He and Mitch both moved at the same time just as the first rogue came through the front door. The man’s stench preceded him, but Ben ignored it as he and Mitch moved in tandem, cutting the man down before he ever knew what hit him. Because they had fought together so many times, it was as though their moves were choreographed and rehearsed ahead of time as they took down the rogues one by one when they came through the door.
Ben moved as if on autopilot. His only goal as he fought was making sure no rogue got past him. The blade in his hand seemed like an extension of his arm as he wielded it against anyone stupid enough to come near him. He was protecting his mate and that meant anyone that came within his range who wasn’t friendly would die at his hands. The fact that it was quite obvious the rogues they were fighting weren’t the least bit trained, made Ben’s job easier.
It seemed the fighting ended just as fast as it had all began. Ben paused long enough to make sure there was no one else coming through the door before stepping outside to make sure no one else was hiding out there. He tried to scent any intruders still in the woods, but with the stench coming from the pile of bodies in the doorway, it was impossible.
“One of us is going to have to shift to make sure no one else is out there.” Mitch sighed as he stepped up next to him.
Ben sighed as well. He knew his mate was safe and sound locked in the basement, but he didn’t want to leave her. He also didn’t want her coming out until he was positive the threat was gone.”I’ll go,” he told Mitch. “I’m faster than you. If you go, it will be months before I see my mate again.”
Mitch grunted, but the corner of his mouth tilted up as though he was trying not to laugh. “You’re just jealous. An animal as marvelous as mine doesn’t need to run. He deserves to slowly lope, allowing others the time to marvel at such a magnificent creature.”
Ben snorted as he began taking off his clothes. “You are so full of shit sometimes,” he said, laughing. He shifted into his wolf and shook his head as he leapt off the porch and headed toward the woods. The sad thing was Mitch had been completely serious. Sometimes Ben found it shocking Mitch was such a fierce enforcer. The man was known to stop whenever he came across a mirror and adjust his “mighty mane” and smile at himself before continuing on, but there was no one Ben would have rather had at his back.
His lion is really pretty.
Ben laughed at his wolf. Yeah, he is, pup.
He never wants to play though. All he seems to do is lie in the sun and sleep. That’s no fun.
Ben ignored his wolf as he ran through the woods, scanning for more intruders. He circled the perimeter several times to make sure he hadn’t missed anything before finally heading back to the house. Mitch was still on the porch when he got back along with Ryan and Ken.
“Does anyone else think this was too easy?” Ryan asked when Ben had shifted back to human.
Ben grabbed his clothes and began putting them on. “This was way too easy,” he agreed. “We didn’t even break a sweat taking the ones down that came through the front.”
Mitch nodded in agreement. “This was all a test. That bastard was testing our defenses, seeing what we would do so he could go back and plan the real strike.”
Ben had a feeling Mitch was right. “It wouldn’t surprise me if that sniveling little coward was outside watching the whole thing as he sent his rogues in on a suicide mission.” It angered him that Percival could be so callous and cruel when it came to sacrificing lives for his cause. The man was a danger to everyone and needed to be put down as soon as possible.
They worked in silence as they all dragged the bodies out of the house and piled them in the clearing at the back of the house. Once all the bodies were gathered, Mitch poured gasoline on the pile and set it on fire. As Ben stared at the flames, he felt bad there would be no memorial service for these men. He didn’t know the circumstances surrounding them or how they’d become involved with Percival, but he felt everyone’s life deserved to be remembered. Unfortunately, they had to do it.
Once the fire was going good, Mitch turned and headed toward the house. “After I get my mate and cub out of the safe rooms, we need to sit down and come up with a strategy of our own. It’s safe to assume this was just the first wave, and we need to be ready when the next one comes.”
Leaving Ken and Ryan to watch the fire, Ben followed Mitch into the house. He let out a sigh of relief as they headed to the basement first.
Chapter 10
Jacqueline was starting to wear a hole in the floor with her pacing. She had no idea how long she had been trapped in the room because, for all of Mitch’s preparedness, he had forgotten one thing. The one thing, which in her opinion seemed like a good idea to have, was a freaking clock. She didn’t even have Nico to keep her company because the boy was currently curled up on his bed taking a nap. She couldn’t concentrate on reading a book, so Jacqueline was stuck pacing.
A tapping noise on the door had her whirling around. Before she could rush over to the door, Nico was there, grabbing her hand. “Daddy says you have to listen for the code.”
It made sense, but she had no idea what the code was. Apparently Nico did because, after a few more taps, he smiled up at her and ran over to the door. Jacqueline followed. She had trusted him so far, so she helped him turn the lock. As soon as she heard the locks thudding, the door was wrenched open. She heard Nico’s squeal as he rushed past her and leaped into Mich’s arms. She could have sworn she heard purring coming from Mitch, but her focus was on Ben. She wanted to run and throw herself into his arms like Nico had done, but she stood frozen in place, scanning him from head to toe, making sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere.
“I did good. Didn’t I, Daddy?”
“You did awesome, little man. Come on. Let’s go let your momma out. If I hold you out in front of me, she won’t hit me.” Nico giggled as Mitch carried him out of the basement on his shoulder.
“He’s not serious, is he?” Jacqueline asked when she found her voice.
Ben grinned. “Sadly, yes.”
At the sound of his voice, she threw herself in his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. Ben caught her just as she knew he would. “I was so worried about you. I had no idea what was going on.” She placed kisses along his jaw line and nipped his collarbone, causing him to groan.
Ben’s hands slid inside the back of her jeans and begin to squeeze, just as she felt her back press against the wall. She gasped at the shock of the cold wall compared to the heat of his hands on her skin. The twin sensations had her thighs clenching as she ground her pussy against his stomach. When he pressed his lips against hers, she opened to him and moaned as his tongue caressed hers. They fought for dominance of the kiss until Jacqueline finally had to pull away, gasping for breath. She was desperate to let him know how she was feeling.
“You scared me to death, Ben. Don’t ever do that to me again. I love you too much to lose you.” She felt the moment the words penetrated the sexual haze he was in. Ben’s whole body stiffened as he lifted his head and stared down at her with wide eyes.
“Finally,” he breathed.
It was Jacqueline’s turn to stiffen then for purely different reasons. “Finally? What’s that supposed to mean?” She was outraged and pressed against his chest to make him let her down, but the man didn’t budge.
Ben laughed, angering her further. “Calm down, little mate. I just meant I have been waiting forever to hear you say those words to me.”
She huffed. “It’s only been three weeks, and besides, it’s not like you said them to me.”
“Little mate, I have loved you since the day I saved your life by tackling you down those stairs. I haven’t said it yet because I didn’t want to scare you off.”
Jacqueline felt her eyes prickling as the tears gathered. She couldn’t remember ever hearing someone say those words to her. She used to imagine her mother saying them, but she’d been just too young to remember. Wrapping her arms back around Ben’s neck, she pulled him c
loser and whispered in his ear. “Make love to me, Ben. I want to be your mate.”
Ben froze. “I’ve been waiting forever to hear you say that as well, but are you sure this is what you want? Once we mate there is no going back.”
Jacqueline nodded. It was what she wanted.
Ben moved away from the wall with her still in his arms and carried her back inside the safe room. He held on to her with one hand while he used the other to pull the door closed, not bothering to lock it. He carried Jacqueline over to the bed and lay her down on it. Her body shivered in anticipation from the look in Ben’s eyes as he lifted away from her and stared.
“Claim me, Ben,” she told him. “Make me yours forever.”
“Forever is not enough, little mate. You will be mine for eternity.”
Before Jacqueline could respond to his declaration, Ben removed his shirt. The words stuck in her throat at the sight of the smooth, tan chest he revealed. His muscles bunched and flexed with each movement, making her mouth water and her tongue itch to trace each ridge and groove.
Not wanting him to be the only one undressing, Jacqueline sat up and quickly pulled her T-shirt over her head as well. The bed dipped as she reached back to unhook her bra and looked up to see Ben straddling her lap with a knee on either side.
His hands stilled hers. “Slowly, we have no reason to rush.”
Jacqueline leaned her head against Ben’s chest and sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t want slow. She was feeling desperate and frantic at the moment. Her body was heating up at the thought of having him inside of her, and she felt as if she would combust if that didn’t happen in the next few seconds.
Bringing her hands up, she ran them along his stomach and marveled at the feel of the smooth, hot skin. His muscles flexed as she trailed her hands lower toward the waistband of his jeans. When she reached the snap and released it, Ben grunted.
“Easy, little mate. I’m barely holding on to my control.”
The rough, gravely tone of his voice had her smiling. She wanted him just as much out of control as she was, and by the sound of his voice, he was almost there. Ignoring his comment, she grabbed the tab of his zipper and slowly pulled it down. The sound of the metal teeth releasing seemed to echo off the walls in the silence of the room.
In the three weeks they had been intimate together, Jacqueline had never initiated anything. Ben was always the first to touch her, and usually, she was too lost in pleasure to remember to touch him back. By the time she was coherent enough to think of his needs, Ben had taken care of himself. He never seemed to mind. This time, though, she wanted to be the one to take care of him. She needed to touch him and bring him pleasure before she lost her mind.
“Take off your pants,” Jacqueline said, her own voice husky. “I want to see all of you. To feel you.”
Ben pulled back to look at her, bringing her bra with him. She lifted her arms to remove it the rest of the way and tossed it to the side. Her breasts felt heavy and swollen, and she felt her nipples hardening as Ben stared down at them as if they were begging for his attention. Jacqueline watched the muscles in his throat move up and down as he swallowed and started to lean toward her as if hypnotized. She knew if she let his mouth get anywhere near her she would be lost. Instead, she pressed her hand to the center of his chest and pushed him over to the side. He landed on the bed, and she scrambled up to her knees before he could recover. She knew she would have never been able to move him if he hadn’t been so caught up in her breast.
Holding back a giggle at the thought, Jacqueline took the position Ben had just been in and straddled his legs. His eyes flashed from brown to amber as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Her nipples grazed his chest and she moaned into his mouth. Ben seemed to recover quickly and threaded his fingers through her hair as he deepened the kiss by slipping his tongue into her mouth. Jacqueline wanted to get lost in the kiss, but when she felt Ben tense and start to roll her underneath him, she pulled back, gasping. She needed to stay in control.
With this being her first time taking the lead, she felt at a loss when she stared down at her mate. He was the man she would spend the rest of her life with, and she knew she had plenty of time to learn, but she wanted to make sure he enjoyed their mating. After everything she had done to him, he was still able to look at her with love shining in his eyes. Jacqueline needed to do this for him. She decided to do to him what he had done to make her feel good. It wasn’t hard because the slightest touch from the man always sent her pulse racing and pleasure tingling up her spine.
She started by trailing tiny kisses down his neck. She knew his neck was sensitive, and the way he growled as she did it proved that. When she got to his collarbone, she ran her tongue along it before nipping it with her teeth. She smiled as Ben wrapped his hands around her waist and pressed her down to him. It was her turn to moan when he lifted his hips and ground his erection against her center. Jacqueline felt the moisture flooding her panties with each thrust of his hips, but she ignored her clenching thighs and focused on Ben’s chest.
His mouth on her nipples had always sent sparks shooting down her spine and straight to her cunt, so she decided to see if the same worked for him. Jacqueline leaned down and traced one of his pebbled nipples with the tip of her tongue. She circled the small bead several times before trailing her tongue across his chest to the other and giving it the same treatment. The feel of Ben’s hips lifting higher and higher off the bed let her know the outcome of her little experiment was the same for him as it had been for her. His nipples were just as sensitive.
“You’re killing me here, Jacqi.” Ben moaned, sounding in pain.
She nipped the skin around his belly button before looking up. “It’s Jacqueline,” she said without much heat. She was growing used to his nickname for her, but she didn’t want him to know that. She grabbed the waistband of his jeans and pulled them down when he lifted his hips to help. Once she got them off, she saw he didn’t have any underwear on. Jacqueline couldn’t help but stare at Ben’s hard cock as it lay against his stomach with the tip glistening. The sheer size of his enormous cock had her cunt pulsing to have him inside her. She didn’t even wonder if he would fit because she was determined to make him if she needed to.
Ignoring the sight of his cock for the moment, Jacqueline started with her hands at Ben’s feet. She felt the crisp hairs tickle her palms as she slowly moved them up his legs. She felt the muscles in his thighs tremble when she crawled between them and moved her hands closer and closer to his shaft. When she got to the juncture of his thighs, Jacqueline noticed for the first time that Ben had no pubic hair. The smooth skin was a complete contrast to the dark hair on his legs and arms. For some reason, the lack of hair turned her on. It drew her eye directly to his cock and the heavy sac that rested between his legs. She leaned down and let out a puff of hot breath against his sac and watched, amazed, when it drew closer to his body and his cock twitched without her ever touching it.
Taking a breath, Jacqueline did what she had wanted to do for a while now. She gently wrapped her palm around Ben’s shaft and lifted it away from his stomach. She marveled at the heavy feel of it in her hand. When he shifted, she looked up to see Ben tucking his arms underneath his head. He tried to smirk at her, but Jacqueline saw the need shining in his eyes. By the way the muscles clenched in his arms, she knew he hadn’t tucked them behind his head to give her more space. He had placed them there to keep himself in control. That went a long way in calming her nerves and giving her the courage to lean over and flick the tip of his cock with her tongue. She moaned at the same time Ben did. His moan was from the sensation. Her moan was for the taste of the fluid she had gathered. He tasted slightly salty and musky, but not bad at all.
Jacqueline flattened her tongue at the base of his cock and slid it all the way up his shaft until she got to the tip. She closed her mouth over the head and sucked gently, not wanting to hurt him. As she bobbed her head up and down, sliding him in and out of her
mouth, Ben’s moans turned into groans then eventually growls, letting her know he liked what she was doing. She felt hands in her hair just before his hips began to shift, and she held herself still to allow Ben to move as he wanted. After a few thrusts of Ben’s hips, Jacqueline gasped as his cock was suddenly pulled from her mouth, and she was flying through the air. She opened her eyes when she landed on the bed to find Ben staring down at her. His eyes had gone completely amber, backed by a glow. The set of canine teeth she saw protruding from his mouth should have scared her, but they only succeeded in turning her on ever more.
Ben was out of control and exactly how she wanted him. With a growl, he leaned down and captured her mouth. His extended teeth poked at her lips as she traced each one with her tongue. Jacqueline felt Ben’s hands at her thighs and happily opened them for him. She wrapped them around his waist, locking them behind his back, and used her calves to pull him closer.
“Oh God, yes!” Jacqueline shouted when she felt one of his thick fingers enter her suddenly. She was already wet, and he slipped it in easily.
“This is going to be fast and hard,” Ben’s gruff voice whispered in her ear. “When it comes to you, I am truly a mindless beast.”
Jacqueline was too caught up in the feel of the second finger Ben had slipped inside her to understand what he was saying. The tight squeeze of his fingers deep inside her was mind-blowing. She felt the orgasm coming and knew it was going to be powerful. As Ben pulled his fingers out, dragging them along her inner walls, she shattered. Jacqueline threw her head back as she came, shifting her hips to ride out the pleasure.
Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 9
