The wolf inside pushed against Clara’s skin until she sat just beneath her eyes. Her force caused Clara to wrap her arms around Caleb’s neck to deepen their kiss. Her now clawed nails gripped the back of his shoulders. A growl rumbled through Caleb’s body as he lifted her up until Clara’s leg wrapped around his waist. His lips moved from her mouth to run down her neck. A moan escaped Clara as something hard appeared at her back. The lips and tongue running down her neck and across her collar bone kept her was trying to work out where she was.
A hand moved from holding her up to move between them, a feather-like touch against the seam of her jeans. Clara nipped Caleb’s earlobe before pushing his head back up to hers. She caught his gaze with hers. He made no move to kiss her anywhere, instead he watched her golden gaze with his own as his fingers unbuttoned her jeans. A gasp escaped her as his hand dove inside her underwear. “We have to…” his fingers found her clit, “…stop…” Clara realised another moan he brushed it repeatedly getting harder each time.
“You just have to say so,” Caleb whispered softly. Clara pulled his head closely, desperate for his drugging kiss but he resisted settling for watching her as he massaged her pussy. Clara bowed her head until her forehead rested against his chest. “More,” she whispered to him.
Caleb’s movement changed as fingers dove inside her. Clara could feel her hips moving at their own accord. He kept a slow torturous rhythm. “I need…” Clara moaned against his lips. Caleb slowly withdrew his hand from her causing her to groan at the loss. He moved away pulling off his top. That second of air between them seemed to bring reasoning back to Clara.
They were in the living room with the door wide open and Howard had just been in the room. This was a mistake. A stupid and emotional mistake. Her eyes watched him. But he could be worth a mistake, said a voice in her mind.
“You really should stop overthinking everything,” Caleb said calling Clara to pay attention to him instead of her thoughts. She gazed up at him.
“The doors open,” was all Clara could come up with. Caleb grinned down at her as he caged her in.
“Easily rectified,” he stated before throwing her over his shoulder.
Clara squealed and clawed at his back as she tried to get free. He just laughed and carried her out of the room. Clara watched as the Pack stood in the kitchen watching them move through the house. Embarrassment filled her.
They reached Caleb’s room and he dropped her on his bed. But Clara had gone beyond wanting nothing but him, instead she wanted to hit him for carrying her like a piece of meat. “You asshole!” she growled at him, “They all saw! What are they going to think now?!”
“What they think is their business?” he shrugged before crawling over her. She knew she wasn’t in the position to fight whilst she was lying on her back.
“We can’t do this, Caleb” she said leaning as far down as she could on the bed trying to put space between them.
“Okay,” he said staying where he was over her, “why?”
“Because above everything else going on, we just had my murdering ex-boyfriend in the living room” Clara confessed knowing that it would cause the mood to change.
Caleb shot off her growling. “Why didn’t you say something to me sooner?!”
“You better not be turning this back on me?!” she yelled at him, causing him to stop growling.
“No, I’m not,” he stopped himself, “if I had known, I would have…” Clara smiled at him. She moved until she stood in front of him.
“How can you act like this after knowing me for only a couple of weeks?”
“Why can’t I?” he asked.
“Because you don’t know me,” she smiled solemnly up at him.
“I know you’re a fighter, a survivor, and the fact you secretly care for everyone here even if you don’t admit it to yourself.” He said catching her off-guard as he brushed his thumb against her lips, “For the past few days you’ve tried to help out where you can because you don’t believe you deserve to live here.”
She stared up at him. She shouldn’t be here. She was so vulnerable to the man in front of her. He could see into her soul and with every day he learnt something new about her. Slowly Clara looked up to him, she watched as his smile faltered. She pressed her lips against his in a caste kiss. Caleb didn’t let her pull away and break the spell.
Instead he picked her up and walked her over to the bed. “You’re addictive,” he said as he laid her down with a kiss. His hands moved to remove her top as they kissed. Clara clawed his back trying to pull him closer. She needed him. He was her drug. He moved away from their kiss moving further down, never moving completely away from her. Clara hurried helped him pulling her t-shirt and bra off. His lips encircled her bare nipple almost as soon as her breasts were on show causing her arch up into him with a moan. Her fingers fumbled with his jeans desperate to feel him completely naked against her.
The sound of the zipper soothed her as her hand slowly grazed the hair there. “In a hurry there?” he chuckled against her tit. She smiled at him before taking hold of him. Caleb’s hands moved to relieve himself of his jeans. Clara pumped her hand up and down his member. He moaned and teased within her grasp. He nipped the side of her neck before pulling her hand away.
He ripped off her jeans causing her to gasp as she saw the grin on his face. “You’re beautiful,” he said smiling down at her. Clara blinked at him. He moved until he almost rested fully above her. His fingers traced every scar along her torso making her super aware of every battle she had ever been in, “So strong too” he smiled softly at her face. Clara wasn’t used to this. Tenderness, kindness and going slow wasn’t what she did. She never had. Howard had been rough and what they did was never loving, not really, it was just plain fucking. They kept too many secrets from each other to truly be loving partners.
Yet Caleb caressed every inch of her before moving to her core. By then she was soaking wet and aching for him. The moans that escaped her seemed like they belonged to another body. He licked, sucked and kissed her everywhere. As he entered her, Clara could feel herself clinging to him, completely accepting him. She needed him like she needed her next breath.
Her hands clawed and gripped his back urging him to go faster. Her lips kissed his jaw line as his kissed her neck. His hands moved to hold hers above her head. His face came into view. His golden eyes stared down at hers calling to her wolf. Yet her wolf was happy to sit back and enjoy. Caleb changed his paced going faster and faster causing her moans to grow louder. Her body moved to match his. Their lips brushed and their breath mingled. Her head rolled back and further as she reached her peak. A roaring groan filled the air.
Chapter 7
Clara’s felt way too warm where she was. A heavy weight held her down on the bed. She moved her arms stroking the arm that curled around her waist anchoring her to the hard body behind her. She snuggled closer to the solid body cocooning her. Her eyes opened as she looked at the blank wall opposite her. Her logical mind slowly woke up reprimanding her about what had happened last night. Once they had started, they hadn’t stopped, as if they had been starved of each other for years. Clara nibbled her bottom lip. It shouldn’t have happened. Howard had been in the living room just minutes before they had pounced on each other.
Caleb had offered her what she had needed. He offered comfort and warmth that she had missed for years. It wasn’t until last night that Clara had realised just what she had been doing for the past few years. She had used Howard to give her physical warmth and comfort but nothing more than that. She had kept her distance. Slowly Clara turned around facing the sleeping man next to her. There was one question that stayed in her mind echoing her fears; had she used him as well?
She brushed a hand against his cheek, letting her fingers follow the line of his jawline. The arm around her tightened but Caleb made no notion that he was waking up any time soon. Clara smiled as she took in his features. His low brow line was relaxed with sleep whereas he usually ha
d a crease in the middle whenever they seemed to talk. Clara pulled her hand away and slowly pulled herself away from him. The arm that held her loosened its hold allowing her to climb out of his bed. The whole room scented like him; woody and wild. She sighed grabbing her clothes from the floor before escaping to the bathroom.
She climbed into the shower allowing the hot sprays of water to run down her body washing away any scent of Caleb. It felt wrong and that new part of her scolded her for the move. That part wanted everyone to know that she was with Caleb, that she was his. She shook her head, not truly understanding the animal part of her in this matter. She cleaned her hair and made sure every itch of her body was clean. Stepping out she could still smell him on her clothes and told herself that she wasn’t wearing them again until they were clean as well. Growling to herself she wrapped herself in a towel and towel dried her hair before venturing out to her own room.
The room was still bare of any personalisation, but it was hers. It was a sanctuary she hadn’t realised she had needed in her life until she came here. Slowly she dropped her clothes on a growing pile of laundry and headed over to her closet. She pulled out a pair of cut-off jeans and a baggy grey t-shirt before she tied her hair back. Confident she looked okay and not like someone who had spent their night sleeping with someone else, she wandered downstairs.
As she stepped into the living area eyes landed on her, noses sniffed the air until they were unsatisfied with the result they got. Her gut dropped as she met all of their gazes. They were expecting something else. They had expected us to be mated, said a moody voice in her head. Her eyes widened before she fled the room. She rushed into Caleb’s study and cursed herself for doing so. Having spent her morning routine trying to get his scent off her and out of her head she had run to the comfort of it. Sighing she sat down in his desk chair and let herself relax slightly. She had been with the pack for almost three weeks now, her mind had settled into place although hearing her wolf speaking to her frightened her slightly. Clara shook her head and eyed the desk.
Curiosity killed the cat, but Clara was intrigued by the pile of files on the desk and the fact the computer was on and open pulled her in. She spared a glanced at the door before diving into the pile of files. She found hers and read through it. It was everything The Order had written up about her. Shock run through her. The packs could hack into The Order’s systems and they probably didn’t even know. According to them she was deceased. Her training records, ranking and even mission lists were all in the file. She sighed. Her whole life fitted into a folder no thicker than a brochure. She threw it done on the desk and started taping away at the computer.
At first, she curiously looked at all the files on the system before she found out how to access The Order’s system. She wondered whether she could access it with her code, they should have wiped her from their system if she was dead. Unless. She typed her passcode and identity codes in. She grinned ear to ear as the software welcomed her. Clara did something she never did; she investigated her history. She searched through the background research they must have done on her. Pages flickered before her eyes. Her high school results, every name of the foster parents she had had. Then there it was. In pure black and white. Her parent’s death. Tear sprung anew in her eyes. Laura and Jonathan Richards found dead after bridge gave way under the car, their daughter, however, was found safe on the bank of the river. Clara looked at the date. 31st March 1991. Instantly she opened the web browser and started searching something she hadn’t looked up since she was a teenager.
Hours past and she never left the office. Clara knew everyone must have known where she was as she could hear them talking in the other room along. But she carried on printing anything she found intriguing or confusing. Something didn’t make sense. She had delved even further into her parent’s lives. They had been a normal couple; her mother had been a teacher at a local primary school whilst her dad worked as a mechanic. She investigated their families. Something was strange about her father’s family. Alexandra Volkov a Russian woman who had fled with her family from Russia to England just after world war one. She had died at the age of forty-two during the blitz leaving her daughter Elizabeth behind. Elizabeth Hays had married when she was eighteen and had been pregnant at the time. But she had died young after her husband left her leaving Alyssa’s father, Jonathan alone. Alyssa gnawed of her lip. This was getting confusing.
Returning to The Order’s database she typed in family members names. Nothing came up until she typed in ‘Alexandra Volkov’. Clara’s eyes widened. She pressed print and turned off the computer. She turned and faced the pile that had printed out for her about her great-grandmother. She picked it up and got comfortable in her seat. Flipping it over she stared at the photo of the woman. She had been beautiful with what Clara could tell from the black and white photo. The word ‘DECEASED’ was stamped at the bottom of the photo. Clara carefully put the photo face up on the desk before reading up on her Great-grandmother.
It was as clear as day what was written in the file and it pulled the rug out from under Clara. Her mind did somersaults as she tried to work out how she had gotten so far from her roots. Tears filled her eyes. “Shit!” she yelled before slamming the papers onto the desk. She rushed out of the house stripping as she went. Her body was a step ahead of her. As soon as she was free of her clothes, her body morphed in to her blond wolf form. She howled sorrowfully into the sky before charging off into the woodlands to take her anger out on whoever she came across.
Caleb and Michael charged out of the living room as soon as they heard her swear and slam something down. They caught a glimpse of her shifting. Caleb had shoved Michael away as her naked form had come into view even from a brief moment. But it was the howl that gained their attention. Michael dove after her as Caleb walked into his study. Paper had fallen on the floor. He moved to pick it up, he spotted the name and quickly scanned the pages as he picked them up. Confused he looked towards the other piles of paper that Clara had gathered up. Shock threw him.
She wasn’t just any bitten stray. Caleb looked out of the window to see Michael backing up towards the house. Caleb rushed to him. “She’s in a full-blown rage” Michael said as he limped back indoors, “We’re better off waiting for her to return on her own once she’s given the strays out there a run for their money”.
“Michael can you organise the mess in the office for me?” he sighed before shifting and going after Alyssa.
He charged through the woodland following her scent. He stopped as he caught hold of Michael’s scent and the faint taste of blood on the wind. She had given his beta a warning blow and he had backed down. Growling low Caleb started off again searching for his female. He dove through the bushes hoping to find her along their side of the territory lines, but in his gut, he knew she had gone over. Swallowing his pride, he jumped over the line and charged off following her scent.
He had been running for two miles before he found her attacking strays. Most of the group that had been waiting outside his territory for a glimpse at the female had already backed away to lick their wounds. Yet the she-wolf wasn’t letting up she snapped, growled and slashed at the lone wolves. She ached for blood. Caleb howled gaining her attention. She turned on him growling. He tilted his head and slowly rounded her back into the woodlands. She snapped at him the whole time back she backed up. The blond she-wolf allowed herself to be rounded up back onto the territory lines. Once there she pounced. Her teeth dug into his back whilst Caleb just shook her off and pinned her down. She wriggled and snapped but never tried to do any real damage. After a few minutes she relaxed and whimpered. As she surrendered, Clara’s body eased itself bank into human form.
“Why the hell did you come after me?!” she yelled as soon as he shifted.
“You can’t go off on your own,” Caleb answered calmly, knowing why she was emotional.
“You don’t have to keep saving me, I can look after myself” she yelled.
“I know you can,” once
Caleb answered calmly.
“Then why do you keep doing it?!” she shouted her plea.
“Because you’re one of us, you deserve protection as much as the next person”
“No, I don’t. I’m a murderer. I shot my people in cold blood all out of damn ignorance!” she yelled, “I have no right to be saved!”
She moved to storm off away from the territory, away from safety in order to put herself in danger. “Will you calm down!” he yelled after her, causing her back to go straight as her anger turned back round on to him.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I have killed our kind. I probably killed a few of your family members. Your pack knows it. I know it. Hell, I’ve probably had a hand in killing my own…” she stopped tears fell from her eyes. Caleb stepped towards her hoping to comfort her back she straightened up and pushed the tears back. “You have no right to tell me to calm down. You have no right to save me.”
“You listen to me,” he growled, “I have every right. As your alpha I command you to return to the house!” He hated himself for ordering her about a way he had never done to any of his pack. Her eyes widened as she followed his command. It was one thing an alpha could do that, any command they made their pack members would follow. Many chose not to follow through, some never issued a command in their lifetime. They merely asked and assumed it would get done. They would not lead by force.
Caleb’s gut retched as he watched her go into her house. Her body moving on its own as her wolf took command of her human body. He followed her and pulled her into his study. “I saw all of this before I came to get you.” He said pointing at the now ordered papers. Her eyes stayed downcast as he spoke. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know, but they did”.
The Wolf's Huntress Page 7
