Page 76 of Meant for Them

Preston drove Ariel to work the next day, because he needed to stop in at work. He said he would periodically check in on her at the clinic. Since both doctors and the other assistants were there, Ariel should be safe.

With Ariel being watched, Benson headed to the barn for a training session with Liam and Alex. Uncle Adam had sent him a text this morning thanking him for the information about who might have killed Dave Franklin and Samantha Ortiz, saying everyone’s thoughts had been very helpful. In fact, he, Noah, Mason, and two of Benson’s cousins, Jude and Tucker, were going to try to find Anna.

The plan was for Mason to locate Hammer and tail him, while the others checked out Hammer’s home. They were hoping there wouldn’t be any kind of confrontation, though if Anna had a guard, they were certain they could take him down.

His uncle decided not to bring the Midvale sheriff into the search, in case there was a werewolf fight. Uncle Adam said he didn’t know how the sheriff would react if he learned about their kind.

Because they didn’t have a search warrant to enter Hammer’s house, they used a drone with an infrared camera to see if anyone was in or around his property. His uncle said he learned about the value of infrared drones from General Armand. Not only had his friend told him that piece of equipment had been instrumental in bringing down several criminals, Benson had mentioned that to Liam and Alex who sung its praises.

When Benson arrived at his family’s home, the two trainers were already in the barn.

“Right on time. We’re going to break the session into two parts today,” Alex said. “We’ll start here in the barn. Both Liam and I will attack you.”

“I can’t even handle one, let alone both of you.”

“I wish we had a month or more to train you, but we don’t. If we are dealing with a cartel, you can be assured that Paul Franklin has a lot of bodyguards and other men. We have to assume they are well-trained.”

“Great. Maybe I should be the one to use a gun. I’m pretty handy with one.”

“If you think you can hit a moving wolf, who may or may not be engaged in battle with say, Preston, go ahead.”

Alex was a spoilsport. “Fine. I’ll see about fighting the two of you, but remember that Ariel is unaware of our status.”

“When are you going to tell her? She’ll learn about you guys eventually.”

He was well aware of that, especially if he had to help take down Hammer or other members of Paul Franklin’s clan. “Soon. I keep telling myself that she is very fond of us, but being with a beast might scare her into not wanting anything to do with us.”

“Then we’ll just nip you on the throat. When we do, it means you’d be dead if we weren’t practicing.”

“I understand. Assuming you let me live through the first part of this exercise, what’s the second part?”

“We’ll go outside. You said that Hammer’s home is on the outskirts of town. We need to be prepared for anything. We’ll teach you some hiding techniques.”

“Who would have guessed being a prosecutor was a safer job?” Then Benson chuckled.

“I’d have to agree with you, but don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.”

Without warning, the men shifted. Benson did the same, but if he’d hesitated for even a second, he would have been mauled to death had this been a real fight. Focusing on the two wolves, he went on the attack and lunged at Alex. Too bad that freed up Liam to bite Benson’s butt.

“Let’s stop for a moment,”Liam telepathed.

Benson was thankful for the do-over.“I guess I shouldn’t have tried to take on two wolves at once, right?”

“Correct. If two are coming at you at once, circle them. Your goal is to keep one of the wolves between you and the other one. It will be harder for the second wolf to attack you.”

That made sense. If his mouth was on one of the wolves’ throats, his rear would be exposed if he didn’t put this wolf between him and his other opponent.“Okay, let’s try this again,”he telepathed.

For the next hour, the three of them drilled to the point where Benson’s legs were about to give out, but to admit that was not in his nature.

“Let’s go outside,”Liam telepathed.

Benson dropped to his haunches.“How about a quick break?”

Both men shifted, and Benson did too. “This is hard work.”

“Staying alive is hard. Keep Ariel in your mind. You’re taking down these bad guys so that they never have the chance to come after her.”

He liked the way Liam thought. Alex carried over a bottle of water and handed it to him. “Thanks. I’ll be good to go in a minute.”

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