Instead of going along with his plans, the cowards in the council had kicked him out. At eight hundred and seventeen years old, Edmund had not only been one of the oldest shifters in existence, but the oldest and longest standing member of the council. He had helped create the council, and those idiots had the audacity to kick him out. Edmund wouldn’t stand for it. He would find a way to get revenge on everyone. They were all going to pay for what they’d done to him, including his traitor of a daughter. He rubbed his hands together and smiled. The little bitch didn’t know what was in store for her. He had an extra special way of taking care of traitors, and Jacqueline would have the honor of finding out just what that was.
Edmund walked over and opened his office door. “You there”—he pointed to one of his men—“clean this mess up.” The smell of blood was starting to get to him, and Edmund needed his wits so that he could come up with a new plan. He had to admit, though, killing the men who had failed him by letting his daughter and the enforcer escape had been a great stress reliever.
Now, he needed to get to work, and the first order of business was tracking his daughter down. He had a feeling she would keep all of her research and work with her, so if he got her back, then he would have his serum back as well. Edmund also needed to find another chemist, someone who feared him too much to betray him. Once he had that, then he would have no use for his daughter anymore.
Turning on the computer, Edmund pulled up the program that only he knew about. He put in his password and smiled when the little red dot started blinking on the screen. He mentally patted himself on the back for having the foresight of implanting his daughter with a tracker when she was little and too young to even remember. Now, all he had to do was make a phone call to let her know he could find her wherever she ran. He knew his daughter, all he had to do was threaten to kill the people helping her and she would come running straight to him. There was no way she could stand back and allow someone to die for her. With any luck, she would bring those enforcers that had tried to kill him with her as well.
Edmund sat back in his chair and grinned. Things seemed to be working out in his favor. Soon, he would have his formula back. If he played his cards right, he would not only have his enforcer back, but three more to go along with him. Add in a little torture a certain traitor had coming her way at his hands and things in his world were definitely looking up. Edmund whistled as he picked up the phone and dialed Mitch Ericson’s home phone number.
* * * *
Ben felt his mate’s nerves and smelled her fear as they headed down the steps toward the others. He had finally convinced Jacqi to tell the others what she had done. They needed to know what they were dealing with, and there was no way Ben could ask his friends for help while keeping them in the dark about something as important as him possibly dying.
His little mate feared they would hate her after she told them, but there was no way Ben could convince her they would understand with words. The only way she would believe no one blamed her for not only protecting shifters, but humans as well, was to let the actions speak for themselves. Once she told his friends about the failsafe in the serum, then hopefully she’d see from their reactions they didn’t blame her for anything. He needed his mate to see that in order to get her mind focused on creating the antidote.
“Everything will be okay. You’ll see.” Ben lifted his mate’s hand and kissed it. “Trust me, I have very understanding friends.”
Before they could go any farther, something latched itself to Ben’s leg. Laughing, he bent down and lifted Nico by one leg and held him upside down. “Hey, little man.”
It amazed him how far the boy’s giggles went in making him feel better. It seemed that his wolf had missed Nico just as much as he had because Ben could feel his excitement as he pounced in his head
We should shift and go play with the boy. I think he wants to.
Soon, pup. As soon as we make sure our mate is safe, you can play all you want.
“Are you going to go away again, Uncle Ben?”
Ben pulled Nico in his arms and hugged him. “No, little buddy. I don’t plan on leaving you again.” Wanting to cheer him up, Ben asked, “Do you still remember what I taught you?”
At Nico’s nod, Ben grinned. He considered Mitch an older brother, and in his opinion, he wouldn’t be a good little brother if he didn’t do his duty to annoy the man. “Let me hear it then,” he told Nico.
Nico threw his head back and attempted to howl as loud as he could. “That’s my boy,” he told the cub as a loud roar came from the other room.
“Damn it, Ben, I finally got him to stop doing that.” Mitch stormed into the room and pulled Nico out of his arms and walked off again.
Ben turned to see his mate with her hand over her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter. He winked at her and smiled. “He really hates that.”
“I can tell. Mitch looked like he wanted to rip your head off. I take it your animal is a wolf?”
“I’m sorry. I thought you knew that already. It’s hard to remember that, even though you grew up in the shifter world, you don’t know much about us.” He sat on the bottom step and pulled Jacqi onto his lap. “Yes, my animal is a wolf. Mitch and Ryan are both lion shifters, and Ken is a bear.”
“Aww, a bear? How cute.”
“Why do you women do that?” Ben asked confused.
“Do what?”
“Why is it that whenever a woman finds out Ken is a bear, their eyes glaze over and they get this look on their face like they want nothing more than to run over and hug the man. Would you still feel the same way if I told you his animal was a grizzly and not the cuddly teddy bear you’re imagining?”
He is fluffy though.
He ignored his wolf as Jacqi turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around Ben’s neck. “It sounds to me like somebody’s jealous,” she said as she kissed the corner of his mouth.
Ben groaned and shifted his little mate so that she was straddling his lap. “You’re damn right I’m jealous.” He grabbed his mate’s hips and pressed her down against his cock that had been rock hard since their kiss in the bedroom. Jacqi moaned from the contact, and Ben smelled her arousal as moisture flooded her pussy. With each shift of her hips, Ben’s cock was begging to be buried in her warmth. “When I finally take you, I will be the only one you’ll be looking at with those dreamy, glazed-over eyes.”
His mate’s moan was cut off when the phone rang. They both jumped apart, realizing where they were. With just one touch from his mate, everything else had ceased to exist for Ben. He had come close to taking Jacqi on the stairs with everyone else in the next room. That wasn’t the way he wanted his first time with his mate to go, so Ben was glad for the interruption.
“Come on, let’s get this over with so I can take you back to bed and finish what we started.” He hoped by his little mate’s flushed cheeks she was feeling the same way and agreed with him.
Before they could make it into the room, Ryan opened the door to Mitch’s office and motioned for them. “You guys might want to get in here.”
From the look on his face, Ben knew whatever it was it wasn’t good. He grabbed Jacqi’s hand and pulled her with him into the office. He was met with growls and roars coming from his friends.
“What the hell do you want?”
“It’s so nice to speak to you again, Enforcer Ericson,” Percival said as if he was calling an old friend for an afternoon chat.
“Cut the shit, you bastard, and tell us what you want.”
“Now now, name calling is unnecessary. I’m just calling to speak to my daughter. I’m assuming she’s there.”
Ben felt Jacqi go stiff next to him as she started trembling. He felt his anger rise at the fact that the bastard still had the ability to scare his mate even through the phone. He wondered how the man had even found them in the first place.
“I don’t know what you’re talki—” Mitch was cut off before he could finish.
“Now it’s your
turn to, how did you put it? Oh yes, cut the shit, Enforcer Ericson. I know she’s there with you. In fact, she’s probably standing right next to you listening at the moment. My dear daughter, I have only one thing to say to you.” Percival paused and Ben held his breath. “I’m coming for you.”
The line went dead at the same time Jacqi gasped. Ben had the urged to go hunt Percival down and rip his throat out for what he was putting his mate through.
“Where’s my bag? I need to go.” Jacqi tried to pull away from him.
Ben held on tight. There was no way he was letting her go. “You can’t run, little mate. That’s exactly what you father wants you to do.”
“No, he said he’s coming for me. He called here. That means he knows exactly where I am. I have to leave. I can’t put any of you in danger. My father won’t care that Tessa is pregnant or that there is a child here. He will come for me, and if any of you stand in his way, then he won’t hesitate to kill you.”
“That’s exactly why you need to stay. You have four of the best enforcers guarding you here. Your father called and threatened you because he knows exactly what you will do. He wants you to run so he can be waiting to catch you. If he knows you’re here, then that means he has a way of tracking you. It won’t matter if you stay here or go somewhere else, he will find you.”
“Ben is right,” Ken said as he came up behind them. “Let Percival come to us. Here, we know the land, and we can be ready for him. Out there, we would be constantly on guard, not knowing when or where he would attack us.”
“There is no we. I’ll go, and you guys can stay here.”
Ken crossed his large arms over his chest and glared at Jacqi. “If you go, then we go. We aren’t letting you go alone.”
“Why?” Jacqueline asked, confused.
Ben pulled his mate into his arms and hugged her. “You are my mate. That means you’re family, and it makes everyone in this room your family as well. The guys will protect you with their lives now, just as I would Tessa and Nico or Ken and Ryan’s mate when they find her.”
Jacqi looked over at Ken and Ryan and frowned. “I thought they were mated to each other.”
Ben chuckled and lifted his brow at the pair waiting for them to explain.
“We are, but Ken and I both feel there is a third out there for us. Neither of us had ever been with a man when we met and realized we were mates, and we both feel like there is a woman out there meant for the both of us. Or mating is incomplete until we find her.”
Ben could tell his mate wanted to ask more questions, instead Jacqi nodded. “Okay, I’ll stay, but the instant it looks like one of you could get hurt on my behalf, then I’m out the door.”
There was no way Ben was letting her go anywhere without him, but he kept quiet. His little mate would soon find out that family stuck together, no matter what. He looked over at the guys, and they all nodded, knowing exactly what he was thinking and all agreeing. He led Jacqi over to a chair and pulled her into his lap.
“Okay, first, my mate has something to discuss, then we need to come up with a plan to guard this place. We also need to figure out how Percival even knew we were here. Either he is a really good bluffer or my guess is he has a way of tracking Jacqi.” Ben ignored the elbow to his ribs and his mate muttering Jacqueline under her breath.
Mitch and Ryan started joking about how they’d bet Ben couldn’t wait to perform a strip search on his mate to find the tracker while Ken sat back and watched them all quietly. Ben wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was looking forward to searching every inch of his mate’s body as well. He would definitely be the one to do it because there was no way he was letting one of the other guys lay a finger on Jacqi. Ben’s thoughts and the joking were interrupted when his mate suddenly sat forward on his lap.
“Ben is going to die in less than three months if I don’t find a way to finish the antidote to the rogue serum.”
The room was silent for about thirty seconds before everyone started shouting all at once.
Chapter 8
Jacqueline was pleasantly surprised as she sat down at the dinner table next to Ben. The meeting had gone well once all of the shouting had ended and she was able to explain. What had shocked her was that none of the yelling had been directed at her personally. That was something she wasn’t used to. She had expected them all to hate her, but no one was even angry with her for what she had done or that their friend could possibly die.
Instead, in the three hours since the meeting had ended, not only did she have everything she needed to continue her research, but the guys had managed to turn a section of Mitch’s basement into her own personal lab. It amazed Jacqueline how fast everything was moving.
She felt herself blush as Ben winked and began putting food on her plate. That man had been by her side through everything, and if Jacqueline had to admit it, she was falling fast for him. She barely knew him, but she could literally feel the bond forming between them. She made a mental note to ask him more about mating and if that was a part of it when they were alone.
Her nerves started to kick in at the thought of them being alone together. She rubbed her lips, remembering what had happened the last time they were alone and wondered if he would touch her again.
“If you don’t stop that, everyone here will know what you’re thinking at the moment,” Ben whispered in her ear.
His hot breath against her neck made her shiver. “How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“I can smell your arousal, little mate.”
Jacqueline should have been embarrassed at Ben’s comment, but it just made her even hornier. She felt her panties dampening and clenched her thighs together. She gripped the table and held back a moan when she felt Ben’s hand slide up her leg. She was seconds away from coming, all from his one touch. She could only imagine what would happen when Ben touched her all over.
The sound of someone clearing her throat snapped her out of the sexual haze she was in. Jacqueline hadn’t realized she had moved so close to Ben that she was practically in his lap. Much to her embarrassment, amused eyes around the table stared at her. The only one whose attention was not focused on her was Nico, who was happily munching away at his meal with his legs swinging in his chair.
Tessa patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, honey, it’s the mating pull. I went through the same thing.”
“Mating pull had nothing to do with it. She just couldn’t resist my golden glory,” Mitch grumbled.
Ben snorted beside her as a dinner roll bounced off Mitch’s head, thrown by his mate. Jacqueline giggled, glad the attention was off her. She silently agreed with Mitch. He was gorgeous with his gold hair and tanned skin. He did nothing for her though. Neither did Ken or Ryan, who were equally as beautiful in her opinion. Ben had been the only man she had ever had any interest in, and she had been attracted to him since she’d laid eyes on him. She had lain awake at night imagining what it would be like if her life was different when she’d met him. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined the man would forgive her for what she had done to him and they would be sitting and laughing at dinner together.
After dinner, Jacqueline headed for the basement to get started on her antidote, but it seemed Ben had other ideas. She squealed as he threw her over his shoulder and headed toward the stairs. She latched on to his waist and prayed he didn’t drop her as he climbed.
“What are you doing, Ben? I need to get started on my work. We only have a little time left.”
“I plan on spending a little alone time with my mate. Plus, we need to find that tracker.”
“But—”
Ben swatted her behind, causing Jacqueline to clench him tighter to keep from falling as she jumped. “No buts, little mate. Your work can wait a little longer.”
Her protest was effectively ended when Ben began to caress the spot he had just hit. Jacqueline moaned and gave in to the fact that he was going to get his way. She couldn’t find it in herself to be upset. His caress felt way
too good to care about anything else at the moment. Returning the favor, she let go of his waist and reached down and squeezed his tight bottom. She felt his growl rumble up his back as his pace quickened and smiled. It was good to know she affected his just as much as he affected her.
Ben carried her into the bedroom and kicked the door closed behind him. He sat her on her feet at the end of the bed, and she gasped when she looked up into the amber eyes staring back at her. His wolf was close to the surface, and she had no clue what that meant for her, but Jacqueline wasn’t afraid. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Reaching up with trembling fingers, she ran them across his cheeks then up to his eyelids when he closed them. She slowly rubbed until Ben finally sighed and opened his eyes again. This time his brown eyes stared back at her.
“You make me lose control, little mate. One touch and I go crazy.” Ben closed his eyes and swallowed. “I can smell your fear. Please don’t be scared.”
Jacqueline realized her hand had slid into Ben’s hair, and she was petting him, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he leaned into her touch. “It’s okay. I’m not scared of you. I know you won’t hurt me. I’m just a little nervous. I’m a virgin. I’ve never done any of this before. The kissing earlier, the touching at dinner, and now whatever this is… It’s all new to me. I just don’t want to mess it up.”
Ben’s body seemed to relax at her statement as he pulled her into a hug. “You have nothing to worry about. We’ll go as slow as you need, and if you begin to feel overwhelmed, all you have to do is say stop, and I will.”
The sincerity in his eyes told her more truth than anything. She knew if she asked him to walk out of the bedroom at that moment he would, and there would be no anger. Jacqueline nodded her consent, unable to say anything past the knot in her throat. She swallowed when Ben gripped the bottom of her T-shirt and lifted it over her head. She heard his hiss when her breasts were revealed. She had no bra on, and she didn’t know if it was the cold air or his stare that had her nipples pebbling.
Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 7