Leashed by a Wolf (7 page)

“Morning, Laney-girl.” He gave a half-hearted smile.

“Morning, Wall. You’re up early.” Laney smiled.

“Nah, you know me, always up with the larks. Busy busy busy.” The wide man said as Laney stopped in front of him.

“I’ll be right back, wait here,” Heath instructed before he disappeared into the back of the house.”

Laney watched him go before turning back to Wall with a soft smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Now why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” she asked casually.

Wall’s eyes went wide before he shook his head. “Nothing, Laney, it’s a small pack problem. Heath is going to be busy sorting it out so he asked if I would escort you back to your family.” Wall tried for a nonchalant shrug, but didn’t quite pull it off.

Laney took a step closer to the man. Looking up into his eyes, she didn’t blink, didn’t say a word, just waited. It was a trick she had learnt when dealing with her brothers, something her mother had taught her. If you stayed silent long enough the person you stared at would soon fill the silence.

She could see Wall trying not to say another word, trying to stare her down, but he couldn’t do it. Within seconds he looked away from her.

“There have been threats. Heath is doing what any good Alpha should do and protecting those in his care. He is pulling the pack in to make sure everyone is safe,” Wall said softly.

“And me being here is a danger to the pack?” Did Heath think she would ever cause harm to those he cared about? Laney’s stomach dropped like lead. Clearly he did; otherwise he wouldn’t be hustling her out the door.

“Thank you for telling me.” Laney smiled at Wall just as Heath walked back into the hall.

“Okay, Wall is going to follow you into town and then hang out for a little while,” Heath said as he pulled open the front door to let them precede him outside.

“You don’t need to do that. I can see you’re all clearly busy. I can get back to town fine,” Laney told Heath’s back as he strode over to her car.

Heath turned and nodded to Wall, who headed to his own vehicle.

“I wasn’t asking, Laney. Wall is going to follow you and that’s that.” Heath pulled open the car door and waited expectantly.

She glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t need a babysitter, Heath. I have older brothers who cause me enough butt aches and I don’t need you to add to it.”

“I don’t have time to argue, Laney-girl. Get in the car and head back to town. I will call you later.”

She could feel the anger pulsing off him in waves. “Fine, I’ll go but don’t think this is over. I’m a grown up, Heath, I can take care of myself.” Laney said plainly before she got into her car.

She heard Heath let out a deep breath before he bent down, leaned across her, and plugged in her seat belt. She thought he would simply slam the car door shut and let her drive off, so she was shocked when he turned and placed a hard kiss on her lips.

“You are like spun glass, my beta, so beautiful but so delicate, sometimes I worry that I’ll push too far and you will shatter.” He spoke against her lips, kissing her with each word.

“Don’t be fooled, wolf-boy. I have a thread of steel running through me,” she told him as he pulled away and shut the door.

“I’ll call you later,” he said before turning and walking over to Wall, who was sitting in his truck waiting for her to leave.

Laney watched him go before starting the engine. Heath needed her to leave so he could focus on protecting his pack, and she would be damned if she would be the reason someone he cared about got hurt because he had taken his eye off the ball.

*

“Don’t worry, dude, I’ll watch her night and day if I have to,” Wall assured him.

Heath nodded.

The threat had been very specific.

The human bitch is dead!

The message had been clear and Heath knew exactly who it was from. Christophe, the former Alpha, the man Heath had beaten and sent on his way with his tail literally between his legs. Christophe’s scent had been all over the animal.

He had always been a mean man. When he was Alpha he had ruled with an iron fist. Heath had joined the pack and seen that changes needed to happen. He wasn’t a man to wait. Less than two months later he was Alpha and Christophe was gone, taking half of the pack with him.

It had taken a long time for what was left of the pack to come back together, and to then start trusting this new Alpha.

Heath walked away and leaned against the porch stairs to watch the two vehicles drive off.

He had left Christophe alive because he had not wanted to start off his rule as a murderer, but now he was starting to think that had been a mistake. A mistake he wouldn’t be repeating.

Running up the stairs, he headed back to the rest of his pack. If he was going to protect the full human who was starting to mean more to him than his own life, then he was going to have to act fast.

“I want him found. I don’t care how you do it. I want that old wolf’s location before the end of the day,” Heath instructed as he entered the living room.

“We already have people looking,” Clara assured him.

“I want security increased on the pack house. I will not have any of you harmed.” He turned to face each of the pack.

The threat had been clear, but Heath wouldn’t put it past Christophe to take a shot at one of the pack, not considering the way the note had been delivered.

They had come back from an early morning hunt to a dead wild wolf sitting on their porch. The note was written in blood across the front of the house.

Both halves of Heath howled for the loss of such a fine animal, and for revenge against anyone who would dare threaten what was theirs.

He couldn’t lose Laney, not now when they had barely started to know each other.

“Go. As soon as you have information let me know. I will not play that wolf’s games,” Heath instructed.

His pack didn’t wait for more; they all headed out ready to get whatever information they could for their Alpha.

Clara was the only one to stay behind.

“She’ll be safe with Wall. He likes to play the dumb jock but he is very good at what he does,” Clara assured him.

Heath wrapped an arm around his little sister’s shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

“Watch your back, little sister.” Heath kissed the top of her head.

“Trust me, big brother, if Christophe is stupid enough to come after me, he’s going to learn quickly that the females of this pack are a hell of a lot harder to kill than a full wolf.”

“Just don’t take any stupid risks. It’s my job to protect you, not the other way round,” Heath warned. He could see that he knew his little sister too well when she refused to meet his gaze.

“Clara, I am speaking not as your brother but as your Alpha. I can’t worry about you doing something stupid when I have to focus on finding Christophe and stopping him before he does something
I
will regret for the rest of my life.” He watched as his sister forced down her desire to fix this and nodded.

“Thank you, little sister.” Heath hugged her closer before letting her go. “Now find me Christophe.” He walked away into his office, shutting the door behind him.

Heath waited until he heard the front door close behind Clara before he sat down and laid his head on his desk and took a deep breath.

He wanted nothing more than to rip the old man’s heart out but he had to be clever. If shifters were killed in human form, they stayed in human form. If a shifter was killed as an animal, the body stayed animal. If he wanted to avoid further difficulties he had to make sure Christophe was wolf when they fought.

Heath shuddered as images of what could happen to Laney flashed across his mind. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. Once he was sure she was safe from this threat, he would let her go. It was the only way to make sure nothing like this happened again.

* * * *

The day bled into almost a week and still no one was able to find Christophe. Heath had taken to patrolling the pack lands during the day and watching over Laney at night. He didn’t trust anyone to protect her like he could.

“I’m going to cancel the barbecue, Heath,” Clara told him on Saturday.

Heath sat on the porch stairs watching his pack as they tried to act relaxed. They sat in the sun but he could see the tension emanating from them.

“No, don’t do that. It would be good to have a little fun around here after this week. They need to let off some steam.”

“Are you sure?” Clara asked. He could see that she would cancel if he wanted, but that she agreed with him; the pack needed the barbecue to release the tension they all felt.

“Yes, let them have some fun.” Heath nodded.

“What about you?”

Heath frowned. What about him?

“When will you let off some steam?” she prodded.

“When the threat is gone I will relax.” Heath shrugged.

“Are you bringing Laney?”

“I don’t think so. She’s safer with her family.” Heath shook his head. No, he couldn’t have her around for too much longer. She was starting to mean more to him than he could afford. If anything happened to her whilst she was here he would never forgive himself.

Clara smiled as she walked in front of him, blocking him from the rest of the pack before leaning forward and slapping him upside the back of the head.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?”

“For an Alpha you sure are stupid sometimes,” Clara huffed as she glared down at him.

Heath rubbed the back of his head and glared back. What the hell was she playing at? At least she had the sense not to pull that crap where the rest of the pack could see.

“What are you talking about?” Heath asked.

“Do you really think some full human males will be able to protect Laney from Christophe and his pack if he wants to take her? The safest place for her is here with us, and you know it. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours and, to be honest, I don’t care. Call her, invite her. Wall can bring her when he comes home.”

Heath watched as his little sister ran out of steam.

“You finished?” he ventured.

“Depends. Are you going to call Laney and invite her?”

Heath’s shoulders slumped. Yes, he had been protecting Laney for the last week, but she didn’t know. He spent the nights outside her house, watching and waiting. He had barely spoken to her either—he was so determined to protect her from the dangers that being part of a pack came with, he had ignored her. When they had spoken he’d kept the conversations short and to the point. Heath could see the hurt in her eyes, but he had to harden his heart against it.

“Are you going to invite her or do I have to bring her here?” Clara pulled him out of his reflection. Running a hand down his tired face, Heath nodded.

“I will call her,” he assured Clara.

“Good, because if you don’t I will personally go and pick her up,” Clara warned before walking away, leaving him to make the call.

Taking a deep breath Heath pulled out his phone and dialled. He waited for the call to connect. Laney answered quickly.

“St. Clair Garage, how can I help?”

Her sweet voice sent a shiver of arousal down his spine. God, he had missed her.

“Laney, it's Heath.” It seemed such a simple thing to say but what else was he to do?

“So I can hear. What do you want?” she asked, her tone bored.

His gut clenched but it was a good thing, he reminded himself. She needed to move on with her life, and so would he once this nightmare was over.

“You’re coming to the pack barbecue today,” he told her matter-of-factly.

“Am I now? Why don’t you just bite me?” The ice in her tone dripped down the phone.

“Wall will bring you and take you home afterwards.” He gave a half-smile as he could see her now, grinding her teeth at his tone.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore, wolf-boy. Just leave me alone.” She hung up.

Heath looked down at the phone and snarled. Fine, if she wanted to act like a child then he would treat her like one.

He made another call.

“Dude.” Wall’s usual greeting made him smile.

“Wall, bring me Laney,” he instructed before he hung up, confident that his friend would do what he needed him to do.

“Okay people, we have a barbecue to start!” he called from the porch. The pack turned to look at him. He could see the fatigue and tension on their faces and realised that he had been right. They really did need to have this downtime to release the tension Christophe was causing.

“Come on, the meat isn’t going to hunt itself!” he said as he pulled off his clothes and shifted. It felt good to allow the wolf to take over—not to protect, but to simply hunt. Padding across the grass he watched his pack shift before heading off into the trees.

Chapter Five

Heath heard the swearing and shouting before he walked out of the house. He wiped a hand down his face to hide the smile he knew would get him into even more trouble.

“I swear by all that is holy and true, if you don’t put me down, Wall, I will make sure you are never able to have children!” Laney yelled as Wall walked towards him with the lady flung over his shoulder.

“Aw now, Laney-girl, don’t be like that. I’m just following orders.” Wall tried to placate her as he stopped at the base of the stairs.

“You know what you can do with your orders!” Laney yelled even louder.

“Dude.” Wall spotted him and Heath watched the relief wash over the other man’s face.

“I see you took me up on my invite.” At the sound of Heath’s voice, Laney’s body went rigid.

“Wall, put me down,” Laney instructed with a cold calmness. Wall looked up at his Alpha and Heath nodded.

With great care the big man put Laney on her feet. He held on to her arms as he took a careful step back, trying to make sure he was out of range before he released her.
Smart man
, Heath thought as Wall backed away without taking his eyes off Laney.

“Is there a problem with your hearing?” As Laney spoke, Heath raised an eyebrow. He knew she was talking to him but she had yet to turn to face him.

“Not a thing. In fact my hearing is better than most humans; it’s a perk of being a shifter.” Heath leaned against the post as he answered her. He crossed his arms over his chest to prevent himself from reaching out and dragging her to him.