“I know where he would take him, if he wasn’t going to kill him outright. I have to believe that he couldn’t go that far, but I know that there is no telling with James. I have seen him do some horrible things, but he always made it like it was something he had to do.”
Teri waited for her to tell her where they were. She finally prompted the older woman to spill the beans. When she said where she thought they were, Teri’s veins turned cold, and she was sure that she hadn’t heard it right.
“What?”
“Yeah, I know it sounds bad, but I was there for several months before James made my father see that we were meant to be together. James always wants what he can’t have and that was me for the longest time. I was put in that cellar to wait for him and for my parents to get used to the idea. They eventually did and then I married James. I have always known that he had the propensity for violence. I just hoped that it wouldn’t be used on me. I was so wrong to think that it wouldn’t be.” She looked off when she spoke. Jill was having a hard time with what was going on and Teri couldn’t blame her. The news she had given her was not for the faint-hearted. She was taking it better than Teri would have herself. She hoped her strength kept on for what came next.
“I don’t think that there is any plan in place to hurt you, Jill. I don’t want to suggest that there is.”
Jill shook her head, blonde hair shaking upon her shoulders. There was a part of her that knew that look. “If he is trying to hurt my son, then he is trying to hurt me. There is no separation.”
Teri agreed with the sentiment and before too long, she did her best to make sure that nothing was going to get in the way of that. She wanted to save Ben and having Jill on her side was the best thing that she could do. It was clear that Jill wanted to help, and Teri surely needed it.
They both got some supplies and agreed to go check out the cellar where Jill thought that they would be. She seemed nervous, but she was betraying her husband, so that wasn’t hard to track. Teri had a slight worry that she was being led into a trap, like she was going to be the one in the cellar for all times. She didn’t like to think that way, but it very well could happen.
Neither one of them was prepared for what happened next. Teri thought that they would be caught and suffer some horrendous fate. That wasn’t what happened at all. The punishment was to see Ben so unhappy, and Teri felt like everything inside of her was calling out to him. When she saw him in the darkness, he was obviously beaten, and he hid his face like he was going to be beaten again. What had they done to him in just a few short days?
It was Jill that went to him first. Teri wasn’t afraid of him or anything, but he was hurt so badly, and it wasn’t clear what she could do. She hesitated and she was very thankful that no one seemed to know that.
Since there was no one around and the cellar was deep underground a mile from the village, they were able to get him out and into the cabin. Jill helped her get Ben there and Teri thought she was going to stay, but instead she said she had places to go, and Teri just went with it. What else was she supposed to do?
His mom left and it was just the two of them. Ben could barely look at her, even after he was given something to relax him and hopefully get him to sleep. Jill had everything there and Teri was glad that she had gone to her for information. She hated to think what would have happened if she had done it herself. Likely there would have been more time taken and the state of Ben could have been worse. From Teri’s point of view, it was bad enough.
“It’s going to be okay, Ben, I promise.”
He sighed and pulled her in for a kiss. “I cannot imagine how I look. I was so worried about you and our kids. You were right, my dad wants to get rid of me, you, and the babies. He wants to put my brother Mark on the throne, not me.”
Teri wondered if she would have to tell Ben the same that she had told his mother. She hoped that he would just see that for himself. It was amazing the relief that she felt about it. Of course, she was sad that it had to be learned at all, but she was happy that now she would be able to move on. Ben knew the worst and he was safe. What more could she ask for?
His mind wasn’t as safe as his body was though. Ben had a lot of betrayal to deal with and she held him for the longest time, telling him that it was all going to be okay. Teri didn’t know if it was true or not, but she repeated it until one of them believed it.
They were going to have to make a plan to take back his birthright and to make the clan see that James had created chaos to mask what he was doing. Ben wasn’t at all sure what it was yet, but they were going to work it out together. Teri didn’t know what was going to happen next, just that it was going to be something big.
The two slept off some of the worries they had. Ben was better the next day and Teri had more light to see the damage the beatings had caused. Ben explained that he knew the secret of where the Pearls were buried, and he wasn’t going to tell them. It was his right when he was a child to know the spot, him and only him, but his father wanted Mark to know the location. Ben didn’t know what they were going to do with it, he said, but he had some ideas and none of them were good.
“We have to get to the stones and release them. If we don’t have the stones and the power, it will release us from all of the attacks. I always thought that dad was right, and the Pearls needed to be here for safe keeping, but how is anything safer? We are always on the run and being attacked. It makes more sense to just give the power back and no longer be a target.”
She didn’t know what that meant but knew that it was going to be a hard destiny to follow.
Chapter 27
Ben
Ben was mad at himself for getting caught, getting hurt, and having to be saved by the women in his life. Teri had endangered herself by going for him. She was carrying his kids and his mom was with her. It was all too much, and he hadn’t been able to deal with it all at first. He felt like he had failed to keep her safe. That was his duty, so there was nothing else that he could do to make it right.
Teri didn’t seem bothered by it. They were at the cabin, a tiny affair in the middle of a freezing winter that still had months until it ended. There were also several people that were going to be after him. Ben didn’t know if his father would lie and say that he was dead, or that he needed to be found and brought to justice. It would be a lot to convince all of the people that were in the village that he had turned bad. Ben didn’t know what to do, but he had a feeling that letting the stones go would be a start to something new for his people. That was what they needed.
Teri woke up with a grin and she stretched for a moment, then saw that she was being observed and turned red-cheeked. “You are staring.”
Ben admitted it without another thought about it. He had the biggest grin on his face and Teri wanted to know what he was so happy about. “After finding you like that, I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you happy again,” Teri relayed to him with a sad face. She was going to change the trajectory of his thoughts if he let her get anymore out.
“I am really happy to be here with you. I didn’t know what was going to happen with dad and Mark, but it wouldn’t have been anything good. I don’t think that they were going to kill me, but I bet they would have left me in there until I keeled over. There is so much that I didn’t see. I see it now though and I hate to say it, but I wish that I didn’t. It would be easier if I didn’t see it and could pretend.”
Teri knew what he meant and when he was getting all cozy with her, she told him that they had a lot to talk about and do. It wasn’t the time for shenanigans, she insisted, but Ben didn’t want to hear that at all. It was literally the last thing that he wanted to hear. He didn’t want to talk. It would be worked out and he would likely have to kill or maim both men that meant so much to him. He was going to have to betray a vow that he would have to make about being Alpha and protecting the stones. Everything that Ben planned to do was going to change everything dramatically. He hoped that it was the right move. It felt like it could go either way, which was a lot to think about.
Before he got too stuck in his head, Ben told her that it didn’t matter what happened next with his dad and Mark.
“It doesn’t?”
