Phoenix Arizona (7 page)

They walked outside together, Matt taking a chance and pulling Phoenix into his arms. “So, Phoenix, what do you do for a living?”

Phoenix glanced away, and Matt thought for sure he was going to get another excuse about Phoenix not sharing private information. The man was closemouthed when it came to who he was and what made him tick.

“I’m a waiter.”

Matt froze, staring down at the man who meant more to him than his next breath. He swallowed hard as his head began to buzz with pain. “At a diner?” He looked Phoenix over, seeing that his mate fit the description perfectly to what the killer looked for. He was short, slim, and had beautiful blond hair. Phoenix even had stunning blue eyes.

God, no!

“Yes.” Phoenix chuckled. “At a diner.”

“We need to go,” Matt said as he began to pull Phoenix toward his car. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with his mate, but the overwhelming urge to protect what was his was riding him hard.

“Stop dragging me. Are you trying to kidnap me?” Phoenix backed up, but Matt wouldn’t let him go. “Matt, you’re scaring me, please.” The last word was a softly spoken plea, and Matt’s heart was tearing in two. He wasn’t trying to frighten his mate, but Phoenix needed to know what was going on. He needed to protect himself. He needed to—oh, gods, Matt couldn’t take this. His heart felt like it was being ripped from his chest.

Matt opened the passenger door and sat Phoenix down in his sedan. His mate looked flushed and scared, and that was the last thing Matt wanted. But Phoenix needed to understand the severity of the situation. His mate needed to be armed with the knowledge of what was happening in this very city. Phoenix laid one hand on the dashboard, the other on the doorframe, looking as if he were going to bolt from Matt’s car.

Matt didn’t understand where Phoenix’s fear was coming from, but he needed to tell his mate about the killer. Usually Matt wouldn’t discuss cases he was working on with civilians, but Phoenix just might be in danger, so Matt did the one thing he had never done before. He pushed aside his loyalty to not only the force, but his personal loyalty to his job.

He knelt down eye level to Phoenix, staring his mate right in his baby blues. “I’m not trying to scare you, Phoenix. I just need to talk to you. I won’t take you anywhere. If it makes you feel safer, then here.” Matt stood and fished his car keys out of his front pocket and laid them in Phoenix’s hand, closing his mate’s fingers over them. “Now, will you sit here and listen to what I have to say?”

Phoenix looked at the keys in his hand and then back at Matt, giving a nod. Matt closed the door and then walked around to his side of the car, scanning the area before he got in.

Matt watched Phoenix for a moment after he settled into his seat. His mate was playing with the ring the keys were attached to, but Matt could smell the apprehension that hung thick inside the car.

Matt cleared his throat, looking up from Phoenix’s hand where his mate had gripped the keys tightly. “About two weeks ago, a man was found murdered.”

Phoenix’s head snapped up to look at Matt with a mixture of uneasiness and curiosity in his eyes. Matt glanced down at Phoenix’s neck, wishing he could be nibbling on the smooth skin instead of telling his mate about a killer who was likely to strike again. It wasn’t setting up a very romantic mood for their date later.

“He was found with his hands tied behind his back and on his knees, his throat sliced open from ear to ear.” He might not have had to get so graphic, but Matt had learned long ago that most people didn’t take warnings seriously unless there was a little fear behind the warning. It was the last thing Matt wanted to do, but he didn’t want Phoenix to become a victim either.

“Matt, how—how do you know this?” The uneasy scent quickly changed to outright fear.

“Let me finish. You need to understand. Yesterday, another man was found murdered in the same way. They both had blond hair, short stature, and slim build…and they both worked in a diner.”

Phoenix grabbed for the door handle, wrestling to get it to work. He cried out and fought Matt when Matt pulled his arms away.

“Phoenix, stop, I’m not going to hurt you. I know about these murders because I’m a homicide detective.” Matt was becoming panicked. He could see that Phoenix wanted nothing more than to flee as fast as he could. Matt had to set things straight with his mate before Phoenix disappeared and Matt lost him forever. He didn’t even know where his mate lived. All he had was a phone number, and that could be changed quickly.

Phoenix froze. He recoiled like Matt had slapped him and then whimpered.

Matt had thought telling Phoenix that he was a cop would ease the man’s tension. It only grew. He pulled his wallet out, showing his mate his badge. “It’s real.”

“You’re a fucking cop?” It was a growl if Matt ever heard one. Hell, he was impressed by the sound. Phoenix renewed his struggles, fighting even harder this time to get out of the car. He was screaming at Matt to let him go. Phoenix freed a hand and gouged at Matt’s eyes.

Matt’s wolf pushed front and center. Phoenix was his mate, but Matt’s wolf wasn’t going to allow Phoenix to hurt them. He felt his eyes shift as his wolf grew closer, threatening to come out and subdue their mate. Matt tried to stop his wolf, but it was too late. His claws extended as his canines began to elongate in his mouth, making his damn gums hurt. Phoenix howled in pain as Matt’s claws embedded in his mate’s arm where he had a tight grip.

“Fuck.” Matt yanked his hand away and took a few deep breaths, trying his best to compose himself.

But it was too late. Phoenix had seen his wolf.

“What the hell are you?” Phoenix grabbed for the door handle again. His arm felt like it was on fire. Matt held his hands up, like he was surrendering as he eased slowly back against the driver’s door.

“Listen to me, Phoenix, please. You are in danger. Please calm down and listen to me before you run.”

“You’re a fucking cop and—I don’t know what the hell else you are.” Phoenix pushed closer to the door, ready to bolt if Matt did anything strange in the car. Okay, stranger than what he had just seen. His heart was in his throat, and his blood was roaring in his ears. This couldn’t be happening.

He was falling for a damn cop.

This was unreal.

Fate was a nasty little bitch. How could he fall for a cop? Phoenix was so pissed at himself right now that he wanted to whack his head into the dashboard. Matt seemed too good to be true, and it turned out, he was.
Damn it!

“Why are you afraid of cops?” Matt studied Phoenix like only a cop could. His eyes were assessing, his concentration solely on Phoenix. Now that Phoenix knew what Matt did for a living, he noticed things about Matt that he hadn’t before. Like how he was sitting in a nondescript fucking sedan. How had he not noticed that?

“Why should I tell you? You guys stick together. You’ll only make excuses—” Phoenix broke off, curling his lips in and turning his head to look out of the window. He fought back the tears at the memory that surfaced. Phoenix would not give that part of himself to Matt. No one was going to get Phoenix’s tears. No one. They had fallen in the diner, but Phoenix had been caught off guard. He was fighting to keep them in as he clutched Matt’s keys in his hand. This was too much.
Not another damn cop.
Please, no.

“Talk to me,” Matt said quietly from beside him.

Phoenix stared out of the window and wondered why he had found what he thought just might be the perfect man and then had that dream snatched from his grasp. He glanced up at the clouds and saw that it was becoming overcast, just like his mood. People hustled in and out of the diner without a care in the world. He wished that was his case. He was terrified and at the same time confused about his feelings toward Matt. How messed up was that? He wanted to hate the man sitting next to him, but he couldn’t. It felt as though Matt was in his blood, and Phoenix knew there would be no cure.

Again that feeling of knowing Matt his whole life surfaced inside of Phoenix, which only confused him further. Phoenix wasn’t sure what he should do. He was falling hard for Matt and scared of him at the same time. It was a lonely feeling, and Phoenix wanted it to go away. He wanted to crawl into Matt’s arms and hide from the world.

But Matt was a cop.

A damn cop.

In a voice that sounded distant and not his own, Phoenix spoke, “I was twenty and coming home from a friend’s party one night. I hadn’t drunk any alcohol. I was there because I just wanted to hang out, have fun. I walked home. It was late, dark out, you know?” Phoenix took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “A cop car pulled up beside me, and the officer got out. He asked if I had been drinking. I swore to him I hadn’t, but he put me in the backseat anyway. I was sitting back there thinking how pissed my parents were going to be because the cop said he was taking me in for underage drinking.” The bitter tears ran freely down Phoenix’s face, and he cursed himself for letting them fall. After fighting them not to appear, they betrayed him anyway.

“When we drove in the opposite direction of the police station, I asked him where he was taking me. He didn’t answer. I was twenty and trusted the police, so I said nothing. The car pulled through an unchained gate and behind an abandoned warehouse.” Phoenix swallowed hard as he watched a woman with her child exit the diner. The child was laughing, the mother smiling as they wandered down the street. He wished his life was as easy as that child’s, but Phoenix had had that innocence ripped away from him. He waited until the thick lump in his throat eased, and wondered why in the hell he was telling Matt any of this. The man was a cop for crying out loud.

“He pulled me from the backseat and…and pushed me into one of the offices and—” Phoenix broke off, wiping at his eyes as he continued to stare out of the window. It had been four years since the incident, and Phoenix had pretty much buried it. Telling Matt why he hated cops only brought back those bitter emotions and memories. Again, he wanted to hate the man sitting beside him, but Phoenix couldn’t find the anger to lash out at Matt.

“I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was just walking home from a damn party.” Phoenix wiped at his face and then continued. “Armando found me wandering the streets, took me to his house, and cleaned me up. I was even afraid of my best friend.” Phoenix laid his head back, smiling bitterly as he heard Matt’s breath coming out in small, hard pants. Yeah, the man was pissed from the sound of it, but that didn’t move Phoenix.

“Do you know who the officer was?” Matt asked as if he were afraid Phoenix would bite his head off just for breathing. Phoenix couldn’t really blame the man, but for some strange reason, it soothed him knowing that Matt was being very careful right now.

He shook his head. “I don’t know who he was, and I honestly don’t want to. I hadn’t paid attention to his badge number. I hadn’t even thought about looking at it. I was terrified and wasn’t thinking about anything but getting away. It took me a very long time to stop having nightmares, and I just want to forget about it.” Phoenix flicked a glare at Matt, telling the man in no uncertain terms he would not discuss this again.

“I would never hurt you, Phoenix. I would chew my own arm off first,” Matt said carefully. “You have to believe me, pup.”

Phoenix nodded as he sighed deeply, letting the memory fade back into its dark place in his mind to be stored away and forgotten.

* * * *

Matt was only a thin thread away from taking Phoenix home then going after every fucking uniformed cop in the city. He boiled with rage. How could one of his brothers do this? Who was it? He would find out and pull their entrails out through their asshole. No fucking wonder his mate feared cops, feared him.

He smelled the blood. Matt lifted Phoenix’s arm and saw the crimson color spreading across his mate’s sleeve. He pulled his seat back then pushed the sleeve up. Damn, he hadn’t meant to hurt Phoenix with his claws. He had been so engrossed in what Phoenix was confiding in him that Matt hadn’t noticed the scent until now. It was like the smell was ten times stronger from being ignored. Matt pulled Phoenix’s arm close and began to lick the wound. He wanted it sealed and healed.

“What are you?” Phoenix’s voice was a whisper as he stared, fascination glittering across his big blue eyes. His mate allowed Matt to lick and clean the wound that he himself had inflicted. The taste of blood had Matt’s wolf sitting up and taking a keen interest, but his wolf knew the difference between prey and their mate. Matt knew the wolf was just watching to make sure that Phoenix healed.

“I don’t want to tell you, yet. Can I take you on that drive? I promise you, Phoenix, no harm will come to you.” He finished sealing the wound then lowered his mate’s arm, but didn’t let it go. Matt was still afraid his mate would bolt. And now that he knew why, he couldn’t blame the man. He still wanted to know who the officer was. Matt had a feeling that if he found out, the cop would meet an untimely death. The bastard deserved no less for what he had done to Phoenix. He searched his mate’s eyes, feeling the bond growing between Phoenix and Matt, and prayed his mate gave him a chance now that he knew Matt was a cop.

His mate nodded. “Okay.”

Thank god.
Matt wanted to pull his mate into his arms and kiss him silly for giving him a chance. “I’ll pick you up at six. Is that okay?”