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

let go of his hand and headed over to Ben. He stood when she got close, and she hugged him. “Thank you, Ben, for everything.”
    She kissed him on his cheek, and if Mitch hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have never believed that Ben would be capable of blushing. He knew the man could make any female he came into contact with blush with a few simple words, but not the man whose reputation preceded him. He couldn’t wait to tease Ben about it.
    While Tessa talked to Ben, Mitch lifted Nico into his arms. “I have to leave for a little while. I need you to take care of your momma for me while I’m gone. Can you do that for me?”
    Nico nodded. “Yep.”
    “Good.” Mitch sat the cub down. “Kitty wants to see you before we go.” Mitch quickly stripped off his clothes and shifted. He nudged his head against the cub’s chest and purred when Nico wrapped his tiny arms around his neck and hugged him.
    Once his lion was satisfied, Mitch shifted back and handed the boy over to his mother. He dressed again, dreading leaving his mate behind, but he knew it had to be done. Mitch kissed Tessa one more time and followed Ben out the door before he talked himself into backing out of the fight and staying home with his family.
    “Do you remember what I taught you, cub?” Ben yelled over his shoulder.
    Mitch turned just in time to see Nico nod as Tessa carried him out to the porch.
    “Good. Let me hear it one time before we go?”
    Confused, Mitch paused to see what was going on. He didn’t have to wait long until a tiny howl pierced the air. “Damn it, Ben! What have you been teaching my boy?”
    Ben doubled over laughing. Even his little mate covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. Nico just grinned with pride at what he had done. When we get back, I will teach him a roar that will put that pathetic, little howl to shame.
    Mitch got in the car and waited until Ben closed his door. “When this is over, remind me to kick your ass.”
     
    * * * *
     
    “Everyone knows what to do, right?” Mitch only received eye rolls as answers from Ryan and Ben and a slight nod from Ken. They had arrived hours ago at Councilman Percival’s property which had turned out to be an actual mansion. It was a little rundown and had seen better days, but still. How could they have missed a property that big when they had searched for the rogues the first time?
    What bothered Mitch the most was that the councilman was not trying to hide. They had seen him several times entering and exiting the house as he ordered the rogues around. Either the man was completely arrogant in his abilities to not get caught, or he had something up his sleeve guaranteeing his safety and making him sleep easier at night.
    What Mitch didn’t know was how the man was getting the rogues to follow his orders. He knew they were rogues based off the stench covering the area, but from what he saw, they weren’t the mindless, murdering beasts that he was used to dealing with.
    “Their animals are still in control from what I can tell, but it’s like they’ve been trained to do simple tricks like dogs. Sit, stay, and kill, things like that,” Ken whispered as if he was reading Mitch’s mind.
    He had to agree. “Okay, let’s get this over with. I have a mate to get back to.” They all grunted and split up, each heading in their own direction.
    Ryan and Ken were handling the rogues. Their job was to make sure no one escaped. While they handled that, Ben was going to handle demolition, something the man did with glee. Mitch’s task was to find Councilman Percival and take him out. It seemed simple enough, but experience told him that the simplest tasks always had the potential of turning into a huge clusterfuck at the worst moment possible. As he ran through the shadows headed for an open window he had spotted, he hoped today wasn’t one of those days.
    Mitch paused with his back against the house as he listened for any sound of movement coming from the window. The room was dark when he had taken a look, but he made sure it was empty before climbing through. Once inside of what was some sort of office or library, he had no problem seeing in the dark to silently make his way over to the closed door. He glanced at his watch as he listened.
    In ten more minutes, Ben was going to bring the whole place down. That meant Mitch had around seven minutes to kill Percival and get his ass out of the blast zone. Piece of cake. We only need about four.
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