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

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