Mine for Eternity [Council Enforcers] (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

Finally Tessa looked back up at him. “You had no reason to trust me, but you did anyway. I’m willing to trust you.”

“So you’ll stay?” He was afraid to hope.

“Yes. I hope I’m not making a big mistake, but I’m tired of running, so yes, we’ll stay.”

Mitch couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He had his mate in his arms, and she had just told him she was willing to stay with him. He couldn’t have been any happier if he tried. Staring down at his little mate in his arms, Mitch knew that he was one lucky guy. Some shifters went their whole lifetimes without finding their other half. His had broken into his home to take a shower. That was a story he couldn’t wait to tell his cubs and grandcubs.

Tessa reached up and ran her fingers through his hair and Mitch wanted to purr from the sensation of her tiny fingers stoking him.

“There, all clean.” She showed him a clump of pancake batter that she had removed. “You have really beautiful hair. It’s so golden and shiny.”

“Thank you.” Mitch felt his lion shift like he was preening for their mate. Tessa had no idea how much she was stoking his lion’s ego. His mane was his lion’s pride and joy, and to have her compliment it made his lion want to lick her from head to toe and purr. Mitch and his lion were on the same page with the licking part.

Tessa seemed in no hurry to get up and laid her head back on Mitch’s chest. The sun was shining perfectly through the window, warming them, and he yawned. It seemed that Nico wasn’t the only one that could use a nap. He wrapped his arms tighter around Tessa and slid down so that he was comfortable and closed his eyes. He decided that he would take a short nap and then he would let Tessa know exactly how he planned on protecting her and Nico. That was going to be the easy part. The hard part was going to be figuring out how to tell her he wasn’t completely human and that she belonged to him. At that moment though, just having her in his arms with her sweet scent was enough.

Mitch woke from his nap to the sound of giggling and decided that he would like to wake up to the sound every day. He looked out the window and saw Nico running across the front lawn with Tessa chasing after him. She caught the cub and spun him around in the air before sitting him back down only to do it all over again. Mitch walked out on the porch and watched them for a few minutes. He wanted to join in the chase, but for completely different reasons. He imagined his mate naked running through the woods and him chasing her down. Once he caught her, he would claim her right then and there. His lion roared in approval at the thought, but Mitch held back.
It’s too soon, and we have Nico to think about. We can’t do that in front of the cub. Soon though.
Mitch was going to have Tessa under him as soon as he could convince her.

In the meantime, he needed to make a few calls. With one last look at his mate and cub, Mitch headed to his office. After what Tessa told him and the reports he had read the night before, there was no doubt in his mind they were dealing with a rogue. That was an easy problem to fix. All Mitch had to do was wait for the rogue to track Tessa to his home and then take him out, problem solved.

What Mitch was going to have a hard time with was figuring out how deep the rogue problem ran and if there was a deeper conspiracy going on. His gut told him yes. Something wasn’t right, and he needed to look into it before the problem got worse and they were all exposed to the world. He was going to need help, so he called the only three enforcers he trusted with his life on a secure line. Once he had them all conference in, he began.

“Okay, Ben, Ryan, Ken, first off thanks for taking my call. I’ll start off by saying that what I’m about to tell you stays between the four of us until we can figure out what’s going on.” After a chorus of agreements, he continued, “This involves my mate—”

Mitch was cut off when all three guys congratulated him. Once they had finished, he explained what happened to Tessa and how she had come to be in his home. He then explained all the evidence he pulled up about numerous rogue incidents that went unreported to the council. Once he had hung up from the detective last night, Mitch had called a few other contacts all over the country, and the information he gathered had been shocking. Chicago hadn’t been the only city with increased rogue attacks. They were happening all over the country, and somehow, the reports were slipping through the cracks. One or two attacks could have been written off, but hundreds in such a widespread area was dangerous to all their kind.

Rogues were shifters that had let their animal side take over and had gone feral. There was very little human left in them, turning them into the predators they had lurking inside of them. There was no reasoning with a shifter that had turned rogue, and it was Mitch’s job as an enforcer to track them and put them down. It sounded brutal, but it was for the good of their race. Rogues were killing machines, not caring of the disasters they left in their wake, and they threatened exposure for their kind. Mitch’s job was to keep that from happening. Now, it seemed shifters were going rogue all over the country and nothing was being done about it.

When he was finished explaining the purpose of his call, there was complete silence on the line. He didn’t have to explain how serious the situation was. Kenneth, Benjamin, and Ryan all understood that. “If it’s possible, I need you guys to come here so we can figure out how to approach the council with this information. I have a feeling someone on the council or an enforcer is involved, so we need to figure out who we can trust.”

After getting their agreement, Mitch hung up and sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose trying to fight off a tension headache. It was rare that shifters got sick, but for him personally, the headaches seemed to come with the stress of the job. It was the reason he lived in seclusion and not part of a pride. He had tried once, but Mitch had enough to deal with. He didn’t need to add the stress of all the available females and their literal cat fights over him. It seemed that while he was a feared enforcer, in the eyes of the females in his former pride, he was a wild lion that they thought they could tame.

Mitch snorted. As if anyone thought they could tame his mighty beast.
Not true, I would happily roll over and purr for our mate.
His lion spoke, and his purr filled Mitch’s head. He had to adjust himself as his lion sent him images of exactly what Tessa could do to make him purr.

Mitch laughed. “I have a feeling she could turn you into a house cat and you would be happy.”

His lion scoffed.
Please, have you seen me? There is no way our mate can mistake me for one of those puny, little things. She has already seen my mighty mane, and she even groomed yours herself. She’s already in love with us.

Mitch couldn’t help but laugh at his lion. He didn’t think he had ever met anyone more arrogant. If only it were that easy to make Tessa love them. He had a feeling it was going to be damn near impossible considering what she had already been through. She was already running from one of his kind. He was scared to tell her what he was, but Mitch refused to claim her without her knowing everything. He wanted her to choose him because she was in love with him and wanted to spend her life with him. Not because the mating bond forced her. Shifters lived a long life. They weren’t immortal, but they could live forever barring a tragic accident or someone killing them. Once the mating bond was in place, his mate’s life span would change to fit his. An eternity of Tessa hating him because he had forced a decision on her was something he couldn’t even consider. The decision had to be hers, Mitch just had to be delicate about the situation and make her see that not all shifters were bad before he revealed himself to her.

In order to do that, he had to get Tessa to open up and tell him everything she saw that night. She had to trust him so that they could move forward. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Tessa was standing there looking flushed from playing outside with Nico. He had to hold back his grimace as he adjusted himself under his desk. What he wouldn’t give to sniff her at that moment. He bet she smelled like sunshine. It was his favorite scent, but combined with his mate’s scent, he bet it smelled heavenly.

He didn’t realize he hadn’t answered Tessa’s knock until she frowned. “Yes.” He cleared his throat, unable to say more than that.

Tessa hesitated. “Uh, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but Nico got a little hungry. I was wondering if it would be okay if I could fix him some lunch.”

“You didn’t have to come in here and ask me that. You and Nico are welcomed to anything in this house. I want you to treat it like your own.” He didn’t say it was already hers. Mitch didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “In fact, I’m done here. I’ll join you.”

Mitch stood and walked over to Tessa. He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her toward the kitchen. A purr rumbled in his chest as he subtly leaned over and sniffed his mate. He had been right about her scent. It was the best thing he and his lion had ever smelled. It took all his strength to keep walking and not throw her against the wall and fuck them both into exhaustion. The only thing that kept him from making the biggest mistake of his life was Nico’s giggles as the boy amused himself with his shoestrings.

“Come on, buddy.” He picked Nico up as an excuse to put a little distance between him and his mate. “Momma says you’re hungry. Let’s get you fed.”

Nico squealed, which seemed to be something he did fairly often. What surprised Mitch the most though was his lion. If Mitch had been in his shifted form at the moment, he had no doubt his lion would be in a play bow, eager to pounce and play with Nico. It was shocking because his lion did not play. Even when they were kids, his lion was content to lie in the sun and nap the day away. As adults, if they weren’t lounging, they were working. It was what made them such good enforcers. Now, his lion was ready to pounce and tussle with his cub. “Like I said, house cat,” Mitch murmured under his breath.

The silence was comfortable as Tessa helped him get lunch ready. They made simple sandwiches, but the way they worked and moved smoothly around each other, it was like they had been making meals together for years. As they prepared the food, Mitch had to wonder why he ever preferred to be alone.
Because we didn’t have our mate.
He knew his lion was right. Mitch didn’t think the simple act of preparing food would have been as much fun with anyone else. Now Mitch had his mate and a cub. He looked forward to spending the rest of his days cooking together with them.

As he ate lunch, Mitch was determined to enjoy as much time with his new family as possible because he knew the coming days would be the hardest he ever had to deal with. Not only did Mitch have to find a rogue stalking his mate, but if his gut was correct, he was about to open a can of worms with the council and he had no idea how deep that can was.
It must be done to protect our mate and cub.
He and his lion were on the same page about that.

* * * *

Tessa’s bare feet stung as she ran as fast as she could. Her throat and chest burned whenever she tried to take a breath, but she kept on running. She had no choice. The monster had somehow found her again, and now she was running not only for her life, but Nico’s as well. Tessa didn’t know how long she had been running through the strange woods. With each step, her suspicion grew that her attacker could have caught her at any time. He was playing with her. Herding her in circles, still, Tessa ran. She had no intention of making her capture easier.

A whimper from her arms reminded her of why she couldn’t be caught. Nico clung to her in a death grip as she ran. Tessa had a feeling he had no idea what was going on since she had woken him up to run, but he was afraid, and it was all because she was afraid herself. His wide eyes and whimpers proved that. Nico was feeding off her fear, and there was nothing she could do about it.

An eerie howl pierced the air, and the woods became deathly silent. Even the animals knew there was danger lurking nearby, and they were hiding. The hair on Tessa’s arms and the back of her neck stood on end, and she knew the time had come for her to do what she had been dreading the most. She was going to have to hide her baby somewhere and pray she could lead the monster off. She could only hope she made it back to him before the night was over.

She ran on ignoring the leaves and twigs stabbing the soles of her feet. Finally, Tessa came across a dead, hollowed-out tree. The hole in the bottom was just big enough for Nico to squeeze into and deep enough that he wouldn’t be seen by someone walking by. It took a minute for her to get her son to stop clinging to her to get him in the hole. Tessa was aware of every precious second, knowing it was one more second her stalker had to catch up with her.

“Stay here and try not to make any noise,” she whispered to Nico. “Momma will be back, I promise.”

Tessa started having second thoughts when she saw the silent tears streaming down her son’s face. They tore her heart up, and she hoped she wasn’t making a bad decision by leaving him there. If something happened to her and she couldn’t make it back to him, no one would know where Nico was hidden. She knew she had no choice though, there was no way she could fight off the monster with her son in her arms. Wiping away tears as she stood and took off running again, Tessa made a silent vow to herself to do whatever possible to keep her promise to Nico.

The whole time she ran Tessa fought the need to constantly look over her shoulder. She was scared that if she looked, she would end up tripping and then he would be on her. She couldn’t let that happen, so she ran trying to lead him as far away from Nico as she could. Tessa kept half of her attention on her surroundings so she could know the way back to her son. The other half was looking for a weapon and a place to hide.