Whether Beaumont realized what he’d said or not, Ben smirked. “You’ll make a wonderful council lead. You’ll have my vote. It will be my last job before I step down.”
“Dear gods, the jungle must be making me crazy,” Beaumont complained, with no proper bite to his words.
“Maybe.” Ben’s mind whirred with possibilities. “I need to make some calls, as I think I have the answer as to who can help you.”
Beaumont threw up his arms. The large muscles bulged in his button-down. His features were drawn into a pointy look that brought out his alligator. “Yes, well, they better be willing to work alongside me.”
Marvin, the assassin who was the first they captured and messed with his DNA, had friends, and Ben suspected they would help when they knew his mates’ stories.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ben
The time difference, how grumpy Beaumont was, and his mates projecting mixed emotions, had Ben suggest everyone leave for the night and return the next day.
His family had pounced on him the second Beaumont and the enforcers left, giving him the tenth degree over his decision. Nico and Teilo had curled up on the end of the couch and, after a while, had fallen asleep. He’d not blamed them. It was like a tennis match. Only the lobbies came from all sides, even Mao had come back down to have his say. Family, he’d warned his mates, liked to interfere. Their lack of worry for him demonstrated that in such a short time, they’d learned there was no threat from his family to him or them.
In the small hours of the morning, they’d all gone to bed, seemingly satisfied that Ben wasn’t throwing away his career on a whim after how hard he’d fought to join the council. Ben got their concern. He did, only he was no longer single or the same person who left wanting to change the world. He wanted to make things right for his mates, whatever that was. He’d sensed a change in both of them the second he’d said he was quitting. He’d felt the visible relaxation, almost like Ben had removed an invisible weighted blanket from them and freed them.
Instead of waking them, he’d shifted, and his panther had curled around them, keeping them safe. Now they were awake and staring at him as gentle hands stroked the fur behind his ears.
“Are we really going to get an island of our own?” Teilo asked quietly, his fingers rubbing the spot his cat loved to be touched by their mate.
The only problem was he couldn’t answer.I need to shift.
No.
Yes. I can’t’ answer Teilo.
You can.
Teilo, can you hear me?Ben felt a little stupid. He’d never communicated to anyone other than his animal in his shifted form.
Yes.
I can hear you, too.Nico kept rubbing behind his other ear.
Oh… okay. Yes, we are.
When?Teilo seemed to be more detail-orientated the more he got used to his freedom.Do we need to find the trainers and other scientists first?
And wasn’t that the million-dollar question? Before or after. His panther was all for the before part. He wanted to make the bad men suffer.That might not be what our mates want.Ben argued with his animal forgetting his mates could hear him.
~/~/~/~
Teilo
Teilo wanted to giggle. Ben was so cute in his cat form, and while yes, his cat was a powerful sleek animal, Ben’s voice coming through their mind link was a disconnect, and yet it seemed right at the same time. An example of how they were all so connected.
“An island and unlimited ice cream would be wonderful,” he said slowly, and aloud for Nico’s benefit. He still wasn’t a hundred percent sure how the mind link worked. “But…”
“You want to go after the scientists and those sadistic trainers?” Nico seemed surprised, and even Ben’s cat pricked his ears in Teilo’s direction.
“I wasn’t thinking of that side of things yet,” Teilo said quickly. He wasn’t dismissing something he knew in his core Nico wanted so badly, and it seemed since the death of the last two scientists, Ben had developed a bit of a lust for revenge as well. “I was thinking about the island and living on it. It would be just us?”
I thought that’s what you wanted,Ben answered through their bond, and from the change in Nico’s expression, it seemed he could hear it, too.
“Yes, and no.” Teilo waited, sure one or both of his mates would get frustrated with him, but they were just waiting for him to put his thoughts into words. Speaking out loud was easier. “Our time at the island belonging to your friends was amazing and wonderful, and I felt truly free in the water. I’d love to swim every day.”
