Page 52 of Forced Bonds

“I think the book holds more than just the rogue part,” Altaur warned, but neither Sal nor I cared about that. “You need to be prepared for how our world can change if they get the book.”

“Don’t care,” Sal replied, swerving around two cars and passing them.

“I didn’t think you did, but I thought a warning was in order. I just spoke to the coven master. You need to bring them the book or Benjamin dies. You have two hours.” Then he hung up.

Sal swore and I growled, wanting to bite into the necks of those vampires who’d taken what was ours. “We have to fucking go back because of this shit!” he grumbled, turning the car and driving back towards the library.

“I don’t even know if we can remove the book,” I said, whining low. “We might die like my father did.”

“Then we’ll die together,” Sal declared and I was okay with that. We didn’t have time to waste anyway and even if we managed to get some witches to help us grab the book, we had no idea if they would destroy it or willingly hand it over to us. This way we at least had a chance of saving Benji.

We entered the library, ignoring the questions from the pack as we rushed inside to grab the damn book. I ordered them to stand back and they did, but they were nosy so I doubted it would last long. I led Sal deeper into the library, all the way to the back where the basement steps were, then descended them, Sal right behind me. The inside of the library wasn’t warded, only the outside, but I could still feel magic as we reached the bottom of the stairs. The book was in a glass case, one my mother had brought for this purpose alone, not that it would protect the book from theft, no it just made it look nice. I growled as we neared it. This book had taken my father from me, my packmates, and now my mate. It was time to get rid of the evil thing. Something I should’ve done as soon as my father died. Thinking back that would’ve been the obvious choice, but I hadn’t thought clearly back then, with Father dying and Mother being a bitch.

“We grab it at the same time,” Sal said, removing the glass and throwing it behind us, making it shatter. I shifted and stood next to my vampire, holding his hand while the other was ready to lift the book. It started to glow and we swallowed uneasily as we took it without issue. I sighed with relief. Sal took the book from me and I shifted back to my wolf.

We had a feisty human to save.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Salizar

As we drove in the direction Anker had put into the GPS, I felt like I wasn’t truly there. I’d never been as terrified as I was now, not knowing what would happen to my sweetheart. Benji had been my obsession since the first time I’d met him, and the feeling had only intensified until I claimed him as mine. Now I was fully obsessed and would be forever. He was mine. And someone had dared take him. What was worse, was that these vampires were stronger than me and I couldn’t just run in there and tear them apart. Even if I really, really wanted to.

“Get dressed, we’ll be there in under seven minutes,” I said, pointing to the backseat. Chris did so, moving his wolf body into the back to get dressed. I didn’t want to face them without his hand in mine, even if that made me seem weak. I’d never faced someone stronger than me before. Never had my heart taken away from me either.

We didn’t speak as we drove, the book was on the passenger side’s floor, simply because neither of us wanted to touch it anymore than we had to. It was a leatherbound book that literally glowed a faint white color, the magic inside it brimming enough to make it look alive. It was unnerving, to say the least.

“Wait, are we heading towards their coven mansion?” Chris said, his voice squeaking a bit as we approached a huge mansion, twice the size of our coven’s main mansion.

“It appears that we are,” I sighed. I’d thought their base or home was on the other side of the globe, not an hour's drive from Keen.

I let off the gas now that we were closing in on our destination. I didn’t want them to think we were here to attack. That wouldn’t get us our Benji. Rather the opposite, really.

We reached a black fenced gate, but before I could even decide on what to say to them through the gate, it opened ominously and we drove further in, stopping right in front of the mansion steps and parking there.

“You should hold the book,” I said, looking down at where it still glowed. “If they attack us, I’ll be able to react faster without that thing getting in the way.”

Chris nodded, his posture tense as he grabbed it. “We’ll get him back,” he said, his voice low. It sounded like he was speaking mostly to himself, but I still replied.

“Of course, we will. We haven’t done nearly enough to make our human blush.”

That earned me a small smile before we both left the car, not even bothering with locking it behind us. I took Chris’ hand in mine and together we ascended the stairs. We didn’t even get to knock before a blackhaired woman appeared, wearing a tight silk dress in black and bare feet, her eyes were the telltale color of red all of us vampires had, but hers had a golden ring around the iris, making her look more powerful than any vampire I’d ever met.

“We have brought the book,” I said, simply because I had no idea who she was and I didn’t want to offend her if she was the coven master. If someone had come to my coven and Altaur had greeted them, and then they’d asked for his master… yeah, they’d be killed within seconds. I didn’t want to risk it.

Her perfectly red lips turned into a wide grin before she stepped aside and allowed us in. We did so, knowing Benji’s life was on the line.

“I must say,” she purred, her voice a lot softer than what I’d imagined. “You sure do move fast when you have the right motivation.”

Chris growled, the sound a low weighted thing. They’d taken a werewolf’s mate and I had no idea how long it would take before he would break down and shift. His werewolf form shouldn’t be able to take over unless it was a full moon, but I doubted that would keep it at bay if they kept Benji away from him for longer.

“If we’d known you wanted it, we would’ve given it to you sooner,” I drawled. It was the truth, even if it made her look at me funny.

“You didn’t know that we wanted it?” she asked, trying to mask her surprise.

“No, we did not,” I answered, staring right at her. “You can coerce me for the truth, if you want, but we knew you knew of it, but not if you wanted it for yourselves.”

“Hmm, that’s disappointing. I thought the witches would’ve proven our point.”