon a Shifter (58 page)

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said, but I couldn't stop myself from giggling. Despite the tragic things that had happened to me in the last week, I was the happiest I had been in a really long time. I felt comfortable with these morons. They had accepted me as their own, placed me up on some sort of pedestal, no questions asked. I didn't deserve to be a Queen, but that's how they treated me, like I was their Queen, their family and their friend.

I loved them, even the ones who hadn't accepted me as their Alpha.

Phoenix is wrong about love. Love doesn't destroy people. It keeps them together. It keeps them alive. It helps them succeed.

"You're not going to change him,"
the wolf said.

I sighed in exasperation.
"What makes you so sure? He has already changed for me more than he ever thought he could."

"Because he knows that if he falls in love with you his heart won't be able to bear seeing you with anyone else. We've negotiated, Mena."

"Alex…"

"Yes… Alex."

"Do you honestly think he is just going to be fine with me seeing Phoenix? Do you even plan to tell him who you really are?"

"I do plan to tell him… when the time is right."

"You didn't answer my first question."

Soft titters sounded through my head, but I didn't find anything she was saying humorous.

"Answer me!"
I screamed through my thoughts.

"Alex won't have to worry about another man, Mena, because you don't have it in you to stay with someone who doesn't love you back."

"You think I'm going to leave him, don't you?"

"I don't think; I know."

My cell phone tweeted, and I looked down at the screen. Another text from Daryn.

I'm getting worried, Mena. Please call or text me back.

"Was that boyfriend number one, number two or the brown-noser?" Roel said.

I exhaled heavily as I contemplated my answer. I didn't know how to explain my situation with Alex and Phoenix to the guys, but obviously they had made assumptions already, so I wouldn't bother with that one. My personal life really wasn't anybody's business but my own, anyway. "Daryn just wants to protect me, like all of you do. Stop being so hard on him."

Brad snorted.

But Heath was the one who responded to my comment. "Sorry if I'm out of line by saying this, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that we feel pretty close to you, so we may say and do things that are more relaxed than proper."

"I don't want any of you to feel like you can't be open with me about anything. Go on," I said.

Heath looked in the rearview mirror at the guys in the backseat. One or both of them must have nodded, because he continued. "Daryn is a little bitch who tries too hard to fit in and then cries when he doesn't. We've known him a lot longer than you, Mena. You don't want him as your Beta. He doesn't do well under pressure and he will fail you. Marc even considered making Daryn transfer to another pack outside of Montgomery."

My eyes popped wide in shock. "Are you kidding me? He can't be that bad."

"You haven't been in battle with him," Brad said. "Two of our pack got badly injured and another got killed because Daryn got scared and ran away. I thought Marc was going to kill the poor bastard that night. Nobody would have missed him if he had," he finished a little quieter.

"My wolf isn't interested in making him my Beta anyway. She—"

"What?" Roel said, but as I was turning to look at him, I caught Heath's confused expression, so I gave the guys one of my own.

"Did you honestly believe she would?" I said.

"Uh, Mena…" Brad said. "Why are you talking about yourself in third person?"

What the hell were they talking about? I wasn't talking about myself at all. I was talking about the bitch living in my headspace. Did their wolves not talk to them the way mine did me?

"You are an Alpha wolf, Mena,"
my wolf said.
"There is much more we can do that they can't. They don't need to know about me just yet, though. The time will come soon enough for introductions."

A chill skittered up my spine.
"Why do I get the feeling that you're hiding something from me?"

"I have no reason to hide anything from you, Mena."

"Really? So, if I tell them my wolf is actually another person living in my body, they won't find that weird or think I'm crazy?"

"They wouldn't understand. Only Alphas have—"

"I don't understand, either!"
I screamed.
"You said earlier that you were the one who killed Marc, that you helped me pull that trigger, so you were in me before I became an Alpha wolf. What aren't you telling me? I think you're lying. There is something very important I should know, isn't there?"
I waited, but she didn't respond.
"Isn't there?"
I shouted, and anger slammed into me from what felt like all directions. I knew she was about to take over again.

She had a secret, an extremely valuable secret that I should know about, and now that she knew I would try to find out what it was, there was no telling when she would let me back out. I had to do something, and fast.

"Mena, are you all right?" Heath said as he pulled to a stop in front of Phoenix's home.

I turned and gave him frightened eyes. Shaking my head quickly, I opened my mouth to tell him 'no', but nothing came out.

My wolf smiled with my mouth, and then waved a hand at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking of all the ways I'm going to make Dana scream; that's all. I got a little carried away with the role-playing in my head."

"You can't do this to me!"
I shouted.

"When are you going to learn that I can do anything I want and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it?"

I felt defeated, and my emotions got the better of me. I screamed in frustration.
"Please, don't leave me in here! I don't even care what you aren't telling me! Just let me back out!"

"Hush now, Mena. I have a werewolf to torture. We'll chat later, love,"
she said, and then opened the passenger door.

Chapter 32

Roel

Roel gave Brad a side-long glance, then nodded in Mena's direction.

Brad shrugged, the look in his eyes letting Roel know that he sensed something amiss with their pack leader, but he didn't have a clue as to what it might be.

Heath's nervous eyes glanced back at them in the rearview mirror before he opened his own door to follow Mena into Phoenix's home.

Roel pulled up Phoenix's number to send him a text as he stepped out of the vehicle.

Mena is acting strange. WTF did the witches do to her?

He stared at the phone until Phoenix's text came through.

Strange how?

The garage door began to rise, and the human girl who had escorted them earlier when they had brought Dana in was waiting on the other side.

"Follow me," Lea said.

Roel followed behind everyone as he typed.

IDK. Talking about herself in third person for one thing.

Lea had lowered the garage door and was leading them into the house when Roel's phone vibrated in his hand with Phoenix's incoming message.

We need to talk privately.

Roel quickly typed back.

Damn right, we do!

Roel could feel the rage boiling in him, getting hotter by the second, but he wouldn't lose his cool with the vampire until he knew for a fact he'd had those witches mess with his Alpha. The spell was only supposed to give her more protection, not make her go crazy.

Lea's phone buzzed, and Roel watched as she read the text then glanced over her shoulder to meet his stare. Opening the door they had gone through earlier, she led the way down the stairs and let Brad, Heath and Mena walk in front of her before falling into step beside Roel.

"Phoenix is waiting for you in his chamber," she whispered, so the others couldn't hear. "It's the third door on the right. I'll take Mena and the others to the prisoner."

He nodded, and followed them until he reached the third door on the right, and then he reached out, grabbed the doorknob and silently ducked into the room without anyone noticing.

"Have a seat," Phoenix said as he poured himself a drink.

"I think I'll stand. What's wrong with her?"

"How should I know? She has been with the three of you most of the day," Phoenix said, and Roel could tell he was genuinely concerned about what he didn't know. "What has happened that has you so troubled about her wellbeing?"

Roel shook his head as his hands came up to rest on his hips. "I noticed it when we were talking about Daryn. She said her wolf wasn't interested in picking him as her Beta."

"I assumed you already knew who the wolf will choose as her Beta. It isn't like she's trying to hide it."

Roel blinked a few times as he studied the vampire. A cold chill skittered up his spine and caused the hairs to prick on the back of his neck when he discovered what he thought might be wrong with his Alpha was actually sooo much worse. "Mena… you assume I know who
Mena
is going to choose as her Beta, right?"

Phoenix's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure Mena is the one acting strange. You seem a little off kilter yourself, Pup—"

"You said wolf, not Mena! Please tell me that Mena has named her wolf!"

Now it was Phoenix's turn to blink in confusion. "She hasn't mentioned a name—"

Blowing out a quick gust of air, Roel quickly moved toward a chair as his vision began to swim. "I think I'll sit down now," he said, and practically fell into the chair, bending at the waist and letting his head fall between his knees as he sucked in short, shallow breaths. "Shit, this is our fault. With everything that's happened since she accepted the moon, nobody thought to tell her she had to name her fucking wolf! Oh, God… I think I'm going to be sick."

"What happens if she doesn't name her wolf?"

Roel's head shot up and he stared hard at Phoenix. "Her? How do you know it's a female?"

Phoenix shrugged. "Well, because I've met her. She likes the detective."

"You've met her in wolf form?" Roel said, panic clear in his voice.

Phoenix shook his head. "No, she hasn't forced Mena to shift yet—"

"Mena is the one who is supposed to make her shift, not the other way around! Christ! The whole world is fucked," he whispered as he started to rock back and forth on the furniture cushion. After a moment, he looked back up at Phoenix and stilled. "How often does she take over Mena's body?"

"Look, it's obvious you know more about this than we do, so why don't you stop asking questions and tell me what the hell is going on with Mena and her wolf!"

Roel let his face fall into his hands as he shook his head, forcing himself to calm down before he lost his damn mind. If they ever did get Mena back, she was going to kill them. And the sad thing about that was they all deserved it.

He drew in a deep breath and exhaled fully before speaking. "We are supposed to give our werewolf a name after we accept the moon. Doing it doesn't only claim the moon; it claims dominance over the beast. If it's not done, the beast will name itself and slowly gain more and more control until it has full control."

"I fear that may have already happened," Phoenix said. "The wolf has been able to take over Mena anytime she has wanted to."

Roel shook his head. "No. It takes a lot of energy to take over the host, but the more often she does it, the stronger she will get. She won't be able to take over permanently until the next full moon. She will need to rest and recharge between each takeover."

"What do you suggest we do to stop this from happening?"

"We only get about two nights after the first full moon to give them a name before they start taking over, and the last full moon was the night Mena was bitten. We have to find out what the wolf has named herself and Mena has to call it out before the next full moon."

Phoenix clucked his tongue against his teeth as he stared down at Roel. "And Mena will never be able to get out of her own head again if she doesn't say it? That is what you're telling me, right?"

Roel nodded. "It's called the Moonrising."

"I suppose it's pretty common since there is a title for it," Phoenix said.

"I've never heard of it happening to an Alpha before. It's not typical for someone to get bitten and then immediately challenge and defeat an Alpha wolf, Phoenix. I don't want to even imagine what it will be like if Mena can't say that name in time. Vampires aren't our only enemy. We hunt down and kill Moonrising wolves, too. Once they get full control, they go crazy, turning people and wreaking havoc everywhere they go. This war you and Mena are trying to end will be just the beginning if we fail her."

Phoenix's brow rose as he pressed his lips together. "I guess we need to figure out that name then, because hurting Mena at all is not an option."

"We won't have a choice, Phoenix!" Roel snapped. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but a Moonrising Alpha could and would end humanity."

Phoenix sat in a chair across the Persian rug from Roel and let his gaze fall to look at the glass tumbler in his hand. "There is a small detail about the spell I didn't share with you. Only Jaxon knows, but he knew I would never let anything happen to Mena, and he trusts my judgment on most things, so he went along with it. Plus, he saw it as a way to keep his own self safe."

Roel stiffened. "What small detail did you lack to inform us of?"

"It was only to ensure Mena stays completely safe," Phoenix stressed, "that she would have the five of us protect her with our lives, no matter what. Rhodes is excluded, of course, because he isn't immortal—yet. He will only be affected a fraction of what we endure. I was going to inform everyone tonight, including Mena. Her wolf has been threatening to kill me—"