Mine for Eternity [Council Enforcers] (Siren Publishing Classic) (8 page)

“Wow, it’s so much softer than I expected.”

Mitch just purred and closed his eyes. Tessa wanted to laugh. If someone had told her three weeks ago she was going to end up running for her life right into the arms of a man that could transform into a lion, Tessa would have run the other direction thinking they had lost their minds.

“You’re beautiful,” she told Mitch as she sat down beside him.

Tessa squeaked when Mitch’s paw landed on her leg and he easily pulled her closer to him like she weighed nothing. She could feel the strength and muscles under his fur, but she could tell that he was taking care not to hurt her.

“I’ve never even seen a lion at the zoo, and now I’m actually petting one.” Tessa laid her head on his side and listened as his purring got louder. Obviously Mitch was satisfied that she was close to him and not running. She was content to just sit quietly and listen to his purring as it soothed her. For the moment she was happy just to be able to sit with him and relax.

The sound of a car turning into his drive pulled Mitch from his nap he had been having with Tessa. As his ears perked up and he listened to see who had entered his territory, he glanced down at his mate curled into his side. She was perfect. The way she had taken all the information he gave her and not had a complete meltdown showed how strong she was.

Mitch could only hope that when he told her she was his mate and what that meant to him, she would take that easily as well.
We should have told her while we were naked. You saw how she was drooling over us. She would have done anything at that moment.
Yeah, his lion did have a point. As Mitch had undressed, the smell of Tessa’s arousal had grown stronger and stronger, causing him to battle with his self-control and the urge to rush over and bury his face in her lap. Instead, he took his clothes off slowly, teasing her at first, but it became a double-edged sword when he went to pull his pants down and barely got them over his aching hard-on. Not wanting his mate to see how much she had affected him, he had quickly bent over and shifted at the same time.

Now, he was lying in the sun in his shifted form with his mate securely at his side and Nico, who at some point had woken up and crawled over to them, lying on his back stroking his fur. Nothing could have been better. If he could freeze time, he would have chosen to stay in that moment forever.

Unfortunately, the world still went on and the footsteps he heard coming up his front porch intruded into his fantasy, reminding Mitch that he had a job to do if he wanted to continue keeping his new family safe. Sighing, he shifted, causing Nico to giggle when he was suddenly clinging to Mitch’s back instead of his lion’s.

“Come on, little man. Let’s go see who’s here.” He pulled his pants on and lifted the cub in his arms. They left Tessa, who hadn’t even stirred, lying curled up in the patch of warm sun. Mitch smelled Benjamin before he even got to the door. Benjamin was one of the closest things he had to a brother and the biggest bachelor there was. He loved women no matter the color, size, species, or race. Mitch couldn’t wait to see his reaction when he saw his mate and cub. Benjamin claimed that he was allergic to settling down and mating.

Opening the door for the wolf shifter who hadn’t bothered knocking, Mitch pulled him into a one-armed hug and received a thump on the back from Benjamin. “Hey, man, thanks for coming,” he told Ben.

“No need to thank me. You’ve had my back too many times to even count, so you know all you had to do was ask and I would be here.” Ben raised an eyebrow and looked at Nico. “You think maybe you left something out when you called?”

Mitch had to think back to his conversation with Ben and the rest of the guys. He was sure he had told them about his mate, but he couldn’t remember mentioning the cub. “This is Nico. He’s my mate’s son. My cub now.”

Ben ignored the growl coming from Mitch and quickly pulled Nico out of his arms. “Hey, little guy, I’m your Uncle Ben.” He threw Nico over his shoulder and started tickling him. He winked at Mitch and carried the boy into the house.

Mitch laughed and followed. He swore sometimes that Ben was still a pup himself. He knew Nico couldn’t have been in better hands other than his though. Ben protected women and children fiercely, and if it came down to it, he knew Ben would protect the cub with his life.

The noise of Nico laughing must have woken Tessa up. She stuck her head around the corner, wide-eyed at the sight of Ben who was tossing Nico in the air at that moment. Pulling her to his side, Mitch kissed her on the forehead. When she snuggled into his side without hesitation, a purr rumbled through his chest.

“Ben, I would like you to meet my mate,” he said, wincing at the slipup as he got Ben’s attention. The wolf tucked Nico under his arm like a football and came over to them. “Tessa, this is Benjamin. Ben, this is Tessa.”

“Hi, pretty lady.” Ben kissed Tessa’s hand when she held it out for him to shake. “Now I see why you’ve got such a cute cub here. He certainly takes after his mother.”

Mitch had seen Ben’s slow drawl work on many women, and he had to bite back his frustration when he turned it on his mate. Mitch knew Ben would never poach another man’s mate, but that didn’t stop him from turning on his charm and flirting. Tessa laughed, but she stayed pressed next to him. The action helped calm him and his lion.

Ben is playing with fire by even touching Tessa.

Since Mitch hadn’t claimed her yet, he knew that, until the mating bond was in place, he and his lion would be overprotective and ready to fight any male who dared try to take their mate. The smirk coming from Ben told Mitch that the bastard knew exactly what he was doing.
We should hurt him. Make him think twice about touching our mate. If we can’t claim her, then let’s feel better by tearing something apart.
Mitch was finding it hard to disagree with his lion. A roar began to make its way out of his chest as he stepped toward Ben.

The sound of another car in the drive snapped Mitch back to reality and brought the tension down in the room. A tilt of the head from Ben signaled his apology, and Mitch took a deep breath. He had just been about to tear one of his oldest friends apart for kidding around with his mate, and now he had two more male shifters about to show up at his home. He knew he had no choice but to let Tessa know she was his mate and claim her before the day was gone or one of his friends wouldn’t live through the night. Once he had his mark on Tessa and the bond in place, then he and his lion could relax around the other shifters.

“Come on, squirt. It sounds like your other uncles are here.”

“Uncle? Is he one of you?” Tessa whispered when Ben headed toward the front door.

Mitch had no doubt the man was giving him time alone with his mate to calm his lion. “If you mean shifter, then yes. He’s not a lion though. Ben is a wolf shifter and an enforcer like me. He’s one of my oldest friends. The other two will be here now.”

He let out a deep breath when Tessa didn’t realize he hadn’t answered her first question. That was a conversation he wanted to wait until they were alone to have. She would soon enough learn that she was his mate and by extension that made Nico his cub. Ben, Ken, and Ryan were like his brothers, and they would consider her and Nico family no questions asked.

“Come on. Let’s go meet my other two friends.” He led Tessa to the door.

Mitch knew Kenneth and Ryan would be together. If Ben was a devout bachelor, then Ken and Ry were the poster boys for monogamy. Their relationship was a little different though. Neither had ever been interested in men until they discovered they were each other’s mates. They had been inseparable ever since, but if either one was asked, they would say they were waiting for their third. They both believed they were meant to be in a triad, which was a rare three-way mating, and their intended mate was going to be a woman that completed them. Having seen every possible aspect of shifter society being an enforcer, Mitch learned that anything was possible.

After greeting the other two enforcers and introducing them to his mate and cub, Tessa hurried off to the kitchen to fix everyone a snack and give them a chance to talk in private. Mitch wanted to tell her from now on his business was her business and that he would never keep anything from her, but he was grateful for the privacy. They were about to start chaos in the council, and he didn’t want her involved in that.

“You have a beautiful mate,” Ken told him as they entered his office.

“Yeah, I can’t wait until we meet our mate. I hope she is as gorgeous as yours,” Ry agreed as his mate pulled him onto his lap. “You are so lucky, Mitch. You meet your mate and gain a cub all in the same day.”

Mitch laughed when Ben scoffed and rolled his eyes. The family and mate talk was getting to him. Probably causing him hives since he was allergic to commitment. It was going to take a special woman to tame the legendary Benjamin Sullivan.

“Okay, guys, time to get serious.” Mitch pulled out the file that he had collected on the council and the unreported rogue attacks he had found. “You all know why I called you, and the evidence I found is not looking good.” The grim faces of his three friends told him that whatever information they had wasn’t going to be any better.

* * * *

Mitch sighed and rubbed his shoulders. They had been in his office poring over information for hours and still had no idea what council member was hiding rogue attacks or why. Tessa had brought them snacks a few hours before, but that was the last he had seen of her. He wanted his mate. He wanted to relieve the tension that had been building in his body by burying himself balls deep in her.
Sounds like a plan to me. Let’s go find our Tessa.
His lion perked up at the thought of claiming their mate. Too bad he still needed to have a talk with her about being his mate and what it meant.

He found Tessa curled up on his couch with Nico in her lap. They were both sound asleep. Mitch lifted Nico from her arms and lay him back down on the couch. After covering him with a blanket, he found Ry standing behind him silently watching.

“Can you keep an eye on him for a little while?” Mitch asked.

“No problem. I’ll watch the little guy while you talk to your mate.” He patted Mitch on the back. “Good luck.”

Mitch had already told his friends that he planned on informing Tessa they were mates. They all knew how special mates were, even Ben, and they all wished him the best. He lifted Tessa in his arms and carried her to his bedroom. He wanted her in his bed so that his scent could surround her. Having his scent covering her was the next best thing to marking her and soothed his beast for a little while.

Tessa hadn’t woken yet, so Mitch sat beside her and watched her sleep. She was beautiful, the way her long, black lashes fanned her rosy cheeks. Her lips were parted in sleep with the bottom one slightly pushed forward. Mitch had the urge to run his tongue along her lip and suck it into his mouth. His lion was pushing him hard, but he was able to deny the urge, barely. He knew if he started, there would be no stopping until he had Tessa under him and he had come no less than a few times deep inside her body.

Somehow, I don’t see her complaining if we do it right.

“Shut up.” Mitch growled at his lion.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Mitch groaned when Tessa yawned and stretched revealing a narrow strip of skin between the bottom of her T-shirt and the waistband of her jeans. He wanted to taste the bit of flesh showing there before heading further south with his mouth. “I’m sorry, baby. I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to my lion.”

“How does that work?” Tessa asked, sitting up. “I thought you and your lion were one in the same.”

“It’s kind of complicated. We are technically two different beings, but I’m still me no matter if I’m human or beast. My lion and I can communicate with each other in either form, and while I remain
dominant
, for lack of a better word, I can give total control over to my lion when needed. I don’t do that very often though.”

“Why not?”

Mitch thought for a moment before answering. “Remember when I told you rogues are shifters that had let their beasts take over their human side?” When Tessa nodded, he continued. “They are that way because they let their animal have too much control too many times. For some reason, the more you let your beast take over, the harder it becomes for your human side to take the reins again. All shifters are taught as kids to only let their animals take over in times of extreme danger.”

Tessa was quiet for a few minutes before speaking. “This is all just so much to take in. I feel like I should be pinching myself right now to get myself to wake up from this crazy dream.”

If she felt that way by all the information he had already given her, Mitch wondered if he was doing the right thing by telling her they were mates. He didn’t want to push Tessa too far too soon.

Maybe we should give her more time,
he told his lion.

No, no more waiting. I want my mate. If you can’t claim her, then I will do it myself.

Mitch felt his fangs begin to lengthen as the hair on his arms began to change from wiry hair to a soft pelt. His lion was fighting him, and it was taking all Mitch’s strength to keep from shifting.

“Mitch? What’s wrong?” Tessa climbed to her knees and laid her palm on his face.