Benjamin Read online

  “Did you record the events leading up to this disaster?” Carter asked.

  “Are you suggesting that I have not been quite meticulous in recording the events of the last three months?” Mavis asked.

  “Evidence suggests that something was amiss. We were so close to getting it right this time,” Carter said.

  “We will go over the video and see if we can figure out where the problem is,” Mavis said.

  “Pickens will want results soon,” Carter replied.

  ●●●

  As the shifter ran, his blood was his worst enemy, cascading to the ground in large splatters, creating a trail. His only hope was the river, to move upstream as his scent was washed downward. Looking around, the shifter saw no drops on the muddy bank, he might have a slim chance, a reason to hope and struggle onward.

  The casual laughter of the guards died fast, guillotined from their mouths. A blood trail led from the doorway of the lab down the hall toward the exit. It wasn’t a few careless drops from a bleeding nose or a cut finger; there must have been a couple of pints making the jagged red river and the splashes on the walls. The guards followed the blood trail.

  The guards caught up to the shifter quickly. The lead guard drew his knife. He plunged the knife into the shifter, meeting flesh, soft and pudgy, and made a satisfying squish as the tip of the blade sank deep enough to make his victim scream. The guard twisted the blade in his hands, all the while sinking it deeper and deeper. The shifter’s skin was torn to shreds as the knife rotated, the sound of his muscles and nerves being gouged growing louder. Then, without warning, the guard jerked it all the way into the shifter’s back until the shiny metal had disappeared inside him and the black handle was pushing against his broken skin.

  His cry was a brilliant sound, guttural chokes mixed with an agonized roar. The guard smirked and pulled the blade out of his now deathly white victim. The shifter sank to his knees, unable to scream any longer, convulsing and trembling like a rabid animal and thick blood flowing freely from the gaping hole in his back. The cascade of the shifter’s life source gushed out in all directions, scarlet liquid squirting all over the ground. The guards turned away as his pleas for mercy became quieter.

  “We need a clean-up team to the edge of Eagle Gulch river,” the lead guard said into his walkie-talkie as he and his men returned to their patrolling.

  ●●●

  Mira remembered the day she went to one of Pickens’ vamps to be turned. She was desperate to get rid of Sabrina and win Benjamin’s affections.

  “You came for something, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said in a voice so soft it was barely audible.

  He grabbed her, his cold fingers ran through her hair. His arms snaked around her waist as he leaned in, inhaling her neck.

  “Such a lovely thing. I bet your blood is sweet.” He leaned closer. “I want to drink. Every. Last. Drop.”

  He opened his mouth so wide she feared he’d snap off her neck. She recoiled. When he tried again, she smacked him hard across the face. He grunted in surprise, putting a hand to his face.

  “Well, a feisty thing. Youth today is so dark and disturbed,” he said.

  He grabbed her shoulders and tossed her across the room. She hit the wall and landed on the floor. He hauled her up by the neck and threw her over his shoulder and onto the couch. She tried to stand, but her legs shook underneath her. Warm blood trickled from her lip and she noticed his eyes shine. He dropped to his knees and loomed over her.

  “No more games. You asked for this and I’m going to give it to you,” he said.

  His razor-sharp teeth pierced her skin. Mira could feel him break through each layer of skin right down to her veins. Her skin tore, blood spilling down her neck. It was agonizing, but then there was a sudden rush and release of blood, as though her body wanted to give him as much as he wanted to take. Her heart was racing all over the place, pumping blood up her throat and he drank it greedily. He dug in deeper and shook his mouth like a bloodthirsty animal. She was stunned.

  When she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, he stopped. He stood back and wiped his hand across his mouth, smearing her blood.

  It was done.

  Mira’s only regret was that in the process she lost her bear. She was worried that someone would be able to tell and cause her trouble. She searched the darker side of Shifternet for a spray to keep her smelling like a bear. Once she had Benjamin and was the alpha female, then she could stop using the bear spray. For now, though, she had to be on guard.

  ●●●

  Even though the mine held no molybdenum, it did contain silver, which Pickens wanted.

  With the flashlight beam on the old tracks, they walked down into the mine that hadn’t had the echo of footsteps within it for decades. There was a mustiness, a sudden damp coldness, and the natural light was all choked up behind them like ale behind a cork.

  In the mineshaft, the blackness took away the influences of the world. There were no colors to stir memories of days of old, not the feeling of rain or the hope of a spring morning. Whatever the temperature outside, it was cold down there; whatever the weather outside it was damp down there. It was a world unto itself.

  The tunnels were as the arteries of the earth, blackened by the abuse of years. They went on and on into the black without an end in sight or the possibility of sunlight, tracks to nowhere that lead only to the cold. The workers turned their lanterns and their helmet lights so they could see their work as they set the dynamite.

  They gathered outside the mine, waiting for the blasting. The plungers were pushed downward and then the miners heard a low rumbling from deep inside. Everyone looked around at each other, smiling.

  The miners went back to their work, not hearing the sound of dripping water. By the time the miners discovered a problem with water, it was over the tops of their shoes. They followed the trail to where it began. To their dismay, a large crack formed, causing a large body of groundwater to leak into the mine.

  As they watched, huge chunks of dirt broke away from the wall surrounding the hole, making it larger. Water began pouring into the mine faster. With no warning, the entire wall collapsed, crushing the miners. Several ran for safety. The groundwater was faster. Soon, their struggles ceased.

  In the end, none of the miners survived and the entire mine collapsed.

  Chapter 6

  Sabrina watched Dylan and Marek move, their swordplay as graceful and fluid as it was lethal. She’d learn as much as she could watching before engaging herself. They fought with the grey swords, combining the sword dance with hand-to-hand combat moves for a ferocious battle that surprised her. Marek moved over the arena floor with the same fluidity as his cougar. He was over six feet tall and broad-chested. Dylan, also over six feet tall, moved with the fluidity of his Sphinx. They were impressive to watch; their movements fluid. They were so good that Sabrina barely saw their blades move.

  One day soon, I will be as good as they are, Sabrina thought.

  Their swordplay completed, Marek and Dylan shook hands then walked over to the water cooler. Sabrina joined them.

  “You both move beautifully,” Sabrina said.

  “Thank you,” Marek said.

  “Thanks. Which of us do you wish to spar with today?” Dylan asked.

  “It will have to be Dylan. I’m afraid that I need Marek and his enforcers,” Benjamin said as he entered the arena.

  “Is everything okay?” Sabrina asked, concern in her eyes and voice.

  “No, sweetheart. I need Marek and his enforcers to set up new patrols around the perimeter,” Benjamin said, hoping to soothe her concerns.

  “With the tourist season starting, we need more patrols to ensure our safety,” Marek added.

  Sabrina reached up to kiss Benjamin on the cheek. “Will you be home for dinner?”

  “Corbin and his family are coming for dinner tonight. I wouldn’t miss it,” Benjamin said.

  Sabrina watched them as they hea
ded for the arena showers. With her shifter hearing, she could hear Ben explain a few of his concerns and ideas. When they entered the showers, she turned her attention back to Dylan.

  “I’m all yours. Are you ready?” she asked as she reached for her legendary sword.

  “You bet,” Dylan said.

  Dylan’s sword gleamed in the sunlight, showing a blade that had been impeccably cared for. He leaped forward in an attack, sword raised and ready to bring it down on his foe. Sabrina mirrored his move. After a few practice swings, Sabrina landed a good hit, knocking him off his feet and the wind out of him. Dylan bolted to his feet when he could catch his breath.

  “Well done,” he said.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  Mira watched from the shadows as Sabrina took lessons in sword fighting. She began chanting softly. The glowing embers leaped and twirled in a fiery dance filling the air above Dylan and Sabrina. It burned a translucent orange as it moved closer to them. Mira continued her chanting and the spectral fire dipped, heading toward Sabrina.

  Dylan shoved her out of the way. The fire licked at his outstretched arms causing searing and a smell of burning flesh as it crept along his arms causing him to cry out in pain. He rolled to his back. The spectral fire moved above him.

  Sabrina watched in upmost horror as she witnessed the fire swallow Dylan. This was not just fire. It was death.

  The burning pain was slowly driving its way through Dylan. He couldn’t breathe. He lay there, choking and spluttering under the flames trying to catch his breath. He couldn’t escape the intense flames. Howling filled the air. He couldn’t be sure whether it was him or not. Urgent shouts filled his ears and the fire got hotter around him. The smell of something burning was strong in the air as the lightheadedness threatened to overcome him.

  The flames pitched left and then right as Mira tried to avoid being caught. It shrank then began wriggling as it disappeared.

  Dylan’s mind screamed out as the pain drove through his back. Every thought he had became confused as the burning fire licked up his back. He wept at his suffering. He could hear people around him screaming and shouting. Mentally, anger swiped through at this chaos and pain, pain for those around him he wanted to protect, increasing his agony in defense of others. But he couldn’t. Dylan’s rolling across the ground squashed out the fire, but he was still in severe pain.

  “Sabrina, are you okay?” His words came out in a wheeze.

  “Hold on,” Sabrina rushed to his aid, calling for the healer Galena.

  Her face was next to his now. “It’s okay,” she whispered, her hands were moving up and down his body as if still trying to pat out the flames.

  “Hold him still. I’m going to try to remove the burns so he’ll heal quicker,” Galena said then said a few words that were inaudible to him.

  “It’s working,” Sabrina said, relief flooding her voice.

  Dylan coughed a bit and then was able to sit up on his own. Galena continued to speak low in a steady stream. The burning sensation left his eyes and Dylan was able to breathe easier. Galena finished murmuring her words and Dylan felt the last of the wounds closing up.

  “What the hell happened?” Benjamin asked as he came running into the arena with Marek and Oscar.

  “I’m not sure. Dylan and I were sparring when the air began to get warm around us. Fire was moving above us. Dylan pushed me out of the way when it looked like it was trying to strike me. I think someone cast that fire to hurt me,” Sabrina said.

  “Who would do such a thing?” Benjamin asked.

  “Did you find anything?” Oscar asked as Marek and his enforcers returned.

  “Not much. No discernible footprints. It looks as though someone wiped them clean. The attack seems to have come from behind the bushes over there,” Marek said frowning and pointing to a section of shrubbery on the western flank of the arena.

  “Thank you, Marek,” Benjamin said.

  “Dylan is completely healed, but he should rest for the rest of the day and probably tomorrow,” Galena said.

  “I’ll help Dylan back to his home,” Oscar said.

  “Thanks for the help, brother,” Dylan said as he leaned on Oscar’s shoulder and headed back home.

  ●●●

  Mira watched as Benjamin and Sabrina left Dylan’s home, her face red with suppressed rage. Her knuckles white from clenching her fist too hard and she gritted her teeth from the effort to remain silent because Dylan shoved Sabrina out of the way of the fire. Served him right to be injured when he interfered. There was no way they could discover she had been behind the flames. She covered her tracks carefully.

  ●●●

  Benjamin stopped in the doorway and watched Sabrina as she moved about the kitchen, making lunch. Soft wisps of that pale honey hair swept past an ear and caressed the skin of her neck, jaw, cheeks and around her rather beautiful, deep blue eyes. Those sapphire eyes rimmed with thick, long, dark lashes that brushed her cheeks every time she closed her eyes seemed to bore into him every time he looked into them, nearly losing himself. Suffering, loneliness, longing, desire; her eyes held all those deep-seated emotions and many more. Over the last few years, he had learned to read her through the feelings that danced like fire, licking at the walls of sapphire blue. However, sometimes, like today, the fire dwindled to smoldering embers and even he, who had gotten to know Sabrina, could not tell what emotions were soaring just beyond those walls.

  As he sat at the kitchen table, a twinge of something similar to regret filtered through the hard layers protecting his emotions. Was he responsible for her sadness? The incomplete mating bond seemed to be taking its toll on her. Maybe it was that they had no children in the years that they had been together. The regret would come to him in quiet moments, such as when he was going to sleep or stopped to take a lunch break. It would come to the foreground of his mind and demand to be re-examined again. But he was tired of thinking about it; no amount of analysis was going to turn back the clock. He had to get on with the here and now, make better choices.

  He rose from the chair, moved to her, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close, gently rubbing her arm. She sank into the warmth of his embrace; her touch made the room warmer somehow. She could soothe him like no one else; even her breaths were deep and even. It was impossible to stay anxious or upset with Sabrina around.

  “Care to talk to me about it?”

  “No worries,” she said, forcing a smile.

  “Ah, but I can feel you’re troubled.”

  “Dylan could have died protecting me,” Sabrina said, finally voicing her concern. Guilt trickled through her as she thought of Dylan.

  “Dylan is fiercely loyal and sometimes a little overprotective, but he saved you. We were lucky that whoever directed the fire didn’t try again once they realized that you hadn’t been hurt.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No. I can’t tell you how to feel, but your remorse and guilt are misplaced. If Dylan were here right now, you know he would say the same thing.”

  “I hate it when you are logical and right.”

  “Now, how about lunch? I’m starving,” Benjamin said, smiling at her.

  Sabrina’s mood brightened.

  ●●●

  Sabrina stopped to visit Dylan on her way to see Galena. It was time to find out why she was unable to get pregnant. She had been putting it off, afraid of what the tests would say. Being a mother was all she’d ever wanted.

  Dylan’s home was a two-story stone cottage with a chimney poking out of one side of the roof. Two medium windows in the front let in light. A small shed in the back served as a chicken coop, and a neat pile of chopped wood was stacked against the house. Sabrina knocked and Dylan’s mate, Caleb, answered the door. He stepped back and let her enter. On a sofa in the main room, Sabrina found Dylan resting.

  “How are you guys feeling?” Sabrina asked, looking to them both as she sat in a recliner near the sofa.

  “I
was worried sick. I kept watching the road for signs of Dylan. We were going to have a late lunch together after your training. I must have checked my cell twenty times for a text that he was running late or on the way,” Caleb said as he sat down next Dylan, throwing his arm around his shoulder.

  Caleb wasn’t much bigger than the average eighteen-year-old, but there was no doubting his years. He was all muscle on that small frame. Dylan was built differently with cords of muscle knotting his neck and straining the shoulder seams of his shirt, tenuously buttoned across a bulging chest. The two men exchanged a doe-eyed look, the slightly-repressed grin on one face exactly mirrored on the other. Love.

  “I feel great, but Galena says I need to rest for today. I’m gonna go stir crazy,” Dylan said in a husky drawl.

  “The day is half over, so that won’t be too bad. I don’t have the words to tell you how grateful I am for what you did this morning. I’m speechless and floored and completely overwhelmed. Not sure thank you is enough.”

  “You’re welcome. It was the least I could do. It was nothing anyone else wouldn’t have done.”

  “I’ll always be grateful to you for putting yourself in harm’s way to save my life. Not many people would have done that,” Sabrina said.

  “Galena says he should recover completely,” Caleb said.

  “Did they catch who controlled the fire?” Dylan asked.

  “The footprints were cleared and there was no scent. Benjamin and Marek think it may have been one of Pickens’ vamps,” Sabrina explained as she looked at her watch. “I have to run. I have an appointment. Please, let me know if you need anything.”

  Caleb showed Sabrina to the door where they embraced in a brief hug. Sabrina turned and headed to Galena’s office. It was comforting to know that Dylan had Caleb to look after him. They were an adorable mated couple.