Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (9 page)

Properly put in her place, Jacqueline nodded. Ben said she was his mate, and she believed him. She had felt a connection to the man since the day she met him and she was determined to see where it lead. That meant she had three months to save Ben’s life, and she had no plans of wasting a second of that time. If Ben could forgive her for what she had done, then she could find a way to forgive herself and fix her mistake.

Edmund Percival paced his office, ignoring the blood he was dripping all over the floor. He was trying to calm his anger before he killed someone else. The way he was feeling at the moment he wanted to tear the next person he saw into shreds. Unfortunately, he couldn’t afford to lose any more of his pathetic excuses for rogues. He didn’t have any more serum to make new ones, and with the little traitor gone, he had no way of making any more.

He couldn’t believe she had deceived him like that. He, the great Edmund Percival, should not have been bested by a whiny little brat he had taken in out of the kindness of his own heart. It was not supposed to happen. And, now, the evil little cunt had taken all of her research with her, so he had to start from scratch. All of that made Edmund angry, but what had sent him into a murderous rage was the fact that the little bitch had taken his greatest weapon with her.

Turning that enforcer rogue and setting him loose on the other council members would have been the ultimate victory in his plan. The enforcer would have been unstoppable, and Edmund would have had his revenge on those bastards for not listening to reason and seeing how genius his plan was. Shifters were far superior to humans. There was no reason for them to hide and pretend to be weak and pathetic like the humans when they could live free and rule over the measly beings.

Edmund’s plan was simple yet brilliant. All they had to do was turn a few rogues loose on society and watch as they proved how superior shifters were. Once they had the humans fearing them and knowing they could be exterminated at any time, the pathetic creatures would be falling all over themselves to keep shifters happy.

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.