Darius started laughing, a laugh that came from deep down inside. "Do you know her name yet?"
"Of course, I don't make mistakes twice, its Lucky."
Darius just looked at Ben; already he was considering the fun factor in this. Ben hated that Darius was part of the PTF, although he was all up for everyone living together in harmony, Ben did not feel that the PTF had enough man power to make a difference safely. There would be fireworks when Ben found out that Lucky was part of the PTF.
Thinking about it some more, Darius realised this could be a whole lot of fun, generally females in the pack were subservient, although the men were not domineering in a nasty way. There were some dominant females but male dominant wolves were much more common. If Ben thought that he would be able to boss Lucky around, well he would get a shock. Darius could not help but laugh.
"Isn't this just great, well I think I will go over and say hello? How much does she know about you Ben?" Darius thought about telling Ben how he knew Lucky, before he quickly changed his mind; surely these things would be better coming from Lucky.
"Not much, I think she knows I am a wolf. I heard her tell Nicky that she knew he was a wolf, and she knows he's my brother; she didn't seem too freaked out about it. Other than that she does not know a lot, so Darius keep schtum about the pack mate business. I want to tell her when the times right."
"Oh believe me I won't say a word." Darius started walking off "I wouldn't bloody dare." he muttered under his breath as he walked over to them.
"Hey ladies, looking good, how are we tonight? Mary as always you look stunning?" Darius immediately started flirting with Mary.
"Darius what are you doing here and why were you behind the bar? Do you know Ben?" Lucky realised that Ben and Darius probably knew each other and saw an opportunity to get the low down.
"What is this? I feel as though I am on question time. Before I answer your question answer mine, what were you doing here a few weeks ago?"
"I don't know what you are talking about?" Lucky knew she was blushing not that she could stop her cheeks from reddening.
"I don’t think I believe that, I know what you were doing; or rather who you were doing, and I have to say I am shocked." Darius feigned a look of shock though he was not convincing her at all. Had Ben told people about what had happened between them, she hoped not though in fairness to him, she had told the girls every little sexy detail?
"No you're not Darius, but it's time for you to spill about the hot, hot man behind that bar." Amelia was clearly impressed by Ben and was determined to get the gossip on him.
Actually amid all of Darius' plans to watch the fireworks between Ben and Lucky, he had just seen one flaw in all of this. Ben was fiercely protective on a good day, Lucky is fiercely independent, there was no way she would give up her job and there was no way Ben would cope with her job. Which for Darius as her partner, Ben would crucify HIM if anything happened to Lucky, even if it turned out to be a little bump. The realisation dawning on him that this shit could get ugly.
"Now, now ladies there are some things not even I will gossip about and that includes Ben. What can I say Lucky other than good luck."
"Oh, no you don't Darius." Mary had that stern mother tone in her voice and she was pointing at Darius. "Don't you dare walk off, now we know nothing about this… this man/wolf? We don't even know if he's a nice guy, or psycho and you do, so don't even think about walking off."
"Ah Mary I love it when you get all angry with me, it does something to me inside." Mary was not going to be distracted and Darius realised it.
"Don't look at me like that Mary, he is a nice guy. Do you honestly think that I would walk off leaving Lucky with a psycho, she would terrify the poor man?" He put his arm around Lucky and squeezed.
"Anyway for my own safety I am going to move on. I don't feel like watching fireworks tonight. Mary if you want a little vamp action follow me, I will be gentle I promise." He winked at Mary who blushed and slapped him on the arm.
"Darius can you never be serious?"
"Where your concerned Mary, I am always serious. Lucky I will see you on Monday, good luck. Seb, Nicky I will no doubt catch up with you later, I expect to be kept updated on all the fun."
He clapped hands with Nicky, Seb and Julian before kissing the ladies, as he got to Lucky he gave her a hug.
"Surprisingly I am happy for you Lucks, Bens a good guy. Now keep your temper under control and let him explain even when you might be tempted to kill him."
"What the hell are you talking about, explain what?"
"You will see sweetheart and soon, it's not my place to gossip."
Darius made a quick exit as he saw Ben heading over.
Chapter 8
As Ben saw Connor come through to the bar, he had never felt so unhappy to be running a busy and thriving club; he was making stupid mistakes with the drinks in his attempt to keep an eye on Lucky. He knew it was ridiculous considering the amount of muscle at the entrance and regardless of Nicky's ribbing, he knew his brother was also keeping an eye on her. He could feel his wolf prowling inside of him, his instinct was to protect her, possess her, and mark her in a way that told everyone she was his, but he didn’t think she would appreciate it. Damn he needed her and soon, he had even tied one of the aprons around his waist to hide the evidence of exactly how much he needed her.
"Hey Ben, I thought you might need some cover. I tried to get here earlier but what the hell, no I didn't. They radioed me from downstairs to say that she was here, and well I wanted to see you sweat it a little first." Seeing Bens frown Connor took a step back all the while laughing.
"Before you over react ask yourself this, is it worth killing me? If you do you will have no-one to cover for you and how would that look to the ladies, you would scare her away for good this time."
Ben threw the apron at him and stalked off towards Lucky. Watching her talking and laughing with her friends was mesmerising. He saw her turn towards him smiling. "Hey beautiful can we talk?"
Amelia jumped in first. "Not until we have been to the ladies." With that they dragged her off.
"Right Lucky, what is the plan?" Mary seemed a little drunk and panicked, Lucky wasn’t quite sure why they needed to go to the toilets.
"What do you mean a plan? She is going to get LUCKY tonight." Sarah clearly had one thing on her mind, though Lucky had to admit that a little Ben action would not be refused. Where had her resolve not to have sex with him gone?
As the sensible and organised one, Amelia unsurprisingly had a plan. "You guys are useless, Lucky you go talk to him and in half an hour I will ring you. If you say amber, we make up an emergency and come get you. If you say hell yes, have fun and don't forget to give us the details in the morning."
After enthusiastic nods from her friends she left the toilet's to find Ben waiting for her, leaning against the wall. The man was just sex on legs, looking at him was enough to make her shiver inside. He took her hand and guided her towards an office. As they walked down THE corridor where they had sex, Lucky felt herself blush.
"If you want to make it past the corridor this time, I would stop blushing it makes you look sexier than you already do."
Well that did not help one bit and she blushed even more. True to his warning he stopped and pinned her against the wall. He kissed her hard, placing a knee between her legs rubbing it against her core. Taking her hand he rubbed it against the front of his jeans, which were now straining against his erection.
"If we stay here any longer I will take you and last time you ran, so I am trying to avoid that this time. What I don't understand is why you ran?"
Her breath was catching. "I heard you with some man; you said I had bewitched you. I was pissed; I know you have wards around this place to stop magic, so why the hell you thought that I don't know. I was insulted that you thought that I had used underhand methods to get you."
He lifted his head. "No I didn't, okay I did say that but not in that way. I told a friend t
hat you had bewitched me, but what I meant was that we had shared something that was so amazing and yes I am bewitched, but not from any damn spell."
"Oh." Now she felt foolish, maybe she had reacted too quickly?
With that he kissed her again. "Come on I want to take you to see something and if we don't move soon I will take you here and now. Don't worry, you won't need the Amber, but I will enjoy hearing you say hell yes when your friend rings in twenty five minutes."
Staring at him with a perplexed expression, Lucky didn't understand what he meant until it dawned on her that he had heard her and her friends talking in the toilets. She kept smiling even though Lucky knew she was blushing again.
"Damn girl we won't get anywhere if you keep doing that." He snatched up his keys from a desk in the office.
Before she knew it they were in the car heading out of the city. She should have felt anxious but she didn’t, for some reason she felt safe with him.
"Tell me about the pack you are in."
"First of all, tell me why you are not running screaming at my being a wolf? How did you know?"
"Is there a reason I should be running screaming?" She was teasing yet there was a slight note of questioning there.
"No but we tend to get certain types of attention from women. There are those that want us because we are wolves, it's the risk element, and there are those that are terrified because we are wolves."
"Well I am pleased that I surprised you."
"You certainly did that. I am part of Silver Pack and we are the largest organised pack in the area. Silver's is one of the largest packs across the States and currently has about 110 members. We are a self-sufficient pack; we own Silvers club, nine bars, a construction company, a security company, as well as an IT company. We own some land about fifteen minutes away which is where most of the pack currently live."
"Wow that is certainly a lot of fingers in a lot of pies." She uttered as he smiled at her.
"Fortunately we have always had Alphas and members that embrace change, we have always been encouraged to develop our strengths, and not just in the physical sense. Essentially we support each other and realise that we are all cogs in a big machine, if we don't work together that machine will break."
When he spoke about the pack his voice was loaded with pride and emotion. Lucky wandered if he would ever speak about her like that, then she mentally kicked her brain, why would she want him to speak about her in that way?
"As to what's it like to be part of a pack, its generally pretty great? You are rarely alone, although that can also be hard. If you have a problem there is always someone there to help out. If there is trouble, there are always more than enough people to back you up. Some of the other packs hold with the old style aggressive traditions; they are the type whose pack stays together through fear and bullying tactics. Silver Pack is the opposite; no-one is forced to stay. If people want to take off and explore life or roam then that's okay too."
"Who decides who the Alpha is? Not everyone shares the same values; surely there are arguments?"
Ben chuckled; she was the curious type. "You certainly like questions, I like it. The Alpha is primarily an inherited title passed along the patriarchal lines. However anyone can challenge an Alpha at any time and if the Alpha loses the title moves to that line."
"What if the winner is a rubbish Alpha but was just physically stronger?" Her voice belied her genuine interest.
'Somehow the Alphas are the strongest in the pack, but that is always a risk and it does at times happen. Shifters have a long lifespan but as they get older their strength does diminish, so this can increase the number of people making a challenge. If the new Alpha is not accepted by the pack, the rest can always nominate someone to challenge them. That has happened in other packs, normally when the son has taken over from the father and is not considered worthy or capable of taking on the role."
"What about in the Silver Pack, has that happened?"
"It does happen; as you said earlier people do have different values. About sixty years ago a member of the pack challenged the then Alpha. The pack member had always been aggressive but not a problem, he was prominent in pack security. He did not that like that the Alpha expected the pack to follow the laws of the old ways. He believed that as shifters we're as strong as the vampires, and there was an opening to dominate humans, and weaker species."
Taking a breath, Ben recalled the past while navigating the still busy roads as they headed out of the city, lights diminishing as they left the suburbs.
"The pack member did not accept the need to live together in harmony, so he challenged the Alpha. The Alpha knew that the challenger was stronger than him, but he would not uphold the traditions and values of Silver Pack, therefore he stepped down and handed the title over to his son. The challenger lost to the son, but he would not concede this and later went to kill the old Alpha anyway. He and the son fought a long and difficult battle, the son won, the looser was evicted from the pack. By law they could have killed the challenger, but this was someone who had been a friend for a lot of years, he couldn't just kill him like that."
Listening to him, Lucky realised how valuable pack was to Ben. He was talking with such emotion, the strength in his words were immense. She could feel his pain when he was talking about the threat to the Alpha and Lucky would bet that the challenger had been his friend, as well.
"What makes a good Alpha?"
"Well in my opinion an Alpha has to be able to support and encourage the development within the pack. Everyone should be valued and each contribution recognised. Pack members can take time out from pack life and as pups; most members do at some time in their lifetime. All members of the pack are expected to contribute to pack and the land. Our females are protected and highly valued, they are the mothers of our future and as such they are revered, our children more so. We look after each other. An Alpha is always on duty; it is not an easy job and comes with a lot of responsibility."
"Is Silver's Alpha a good one?"
"I like to think so."
"What exactly does that mean? Is he or isn't he?" They were now heading into rural land, woods coming up in front of them.
"I may not be the right person to answer that. I am the Alpha of Silver Pack and have been for the last sixty years."
Well she hadn't expected that yet it did make sense. He was without a doubt an alpha male a take charge type of guy. Looking at his profile she couldn’t help but feel a proud of him; then she understood that he had been the one to fight the challenger.
"Oh I bet you are a great Alpha, if not you wouldn't have lasted sixty years. It must be a huge job."
"Not really my dad was Alpha for over two centuries, but I do love it."
"How old are you?
"No way, you go first." There was a glint in Ben's eye when he laughed at her.
"You know, you should never ask a woman her age but as you asked so nicely I am thirty four."
"Wow a very, very hot thirty four year old. I am close to your age, or maybe not that close, I am 324 years young."
"What the hell, how is that close?" Lucky couldn't help but laugh at him, she was so comfortable to be in his presence.
"It's not but I didn't want to scare you off. Some people get freaked out being with an older man."
"Well now you mention it you are looking a bit weathered." As he burst out laughing, Lucky marvelled at how natural it felt. She liked Ben there was just something compelling about him.
They reached gates at the same time that her phone rung, and yes she did say hell yes to her friends. Ben used a swipe card to get through the gates, even though there were people on guard. Lucky was surprised to see how secure it was, considering that it housed wolves. It was dark so Lucky could not see far, except occasionally she saw eyes peering at them through the woods which unnerved her a little. As they got further into the grounds, there were more eyes from what she assumed were wolves, but they did not approach them or the car.
; "I take it that there is a reason I am seeing more and more wolves. What I don’t understand is why they aren’t moving out of the forest?"
"That would be because of you, I don't tend to bring females here." Now Ben was the one blushing, it was not in his nature to be so open but he was allowing her to read him like a book. He found it strange, hearing these words coming from his mouth. He wanted her to know how unique she was, she was different to other women.
Laughing Lucky was not stupid and she knew enough about wolves to know that was not true. "You don't have to say that Ben. I know that wolves are highly sexed, so you don't expect me to believe that you don't sleep around."
They pulled up in front of what was a huge house. Turning the engine off Ben turned to face Lucky, she made his heart beat just that little bit faster; he felt the blood rushing to his groin, unconsciously he lifted his hand stroking her cheek. He couldn't stop touching her, all the way here he found himself brushing her knee with his hand, moving her hair away from her face, even stroking her hand at one point.
"You got me there. Yes we are known to be highly sexed and I will not lie, I have had my share of let's use the term liaisons but what I meant is that I have never brought a woman here, just you."
She wasn't quite sure what to say but he made her feel warm inside, just the notion that she was on unchartered territory brought out Lucky's own protective instincts. "Never?"
Lucky felt her pulse quicken as the sexual tension inside the car reached a new high.
"Never" He stared deeply into her eyes as he answered. Looking at her Ben suddenly needed to get her inside before he pounced. She just made him burn inside and his wolf was most certainly feeling it.
"God I need to get you inside and quick!"
As he jumped out he ran to open her door. They headed to the house at which time she slowed her steps to admire the scenery, his scenery; he had to have the most remarkable behind. He was stunning from all angles; she could feel her body responding to his closeness. She just wasn't sure why she needed him so badly, it was not at all like her.
Silvers Alpha (The Silver Series) Page 7
