Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

hadn’t bathed in days, there was something about her that had drawn him to her. Ben silently thanked fate for his mate as he rose and went into the bathroom. He realized they had never gotten around to looking for the tracker, and he grinned. It looked as though he was going to have to get his hands all over Jacqi again.
    Wetting a washcloth with warm water, Ben brought it back out to clean his little mate who was nearly asleep. She didn’t even stir until he had finished and climbed into bed beside her. With a moan, she rolled over and tucked herself against his side as though it was something she had done all her life. Ben wrapped his arm around her and held her tight, vowing he would never let another night go past that she wouldn’t sleep curled against him.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Sir, they haven’t made any moves to leave.”
    Edmund slammed his fist on his desk. His plan hinged on his daughter running from the Enforcers house, and she couldn’t even do that right. He didn’t even want to think about the idiots she’d called rogues roaming his property.
    Edmund sighed. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. “Very well, don’t do anything. Just watch the house until I get there and call me if anything changes.”
    He hung up before he got a response. Edmund didn’t even know the man’s name that he had just talked to, nor did he care. He had no doubt the man would follow his orders. It was the one thing he could give his sniveling daughter credit for. Although it was obvious she had no idea what a rogue was or how to create one, she’d done a great job at making mindless puppets that followed orders no matter what they were.
    Edmund threw his ink pen against the wall. The problem was he didn’t want puppets. He wanted mindless beasts that wanted nothing more than to bathe in the blood of their kill. He wanted shifters who went out and terrorized anyone unlucky enough to get caught in their path. He wanted people scared to leave their homes for fear they might be torn to pieces before they made it to the end of their driveways. That’s what Edmund wanted, and that’s what he was determined to have.
    He stood and headed out of his office. He needed his daughter back so she could fix her serum, and if it meant he had to go get her himself, then so be it. He was way smarter than a few enforcers, and he would figure out a way to get her out of that house. This time he wouldn’t let her out of his sight until she had done her job. Once she gave him the perfect rogue, then he would teach her a lesson about stealing and running from him that she would never forget. Edmund rubbed his hands together in anticipation as he made plans to leave. His daughter had no idea of the punishment he had in store for her.

Chapter 9
     
    Jacqueline groaned and rubbed her temples. She bit back a smile when she heard a tiny moan from the corner of the room and looked over to see Nico, rubbing his own temples. Ever since the first day she had come down to the basement to work on the antidote and looked up to see those ice-blue eyes watching her, she hadn’t had the heart to kick him out. Instead, she had found a small table and chair and sat it in the corner. She set up a few plastic vials and tubes with colored water in them. Once she explained they were his, and he could only use them if she was down there with him, Nico had been ecstatic.
    Now, three weeks later, it seemed he had yet to grow bored with pouring the water from one tube to the other, mimicking her as she worked. Jacqueline, on the other hand, felt the urge to scream in frustration. Three weeks of what was left of Ben’s life had gone by, and there was still no progress on finding an antidote. With each day, she felt herself getting more and more desperate. She wasn’t sure when she had fallen in love with Ben, but she knew she loved him with all her heart, and there was no way she could live without him. She needed a breakthrough, and time was quickly running out.
    Jacqueline’s thoughts were interrupted, and she frowned as she watched Nico jump out of his seat and run toward her. He grabbed her hand in his tiny one and began to pull her toward the back of the basement.
    “What’s wrong, honey? Where are we going?”
    “Lots of people are here,” Nico whispered, pulling her along.
    Jacqueline followed as she tried to listen. As far as she could hear, the house was silent, but Nico’s urgency and the fear on his face had her