Chapter 2- Benjamin

-Benjamin- “Fuuuuck,” I hiss as Mags slowly grinds against me. “Faster.” She smirks down at me, rolling her hips slower and looking sexy as hell. “I’m in charge right now, Ben.” Listen, I love the shewolf. I knew the second I saw her that she was my true mate. Lily was necessary to give me my daughter Molly, and I’ll never regret that. But Mags was always what the goddess had planned for me. But as much as I love her, I can’t handle letting her be in control. I try, and I think she enjoys it, but she’s never upset when I take control again, which is what I’m about to do. I reach up and run my fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck before making a fist and tugging back. She smiles as I tug her head back, elongating her neck. f**k. The Goddess rewarded me with this shewolf. “I said faster,” I growl. She braces herself against me, her small hands landing on my firm stomach as she moves a little faster, but intentionally not giving me what I want. “You need to learn to be patient, Benny.” Now she’s just trying to pick at me. Everyone paused when the former Queen Cora called me that upon her return to the palace, but only Mags has been bold enough to call me that to my face. Well, little Emily tried it once, but my son-in-law Seth stepped between us. I wasn’t going to hurt the kid. I just wanted to scare her a little, but he wasn’t having it. I release Mags’ hair, but only so I can lift her off me and toss her onto the bed. She squeals, but it’s a happy sound. She knew exactly what she was doing. When I was a younger man, I thought getting older would be terrible. Truly, it’s something I’ve dreaded since I was a boy. Then I was forced to let Molly be adopted, and the loss of that bond took my strength. There were some days when I could barely walk. Now I’m not the man I was at twenty, but I feel better than those lost days, and I don’t take them for granted. I train. I teach the kids how to run their packs. I f**k my gorgeous mate. Life has been pretty damn good. Mags rolls onto her stomach, and I lift her hips, giving her no time to adjust before I sink into her. “You could have just cooperated,” I whisper in her ear as I lean over her. She looks at me over her shoulder, smirking. “Never.” I sit back up and slap her ass before pounding into her. Like I said, life has been good. I get out of the shower and throw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. “Andrew wants to be alone, Ben,” Mags tells me. I nod. “I know. Seth shouldn’t let him be alone, though. He’s only fifteen. He’s putting so much pressure on himself and will be upset again if he doesn’t shift again. Then there’s the fact that he’s a royal, so he COULD shift. What if he does, and he’s alone?” She smiles at me, her eyes heavy. “You’re a good man.” “I’ll stay back and watch. I won’t talk to him if he doesn’t need me.” I’m pretty sure I won’t talk to him if he doesn’t need me. I’m not sure I can stay back and watch him, though. Andrew is a good kid. Not the kind of good where parents tell you and then you find out they’re actually little shits. No. He’s a GOOD kid, and I’ve no doubt that he’ll be a good man. He’s become so serious over the past few years, though. Now he’s determined to shift, and it’s early. I walk around the corner and am shocked to see David leaving his apartment. He looks up at me in shock, and I realize that we’re going to do the same thing. “We have to, right?” he asks. I nod. “Of course. He’s a kid.” We get on the elevator and press the button for the ground floor, but it stops on the second floor. The doors open to reveal Peter, who looks between the two of us and steps on, turning around and not pushing a button. “So we’re all going to the same place, I assume?” he asks. “Yup,” David and I echo in unison. Peter nods once. “It’s best to go out the back and circle the palace through the woods. Less chance of him seeing us.” “Sounds good to me,” I say with a small smile. “All three grandpas together,” Peter chuckles. “You realize this is a moment that would have been perfect for Randall, right? He always knew the right thing to do.” I frown. I’d sent my only daughter into his pack with her memory wiped, knowing he would take her in. I never knew he’d raise her as his own. I had time to stop the adoption, but I couldn’t bring myself to, because he was one of the best men I knew, and I knew she’d be safe there. Even after Molly and I reunited, I never wanted to get between them, because he was the father she deserved to have. We were all gutted when he died. Even David was, which is saying something because he knew he was mated to Molly’s mother. He’s another good man, though, because he gave Celeste time to grieve her loss. I don’t think he ever told her they were mates. He waited patiently for her to feel it. We don’t have Randall, but I think the three of us are a pretty good team. The elevator dings and the doors open. Peter sticks his head out and looks around the palace before stepping out. We follow him and head through the back, just as he suggested, not seeing a single soul. “We agree that Seth is wrong for this, right?” David asks. “I know he’s trying to respect his son’s wishes, but…” He doesn’t have to finish his sentence, because we’re all thinking the same thing. “He’s not going to shift tonight. He shouldn’t shift tonight.” “His magic may make it more difficult, too,” Peter says. “I doubt anyone else has mentioned that to him.” “You can’t,” David says. “Because then he’ll say that his twin, Cora, has magic and shifted as a pup.” I sigh. “They’re going to have to tell him soon. They’re old enough to know about what happened. I think telling him she shifted to save his life has given him some kind of complex about it all.” They both nod in agreement. Peter sniffs and then rolls his eyes. “We’re not alone.” “Danger?” David asks. I close my eyes and inhale, catching the scent of Seth, my son Calvin, and Randall’s son Robert. I can’t help but smile. I should have known Seth wouldn’t let Andrew sit out here alone. He’s a good father, probably better than any of us three were. We walk toward the place in the woods where Andrew usually goes. I don’t know why he always goes to the same little clearing, but every time he’s attempted to shift, he's been there. Honestly, it’s surprising that he hasn’t tried to change locations to see if there’s a problem with the location. As usual, we find Andrew seated on the ground, his eyes closed and his legs crossed as if he’s meditating like humans do. Perhaps he’s able to speak with his wolf more easily that way, but it seems crazy. We sit in the shadows for quite some time before Andrew screams. It hurts my heart because there’s no need for this much pressure on him. The kid stands up and kicks a tree before lifting branches and throwing them around. I’m about to step in, but then his magic swirls around him. Leaves and branches lift and swirl all around, kicking up dust as they go. “s**t. This isn’t good,” Peter says softly. “I didn’t make a plan for his magic to be involved.” “I’ll link Molly,” I tell him, knowing that she’s the only one with magic that will understand what’s happening. Before I do, though, I see Seth walk across the clearing. The King of All Werewolves walks toward his son with no fear, swatting at branches as they come toward him. He reaches out, grabs Andrew, and pulls him into a hug. It takes a moment, but everything in the air slowly drops to the ground. “This is bullshit!” Andrew cries, his hands balling into fists around the back of Seth’s shirt. “It’s not fair!” I see Calvin and Rob appear from the trees on the other side of the clearing, so I decide to get closer. Peter and David both follow me. All five of us stay close, but we don’t interrupt. We’re all worried about the kid, and if he needs a hug from his dad, none of us is going to break that up. “I can’t even hear him now,” Andrew sobs. “I can’t go to training. I can’t do anything.” “You’re not supposed to do anything,” Seth says into his curly hair, still not releasing his hold. “You’re a kid. You’ve put too much pressure on yourself.” “It wasn’t safe for you to go to training,” Rob speaks up. “This will be a much better training process for you. If we didn’t think so, we wouldn’t have brought our own kids here.” Andrew looks around, seeing all of us standing together before turning back to his dad. “Why did you tell everyone to come out here?” “I didn’t tell anyone! Calvin heard you tell me you wanted to be alone to try to shift. We ran into Rob on the way out. I don’t even know how these old guys knew!” Peter is the one who steps forward. “We weren’t going to let you be alone. If you don’t want your sister here, we get it. But you won’t be alone for your first shift, not when there are this many of us who care about you.” “Well, I didn’t shift,” Andrew says, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. “Again.” “Because you’re a kid,” I remind him. “But Cora shifts,” he says. “She’s a shewolf. It’s not right. I’m supposed to be the king. What if Dad tries to give me the throne, and he can’t, because it goes to her?”