Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (10 page)

“He said he wants either seven grand a
month or half of that if I let him fuck me once or twice on the counter.” Blair
felt his wolf claw at him, and he growled low. “I agree with you on that score.
Too bad he’s the only one that the realtor had on her list of potential leases.
I don’t suppose you know of anyone that has some office space to lease, do you?
One that doesn’t require me to fuck anyone and isn’t nearly all I’ll make in a
year. I can’t work out of my house forever, not to mention it’s a little
unprofessional.”

“I have three buildings along this way
if you’re interested. You won’t have to fuck me on the counter, but it would be
nice.” He smiled, but she only growled. “I’m teasing you, Sapphire. But as for
the building…you help me with a problem I have and I’ll see what we can work
out on the store front.”

“What sort of problem? And if you have
the space in your building, I can’t do that. I don’t want my name associated
with yours like that. People will think you’ve helped me out, and I can do this
on my own.” She looked back toward where his building was. “It would be nice
digs, but I need to do this on my own.”

“I understand you wanting to do this on
your own. I was the same way when I started. I have other buildings. Three, as
a matter of fact. And you can have your choice. What I need help with is
transportation. I need a car. A truck, actually, and I know little to nothing
about them. You drive one, so I was wondering if you’d help me find one that will
help me move my stuff and do some of the things that I’ve been putting off
forever.” He was babbling and snapped his mouth closed when she eyed him
strangely.

“You want my help?” He nodded, wondering
if he should try to offer her something more, but she continued before he could
think of anything. “What do you want it for besides moving your things? I’m
pretty sure we can use my truck for that, if that’s all you really need it for.
I thought you liked riding around in your big status symbol and getting all
sorts of work done while you ignored the world around you.”

He was instantly pissed but tried to
think what his father would say. He’d joke about being able to have other women
in the back with him, but thought that wouldn’t fly well with her. Blair looked
at her truck parked near the curb and walked to it.

“Why do you have a truck? I mean, you
could get just as much use out of something smaller, couldn’t you? Plus, I was
thinking that with my new pack, I’d be able to bring things to meetings. I’m
not even sure what is required at pack meetings, as I’ve I’d never had one
before.” He ran his hand over the large dent in the rear panel of hers. “You
didn’t get hurt with this, did you?”

“No. I was teaching Emerald how to
drive. What do you mean a new pack? I didn’t know you had any pack, much less
hauling things to it.” He turned to her and smiled. She was beautiful when she
was upset.

“I met with the old pack leader to challenge
him, but he passed away before we could settle things. His mate took me aside
and told me that if I didn’t kill her I could have the entire pack and all that
went with it. Did you know that as the new alpha I’m supposed to kill off the
enforcer as well as the previous alpha’s family if I win?” She shook her head,
and he nodded. “That’s what I heard later. I guess it was lucky for them that
he died in a way. His son was going to kill his own mother as well as the rest
of his family so that he could have a clear shot at running things his way when
he took over the pack. She thanked me for stepping in.”

“Grandmother met with him, the other
pack leader, I mean. He told her that she would be assigned kitchen duty during
the meetings. What’s your view on her being at the meetings? And, for that
matter, my sisters as well. Do you plan to make their lives a living hell
because they’re beautiful and not attached?” He wasn’t sure, but he thought
making a decision without all the facts would get him into hot water with her. Not
that he was going to do any of those things to her family, but he did want to
know what happened.

“What happened with Benetton’s pack?
Where did your sisters fall into that one?” She looked away, and he was afraid
she wouldn’t answer. “Sapphire? What happened there?”

“We didn’t exactly see eye to eye with Jeffery.
He wanted us to heel, and we wanted to be free. You know what happened to make
us run, about him taking my sisters hostage and parading them around the
meeting. He’ll come for me if nothing else. I don’t think he’ll give up.” He
nodded, and she looked at the dealership. “What kind of truck do you want? And
what do you plan to do with it at the house? I mean, we are always in need of a
ride to somewhere. There are seven of us, not counting you, and three cars and
a motorbike. I would ask that you’d be open to giving rides, please. And if
moving is really all you want it for, my truck is available if one of the other
cars is, or you can drop me off and use it. I trust you with her.”

“Thank you for that, but as for what
else, I’ve not a clue. I have my license, but I’ve not driven much over the
past few years. The first time was when I drove out to your house to talk to
you, and I realized how rusty I was. I like to drive, but as you pointed out
earlier, I like being able to work when I’m being carted around. What do you do
with yours?” They were nearly to the lot when he realized he’d not answered her
question about his pack members. “Your sisters and your grandmother can be as
active or inactive in the pack as they wish. I don’t know how well your
grandmother cooks, but I’ve heard from my dad that it’s great, especially her
apple pie. As for your sisters, like I said, whatever they want to do. Is that
what you wanted to hear?”

“It’s what I wanted to hear, yes, but is
it the truth?” He nodded. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I’m not saying I
don’t trust you, but things have a way of changing a great deal and not always
for the best for us. Jeffery took a great more from us than a pack.”

They spent the next two hours looking at
trucks. When they test drove a particularly large and useless one, he’d made
her get under the wheel and drive when he’d stalled it out twice after killing
it on the open road. He wanted a stick shift, if for no other reason than she
could help him get better at it.

“You’re trying too hard to make it
start. You have to sweet talk your car before you can expect it to perform the
way you want it to.” His cock felt like she’d stroked it when she continued by
talking to the truck. “Come on, baby, you know you want to. Just give me a
little more, and I’ll ride you like a dream.”

When the engine turned over, he nearly
begged her to ride him. But when she turned and smiled at him, he had a feeling
she had no idea what she’d done to him. They were on their way back to the
dealership when his phone rang. Since he didn’t recognize the number, he let it
go to voicemail. But a few seconds later, Sapphire’s phone rang, and he had a
feeling things were about to get bad. When she looked at him as she answered,
he knew it. She didn’t tell him what was going on, but from her end he knew
that it had something to do with Benetton.

They were walking away when she turned
to him. He had declined the offer to fill out an application in deference to
what she had heard. He wanted to know, but at the same time he didn’t. He was
afraid for her.

“Harris Benetton, Jeffery’s brother, has
been hurt. Badly, I’m afraid. He’s at a clinic near here.” She stepped closer to
him to lower her voice. “The werewolf council wants me to go and see if I can
help him. They’re wondering if he’ll make it.”

“I’ll come with you. If he’s here in
this area, then that means as alpha I should be there.” He started to tell her
he’d drive when he realized he was doing it again. “If you don’t mind, that is.
I can go later, but I’d like to have you there with me. Please.”

She looked indecisive, but before he
could ask her again, she nodded but had a few stipulations first. “He’s a nice
man stuck in a bad place. He helped us leave there, though I doubt very much if
Jeffery knew it. Unless that’s what he hurt him for now. I want to help him as
much as I can if he asks me. You’ll stay back and out of my way if he asks you
to, please. If he is dying like they said, then you might make it worse if you
upset him. I’m asking you, please to let me handle this.”

“I understand, and I can agree to that
so long as you let me help you. I’m not without the means to help you help him.
All right?” He didn’t think she was going to agree, but in the end, she nodded.
“Good. May I ride with you then? I don’t have the car with me.”

“Yes, okay, but I don’t like this.” He
knew she didn’t but was glad that she’d agreed to let him go. “Harris is a good
friend, and if you pull any macho bullshit on me about this mate crap, you’ll
be in the bed next to his.”

Blair believed her. She was loyal, if
nothing else, and he thought that when they were together as mates she’d be one
hell of an alpha bitch for him. They were driving toward the clinic when his
phone rang again. This time he answered.

“Mr. Henson, this is Andrew Mason of the
Board of Weres. There’s been an act of violence in another territory, and I’d
like for you to have a look at the man who’d been injured. I believe he may not
make it before we can get to him.” The man cleared his throat twice. “His
brother, Jeffery Benetton, has had a prior claim made against him. And we’ve
set things in motion to have him removed from his position before this incident
and now this. Could you see your way to—?”

“I’m on my way there now with my mate. I’ll
call you when we arrive. Is there anything we can do other than simply see
about his wounds?”

“We have it on good authority that he is
primarily a good man. He’s been in a couple of issues when he was younger, but
as an enforcer we’ve only heard good things about him. Until this. His brother
is going to be dealt with, but we do worry for the safety of Harris.” Blair
heard papers shuffle. “We were wondering if you could see your way to invite
him to your pack, even if it’s only temporary. It will go a long way to helping
him get better.”

“I’ll have to speak to my mate.” Blair
glanced at Sapphire as he continued. “She has vouched for his character as well,
and I think will welcome him to our pack if he wishes.”

“Thank you, sir. You’ve no idea what
you’ve…this man Benetton, the alpha, he is a man I would not want to meet face
to face when he finds out about this. He knows of the charges, but when you
take him into your pack…well, there may be repercussions. Can you handle them?”

“Yes. I do believe we’ll have no
problems dealing with Jeffery Benetton.” He looked over at Sapphire again as he
finished up the call. “I do believe we’ll take great pleasure in handling Jeffery
Benetton.”

He hung up and looked at Sapphire. “Jeffery
has been a very bad alpha, and he just got the attention of the Board. I think
they’re having him killed. They wanted to know if we can handle him if he comes
calling.”

“Fuck yeah, we can handle him.” She
flushed. “That sounded a lot like I was looking forward to it. Trust me when I
say I’m not. I’m just now healed up because of you, and I’d rather not have to
deal with his sorry ass unless I have to. But I’m worried about Harris. We have
to get to him before…before it’s too late.” Blair nodded. The truck leapt
forward, and he held onto the bar over the door. When they pulled in front of
the clinic ten minutes later, he was glad now that he was buying his own truck.
She was a good driver, but a scary one.

Chapter 10

Jeffery watched the people coming and
going in the big building. He was supposed to have been there over an hour ago,
but he couldn’t bring himself to go before the Board. He was going to kill
Harris when he found him, then that bitch Sapphire, knowing that she had more
than likely talked him into this madness.

He’d had a feeling that they were both
in on a great deal that was going to shit in his life right now. And even
before. Harris had been trying for months to get him to leave the Erickson
women alone, and now he knew why. He’d like to have them right there before him
now and show them what it meant to be hurt by him. His own brother wouldn’t
have done this without someone talking him into it. Harris was just too stupid
to think of things on his own. When one of the younger wolves came out of the
building, Jeffery stepped from behind his hiding place and smiled at him.

“Hello. I was wondering if you could
tell me what all the hoopla is about. There seems to be a great many more
enforcers around than normal.” The pup looked around as if they made him
nervous, too. “Do you know who they’re looking for?”

“Yeah, some jerk-wad that hurt his
brother, a Jeffery Benetton is his name. I heard that the poor enforcer won’t
make it, and the Board sent to some other alpha to see if they can get a handle
on things before humans find out.” The kid looked around and leaned closer. “I
heard them saying that the guy is a rogue and will have to be put down because
of this. There have been other complaints, too. More in the past few days, but
all along I guess. They think they might have made a mistake in not taking him
out sooner.”

“Really?” Jeffery had to take a shallow
breath before he could continue, his anger was so hot right now. “Do you know
who would complain about this person? Maybe it was an oversight on the brother’s
part. Maybe he was the cause for the injury.”

The kid shook his head even before
Jeffery had finished speaking. “Nah, they said he hurt another alpha’s bitch,
too, Miss Sapphire. I met her once. She’s scary. But nice. And her sisters are
really nice, too. She’s with the other alpha now, the one they sent to check on
the enforcer. I’m thinking I might go and see if they’re taking on some new
members. I could always use some eye candy at the meetings. Not that I’d be
able to speak to them. Those women are hot with a capital H.”

So Henson and Sapphire were in on this
together, Jeffery thought. He had a feeling that Henson had filed the complaint,
too, the one against his mate being hurt. Well, that wasn’t going to fly; he
didn’t even know her then. Where was the loyalty between alphas was what he wanted
to know. He nearly missed what the kid was saying and looked back at him.

“They said that he’s to be found and
taken care of. That’s what all the enforcers are doing here from other packs,
to help out when he shows up for his trial. Not that I think he’s coming. He
was supposed to be here over an hour ago. I hope they find him soon. A guy like
that should be stopped before he hurts someone else.” Jeffery couldn’t have
agreed more.

He reached out, grabbed the kid around
the throat, and jerked him twice before he heard his neck snap. Anger surged
not only from Jeffery, but his wolf was pissed off, too. Moving toward the
dumpster, he tossed the kid behind it as he walked by. Jeffery didn’t even
bother trying to hide the body, but left him hanging half out and in behind it.

The walk back to his car was made with
his head down. He knew that there would be a picture of him circulating by now,
and he had things to do before anyone found him.
If
they found him. He
was going to make sure that if they did, he was going to go down with a great deal
more than supposedly hurting some cunt that deserved it anyway. They were
nothing if not exhaustive in their searches, but Jeffery had planned for such
an event.

When he got into his car, he sat there
trying to think what to do first. He didn’t even know where they’d have his
brother right now. But he knew as surely as he was sitting there that wherever
he was, Sapphire would be as well, along with that fucking bastard Henson. He
decided to head over to where she was living now. There had to be a clinic
nearby them. He figured he had about sixteen hours to get there. And if his
brother knew what was good for him, he’d better fucking be alive when he got
there, too. He had things to say to the prick, and then he could have the
pleasure of killing him.

Jeffery had hated the way his brother
would hang around with the Ericksons when they were in the pack. Every time he
needed him, he’d be there eating dinner with them or helping that old bitch in
her garden. Why on earth someone would grow vegetables was beyond him. They
were meat eaters for Christ’s sake, not vegetarians. And no matter how many
times he’d threaten him, Harris would be there. He’d even stand next to them
during the moon pull. When they showed up, which wasn’t all that often.

“Fucking bitches were trying to keep us
apart.” Which wasn’t really true, but he felt he had to justify killing her,
and that seemed as good a reason as any. Smiling, he thought of the night he’d
tried to get his best to bring them girls to heel. He’d made sure he’d done it
while Sapphire was out of town, healing after a practically bad attempt on her
life. He’d just bet that Harris hadn’t misjudged the man he’d sent to kill her
at all, but had thwarted him on purpose. But Sapphire had returned before he’d even
gotten started. And she’d hurt him, too.

Jeffery shifted on the seat when he felt
one of the wounds she’d given him pull. That was another reason to kill the
bitch. She’d hurt him when he’d been playing with the other girls. And it had
been none of her business either. It was pack business, not Sapphire business. He
wondered if she was healed yet now that she was with Henson.

His mother had told him a story once
about an alpha that had injured another’s mate. It had been about something
stupid, too. He didn’t remember the details so much as he did the end result.
The female hadn’t died from her injuries because she’d given herself to another
alpha. They’d been true mates, his mom had told him. Like that should have
mattered when the first alpha had wanted her. First come first served was his
motto in things like this.

“And true mates can never be separated
in life or love. Nor can they be harmed once they are mated unless the person
wishes to die a horrible death. The mated pair is as one and will be until they
part in this world. Harming one is like harming them both, and the remaining
one will kill for their mate.” He remembered thinking that having a mate had a
great more advantages than not, but his mom continued. “A true mate can only be
found when the fates have decided. There is only one for each of us, and if
we’re lucky enough to find our one, then we are a better person for it.”

“Bullshit,” he thought out loud. Finding
a mate to fuck was all he’d ever wanted. And he’d had plenty of those. Smiling,
he pulled into the gas station to fill up and to get something to eat. He
smiled at the girl behind the counter.

Humans were so easy, he thought as he
pissed in the sink in the bathroom, thinking about the woman out front. He
marked the entire bathroom before he went back out to grab up some bags of
snacks and a bottle of water. When he went up to the counter to pay, it had
been on the tip of his tongue to tell her to blow him for it when a big man
came from the back. He nodded once to him and left after paying up. Jeffery
wasn’t going to fuck with a bear, not even on his good days.

Around midnight he pulled over, put his
car up on a jack, and pulled the tire off. There was nothing wrong with it, but
he was a cheap fuck and actually prided himself on it. He rarely slept in a
hotel when traveling if there was a wooded area nearby.

After putting the tire in the trunk and locking
the car up, he slipped into the woods and stripped down. Shifting to wolf, he
sat there for a long time, just waiting for the pain to recede enough to where
he could move. Sapphire was going to pay for hurting his wolf.

He found a dark cave ten minutes later
and was just going inside when he felt the first stir of someone trying to
reach him. He waited, knowing that whoever it was wasn’t a friend. Jeffery
simply didn’t have any. When he moved to the opening and looked around the
forest, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but still felt uneasy. He
threw back his head and howled, hoping to warn off some asshole that might be
wandering around. When an answering call came back to him, he lay down and
watched the forest until he couldn’t hold his head up any longer. Sleep that
night wasn’t going to be a restful one, he thought.

Not minutes after he closed his eyes,
the dreams, the nightmares, he supposed, started. Waking with a rush, he lay
there very still and wondered why this one dream, and only this one, had
haunted him since he’d been a teenager, and the more stressed he was, the more
often the dreams would come. He had killed his mother, sure, but did the dreams
of it have to make him feel like she was coming back for him?

When the sun was cresting the mountain,
he went back to where he’d left his clothes and shifted again. He had to wait
longer and longer after every shift until the pain eased enough for him to
move. Looking down at his body, he noticed that one of the claw marks she’d
given him was seeping. After touching the tender area, he put his finger to his
nose and cried out. The fucking cunt had infected him somehow.

~~~

“The claw marks at his throat are what
worries me the most. I have tried to stitch the wounds closed, but they simply won’t
heal. Unless he can get out from under the alpha that he is working for, I’m
afraid that they never will. The fact that he’s hung on this long amazes me. He
should have died days ago.” Sapphire nodded her thanks to the doctor, and when
he walked away, she looked at Blair.

“Do you know what he means by getting
out from under his alpha?” Blair nodded and pulled her to an empty room. She
didn’t fight him because she was still reeling from seeing Harris. The man
looked like he’d given up and was simply waiting to die.

“It means if we take him into our pack,
he’ll heal. Just as you did when you and I had sex.” She nodded, embarrassed by
what he was telling her. “The Board has asked us to take him into our pack. I
told them that I’d talk it over with you, but I’m actually going to leave this
entirely up to you. You know him better than I do and can decide, and I’ll back
you up.”

“Yes, I’d like to have him with us. I
don’t know what he’ll do. He did say once that he had a desire to run a nursery
like the one that Jade works with, but I don’t know. Also, you should know that
Harris told me once that he thought that Jeffery had killed their parents. I’m
not sure that I don’t agree with him now.” She started to pace the small room. “You
want to take him into your pack?”

“I…okay, I’m not sure you realize this
or not, but it’s
our
pack. When we were mated, the pack and all of what
I have became yours.” She stopped and looked at him as he continued. “And it’s
right on the tip of my tongue to tell you we’re going to do this because it’s
right, but I can’t. I think whatever you think about this will work, but if we
have to make this decision together, then I vote we take him in or I don’t
think he will live.”

“He’s Jeffery’s brother. I really like
Harris, but he’d done some pretty…horrific things. The fact that he didn’t like
it has a lot to do with how I feel about him, but he was no less involved in
some of the things Jeffery did than Jeffery was. To a point, I guess.” She
looked at the door, then back at him. “Will he be your enforcer, too?”

“I don’t know. I’ve not gotten that far
yet. I think he might be better served to protect you than me. You said
yourself that you and he were friends, and he did have the doc call you first.”
She nodded at Blair. “I’m asking for your input on this, but know that one sign
of trouble from him, one little hint that he isn’t doing his job looking out
for you, and I will drop him where he stands and not think two seconds on it.”

She was flattered. She had no idea why,
but the thought of him killing for her made her wolf stir, too. She knew that
he’d felt her when he growled low. Sapphire watched him as he moved toward her.

“Do you want to save him?” His voice was
low, rough sounding. She nodded to him, and he moved his mouth over hers gently,
then down along her shoulder to the mark he’d put on her days ago. She was on
fire for him, and he knew it.

“Blair, we have to go to talk to him.” He
growled again and set her entire body to flame. “Blair, you have to stop this.”

“I know. But I can smell you.” He
shifted her body around so that she was flush against him. “I need to taste
you, mark you again.”

The knock at the door prevented her from
begging him to do it, to mark her again and again and not just with his mouth.
When the nurse opened the door, Blair didn’t move away from her like she
thought he would be, put his arm around her waist, and held her there. The
nurse, a wolf too, bowed and told him she was sorry.

“The enforcer is awake now, Alpha. He is
asking for the she-wolf.” Sapphire tried to turn in his arms to speak to the
nurse, but he held her tightly to him. She could feel his erection.