Benjamin Read online

  “First off, not your fault,” Sabrina said firmly and took Libby’s face in her hands and made her look her in the eye. “I’m serious. This is not your fault. You must remember that. You’re going to need someone to talk to. I suggest Eloise, she’s part of the shifter clan in Independence, Colorado and the mate to their alpha. I am sure she could recommend a good therapist for you. You must know that we’re going to protect you. I know you’re scared. We will work this out together.”

  “I will explain to the clan that we are offering sanctuary to Libby due to her being held hostage and tortured by Striker and his wolf pack. I’m going to call Corbin and find out what he knows about wolf shifters. We need to know what we’re dealing with. For now, let’s get her fed and rested. The clan will protect her. She is now one of us,” Ben said.

  Sabrina looked at her mate and put her hand on his face and said, “This is why I love you.” She smiled and kissed him and then returned to the room.

  Benjamin was thrilled that Sabrina had said she loved him. Their mating bond still had not clicked into place. He was still clueless as to what was blocking it. He tried everything he could think of. Maybe it was time to talk with Sabrina.

  A few months later.

  Benjamin and Sabrina attended his brother’s wedding to his mate, Eloise. He was thrilled that Corbin had asked him to be best man. It was after his toast to the happy couple that he noticed Cade slip off with Eloise’s best friend and maid of honor, Gracie. Benjamin saw the same look in their eyes that he saw in Corbin and Eloise’s eyes. He longed for Sabrina to look at him like that.

  It was a few months later when Corbin told him about Gracie’s car accident. Benjamin’s insides turned to ice as Corbin went on. Then, when Corbin said to him that Gracie was pregnant as well as Eloise, he became unreasonably jealous. He was happy for the two couples, but he wanted his own family.

  He and Sabrina had been a mated couple for two years now, but the mate bond was still being blocked. Sabrina had not become pregnant. Was the lack of an incomplete mating bond preventing her from conceiving? He knew it wasn’t something physically wrong with him because he had seen the healer a few months ago and his guys were great swimmers.

  He talked to Sabrina about the lack of a completed mating bond. She was clueless as well. She thought that it might have something to do with her being unable to shift. She decided to seek a therapist to try to learn why she could no longer change and about the lack of the full mating bond. He offered to go with her, but she declined to explain that she worried about not being able to relax and not being entirely honest. She reassured him that if anything urgent came up, she would let him know.

  ●●●

  The Hurst family clan traveled to the Black Bears of Independence dude ranch to join in on the festival of Callisto that they celebrated on the second Saturday of October. They were delayed due to a big car accident on the highway. When they got closer, a sense of dread came over Benjamin. Being blood-related, Benjamin and Corbin were able to communicate telepathically.

  What’s going on, big brother?

  Ben, stay back! Pickens and his mercenaries have us surrounded on the festival grounds.

  I seem to keep arriving just in the nick of time to save your butt, big brother; Benjamin said, taunting Corbin.

  Benjamin and his clan have arrived. They are slowly and silently surrounding the group of mercenaries, Corbin said to his people telepathically through the clan bond.

  “We have to do something! They’re surrounded,” cried Libby.

  Benjamin frowned and shook his head. “I wish we could. If we move now, we compromise their plan to capture the whole lot of them by surprise.”

  Benjamin communicated with Corbin, working on different strategies to save everyone with as few causalities as possible.

  “If the opportunity to rescue them presents itself, we can try to help,” he said. Cautiously, they began to creep closer.

  What seemed random to her must’ve been a signal between Benjamin and Corbin. Human arms and legs became bear limbs; a whirling mass of fur and fangs fighting to the death. Snarls and growls drifted up on the wind along with the heavy scent of fresh blood. Back and forth the battle went, no clear advantage being given to either side.

  When the shifter division of the FBI arrived, Pickens and his men began to scatter. The FBI and Enforcers had some mercenaries already tied up. Others could be seen moving amongst the trees, trying to track down those that had run.

  ●●●

  Benjamin and Sabrina traveled back and forth between Independence and Estes Park often. They were at the hospital when Eloise and Gracie had their children.

  Sabrina helped create a book club. One month, the ladies would gather in Independence and the next, they gathered in Estes Park. Benjamin was delighted to see Sabrina coming out of her shell and making new friends.

  Then the unthinkable happened. Someone kidnapped Cade and Gracie’s babies. If that wasn’t bad enough, shortly after, Cade and Gracie were abducted. Benjamin offered his clan enforcers to help in the hunt for the kidnappers.

  “We need to get to Independence. I know where they are holding Cade, Gracie, and their cubs. They are planning to move them. We only have a few days,” Libby said, walking into the room without knocking that morning. She thought Benjamin must be annoyed with her— she had done this several times over the last few months, but so far, he had not questioned it. She knew she would not get away with it for much longer.

  “Who are you and how do you know about the kidnapping?” Corbin growled on his end of the Skype meeting.

  Libby shrugged and looked at Benjamin, begging him to understand her need for secrecy. Benjamin assured her when she joined his clan that he would never exploit her gift or tell anyone without her consent.

  “Corbin, this is Libby who just recently left her San Francisco clan and joined mine. If Libby says that we are short on time, then we are short on time,” Benjamin said and looked at Libby and smiled.

  They searched for days and days with no luck. Everyone was worn to the bone searching, trying to find clues to where Cade, Gracie, and their cubs were being held. After five long days, they caught their big break.

  Libby’s breath hitched and her eyes lost focus as a vision took over. She could see Dante leaving a cell. She picked up images along the walls as he walked down the hallway. A lot of the pictures and words on the wall were faded, but as he went into another room, she could see the emergency exit floor plan for the old abandoned asylum at Lowry Air Force Base. Libby stumbled as she came out of her vision, but Jase was there to catch her before she fell.

  “Dante is in an office in the asylum at Lowry Air Force Base,” Libby said breathlessly.

  Corbin, Benjamin, Libby, and the enforcers climbed into black SUVs and headed out to the abandoned base. It was time to bring Cade, Gracie, and their cubs home. Then they could deal with Dante.

  The rescue went well. Benjamin disabled the security cameras and kept a lookout while the others grabbed the cubs. As they rounded the corner trying to get the cubs to safety, they ran smack onto Cade and Gracie. They made their way out safely with Dante’s threats bellowing through the PA system.

  Shortly after the rescue, Dante was killed.

  ●●●

  The following March, dozens of mercenaries and shifters in their wolf form stalked into the ranch prepared to brawl, to slaughter. The mercenaries and shifter wolves attacked, teeth and claws bared while Pickens returned to the comfort and safety of his vehicle.

  “Pickens has cameras set up,” Corbin snapped. “He’s going to film us fighting.”

  Benjamin joined the others to find and disable all the cameras. Jase shouted that he had gotten to the last camera.

  “Too late,” Pickens laughed crazily. Then, as quickly as they’d come, the mercenaries who were still standing fled. Vehicle doors slammed shut and tires squealed on asphalt as they retreated. It didn’t matter that they’d left some behind. They had gotten what the
y came for and left a definite statement— one that screamed it wasn’t the last they had seen of them.

  Cade pulled Gracie into his arms, kissing her hard as the other bears took care of the enemy.

  “What did he mean by ‘too late?’” Gracie asked, her voice shaky.

  “I have no idea, baby,” whispered Cade.

  “I know,” Benjamin said from their side, his eyes all bear. “They were filming far longer than we thought. They filmed some of us changing into our bear forms on camera, Corbin.” He swallowed hard. “It’s a live feed, meaning that whoever watched it knows that we are real.”

  “I’m sorry your yearly visit was interrupted with fighting for my clan’s lives again, brother,” Corbin said to Benjamin. “For the consequences it will have on us all.”

  Benjamin waved his apology away. “You know I’m always up for a good fight and the clan never minds, either.”

  ●●●

  The men were relaxing in Corbin’s den, all sitting in their accustomed places. It had become their weekly get-together. Benjamin was lost in his own world. A considerable number of bad things kept happening to Corbin and his clan. Most of the problems had to do with Pickens and his demand to take over the molybdenum mine. Benjamin was relieved that they had no such worries in Estes Park. He would continue to lend his support and that of his clan because most of the residents were related in one form or another.

  He was pulled from his thoughts when Cade started to question Jase about Libby. Libby was like a kid sister and he wouldn’t like it if Jase made her another notch on his bedpost.

  “Libby came to me after leaving her clan in San Francisco. I don’t know what her animal is. She has a way to block her scent. Her old clan abused her. They abused her seer abilities,” Benjamin began. “When she arrived, she was malnourished. She walked most of the way, trying to avoid her clan finding her. Jase, please be careful with her. Sabrina and I like her a lot.”

  “What happened to her in San Francisco?” Jase asked.

  “That is her story to tell. I won’t break the promise I made to Libby to keep her story private,” Benjamin said as he left Corbin’s den.

  Later

  “As we all have just recently learned, Pickens is a vampire. He was able to project into our minds that the cameras were live-streaming everything that was happening. I’m not sure how he was able to do so. Vampires do not socialize with shifters, so we know very little about them. Pickens may have more powers than your average vampire,” Benjamin informed them.

  Last year.

  Jase declared Libby his mate. Benjamin threatened Jase within an inch of his life if he did anything to harm Libby. It was a difficult beginning with the rumors of Jase’s manwhoring days.

  “What do you think I am? Some kind of a sex maniac?” Jase asked. He was tired of all the assumptions people made about him.

  “I’m telling you, Libby is more of a treasure than you could possibly know. She is not just some wholesome, small-town girl, a good for you breath of fresh air. Jase, she is a wonderful person with a huge heart. And the kind of beauty that a guy only sees once, you know? Once! So, Jase, if there is even a chance that you could break her heart, please, just for her sake, walk away, man,” Benjamin said.

  “I could never break Libby’s heart, okay?” Jase replied.

  “Good. Because if you do, I swear to God, I will tear you to pieces with my bare hands,” growled Benjamin.

  “You’re a good guy, Benjamin,” said Jase. “Ensuring that no one takes advantage of Libby.”

  “Well, yes, apparently not good enough,” said Benjamin cryptically.

  “I’m drawn to her, Ben. There’s a warmth from her that pulls at me. I must watch her when she’s in the room. I need to touch her when she’s near. Like, do you know she has six smiles? One when something makes her laugh. One when she’s making plans. One when she is laughing out of politeness. One when she is uncomfortable. One when she is making fun of herself. And one when... she’s talking about her friends,” Jase proclaimed. “I don’t think she has a clue how irresistible men find her.”

  “I know Libby can block her animal scent for her safety as a seer. I don’t know if she can block mating scents. If she is blocking them, she must have an excellent reason,” Benjamin said. “Remember how frail she was when Sterling brought her to us three years ago?”

  ●●●

  “Someone has been in my home, and they’ve done things, little things, to let me know that he’s there,” Libby said to Sabrina as she looked around at the picture frames that were moved slightly. It was as if someone wanted her to know they had been in her home without being obvious. For the first time since she escaped Striker, Libby was afraid.

  “I will call the enforcers,” Sabrina said over the phone line. She covered the mouth part of the phone and told Benjamin what Libby said. Benjamin let out a growl and called the enforcers.

  This was the beginning of the troubles that were now happening in Benjamin’s territory.

  “We have a problem,” Benjamin said to Corbin over the phone. “They took Libby.”

  “What? Who did?” Corbin asked shocked, putting his phone on speaker.

  “I would think someone with soldiers’ skills from the way they took her,” said Benjamin.

  “What? Where were the enforcers?” Jase shouted, jumping up from the chair.

  “They gassed them. We found the enforcers tied up,” replied Benjamin.

  “What and you let them?” Jase said as anger surged through him.

  “We didn’t exactly have much choice,” Benjamin replied. “They shielded themselves with a group of our women that they took from the picnic area.”

  “Alright. I'm on my way back,” Jase said as he shot out of Corbin’s den and headed to his mustang.

  The phone in Benjamin’s home rang and he quickly snatched it up.

  “Time’s a-wasting. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...” then the line went dead.

  ●●●

  Jase had tried to rescue Libby on his own and ended up taken as well. Lucky for them, he had a tiny GPS and was able to send a signal to Corbin and Cade who were able to rescue them.

  “We should text Sabrina and Benjamin to let them know we found you,” Corbin said.

  Back at the ranch, Martin handed the stack of papers to Corbin. Corbin took a moment to glance over the first few pages before handing it over to Eloise.

  “Sweetheart, would you please go make copies of this?” Corbin asked Eloise.

  “Sure thing,” Eloise replied as she took the papers and left the room.

  “So, to continue, parts of the journal are written in Romanian parts in German, which I had translated. It appears that it has been passed down from generation to generation. The last writings are in English, which has a lot of information about molybdenum and what the different processes could make as weapons for defense as well as everyday use,” said Martin. “When I came across the process to kill a master vampire, I assumed that someone in Pickens’ family line did not write the journal, but someone that was trying to rid the world of vampires.”

  “Do you know who wrote the journal?” asked Cade.

  “I would assume that it would be vampire hunters from Europe,” Martin said. “And before you go there, not it’s not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

  “Well darn,” Libby giggled. “There goes my chance of meeting her.”

  “The journal is from a European bear clan that settled in Gould, Colorado,” Martin said.

  Gasps of surprise and shock filled Corbin’s den.

  “Sabrina and her family settled in Gould,” Corbin said. “I believe they are from Europe.”

  “Then Sabrina or someone from her family are the only ones that will be able to process the molybdenum as it needs three drops of their family blood for it to work,” Martin said.

  “I better call Benjamin,” Corbin said, “I don’t think he is going to like this.”

  ●●●

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sp; “I find this hard to believe. Let me get Sabrina on the extension,” he said after Corbin explained what they found. He called for Sabrina to join in on the call.

  “This must have something to do with my father. We need to take a trip to Gould. If we call, he can deny it easily over the phone. If we are looking at him, we can tell if he is lying,” Sabrina said.

  “I agree. We should pack an overnight bag. I feel we could be there for the weekend.”

  With recent intel, the Black Bears clan knew Benjamin’s mate Sabrina might be the only being capable of finally taking down Pickens and his mercenary vampires.

  Chapter 2

  Today

  Sabrina was almost finished packing when the doorbell rang. Sighing, she left her packing and went to the door.

  Dylan, the beta, was leaning against the railing of the wooden framed porch, arms folded and spoke quickly. “Um, yeah, Ben sent for me,” he said.

  As she was about to answer, Benjamin came up behind her “Glad you’re here, Dylan. Let’s go to the den.”

  Benjamin strode down the hallway to his office, Dylan following. The art on the walls were all-natural images in colors as bright as glacier meltwater or spring flowers. The air had a pure fragrance, not sterile, just clean.

  As they sat, Benjamin asked, “Dylan, you know some hackers, right?”

  “Yeah, most of the hackers that I know are damn good,” said Dylan.

  “I need information. I need to know about the Semele Mining Company, as well as a journal written by vampire hunters in Europe,” Benjamin said. “Sabrina and I are heading to her parents’ home in Gould to see what we can learn from them. It appears that Sabrina may be the key to bringing down Pickens once and for all.”

  “I’ll get on it right away,” Dylan said.