“Now don’t go getting all macho on us, Mr. Wallbanger. Clara may not forgive me if I am forced to mess up that pretty little face.” Wall raised an eyebrow, which pulled a half smile from Clara.
“Dude, you have a gun to my head. What exactly is it that you think I am going to do?”
“Better to be safe than sorry, don’t ya think?” Karina asked.
Wall took a step back when the fox pulled on his shirt. Smiling, he continued backing up as Clara pulled on clothes.
“Now Mr. Wallbanger, why don’t you sit your butt down right here?” With a hand on his shoulder, Karina tried to push him down to the floor.
“You want me to sit on the floor? Hell you just got me off the floor. Surely you could have left me there?” he asked, using his most unthreatening voice.
Clara sat on the end of the bed, now dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt. She pulled on biker boots and flicked a quick look at him.
She was nervous; he could tell. Whether it was of him and the small smile he wore that promised retribution or for the woman who still held a gun to his head, he wasn’t sure.
“Arm, please?” Karina asked pulling his right arm behind his back.
“Dude, if you wanted to tie me up, all you had to do is ask. I like a little kink, don’t I, my own?” He let Karina pull his arm behind his back. His smile grew, as did Clara’s eyes, when he felt the metal handcuffs cinch onto his wrist.
He heard them threaded through the radiator bar, and then Karina tapped his left arm. Wall obliged. After all, the entire motel as a whole looked like it would be demolished with a big bad wolf-type blow.
When he was secure, the fox got up and backed away from him, the gun still pointed at him.
“Did you find him?” Clara asked.
“Yep, not far either. We’ll be there within the hour.” Karina nodded.
Neither looked away from Wall. His eyes narrowed.
“Clara,” was all he said, the warning clear in his tone.
She ignored him. “Let’s finish this.”
“Sure thing.” Karina winked.
Wall started to pull against the cuffs that held him.
“And don’t bother fighting, little wolf boy. Those are bear-grade handcuffs, and the pipe I chained you to was the strongest in the whole damn place.” She practically skipped out of the room.
“Clara,” Wall called as his woman went to follow her.
“I’ll come back for you, Wall, I promise.” She started to back out of the room.
“Clara.” He fought harder against the restraints. “Don’t leave.”
“I have to do this,” Clara swore.
“Clara, please, my own.” Wall knew he was begging but didn’t care. He was fighting to save her life, his life. If anything happened…
His heart missed a beat as she ran back into the room and threw her arms around him.
“I love you.” She breathed against his mouth before kissing him hard and running out of the room.
It took a second for his heart to start again. When the steady beat thumped in his chest, Wall knew without a shadow of a doubt before this day was over, he would have his woman back in his arms, and Alberto would be one dead mutt.
* * * *
Clara sat on the log in a patch of clear ground out in the open looking at her nails without really seeing them. The look on Wall’s face when she’d left, as if she’d ripped out his heart and stomped all over it, would haunt her forever.
She didn’t think he would ever forgive her. Perhaps now would be a good time to take Karina up on her offer and go north, visit with her for a while, and see what else was out there. There was no way she could stay around and watch Wall move on, and he would move to find a woman who could truly be his. It would destroy Clara.
“Wow, I never thought you would just be sitting here waiting.” The deep voice behind her didn’t make Clara jump. She’d been expecting him. After all, she had left him a message to come meet her.
“And this surprises you, why? I told you where to meet me. I actually expected you a little while ago. Apparently your old bones don’t move as fast as they used to.”
Alberto growled low as he walked around to the front of her. Clara just smiled at him.
He looked a lot like his brother, tall but with graying hair. The loss of the pack had aged the man. Despite his hair, Alberto looked a lot younger than his late fifties.
A soft breeze blew through the trees around them, the rustling of the leaves strangely adding to the tension of the moment.
“I see your brother is as much of a coward as I heard. First he hid behind his mate’s skirts and now behind his little sister,” Alberto sneered.
Clara simply smiled.
“My brother really didn’t think you were worth the effort. After all, without the support of your brother, you really aren’t much of a threat, are you? Besides, you threatened me, took a shot at me. Did you really think I would let that slide?”
He took a step toward her, and she released a soft sigh. She needed him to come closer if this was going to work. Karina wasn’t far, and she needed to see everything clearly.
“I could rip your throat out and leave your bleeding body for your joke of an Alpha to find.” Alberto snarled.
“You could, but do you think you will get close to me, old man?” she taunted. She slipped off the log she had been sitting on and took a step toward him.
She knew Alberto would see the move for the challenge it was.
“So you want to do it this way,” looking him up and down his human body, she asked, “or the right way?”
She slipped her feet from her shoes and started to pull down her jeans when he snarled, ripping his own clothes off preparing to shift.
Clara had just managed to throw the last item of her clothing away when Alberto, already shifted, leaped at her. She ducked, hitting the ground. She rolled onto her stomach and shifted, ready to pounce the second he came back for her if all else failed.
He skidded to a stop, spinning before he leaped at her again. He landed on her back, but Clara spun at the same time throwing him off. She didn’t give him time to recover. She moved on him, biting into his leg until she tasted his blood. Alberto howled his pain. She didn’t care. She owed him that much for the blood she had lost from the gun wound.
He managed to gain the advantage and kicked her off. Clara rolled away ready to attack again.
Alberto turned on her, fangs bared, ready to fight to the death. He leaped again. Clara watched him coming as if in slow motion.
*
Wall jumped from the car before it had even stopped. Luckily Heath, Laney, and Duke had turned up at the motel minutes before he had shifted and torn the building down.
His feet had just hit the earth when he heard the shot ring out.
For a heart-stopping second, he didn’t know what to do. Then he took off running toward the sound.
Heath was close behind him, keeping pace as they headed toward the clearing. They burst through the greenery together.
Heath skidded to a stop, but Wall couldn’t as he headed toward the dead wolf, fur soaked in its own blood, and Clara who stood naked over it.
He grabbed her arm, spun her, and pulled her into a fierce embrace.
“Oomph! Wall, I can’t breathe.” She moaned as he held her as tight as he could.
He pulled back and looked down at her.
“You’re alive,” he whispered in awe. She’d survived and was safe.
“I’m fine. You don’t need to worry anymore.” She gave him a tentative and unsure smile. That one small move had his wolf snapping its leash. Clara must have seen something in his face because her smile slipped and eyes went wide.
Wall felt his fangs appear. Brushing her hair away from her shoulder, he growled low.
“Mine.”
“Wait,” Clara squeaked a second before he sank his teeth in the flesh where her shoulder met her neck.
Clara screamed out as the orgasm racked her bo
dy. Wall was faintly aware of people around them, but all he could hear was the panting of Clara’s breath and the shuddering of her body.
He pulled free of her and softly licked the wounds until they closed.
“Oh God,” Clara’s breath hiccupped.
“My own,” he whispered to her.
“What the hell!” Heath’s vicious snarl from behind him burst the bubble he’d created around them.
Wall pulled her closer to him, unwilling to let her go, not even for her big brother and his Alpha.
“You just run up and mark her like that? Out here? After all that just happened?” Heath yelled at him.
Wall refused to turn away from her. Tiny tremors still shocked her body. He had heard taking the bite of your mate could bring on orgasm, but he had never seen it, never believed it. He had been wrong.
“Are you okay?” he asked her when her body seemed to have quieted down.
Clara nodded but didn’t speak.
His heart constricted. Jesus, what had he done?
“I need my clothes.” She spoke barely above a whisper.
Wall didn’t bother looking for them. He simply set her down gently and pulled his own shirt off and slipped it over her head.
She nodded her thanks and then flicked a look over his shoulder. He knew Heath was there, and no doubt so were Laney and Duke. He didn’t care. All he cared about was the woman in front of him who still hadn’t looked at him.
Wall reached out a hand to brush her hair away from her face, but she flinched away from him. He felt his heart snap, cracking clean in two.
“Heath,” she called to her brother. “I need … um … I need to go.”
His Alpha didn’t miss a beat and strode over to scoop her up into his arms and stomped away.
Wall started to follow, but Heath snarled, “Not now,” and vanished with Wall’s woman.
When they were out of sight, Wall noticed Duke had stayed behind.
“I have seen some dumb shit in my life, but that right there takes the crowning glory.” Duke sneered.
Wall narrowed his gaze at him. “You really don’t want to start with me right now, St. Clair. I will tear your throat out and leave your bleeding body for the scavengers to feed on.”
Duke looked back at him, and for a moment Wall thought the full human would make the move. He hadn’t expected the large cheesy grin to spread across his face. Wall frowned. A cough behind him had Wall closing his eyes and dropping his chin to his chest.
With a resigned sigh, he turned to face the two people who stood there: Karina with her sniper’s rifle in her hands; and the other far more daunting, a large wolf shifter, with green eyes and auburn hair that was starting to go white with age. The man must have been about six feet seven because Wall had to look up at him.
Wall took on a fighter’s stance, ready for the attack he was sure was coming. He swallowed to wet his dry throat and offered his hand to the man.
“Hello, Mr. Marsterson.”
Clara’s daddy.
Chapter 7
Clara lay on the bed not really seeing anything.
They’d made it back to the pack house in record time; the journey seemed to fly by. She wasn’t sure if that was more from the fact that she didn’t care or that her brother drove like the devil himself was on their trail.
She knew Alberto’s body was taken care of. The man had died as wolf; therefore, he stayed as wolf. They would send notification to the rest of his pack, and they could reclaim his body if they wanted to. If not, he would just be another dead wolf.
Now she lay there watching the other women move around her. She knew they were there to watch over her.
“Honey, do you want me to get you something else to wear?”
Clara shook her head. She wanted to keep Wall’s shirt. His scent was heavy on it still, and she needed that.
“Okay, honey.”
Laney came in, took one look at Clara, and ordered everyone out.
“God I love being queen sometimes.” Laney smiled and climbed onto the bed next to her.
She moved close, almost spooning Clara, who was pretty sure that any other time this would equally freak her out and make her laugh all at once. However, not today. Today she just didn’t care.
“Do you want me to skin him and lay his still-bleeding corpse out in the sun?” Laney asked.
“No.”
“Do you want me to cut him with a small sharp knife all over his body and then rub salt and vinegar into the wounds?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to remove his cock and then staple it to his forehead while making him dance a jig?”
Clara smiled. If nothing else, Laney knew how to distract her. “No.”
“Do you want me to go save him from your dad and brother who have him stashed in the garage?”
“No. Wait, what?” Clara sat up and looked down at her crazy sister-in-law.
“Your dad and brother have Wall out in the garage, have had him there for like an hour.” Laney shrugged. “Now I personally think whatever they are doing he deserves, but my mother called.” Laney rolled her eyes. “Apparently I had to tell you or ‘she was coming out here.’”
Clara didn’t ask anything more. She shot off the bed and out of the door. The entire time she prayed that they hadn’t done anything too permanent to Wall.
She got to the garage and threw open the door. Skidding to a stop, she looked around the room, stared at each of the three men standing there, talking and… Dear God, were they drinking beers?
“Evening.” She nodded, trying to act as casual as they seemed to be.
“Hey, baby girl.” Her father smiled at her, opening his arms wide.
Clara stepped into her father’s embrace. He engulfed her. No matter how grown up she was, her father always made her feel five years old.
“What are you doing here, Daddy?”
“Duke called and told me about your troubles and asked for my help. Your mother thought it best if I swung through and checked out the mess you and your brother had gotten into.” He winked at her. “I really can’t leave you two alone for five minutes before one of you starts up a fight.”
“We are fine, Daddy. You didn’t need to come out here,” Clara assured him.
“Fine?” Her father pulled the neckline of Wall’s T-shirt away and looked down at the mark Wall had left there and the bullet wound, which was no more than a faint scar now.
“Yes, Daddy, fine.” Clara stepped away from him.
“I got to that clearing just before you started scuffling. Little Karina filled me in on the plan. That fox always picks the most advantageous places for her shots. Her daddy taught her well.” Her father smiled. “So I stayed out of the way, but I was there for you, baby. You know that right?”
“I know.”
“Your brother tells me Wall here is a pretty nice guy.” He sniffed.
“He is.”
“Until it comes to you; then he seems to lose his mind.”
Clara didn’t look away.
“I love him,” she stated simply.
“That’s all I wanted to know. Come on, son.” He lent down, kissed her forehead, and walked off. Heath stopped in front of her.
“I was so looking forward to kicking his ass.” Heath bent and kissed her forehead too before following their father out the door.
She turned to watch them leave, conscious that Wall had not moved. He was still leaning on the wall behind her. She was suddenly too shy to face him.
“Did they hurt you?” she asked instead.
“No, although I think they were planning to before you came in,” Wall said.
“Probably. Although I think getting you drunk first was high on their list.”
There was a silence again, the only sound that of their breathing.
“Did you mean it?” Wall finally asked.
“Yes, they were definitely planning on getting you drunk.” She shrugged.
“Not that.” He moved and s
tood behind her, close. “When you told them you love me? When you said it when you had me chained in that motel room?”
Clara’s heart missed a beat. Did she love him? Of course she did. More than her next breath.
“I love you,” she said again as she turned to face him.
The air seemed to rush out of him. For a second, she was worried he would stop breathing, but then he grinned at her.
“I love you too, my own.” He took a step toward her, but she stopped him with a raised hand.
“The next time you mark me, let’s not do it in front of the pack, and most definitely not in front of my brother and daddy.”
“I swear that will never happen again. I am so sorry. I just lost my mind when I heard the shot, and then you were there alive, and my wolf took over.”
“I can’t believe you thought I would go after Alberto without a plan.” Clara accused.
“I can’t believe what a shot your friend is.”
“Karina is a sniper. It’s the family business.”
Wall frowned and Clara laughed.
“Don’t ask.”
“I won’t.” He reached out and pulled her to him. “You still have my shirt on.”
“I had no clean clothes.”
“You have a tendency to steal my shirts. Is this an addiction we are going to have to deal with?” He smiled down at her.
“Wow, for a second I forgot you are a big dork.” She laughed.
“Dude, you love my dorkiness.” He grinned.
“I do, dude.”
Wall leaned down and kissed her, reined a line of kisses along her jawline and neck until he reached the mark he left on her.
Clara shuddered.
“Let me do this right, my own.”
“No, you marked me, and I wouldn’t change that for the world,” she assured him. Running a light finger down his nose, she gave him a small smile.
Wall closed his eyes as she ran her hand up through his hair. She watched him relax under her hand, a contented smile on his face until she took a handful of that hair and yanked, hard.
“Dude!” Wall gasped.
“But let me be very clear; the next time I tell you to let me handle something, you sure the hell better stay out of my way. As much as I love you, I will start breaking vital parts of your body. Do we understand each other?” she asked with a daunting calmness.
Claiming Clara Page 6
