"Did they get the wolves outside?" Her lip was swelling so speech sounded vague.
"They did. Michaela was definitely running the rogues, they are now in a van ready to be dropped off to Bastian, the warlock has to earn his wages somehow. Connor go and dump these two with the others in the van and get rid of them."
Turning to Lucky his eyes hardened and his face took on a bossy expression. "Don't you ever step into a situation like that again?" Slowly the pack started clapping her and Ben on the back. "I think you have won them over, let's get you cleaned up. Damn woman I love you so much it hurts."
That was the second time he had said those three words in the space of three minutes. The thing was it sounded natural and right.
"Is being in a pack always this exciting and how often will bimbos come to challenge me?"
"You only have to do that once, from now on the pack will defend any challenges; you just had to show them that you were worthy, which you did beautifully."
"I don't think so if someone challenges me for my man, I will take it." He loved her; he had said it and it made her heart want to explode. She wanted him to know how she felt but she needed to do it at the right time, and not when he thought she was saying it after him.
As they entered the house he lifted her in his arms and carried her upstairs. He was so gentle making sure not to jostle her, or squeeze her too tightly. She could smell his scent, his musky masculine, and erotic scent. Resting her head against his chest she just breathed him in.
"I can walk you know." She secretly loved the attention; it's not every day you get a tall, gorgeous man carrying you to his bedroom.
"True but you don't have to and I don't want you to." Sitting her on the sink in the bathroom he proceeded to remove her boots and socks, then her combats. She was beginning to get aroused just from him removing her boots and socks, the feel of his hands as he slid them off of her feet. Her body was drained, she was sore, achy, and a little bloody, and now she was horny. The feelings increased as Ben wet a sponge and cleaned her legs moving upwards to take off her top; smiling seductively Lucky muttered.
"Ben it's my face that’s hurt not anywhere else."
"You can't be too careful, did I mention how hard you make me and how much harder I got watching you."
"I don't think I remember. Maybe you should tell me again."
He took her hand and slid it over his erection; she grabbed him and stroked him through his jeans as he lifted her up with one hand. He slid her panties off with the other hand revelling in his strength, sliding his hands up her legs he stroked her core and slid two fingers inside, making her gasp.
"So ready, you are always ready for me."
He pulled his fingers out, "don't stop."
Lucky was finding it hard to breath let alone speak. Pulling her forward slightly he thrust himself into her, the tip of his penis pushing against her cervix. For a split second Lucky wondered when he had released himself from his trousers. He was gently sliding in and out of her so tenderly as though she was breakable. The feelings he poured into her were so loving and affectionate that she wanted to cry with joy. As she climaxed she bit into his shoulder speeding his orgasm on, he emptied himself into her wanting body. And with startling clarity she knew this was where she needed, and wanted to be.
Chapter 23
The phone rung before dawn broke, the shrill sound waking them. Ben answered and after calling whoever it was a few choice words he hung up.
"Bastian's heading out with Darius, he wants us to meet him."
As they were leaving she woke Phil; who was still refusing to leave the pack until they sorted out the stalker issue. He had spent the afternoon with Amy who was going to spend a few days with friends, disappointing Beth who was hoping to get her hair done, however Amy had plans so couldn't come out here long enough to do it for her. Hopefully she and Ben wouldn’t be long but Phil would know to listen out for the girls while they were gone. Walking over to the old gym Lucky couldn't help but admire the view of the sun cresting over the forest, the contrast of the burnt orange and yellow rays against the green of the trees; she could already see some of the pack roaming the woods as wolves. The sight reminded her that they were alone, yet surrounded by friends.
"Your home is beautiful Ben."
"I want it to be your home too, no scrap that I want it to be our home."
"I like the sound of that." And she did, things had started to feel right.
As they walked hand in hand it seemed astonishing that it had only been a few days.
They wandered in slow and comfortable strides, between them settled an easy silence that Lucky broke. "May tells me that apparently Danny and a couple of the other pups are in the same school as Ellie and May, although they are a couple of years above them. How they haven’t noticed each other before now Ben surprises me. Ellie tells me that the pups use the quads to get to school, the girls sort of plan on joining them rather than being driven by me."
Ben wasn't sure whether Lucky was happy about that, or not.
"Oh if that’s a problem I can make sure they all get driven to school if it is easier. If you look you can see where the school land borders over there." Now that Ben had pointed it out she could just see the school bell tower through the light mist of early morning dew settling on the ground.
"The pups have always gone that way; an adult always goes with them and meets them at the end of the day just to make sure they don't get into trouble. They leave the quads at the boundary and then ride them back."
"I am sure it will be fine Ben but maybe I will go with them tomorrow. I think Ellie likes the idea of turning up at school with a pack of wolves. May was a little worried about the quads, but she trusts Ellie to look after her. The girls sure seem to like it here."
"That is great and one hell of a relief. I am sure there will be some problems; we have few girls and the pups will have to get used to them. Most packs have few females for some reason the male gene is dominant with our species. I think we have only had three females born in the last four generations, two are away, one is travelling, one is at College and the other is touring with family. Louise is the youngest at only nine years old she is well loved by all. Her mom has a pack in England and they have gone to spend some time with them. A lack of females only becomes a problem when we find it hard to meet our mates, and then our numbers start dwindling."
When they arrived two wolves were waiting; one was a golden colour with flecks of black through the coat.
"Connor?" Lucky questioned, Ben nodded. The other was enormous with a black coat that had a faint bluish tinge through it; she could see patches of fur missing with a pattern swirling within it.
"God you are huge as a person and a wolf making you most definitely Theo." Both shifted and this time she gave thanks to the gods that they materialized with clothes, although she still averted her eyes just in case.
The gym was all technology and equipment now, two members of the pack picked by Ben and Bastian sat flanking computer screens, some nearby transparent boards contained pictures of the deceased and major players in this investigation, including Curico, Michaela and her team. Over the other side of the gym were more boards and desks, these ones containing the major players in her life, pictures of her wedding dress and home. She looked on in morbid curiosity, she tried to step back and look with new eyes but she couldn’t, it was too close. Instead she felt naked and wide open for all to see. With a breath she moved away and headed back to the investigation area.
They had to wait, but when Darius and Bastian did arrive they looked exhausted. Both had been questioning the rogue wolves for several hours, Michaela refused to say anything but according to Darius she had a mass of bruising, which did cheer Lucky up.
From the rogues that did speak, Bastian was correct in his thinking that they had been kidnapping the humans and delivering them to Curico. They had to deliver at least a dozen on Friday, a quota they had fulfilled, the requirements were that they had to be re
latively strong humans or lower level others. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t fun, if they didn’t have a fighting chance they were then sent into the ring with two weapons of their choice, and an opponent who would be a high level other. Occasionally a human won; when this happened they were then left in the ring, to fight another higher level other and another and another, basically either way they died. The basement of Dreams had been turned into the fighting arena.
They listened in dismay as Bastian and Darius filled them in on the rest of the sordid details. In between taking these people they were also paid to find young, attractive males and females. Preferably those that wouldn't be missed which obviously included the female they had met the other week. These were passed through Curico, to some black witch; whose identity was still unknown.
Galen was the vampire who had gone into the restricted section of Dream's with one of the females who they now knew was called Imogen, and she had indeed been taken with her sister as she had said. According to one of the rogues, after they had taken them the witch had been angered that the other girl was underage, however in the end it had helped to subdue the one called Imogen.
Imogen had told Galen that the witch entertained clients at an unknown house. These clients were the ones who either couldn't be seen at Dream's, or whose tastes ran to the extremes that couldn't be met at Dreams. Imogen had also spoken about two others who worked with the witch, and managed the house when she wasn't there. Galen had promised to get her out but the female was so scared, he didn't think she believed him.
At the end of all of this there was a new plan. Galen and two others in the team were frequenting Dream's nightly; Bastian had the place under surveillance constantly trying to get more information. Curico was already asking questions about Lucky, unbeknown to her Theo had returned to Dreams last night and Curico had been asking questions, such as where she had learned to fight, whether the pack had accepted her and when she would be back. He also asked whether Lucky enjoyed the violence and hinted that he could fulfil the needs that Ben couldn't. Theo had been extremely vague so the plan was to go back on Friday; they were hoping Lucky would be invited to watch the fighting.
Although Ben was utterly against the idea, he also realised that Curico and the witch needed to be stopped and accepted that this was the best plan they had. It didn’t mean he hadn’t vowed to keep working for a better plan, one that wouldn’t put Lucky at such high risk. He had even thought of beating the shit out of Curico but they were not convinced he would know much more.
Ben had agreed that any victims could be brought to the pack for medical treatment until the investigation was complete, and it was safe for them to return home. They couldn't risk the victims being found or speaking out until everyone was arrested, or in Ben's words, dead.
By the time everyone left, Lucky was exhausted, the girls were getting ready for school when the returned. Phil took Beth and Claire to their schools while Ben and Lucky went with Ellie and May to school on the back of Quad bikes. Ben gave Lucky a lesson in how to ride the quads on the way back, and she had to admit it was pretty good fun. For Lucky, the exhilaration of the wind zipping through her hair as the bike bounced over the hills and around the trees was exciting, and a change from the worries that plagued them at the moment.
Over the next few days they learnt so much about each other which in itself was exhilarating. Lucky loved watching Ben in his wolf form and Ben's wolf loved having Lucky pet and stroke him. He hadn't realised it but where his wolf was normally fighting for freedom, he was now pretty content to spend his time with Lucky whether in wolf form or human.
Lucky spent time getting used to the land often on horseback with Ben running as a wolf beside her. Her feelings for him were still scary and over whelming, yet one thing she did know was that she had never felt this way before, not even with Phil, this was intense and almost unreal. When she looked at him her heart juddered, when she touched him her body sizzled. Slowly she could see life here, she could see the benefits to the girls and it somehow the land already felt like home, and she already felt accepted by the land.
Lucky had spoken to her mom on the phone who was shocked when she told her about Ben, but not surprised. Apparently there had been stories passed through dad's family that they had originated from shifters, but as the generations went on it was all thought to be stories. It would explain her strength and empath skills, it would also explain her brother's special skills.
Her mom had decided to make her way home, so she could meet Ben and his pack. Lucky had even found her mom and Sylvia on the phone making plans for the mating ceremony. Ben and Lucky had decided to hold off until she had spoken to Lewis; if he could be there it would make everything perfect. A few days ago she had left a message with a contact he had given her in the forces; they said that they would try to get a message to him, though they couldn't say how long this would take.
This morning Lucky and Ben had met with the pack so she could really get to know everyone and what role they each played. She felt welcomed by them and Ben had yet again asked her to consider giving up her job, to become involved in pack security. She had refused though she had told Ben she would think about it in the future, she was still too scared of losing herself. It would be too easy to become so caught up in the pack that she would forget who she was. This was the only confusing part of her life and she wasn't sure how to work through it, but when she told this to Ben he backed off and told her that she had time to think about it. He truly was trying to curb his dominant alpha male traits.
This morning Ben was working on patrol rosters with the pack warriors; wolves were part of making the community safe and patrolled areas to reduce risks to humans. She knew about this through work, but she hadn't actually had any involvement with them. She watched Ben straighten; someone in the pack was telling him something serious through the telepathic link.
"Yvonne, Lucky, we are needed at the school." Yvonne was Danny's mom and she and Lucky had been talking about May's good influence on Danny.
"Now what has he done Ben?" Lucky kept forgetting that Ben could talk telepathically with the pack.
"Not sure, Danny just said you and Lucky needed to come and that a phone call is on its way." With that Lucky's cell phone rang, dang he was spot on.
They waited until she hung up. "The principal says there's a problem involving Ellie, May, Danny and several other kids." Ben wanted to come with them, Danny's dad was out at one of the bars working but through the telepathic link he would know what was happening. Lucky tried to contact Phil, however his cell was off.
It was chaos when they arrived at school, she could hear Ellie from the office obviously getting agitated. Another mother had also arrived, Lucky recognised her as Camerons mother which didn’t surprise her. Cameron was older than the girls, but she knew from Ellie that he liked to pick on May. Ellie had run into him before, Lucky just wasn't sure how Danny fitted in.
Inside the principal's office Ellie was clearly angry, so was Danny. May was sat huddled in the chair which is where Lucky's immediate concerns were focussed. "May honey are you okay?" She looked up at Lucky with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry mom. I didn’t mean for everyone to get into trouble." As May lifted her head Lucky could see marks around her neck. Her vision clouded as she saw red, her heart was pounding as the anger coursed through her, May was gentle, a healer. Who had dared to mark her baby? When she spoke she was aware that there was an edge to her tone, almost a growl.
"Can someone explain to me why my daughter has hand marks around her neck? It better be one hell of an explanation." Lucky was furious, turning her head she could see Cameron had at least one black eye, a cut lip and his friend had a bruise forming on his cheek and eye.
Cameron's mother was starting to get hysterical. "What has happened to my son you animals, my baby, he wouldn't hurt anyone. How dare you harm him?" Lucky took a step forward towards the woman before she was stopped by Ben's arm.
"Excuse me I have called you a
ll here because we have a situation, and so far the only people who have spoken are Cameron and Stephen. Ellie and May refused to speak until Miss Rodriguez arrived. Likewise Daniel who normally won't shut up followed suit. Now I would like to get to the bottom of this." Lucky nodded at Ellie but was surprised when May spoke up.
"Cameron and his friends saw me coming from the library; I was going to meet Ellie when they grabbed my books and threw them on the floor. Normally I would have ignored them but one the books were from Zachariah." She looked to Ben with worry etched across her face. When he smiled at her, she visibly relaxed. Damaging any book was sacrilege to May, but an old one on Pack history would have been tantamount to terrifying for May.
"I didn't want them to damage it so I pushed Cameron, and he fell. I went to grab my books but he grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, grabbing me around my throat." May was starting to shake, Lucky was also shaking in fury. She could hear Danny growling and she could feel how tense Ben was.
"Ellie saw me and came running but he (pointing at the one named Stephen) grabbed her."
May was crying now, so Ellie continued while Lucky hugged her. "I saw them on May and I got so mad, when he grabbed me I elbowed him and then hit him twice like (looking at Ben) you showed me." Ben nodded at her, right now his anger was palpable but so was his pride in Ellie. "When he let go of me, Danny already had Cameron…"
Seeing all eyes on him Danny straightened up with a shrug. "Hey I didn't even hit him, I knew something was wrong (looking at Cameron) and that it involved May, I could feel it. We protect our females so when I saw him on May I just lost it! I grabbed him round the throat, I wasn't going to hit him hard (looking from his mother to Ben), but then I didn't need to cos May hit him (looking at May and then Lucky). She did really well." His face was now beaming at May, Danny's pride for May evident.
Silvers Alpha (The Silver Series) Page 19
