Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

CONNOR

Connor could not contain his fury as he squatted in front of Ben.

The beautiful, sullen creature cuffed to the cargo ring was going to drive him mad. Using himself as bait was stupid and self-destructive, and Connor couldn't understand why Ben cared so little for himself.

Connor turned to Seamus. "This hunt is over. Time to go home."

"Sure thing, boss," Seamus said, pulling out his phone. "I'm guessing we want a quick exit?"

Connor nodded, knowing Seamus was looking up the nearest airfield. "Make it happen before Vaughn locates us. Who knows what the sprite's done to call attention to himself."

Ben scowled, giving the cuff a hard yank. "Vaughn is supposed to find me, asshole!"

"Get it through your thick skull, Ben. It's not happening."

The sprite gave a frustrated yell.

Connor's wolf wasn't having it. It didn't matter that Ben wanted to get caught by Vaughn—Connor would get in the way every time. He'd keep Ben locked down until the pretty sprite saw sense. There was no way Ben was going to be bait ever again. Vaughn was never going to get his hands on the beautiful creature. Connor would prove that Ben could count on others.

His wolf howled in agreement.

Looking at his most trusted wolves, Connor said, "I want full blackout on this; no one gets to know we have Ben."

They all nodded grimly in agreement, with Jake giving a thumbs up from the driver's seat.

"Look, whatever you're thinking, I'm not worth it," Ben muttered, his voice low and distressed. "If you won't use me as a luckbringer, handing me over to Vaughn is better. He'll find me anyway. I want him to find me."

Connor felt himself smile, letting a little harshness show. "You've never been in the safekeeping of the Oakford Pack, Ben. You have no idea the lengths we'll go to protect the pack and take down enemies. You're ours now, and we don't let our people go."

Ben frowned up at him, using those big eyes as a weapon. "This is wrong!"

Connor resisted the urge to touch. "I'm happy to play the asshole if it keeps you safe."

Ben tilted his head, his confusion only seeming to grow. "Letting me go will do you a favor. I'm going to kill Vaughn."

"How? You can't even get out of those cuffs."

A feral gleam showed in Ben's eyes. "I'll figure it out."

The determination of this sprite was worrying. Connor could tell Ben he meant it. "Vaughn will kill you."

"So what—" Ben stopped when a snarl reverberated from Connor's chest.

Pulse speeding up, Connor spat, "Damn you for thinking your life is worth less than Vaughn's. If you won't value your own life, I will!"

Ben gaped at him. "I'm going to find Vaughn, and only one of us is walking away."

Connor's wolf growled. Such stupid stubbornness. The sprite didn't have the fighting skills to go up against Vaughn and his pack. Being caught by them was a one-way trip, and it outraged Connor that Ben seemed fine with that.

"You give me no choice, Ben. Vaughn will never have you, and if that means stopping you from playing a foolish game of hunter and prey, then so be it. It's over for you."

Glancing about at his stony-faced enforcers, Connor was certain his wolves would uphold his promise.

Satisfied, Connor moved through the van and sat in the front seat before the urge to snarl grew too strong. He needed distance again from the pretty sprite. That damn smell already got under his skin. So, too, those big forest-green eyes and his reckless mouth and quick mind. Ben was going to learn his worth.

He didn't turn when he heard Ben yank on the cuff, swearing.

Muttering under his breath, Connor cracked open the window to clear his head. That damn scent…

Jake snorted.

"Keep driving," Connor muttered. "I don't want us stuck waiting somewhere like easy prey because the plane is running late."

"Sure thing, though I have a feeling everything is going to turn out perfectly," Jake replied quietly.

Resisting the urge to glance into the back of the van, Connor said, "Let's not trust our luck just yet, okay?"

Jake smiled like he knew something but wisely kept his mouth shut.

But two hours later, they pulled into a private airfield beside paddocks of cows just as their plane was landing.

Perfect timing.

Jake had the grace to say nothing as he turned off the road.

A lone security guard sat by the solitary gate but didn't look up from his tablet as they drove past. With Jake parking them by the chain-link fence next to a small building, Connor ordered everyone to grab their gear as the plane taxied toward them.

Seamus uncuffed Ben from the ring and quickly spun him about before locking his wrists behind his back. Hauling him to his feet, he ushered Ben to the side door.

"Didn't know wolves were so scared of sprites," Ben muttered. "I can't outrun you, big bad."

"Maybe so," Seamus said good-naturedly, a hand bunching the back of Ben's shirt. "But you're going to give it a shot, right? I can smell it on you."

Ben looked over his shoulder up at the wolf. "Yeah? What does that smell like?"

Connor clenched his hands into fists at the thought of Seamus leaning in for a sniff. But his enforcer was smart and didn't move closer.

"Peppercorns and burnt sugar," Seamus said.

"And oranges," Anders said.

"With a hint of lemongrass," Kris added with a grin.

Connor disagreed with all of them. Ben smelled of summer and perfection.

Wrinkling his nose, Ben said, "Wolves are so weird."

Connor resisted scrubbing his face and hopped out of the van to slide the side door open. He grabbed Ben's upper arm and helped him down onto the tarmac.

The sprite looked about, face paling as he took in where they were.

"Oh, fuck no," Ben muttered. He took quick, rapid breaths, his scent souring. "Of course, you own a private jet."

"Don't be scared," Connor said, guiding him toward the plane. "Oakford territory is going to be a sanctuary for you."

But the sprite wasn't listening, his forest-green eyes turning unfocussed. He pulled against Connor's hold, his body trembling slightly as his breaths turned shallow. Ben stumbled in the plane's shadow, turning weak-limbed as panic set in.

"Please, you can't—!" the sprite gasped. "I have to stop Vaughn!"

Pausing on the tarmac, Connor changed his grip, sliding a hand to the nape of Ben's neck, resting on smooth but sweaty skin. Ben's scent soured further as if he expected a strike.

Connor squeezed gently and risked a headbutt by bending to rest his forehead against Ben's. "Breathe with me, Ben. Slowly." He took a deep breath, flooding his senses with Ben's sweet water and grassy scent, and slowly exhaled as his wolf rumbled happily. "Easy, now."

He vaguely sensed his enforcers in a loose circle around them, watching the airfield's boundaries as Connor worked to connect with his sprite.

Connor breathed deeply again, gratified when Ben joined him, lungs expanding before the sprite released a shuddering exhale.

"Good, Ben, that's good. With me again."

Ben did, taking a gulping breath as he instinctively pressed against Connor. Forest-green eyes slid closed as if in acceptance.

Connor felt something settle within him, a rightness that felt both terrifying and impossible to ignore. It surged between them and snapped into place, fragile in its newness. Connor felt his world similarly expand and collapse until all that existed was Ben and the breath shared between them.

"Connor," Ben rasped, feeling it, too.

They stood like that for an unknown amount of time, breathing each other in until the tension in Ben's limbs eased and his breaths grew steady. Connor wanted to stay like that forever, drawn deeper into the sprite's vortex.

Ben drew back, his expression slightly dazed. He swallowed as if trying to remember where they were. "What was that?" he croaked, obviously trying to drag up his previous distrust. "Did you just alpha-wolf me?"

"There's no such thing," Connor murmured, tilting his head. "Alphas can command, but we can't control anyone who doesn't want it."

The pretty sprite didn't seem to realize what happened between them. Did sprites not have bonds? Or maybe Ben didn't know, having been too young to learn his people's lore before losing his family. Maybe Ben was so long without safety and connection that he couldn't recognize it when it stood right in front of him.

It made Connor ache for Ben and want to pull him close.

"Come onto the plane, Ben," he said gently. The sweet-water scent thickened when he gently cupped Ben's jaw. "It will be okay."

Ben exhaled slowly, studying Connor's face as if he could read his soul.

Connor almost hoped he could. He'd do anything for Ben, if only the sprite allowed it.

Whatever it was in Ben's eyes, it wasn't trust. "I'm going to kill Vaughn. You should only worry about what happens if you continue to get in my way."

A threat from a luckbringer was no small thing. Except the sprite's luck had already latched on to Connor, and only for the better.

"Noted," Connor said, fully intending to remain on his current course. Perhaps with an adjustment here and there. "I don't take your anger lightly, Ben. But things will be different from now on."

Yes, there was definite distrust in those dark green eyes.

So be it.

Connor motioned to Seamus to help the sprite up the steps. Ben's cuffs glinted in the afternoon sunlight like a reminder of how far they needed to go.

Breathing in the vague smell of fuel and tar, Connor grounded himself in his wolf and their shared frustration. They'd take Ben into the mountains and help him grow strong again. Maybe see if they could turn that wildness into something more dangerous.

The thought appeased his wolf.

The whine of the plane's engines started up again.

Ben was theirs, and his life would be better because of it.

Determination simmering in his blood, Connor trotted up the stairs after his enforcers.

There was work to be done.