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

disposal in his never-ending quest for power.
    There would be hell to pay when he found out what she had done, but Jacqueline was tired of mindlessly following her father’s orders. She wanted out, and she hoped her way was lying down the hallway in a healing sleep. Along with the sedative she had given him, Jacqueline had added in a few things she had created herself. If all went well, the new drugs she had introduced into his system would attack the rogue drug and force it out of him for the most part. When the man woke, hopefully, he would be back to normal. She had no idea if it would work, but he was her only hope. He was the first shifter that she had ever seen fight the rogue drug. In her book, that meant he was beyond strong. She had created the drug herself and knew it shouldn’t have been possible for him to withstand it. The fact he did it not once, but multiple times, told her everything she needed to know. If there was anyone strong enough to stand up against her father, it would be him.
    Jacqueline just hoped the man didn’t kill her before she could explain herself and ask for his help. Either way she had already started the ball rolling, and there was no turning back. One way or another she was going to be free of her father. She just hoped she was still breathing in the end.
    After setting her timer, Jacqueline started up her computer. She had at least three hours before her possible savior woke up. In the meantime, she grabbed a couple flash drives and set about saving all of her work to them. She also saved the files she had stolen from her father’s computer. She was close to creating an antidote for the rogue drug she had created. It was her way of absolving herself of some of her guilt for having made it in the first place, and she didn’t want to lose any ground by having to start over from scratch. Once all of her files were saved, she set about packing the samples she had already created and whatever else she needed.
    As far as personal belongings, she had nothing but a few changes of clothes, which she quickly packed. Jacqueline’s father had never allowed her to have any material things, telling her they were pointless and trivial. For as long as she could remember, they had lived life on the run, moving from place to place at a moment’s notice. She had to be ready to go when he commanded or suffer his wrath. Needless to say, she became very efficient at deciding what was important and what could be left behind.
    Once she had everything she needed, Jacqueline hid it all behind her filing cabinet, making sure it was out of sight. She doubted her father would pay her another visit, but just in case, she didn’t want to give him any reason to suspect something was going on, and packed bags sitting by the door would be a definite clue.
    Nerves began to creep in once she had everything ready. Jacqueline sat at her desk and took a deep breath. It did nothing to calm her nerves so she took several more until she began to feel the tension leave her shoulders. There was nothing more she could do. It was all a waiting game now, and her future depended on a stranger that she hoped and prayed would help her, instead of killing her, when he woke up.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Please…come…please…wake…”
    Ben groaned as he slowly became conscious. His head pounded as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Every muscle in his body screamed in pain when he tried to sit up so he gave up and lay back down, hoping to go back into the blissful state of unconsciousness again.
    “Oh, no you don’t. Come on. Wake up.”
    Ben froze as the soft voice caused memories to come flooding back to him. He was being held captive by his own mate. The pain caused by whatever she kept injecting him with was nothing compared to the pain in his heart at being betrayed by the one person fate had chosen for him. He’d had no idea a heart could literally break until he met his mate.
    Mine.
    Ben stilled, afraid he was imagining things. Pup?
    His wolf let out a weak whimper. Our mate did this?
    Yeah, buddy. She did this. Ben felt his wolf’s pain when the realization hit that their own mate had betrayed them. He had no idea how he was able to get his wolf back, but he was glad. He never wanted to feel the loneliness of not having him there ever again. Don’t worry, pup. I will figure out a way to get us out of this.
    It would go against everything he believed in, but there was no way he would let his little