"Maybe just a little worried, considering that he is the Alpha of Silver Pack and I'm kind of his mate." Although it was a warm day she noted the beads of sweat rolling down George's cheeks, as he was anxiously watching Ben. Well at least George had enough self-preservation to be worried.
Letting her go and jumping back Mitch looked suitably chastised, while Darius was amused.
"Shit, when did I miss that? Sorry dude." He directed this at Ben, before focussing on Darius. "Darius you bastard, do you want to see me gutted?" He went towards Ben holding out his hand so that he could make amends.
"Well it appears that everyone here has forgotten their manners, I am Mitch."
"Now we know who you are tell me what are you?" Theo had found his voice and was now circling Mitch with predator like movements, who addressed Ben this time.
"Should I be worried? I am so not feeling the love here."
"Tell me what you are, and I'll tell you if you should be worried." Theo's words were a growl as he circled Mitch; blades of grass were being trampled by Theo's mammoth frame.
"Well you guys are excellent at welcoming folks. I am a warrior for the gods, don't ask me anything else cos I don't know shit, and if I did, I couldn't tell you. I am however curious as to what you see when you look at me?" There was a quizzical tone to Mitch's words as he in turn looked Theo up and down; even in human form right now the wolf inside him was very evident. Lucky couldn’t help but remember Leylands words when he talked about how dangerous Theo was.
"Your energy signature is completely white; almost sparkling; which makes sense if you work for the gods." Theo was still circling looking slightly perplexed, having never met a God Warrior before.
Looking up at the sky, Mitch seemed to be talking to someone in particular.
"At some point, I am hoping someone will tell me what I am doing here and what mighty bad I am meant to fight, but until then I will keep having fun. So much fun that you might want to fill me in, before I do something really, really, bad."
With that a bolt of lightning shot from the sky, landing about an inch from Mitch's foot. "Hey I was just kidding, no need to go all feral. Where do you want the box Lucky?" He went back to the car bringing out a largish box, which had been wrapped in paper with butterflies all over it, from the outside it did indeed look like a gift though Lucky knew it was anything but a gift.
Ben answered for her. "Take it through that door."
Lucky knew when George finished his call; she could feel his eyes boring into her back, he didn't say anything nor did he follow them into the large gym.
The box was actually quite long and wide, it didn't seem heavy with Mitch carrying it. Darius was walking round it sniffing, before he said anything Ben followed also sniffing. "Animal blood from a dog, the one found at your house last night Lucky. It smells the same." Ben's brow was furrowed in concentration.
"Where are the girls Ben, I don't want them anywhere near here?"
"Don't worry; dad's taking a picnic out to meet them and mom. He wants to keep them with him, and he's picked Ellie up too. Why don't you let me open it?"
Lucky could feel the dread building in her, for a moment she just stared at the box; she could hear the breath of everyone around her the near silence was deafening almost echoing off the walls of the large empty gym. All of the anxiety from the previous night came flooding back to her. Bending she took a knife from in her boot; sliding it along the top she slowly lifted the lid. Without doubt, this would not be good, the smell of blood was so strong she wanted to gag; closing her eyes she tried to compose her emotions as she saw material underneath a layer of red soaked tissue. Lifting the garment out of the box; she knew immediately what it was.
"It's...It's my wedding dress, it was in the loft." Lifting the dress Lucky felt such sadness, feelings that were betrayed in her voice as she continued.
"May had always said that she wanted to wear this dress when she got married, three generations of my family have worn this dress; it was to be passed down to my girls." Lucky felt her knees collapse underneath her, her voice soft and pained.
As Ben knelt down to join her, he tilted her head towards him holding her chin. Seeing the tears in her eyes threatened to choke him. "We might be able to clean it up." He wasn’t sure how but maybe his mom could help.
"No you can't, its tainted now."
Lifting the dress up and out of the box to look at the damage, she saw photos in the bottom of the box, there must have been dozens of them. Dropping the damaged dress Lucky picked up some of the photos; they were of her, all of them, at the shops, leaving the house, in her bedroom window, talking to Phil, with Darius, with her friends. The back of each photo contained the same chilling message.
I WARNED YOU TO STOP! I WARNED YOU TO STOP INTEFERRING WITH MY LIFE. WELL TOO LATE I WILL STOP YOU MYSELF BITCH!!!!!!
Theo came closer. "Whoever it was actually put the dress on, the energy signature is all over it, inside and out. It's the same as the one from your house, but I can see another person's signature although it's only slight. If I were to guess, I would say they handled the box."
Everyone turned to look at Theo who shrugged before Bastian took control. "If you ever want a job Theo, just say the word. Lucky we need to go through the pictures, the key may be in there somewhere." Bastian's words just faded out as she looked through each picture documenting her life. Her heart was pounding, she hadn't realised anyone was following her. How had she not known, she was a cop for fuck sake?
Ben watched as Lucky paled, he was going to find this bastard and kill him slowly. Lucky dropped the pictures, he went to hold her, and he could see she was struggling to rein in her emotions.
"Just, just give me a minute please Ben." He stepped aside as she ran out. Her pain was palpable; he could feel the pain and anger streaming through her. No-one should be made to feel that way, as the feelings coursed through him; he wasn’t sure how to deal with the emotions, that her pain hurt him was too much for Ben to absorb.
She couldn't breathe, her heart was pounding. Lucky could hear her heart pulsing through her head as she sunk against the wall. Trying to breathe she leaned her head against her knees, dizziness disorientating her while everything around her faded away, the sun beating down barely penetrated her consciousness, the sounds of the forest were lost, and the lush grass faded leaving an almost grey scenery.
"What's the matter Lucky, things not going quite your way?"
Why did his voice sound so whiney and annoying? Of all the people to be outside it had to be George. The intenseness of his anger was stronger than usual. He didn’t like being here on Pack land, she could sense that his jealousy towards her was deep, and George blamed all of his work failures on her.
"Piss off George, just leave me on my own." She could feel the tears welling up, she didn’t want him to see her vulnerable, tears would make him think her weak which was an accurate reflection of her feelings towards herself right now.
"Ah poor little Lucky, what's the problem? Not getting enough attention at work, so now you need to draw everyone into your personal life? I am not surprised you've pissed someone off; you need to be taught respect. One day you won't have your little buddies around you, and I am going to teach you a lesson, would you like me to tell you exactly what I will do to you?"
"I said piss off George." Oh god, the buzzing in her head wouldn't stop and George was making it worse. Her head felt as though her life was a carousal going round and round, with everyone watching.
"Go on let me tell you." He had bent down, so that he was close to her head. "It involves chains and that foul little mouth of yours, shall I tell you more?"
"NO, BUT HOW ABOUT YOU TELL ME MORE." Lucky looked up to see Ben there, looking furious. His eyes had flipped to wolf, his fists clenching as he stood stuck between his desire to teach George a lesson, and his desire to comfort her.
"You must be George." Ben was stalking towards him. "I promised Lucky that I wouldn't do anything unless provoked,
well consider this provoked." Ben saw the female witch comfort Lucky as he stepped in front of this jerk, cutting her out of his line of sight.
"You touch me, and I will have your ass thrown in jail. I have powerful friends."
"I don't give a shit." Ben pulled his fist back and landed one right on George's nose, as she watched him drop Ben turned to Bastian.
"If he ever steps foot on my land again, I will tear him to fucking pieces." He stalked to Lucky, but as soon as he dropped to sit in front of her the anger went, and the sweet gentle man who had spent the night with his arms around her, came back.
"Princess let's get you back to the house, I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise." Everyone else seemed to back away giving them some space, she felt herself nod though she did not feel as though she was inside her body, her body was unbelievably numb. As they went to leave, she heard Bastian set his plan in motion.
"Your turn Wanda, Mitch help her, he won't be out for long."
Just having Ben close helped her to calm down; she could feel her breathing returning to normal, his presence soothed her. As she looked at George who was still on the floor, she started laughing.
"God, watching you hit him actually made me feel better. I could almost feel the impact from your fist, it was marvellous." Her voice was barely a whisper, he had stood up for her against George and rather than feel weak she felt empowered, a strange result in what was turning into a bizarre day.
"I am sorry for falling apart I don't normally, but when I saw the pictures I felt as though I had been physically violated." She could see Wanda and Mitch doing something to George. Wanda had drawn a circle around him, sprinkling something that looked like dust; Lucky listened to the soft chanting as Ben led her away.
"Lucky, I am not surprised you lost it, I'd have been worried if you hadn’t freaked out, come let's go home."
"No I need to deal with this; I am okay now, just having you close helps. At least we know it's not someone who I have dealt with through work." The realisation hit hard and it was scary, but it also helped her eliminate people.
"How?" Slowly her senses came back to her; she was able to appreciate the beauty of the land around her, the gentleness of the people near her, the people that cared for her.
"We use Wanda's glamour on shift; the pictures are all of me out of work. The strange yet comforting thing is that there are no pictures of the girls, thank god."
It took Lucky a second to recognise her ring tone; answering it to Phil, Ben left her alone though he didn’t go far. Lucky wasn’t sure how Ben would take the news that Phil was coming to stay here with her and the girl's, it was his way of protecting them.
He might have left to give them privacy but Ben had heard the conversation, and did not like the thought of her ex being here in his territory, yet he made a decision not to make a big deal out of it. Wanting to respond and demand possessive rights yet choosing not to act on them was a new concept for him. He had to accept that they would always care for each other and the girls, so he would just have to deal with Phil.
Taking stock of his life right now, Ben came to the realisation that he had a lot to manage right now? He didn’t like conceding on anything, though since he met Lucky he had needed to revise his stubbornness. Maybe this should be a lesson they were taught as pups.
Chapter 18
God she felt exhausted, Bastian had been through every part of her personal life. Connor had taken Wanda to add more safeguards to the perimeters of pack land, now if anyone tried come inside the perimeter they had to have no ill will towards Lucky. How the hell Wanda thought of these things she had no idea, yet obviously they worked, using George as the guinea pig the result was a very upset man after he received a nice electric shock.
Theo had called a meeting with the pack warriors to set up extra patrols. Nicky and Leyland had gone out with Phil when he arrived to collect things from home for the girls. They were now helping them to rearrange all of the furniture in the bedrooms, to make them suitable to their tastes (little madams were already wrapping Ben's family around their little fingers). May was off helping at the clinic, which was certainly no surprise.
Lucky heard Phil on the phone with Amy who sounded annoyed which wasn't surprising, she'd be pissed if Ben was with his ex, not that he had any ex's as such. It didn’t however seem to be a substantial problem for Amy and Phil; Amy was at some sort of hair convention, and was coming over to see him and the girls in a couple of days.
Ben was on the phone sorting out the staffing for Silvers when Lucky decided to get some fresh air out on the steps of the porch. She felt a weight inside her; she was trying to work through her life, trying to figure out how she could have upset someone so much to want to harm her, all the while knowing she was missing something. Listening to the birds singing, watching the wind bustling through the trees she emitted a large sigh.
"Join you." She was so distracted, that she didn't see Theo coming towards her. Lucky was slightly surprised that he wanted to join her; so far he had been very cool towards her.
"Sure." Again she felt his inner turmoil, this man had real trust issues and it poured from him, his very essence was coated in pain and anguish.
"Is it just me that you don't trust Theo or women in general?"
She saw his mouth turn up in a smirk. "You don't waste time, do you? There are a lot of people in the pack waiting to meet you, so far Ben's kept them all at bay though it doesn’t stop them being curious, even the pups are interested. In answer to your questions, I don't trust many people, and I trust women even less. Now answer me a question? Not many people look at me; those that do tend to do a double take before avoiding me. Yet you don't, when you do, you look sad and it confuses me."
"When I look at you, I am sad; I think you mistake people's intentions. There is something about you that compels people to look at you again, and it is nothing to do with the scars. When I am around you, I feel sad and angry that someone at some point has betrayed you so much that you live only a half-life." Verbalising it made her realise that this was exactly how she felt around him.
"That's a lot to get from a look." He had joined her on the steps, both looking into the distance as the sun started setting, the golden glow turning to soft oranges as it prepared to welcome the darkness of night. The cool breeze whispering through the woods caressed her skin welcoming her with its presence.
Now she returned his smile. "Like you, I have hidden talents. I'm an empath, so I feel what you do. I know you don't trust me, and that you and Ben are close, your loyalty is to him and that's good, I can't tell you what's going to happen between us, but I can tell you now that I won't betray him. Within twenty four hours my girls and I seem to have descended on the pack, and by the looks of things we aren't going anywhere."
Theo was listening to her and Lucky felt the change in his feelings as he tried to determine her intentions, she felt him relax as she continued talking. "The girls have already re-organised the bathrooms which I can tell you is serious. Ben's an amazing guy, and I never really wanted to get into another serious relationship, but hey what do I know…. And why the hell am I saying all this, I don't even know you?"
"Be damned if I know. I think I've probably spoken to you more than all women combined in the last year. It's not a bad thing really considering we are going to Dream's tonight; I thought we may need to find a way to work together." As Lucky looked up, she could hear some sort of commotion behind the doors. It was Theo who provided her with an explanation.
"Don't worry; Ben is trying to convince Bastian that it's too soon to go to Dreams. Darius and Conner are dropping hints to friends around the city that Bens got a wild woman ready to party tonight, without Ben. Bastian's going for the 'we will be watching, we can see who's after Lucky approach', Bens trying the 'shit no that's my woman, she's been through too much already today' line. If we wait out here, we can see who wins."
Looking at this man, Lucky could also sense his immense strength and the overriding goodn
ess that he kept hidden. Listening to him, she started laughing. "Even though you don't trust me, you would put your life on the line for me wouldn't you?"
Theo just nodded prompting her question. "Why?" She wanted to understand this man; she would actually like to be friends with him. She could already feel that he was less hostile towards her, they hadn't quite reached warm yet, but it was no longer ice cold.
"I don't know you enough to form an opinion, but I trust Ben and his decisions, to lose you would hurt Ben."
"To lose you would hurt Ben." As she repeated his words back to him, Theo seemed not to understand how important he was to Ben. Ben was incredibly loyal and protective, she had no doubt that his protectiveness would extend to his pack and be reciprocated by them; he was Alpha for a reason.
"Yes it would hurt him, however he would get through that with you there to help him. Besides there is no way that I'm climbing into bed with the wolf, and hugging him close, no matter how long we have known each other. That is now your job."
They both laughed and she felt him relax. He was not only, strong, smart, loyal and fierce, Theo was also funny. Amazingly she felt lighter, safer and confident just knowing that he was going into Dreams with her.
"Do you want to tell me how you got the scars?" Lucky hadn’t planned on asking, yet she felt compelled to ask.
"I haven't told that story in a long, long time. Let's just say there's a reason I don't trust women."
"Good god, a girlfriend did this, not your mate surely?" From everything she had seen and heard over the last few days, this couldn’t be possible a mate wouldn’t be able to hurt their mate, it would in turn hurt them.
"Worse, she was my mother." He got up, and Lucky knew she would get no more discussion from him so she stood up with him.
"Well Theo let's go settle this, we have a night out to get ready for. Can I carry weapons in there?
"Not the ones they can find." That was not a problem, not for Lucky anyway.
Silvers Alpha (The Silver Series) Page 15