Ellie was smiling proudly. "She really did mom." Lucky tucked a strand of hair over May's ear before she smiled and kissed her forehead. She shouldn’t be proud but May had never stood up for herself before.
Camerons mother didn't seem to be happy with what was being said, which was inferred by her shouting. "See I told you what would happen if you let these animals into this school. They are lying to protect each other. They are always bullying my son and his friends."
The principal seemed to be thinking. Ben had met with him prior to letting the pups join the school, and so far he wasn't aware of any major problems. There was no way he would let this go, the pups would not hurt someone unless it was to protect, and he was damn proud of Danny. He was proud of Ellie and May too but Danny had acted responsibly without taking things too far. Normally Danny lashed out too quickly, today he reigned himself in.
The principal saw where this was headed and decided to take control. "Can all of the students please leave the room?" They did as they were asked, however Ben telepathically asked Danny to watch out for the girls.
"Mrs Neil, your son has been involved in bullying the younger students for some time. You know this, we have discussed this several times and yet nothing has changed. You seem quick to label others as lying yet May has never had a disagreement or dispute with anyone else, so I do believe her. Ellie is always quick to get into skirmishes which we have discussed Miss Rodriguez, yet I know she looks out for May and clearly on this occasion she was right to defend her. However she did not need to draw blood to the extent she has on this occasion. Mrs Sanders (looking at Yvonne), your son is a constant headache but not for fighting (looking at Ben), he takes pack rules very seriously and would not risk hurting others. Yet this situation is very different for many of the students; therefore this is what will happen, Cameron will be excluded from school for a period of two weeks. Stephen's parents are unable to be here, but he will face the same sanction. Miss Neal you may leave and take your son for medical treatment."
When she left, threatening to take legal action on the way out the principal continued. "Ellie will be excluded for a period of seven days as this is her third fight in as many months. Perhaps Ben you can teach her some of the pack rules, as I believe they are now residing with the pack. Miss Rodriguez I recognise that Ellie's fight may have been around protecting May but I have to sanction her. It is difficult for May having such a sharp mind, and some people see this attribute as negative. I do understand that if Ellie is not in school May would be vulnerable. If I exclude May this may impact on her future studies, she did however assault another person when Daniel had already made her safe."
Lucky went to jump in but Ben stopped her, letting the principal continue. "Therefore May's punishment will be her removal from normal classes, she will be provided with specific work from each subject which she will complete with the senior class. Daniel will receive no punishment, I am sure I don't need to tell you that you should be proud of your son."
Beaming Yvonne responded. "I always have been."
It seemed the principal hadn’t finished. "I will ensure that Daniel is permitted to leave classes earlier, so that he can escort May to and from her classes. This will ensure she is not subjected to further problems. Now if that's all, I believe I am ready for lunch? For today you can take the student's home with you."
Ben couldn't help but be proud of all three of them. By the time they got back to the house he had already sorted out a programme of training for both girls but an extended one for Ellie. The girl had both courage and strength; she just needed to channel it. Lucky joined them for the afternoon training and if he hadn't already been impressed, he would have been.
When Claire and Beth arrived home, Ben had them training with the other pups. He wanted them to be able to defend themselves long enough for him to get there to help them. Beth wasn't genuinely into it until Kit chipped her nail, at which point she went for him so hard Ben had to pull her off. If damaging her nails is what it took to rile her, so be it.
He left Lucky and the girls outside; he knew that she wanted to see how they felt about staying here. It took all his strength not to eavesdrop he didn't know what he would do if they didn't want to stay. They had given him a shelf in the bathroom, what else did he need to be happy?
When he had told Lucky that he loved her, he hadn’t meant for it to come out that way but the minute it did it felt right. He knew she felt strongly about him but he also knew she needed time. Her mom was coming soon and he hoped that would help. It was these thoughts that led to his worry about what he would do if her mom hated him. He would feel better once this investigation was done and the stalker was found; he had a dreadful feeling about it all.
He had spoken to Vlad earlier today; they would meet on Friday before the operation. Vlad was sending some of his vampires to help out in Dreams. Something wasn't adding up, for over a week Bastian's men hadn't been able to work out how the people were taken out to where ever they were being held. He didn't like it, he and Lucky went over the plans for Friday with Theo, and the other warriors till late into the night; they were as prepared as they could be. Still he couldn’t shake this feeling.
Later that night, curled up beside Lucky in bed he let the tension seep from his tense and coiled body, quickly drifting to into dreams filled with Lucky.
Chapter 24
Ben wasn't sure what stirred him first, the new scent in the room or the knife at his neck. It didn't matter which one, either way he was pissed.
"Unless you want a bloodbath I would get up very slowly, don't make any sudden moves, you might be a wolf but my aim is deadly and never misses."
His wolf went into overdrive, Ben's thoughts were running all over the place. He couldn't rouse Connor or Nicky telepathically but Theo was already on his way. The first order was to get everyone out of the house, Theo was to get Lucky and the girls out first and then come for him. Sneaking a look at the man, he could see he was stocky, he could smell that he was human and clearly insane to come into a wolf's home at night.
As he slid out of the bed his wolf was itching to come out; Ben tampered it down soothing it with 'soon'. There was something familiar about the man though he wasn't sure what. As the man gripped him around the throat, he realised how strong this man was, unusually strong for a human.
"I expected more from a pack Alpha. I am disappointed." He turned Ben around to move out of the door when suddenly Ben was loose. Spinning round he found that Lucky had the man stood stock still, with a knife to his balls. "Believe me, I will use it."
"Oh princess, I don't doubt it for a minute."
As she dropped the knife, he watched as Lucky wrapped her arms around the man with a squeal.
"That's a much better greeting."
Ben realised why the man seemed familiar, he was the brother Lewis. This he knew would please Lucky but Ben was still not happy. He headed downstairs to give Nicky and Connor a piece of his mind, only to find them slumped on the floor. Checking their pulse he saw the two darts on the table, now he was furious with them and Lewis.
Ben was outside when Theo arrived, he seemed to realise Ben was not in an approachable mood and stayed back. Lucky and Lewis came outside, Lewis was eyeing him rather smugly and that just cinched it. Ben charged him knocking him to the ground, very quickly they were wrestling and Ben realised that Lucky's strength may be a family thing, but not a problem for him. Within minutes he had Lewis pinned, the tips of his claws against his throat.
"Don't ever pull a knife on me again, brother or not I will rip your throat out."
Even in the dark of the night, Lucky could see the smile across Lewis' face reflected in the light of the moon.
"About fucking time you found a man worthy of you, instead of a pussy like Phil." This insane man wasn't the least bit frightened, he had wanted to see what Ben was made of and Ben had to respect that.
"I am going to let you up now and then you can tell me how the hell you got in here, subdued my se
cond and my brother and then managed to sneak your way into my room."
Lucky had been held back by Theo when they had started fighting, the minute he let her go she came charging over and hit both of them.
"You are idiots, testosterone filled idiots, do you know how scared I was and you (Lewis) why didn't you tell me that you were coming home?"
"Still feisty I see, I spoke to mom and she told me that you had hooked up with some wolves. I figured that I needed to check on my girls, before I agreed to stand by my baby sister at some sort of mating ceremony." Smiling at her, Lewis batted his eyelashes. Lucky wouldn’t fall for that, of that Ben was certain.
"Okay I forgive you Lewis, but Ben you knew that he was my brother, yet you still hit him." Lewis was smiling at him, Ben turned to Lucky.
"How is he forgiven, but I'm not?" She had fallen for Lewis' fluttering eyelashes; maybe it would work for him. It didn’t, and he wasn't certain that she had noticed him trying it, Lewis had, as his smirk proved.
"I haven't seen him in nearly two years, so you can grovel." She could hear Theo laughing as they went inside.
"I have to say Ben you're a step up from Phil, Lucky was more able to protect those girls than he was, he was a nice enough guy but just puny, at least you got rid of him."
Coming from the bedroom Phil had plainly been woken by the ruckus. "Puny is still around, and I always thought you resembled some sort of animal, glad to see I was right."
Lucky could see Lewis looking around at all of the men.
"What the fuck, have you got a harem thing going on Luck?" Growling Ben threw a towel at him.
"Watch your mouth." Lewis turned in shock to Phil, who had decided he wanted to play testosterone man as well which was indicated by his continued lecture aimed at Lewis.
"I think I was right all along, he does resemble an animal. Well Lewis while you have been off playing soldiers we have been dealing with a little situation here. I am here to look after my girls."
"What sort of situation?" She knew that tone, Lewis had used it on her many times. With a sigh Lucky went off to bed, letting the boys play soldiers and plan strategies. Lewis was already on the phone making contact with some Special Forces buddy who could hack just about anything. His aim was to get information on who actually owned Dreams, while they slowly gained access to Curicos emails.
Chapter 25
She woke to Ben kissing her gently just before the girls came rushing in to tell her that Uncle Lewis was here, with presents. How did she miss presents? It turned out that Lewis could get through Wanda's safeguards because he did not mean to harm Lucky, and therefore they let him in. Ben was clearly impressed with Lewis' abilities, and Lewis was impressed with Ben and the pack, meaning that he would not oppose the mating ceremony which relieved Lucky. As long as the men were happy she was, yeah right. Wait till her mom arrived, she and Sylvia would take over everything including the men and then they would be panicking.
By the time Friday morning came everyone was feeling tense. Ben and Lucky had spent the morning making love, just the thought of it made her blush, together they were like dynamite. Rather than go through the plans again, she opted for spending the rest of the morning with the girls knowing the risks she would face tonight. They went horse riding and had a picnic in the woods; she knew some of the pack had followed them as per Ben's orders. Lucky also suspected Danny was with them though she was pretty sure Ben did not order that.
Vlad had arrived with several of his vampire warriors; however Mitch had also arrived and then vanished elsewhere. Lucky assumed it was to answer to his superiors up there somewhere. She knew that Ben was worried; she had felt it building up inside of him. He was going to be paired with Lewis tonight and this time she was going to be wearing a tracker, as well as the necklace with the camera.
Theo was going to be with her in Dreams, as would Darius and at least three other vampires sent by Vlad, and two other less known wolves. Ben had also arranged for at least three vampires and six wolves to remain at the house with the girls, including Zachariah and Leyland. Phil was going out with Amy for dinner but would be back before they left.
Looking around at the girls who were swimming in the river, Lucky realised something, she and Ben were made to be together, this was meant to be her life and he was meant to be hers. She loved him so much; she had let the speed of their relationship scare her when actually from the beginning it had been so right and wonderful. Get tonight out of the way and she wanted the mating ceremony done as soon as her mom arrived.
Lucky got ready for the night, this time however she wore a short but loose black skirt, with a knife strapped in a sheath on each leg which would allow her to access them easily. With a red dressy top, and knee high boot's to cover the weapons at her ankles, she added her unique bracelet and belt, as well as a holster underneath her shirt; she could then place two more knives and the gun in and around the sheath. Adding the chopsticks to her hair, it was time to add the piece de resistance, over her top she crisscrossed a thin leather strap, it was made to look as though the strap accentuated her breasts with a clip to hold it, it added to the outfit but unleashed, it became a whip.
Tonight she added a jacket to cover the gun holster; she had no intention of being searched as she had been the last time. If she was honest she was pretty scared, she had done uncover work before but not to this scale, not with these many unknowns and not with someone stalking her.
As she went across to the gym, she found the place heaving with people all suiting up. Lewis approached her immediately while Ben was co-ordinating the wolves.
"Baby girl you don't have to do this, we can deal with it another way. My guy is doing a more in depth check on all of the people you know. He should know who owns Dreams pretty soon so there are options. Hell even Phil's got out, the spineless bastard had his girlfriend come pick him up."
Kissing him on the cheek, she stretched her arms round his neck. "None of the other plans are as good as this. Lewis you know I love you and dad would be so proud of the man you have become."
"Stop that shit, I don't need a nice talk, we will do that when you get back." Lewis finally saw that his baby sister was a woman and she was a strong one at that, but she also knew that it scared the hell out of him.
"If anything does happen to me Lewis, make sure Ben is safe. He will be a loose cannon, I have no doubt he will protect the girls but I need someone to protect him."
"I won't need to; YOU will be looking after him. I can see the man heading over here and he looks stressed. I don’t think he will appreciate a nice talk, now give me a kiss." She kissed his offered cheek before he wandered away.
Ben did indeed look harassed, dressed in all black he looked pretty damn hot. "Right Lucky, I have been thinking of other options and there are several."
Inside she was smiling; she could feel the anxiety coming off him along with hope that she may agree to his new suggestions. "I would imagine that each involves me staying here or even better at hiding with the girls?"
"Well of course, look it doesn't matter what anyone else says there are…" She silenced him with a kiss.
"Let's go for a walk."
As they headed into the moonlight, surrounded by the trees she could feel the dark night wrap around her as though it was a friend. The air was crisp and clean, the owls hooting through the sky, she breathed through Ben's panic. "Before you say anything else Ben, this shit needs to end tonight and then we can focus on who's after me."
"They may be linked Lucky, I feel as though we've missed something and that both situations are linked in some bizarre way that we aren't ready to deal with. We don't have enough information about what's going on in the club…"
"I know that, but we also know that there are already two dimensions to this, the club fighting and those being sold for god knows what. I trust you to keep me safe and I am sure that you will never be ready to let me go do this. Just trust that I know what I am doing."
"I'm not ready but I do tru
st you. When we get back tonight, I am going to speak to your mom and brother about chaining you to the house." He was serious; right now he could hardly breathe. He had spent most of the day growling at everyone, he was as prepared as he could be with the information he had, he just had this niggle one that would not go away.
God she was phenomenal, so strong and courageous, why couldn’t she be a stay at home mom.
"Ben you've completely changed my life, I thought that what I had with Phil was love. Inside I always felt like a bitch for not being completely satisfied. Now I know better, in case I forget to say it later, I…." He stopped her by putting his finger to her lips.
"Don't even say it; I will hear that from you, but only when this is done tonight?"
"Okay but just listen if something, no don't interrupt. If something does go wrong please look after the girls, I think they are too strong willed for Phil. And Lewis please keep him safe, he will lose it and will need reigning in."
He silenced her with a kiss, his strong, brave warrior woman; he knew that she too was scared. He had started to feel more of what she felt; he just didn't call attention to it.
"Just know this Lucky, no matter what happens tonight I love you more than life and you are MINE. Where ever you go I will find you, we are meant to be together."
"Heard loud and clear, now let's do this." She couldn’t stand here with him; the longer she was here the less she wanted to leave him and the girls.
Chapter 26
Mitch hated being called up here; he waited for them to tell him what he was on Earth for, but no they continued being cryptic, sometimes he thought they were trying to make him fall. It was peaceful here, serene and calm, well most of the time.
His eyes struggled to adjust to the complete whiteness of the heavens; he used to revel in its splendour and sparkles but after so long on earth, he was starting to think a little more colour would be nice, brighten the place up. It was a common misperception that the heavens were all sweetness and light. It wasn’t the gods and goddesses often fought amongst themselves; over the centuries some had come to think of themselves as superior and as such in need of more power. Very often Mitch thought they were downright petty.
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