Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (6 page)

When she pulled back, Ben wiped the tears from her cheek. It felt good to know someone cared enough to be concerned about him. He wasn’t used to that. Aside from Mitch, Ken, and Ryan, Ben had no other family. He had left his pack and family a long time ago when he realized they would never understand him. They considered him defective because of the relationship he had with his wolf. They didn’t think it was natural that his wolf would rather play chase than hunt and kill. The fact that Ben didn’t see anything wrong with it, and even encouraged the playfulness in his wolf, made him an embarrassment to his family. They had asked him to leave the pack because it was making them look bad. Ben had been hurt that they didn’t stand up for him, but he’d left and never looked back.

“What the hell do you think you are doing to my mate? Why is she crying?”

Ben rolled his eyes at Mitch’s statement. The man was always in a bad mood. “Jeez, a guy goes missing then returns home injured and he doesn’t even get a hello. Speaking of mates, where is mine?” He knew she hadn’t been in the room because her scent wasn’t there, but he needed to see her with his own eyes to make sure she was safe.

“You mated the enemy?”

“Well, we haven’t technically mated yet, but she is my mate, and she saved my life.” He had forgotten that Mitch had been there the night he’d met his mate. “Her father is Percival, but she went against him to help me escape, and she kept me safe until we got here. Now, where is she?”

“Wait, how is she that asshole’s daughter? She smelled completely human, not shifter,” Mitch asked, completely ignoring Ben’s question.

Ben stopped the growl starting in his chest. “I didn’t get a chance to ask that question while I was fighting and running for my life. Now, tell me where my mate is.”

They locked her up. I watched her for you while you were sleeping, but when we got here, the big cat knocked her down, and the bear took her away.

Ben felt his wolf’s irritation. He wasn’t angry, just annoyed at being separated from his mate. The anger came from Ben. He was angry at the fact that someone had dared to touch his mate, even if that someone was his best friend, who was only trying to protect him. He gently lifted Nico from his chest, ignoring the pain in his side, and sat him on the bed.

“Where are you going? You need to stay in bed until you finish healing,” Tessa said as she tried to get him to lie back down.

“I need to see my mate.”

“Well, if you insist on being stubborn, then at least let Mitch help you.” Tessa stepped back and motioned for her mate to move to Ben’s side.

Ben wanted to laugh at the annoyed look on Mitch’s face as he did exactly what his mate wanted. For someone who had been so solitary for most of his life, Mitch had become a completely changed man when Tessa had come into his life. For once he was following orders instead of barking them out. Ben kept his mouth shut though. He valued his head too much to point that out to Mitch.

He let Mitch help him down the hall and followed his mate’s scent to the guest bedroom door his friend Ken was currently blocking. The big man nodded at him then stepped away, more than likely off to find his own mate. Ken was a man of few words, so Ben knew that was his way of saying welcome home. He vowed he would talk to each of his friends later and thank them. He had no doubt they’d done everything they could to find him. First though, he needed to see Jacqi.

Ben took a breath and opened the door. His mate was in the middle of the room pacing but stopped when she heard the door open. He watched as those large violet eyes scanned him from head to toe before she smiled and threw herself at him.

“Thank God you’re all right. I was so worried about you.”

Jacqi pulled back and began rubbing her hands up and down his chest and side, checking his injuries. Ben had to hold back a moan at how good her hot hands felt on him. He imagined how good those hands would feel rubbing his cock and felt himself starting to get hard.

Now that he wasn’t delirious from the drugs she was constantly injecting him with or running for his life, Ben was finally able to take the time to really look at his mate. What he saw amazed him. He had never seen a woman as beautiful as Jacqueline, and that was saying something. Ben knew beautiful women. They threw themselves at him every day, and he had no problem getting any of them into his bed. It was what he was known for. He was always the guy who vowed to never mate because there were too many women out there to waste his time with just one.

Looking at Jacqi, he saw that for the lie it was. She stood about five feet five, which, compared to his six feet, seemed small and fragile, but when she had hugged him, they had fit together perfectly. Her petite curvy body molding against his. Add in the long dark chocolate hair and those stunning violet eyes of hers and his mate made all the other women in his past seem like trolls.

Pulling Jacqi back into a hug, Ben buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath. Her spicy cinnamon scent did more to calm him than anything he could remember. He knew he had to brief the guys and let them know everything that had happened to him, but at the moment, he couldn’t think of anything more he wanted to do than to hold his mate.

She could be rubbing my belly.

Let’s not get carried away, pup. She still doesn’t know that she is our mate yet, and something tells me she isn’t too comfortable around shifters.

She will love me. Everyone loves me.

Ben held back a laugh. He knew his wolf wasn’t being arrogant. It was just his playful nature that assumed since he loved everyone then they automatically loved him as well. If he let his wolf out now, he had no doubt his tail would be wagging and his tongue would be hanging out of his mouth in a big wolfy smile. What he said about everyone loving him was true also. In some ways his wolf was like an overgrown puppy. He was always ready to play or receive a good belly rub. Most people couldn’t help but fall in love with him.

“I’m fine.” Ben pulled Jacqi away from him and held her by the shoulders. “Are you okay? You aren’t hurt or anything, are you?”

“I’m a little sore, but that’s to be expected when a hundred-and-thirty-pound girl gets tackled by an eight-hundred-pound, ten-foot man.” Jacqi glared at Mitch.

“Hey, I don’t weigh that much!” Mitch yelled.

Tessa snorted and walked over to Ben’s little mate. “I’m Tessa, and the giant over there is my mate, Mitch. He’s sorry for tackling you, by the way, but we’ve all been just a little high strung with this whole rogue thing and Percival trying to take over the world. Not to mention Ben being missing for almost three months.”

Had it been only three months? To Ben it had seemed like ages ago since the night he blew up Percival’s home and became a prisoner in the process. Granted most of that time he had spent either unconscious or out of his mind. Still, to Ben, that was a lifetime ago.

He wasn’t oblivious to the wince his little mate gave when her father’s name was mentioned. He needed to let the guys in on the fact that Jacqi somehow believed the man was her father and that she worked for the bastard. He had a feeling they had trouble headed their way, and he needed to prepare his friends.

“Listen, guys, we need to have a meeting. First, I need a long, hot shower and something to eat. Then we can talk.”

“Finally. I thought I was going to have to hold my breath forever.”

Ignoring Mitch’s grunt as his mate elbowed him in the stomach for his comment, Ben turned to Tessa. “Do you think you can find something for Jacqi to wear so she can get cleaned up as well?”

“No problem. While you guys get cleaned up, I’ll fix us some lunch. We can all talk while we eat.”

Mitch and Tessa left the room, leaving Ben alone with his little mate. “Are you really okay?”

“Yes.” Jacqi sat on the edge of the bed. “I have to admit, though, your friend scares the crap out of me the way he just glares at everyone. And the other one who guards the door is so huge. I’ve never seen another person as big as he is, shifter or human.”

Ben laughed. “Yeah, Ken is pretty big, but he’s harmless unless you threaten his mate.” He sat next to Jacqi and wrapped his arm around her. He wanted to skip along with his wolf, who was prancing in his head at the moment, when she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. “You don’t have to be afraid of anyone in this house. Everyone here would die to keep me safe, and if I tell them you can be trusted, they would do the same for you.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts. Do you trust me?” He held his breath and waited for his mate’s answer. He had no idea why her answer meant so much to him, but he needed to hear her say it.

Jacqueline stared at him for a few moments before she finally nodded. That small movement made the last three months of his life worth it. Ben would have gladly done it over and over again if it always brought him and his little mate back to that exact moment. Later on in life, when his pups asked him about how he’d met their mother, he wouldn’t tell them the bad stuff. He would tell them their relationship began on the side of the bed when their mother put her trust in his hands.

“Get your shower and we will sort everything else out later. It’ll all work out, I promise.” Ben kissed his mate’s forehead and left the room before he lost his head and threw her to the bed and ripped her clothes off. He had to keep reminding himself that he needed to take things slow with her.

* * * *

Jacqueline shook her head as she stood under the hot water. Her life was too weird at the moment. She has gone from living in terror to being utterly confused all in a matter of hours. She looked down and rubbed the bruise that was developing on her hip. Even though it was painful, she couldn’t find it in her heart to be mad at Mitch for knocking her to the ground. He had just been protecting his home and family from what he’d thought was the enemy. She had no doubt he could have killed her without even trying, but even as he was tackling her, Mitch had made sure not to put his full weight into it. A shifter being protective was something she wasn’t used to.

Even though Mitch and the other large shifter had scowled and glared at her, they hadn’t touched or threatened her, which confused her. She was used to her life being threatened several times a day. She was used to the shifters who worked for her father looking at her with lust in their eyes as they described in detail what they would do to her if her father hadn’t declared her off limits. And her father hadn’t declared her off limits because he was concerned for his daughter’s innocence. No, he just didn’t want her to distract any of his guards from their mission. From what she had seen so far, the shifters she had grown up around were completely different from the ones Ben had brought her to.

Jacqueline thought of Ben as she soaped herself. She had no idea what had possessed her to throw herself in his arms when he had walked into her room. She was just so relieved to see he was okay that she had done it without thinking. Something about him made her want to be around him. She didn’t even know the man, but ever since she’d laid eyes on him the night her father’s guards dragged him into his office unconscious, Jacqueline had felt the need to be next to him. If she was honest with herself, she needed to touch him. That need scared her more than anything. For someone who had never even been attracted to a man in her life, Jacqueline had the urge to rub herself against Ben whenever she saw him.

She barely knew anything about Ben, but what she had seen of him so far had made her answer his question when he asked. She did trust him. So far, he was the only man who had given her a reason to trust in him, and she hoped it stayed that way.

Cold water snapped her out of her thoughts, and Jacqueline quickly got out of the shower and dried herself. She found a pair of sweats and a T-shirt on the bed and put them on. After putting her wet hair in a ponytail, she opened the bedroom door and was relieved to see the large guard was no longer there. She wasn’t ashamed to admit the man scared her with his size. He could really hurt her if he wanted to.

Following the sound of voices, Jacqueline made her way to the kitchen. When she entered, all conversation stopped, and every head turned in her direction. The attention was very uncomfortable to say the least until Ben stepped up beside her and threw his arm around her.

“Everyone, I would like you to meet the woman who saved my life. This is Jacqi Percival.”

“It’s Jacqueline actually.” She felt her cheeks heat as she blushed.

“Did you say Percival?” a man who she had never seen before asked. He was gorgeous, but every man in the room was.

“Jacqi, you’ve already met Mitch and his mate Tessa. This is Ken and his mate Ryan.” Ben pointed to each man. “This little guy is Nico, Tessa and Mitch’s son.”

Jacqueline watched as Ben let her go to lean down and lift Nico up. He threw the little boy over his shoulder and tickled him as the boy squealed and laughed. She couldn’t help but smile. Nico looked to be about two or three, and he was beautiful, just like his mother. She could tell Nico was happy and not afraid of anything Ben was doing to him. That went a long way in calming her nerves and making her feel safe. She had a feeling she could get attached to these people very quickly, so she decided to get everything out in the open as soon as possible. She couldn’t get close to these guys only to have them hate her and throw her out as soon as they found out who she truly was.

“It’s nice to meet you all, and, yes, Ben said Percival. He is my father.”