Leashed by a Wolf (8 page)

He hadn’t realised until that second how much he'd missed her over the last few days. He'd missed the sight of her, knowing she was just an arm’s length away from him.

“Then when I told you to leave me alone and hung up on you, did you not understand what I said?” She still didn't look at him.

“Actually you didn’t say that. You told me to bite you, then hung up. I took that as an invitation, so I had Wall escort you here so that I can do exactly that,” he said as he dropped down a step towards her.

The sound of the wood creaking under his weight had her turning on him. Her eyes blazed with anger and something else. Heath got a lump in his throat when he realised that it was hurt he could see. He'd hurt her, and although it didn’t sit well with him he knew that he was doing this for her own good.

“You even think about putting one finger on me, wolf-boy, and I will have you skinned before the night is out,” Laney warned him as he dropped down another step.

“I’m not scared of your brothers, Laney-girl, you should know that.” Heath gave her a half-smile as he dropped down the final step to stand in front of her.

“I never said it was my brothers who would be doing the skinning,” Laney said softly. The smile left Heath’s face as he looked down at her.

“Are you threatening me, my beta?” He added a little steel to his voice, letting her know he was in charge.

“I would never threaten the Alpha,” Laney said as she gave him a half-bow. Heath watched with narrowed eyes as she took a small step closer to him before she breathed, “I was making you a promise.” She turned and walked away to join the rest of his pack sitting around the barbecue.

Heath, wide-eyed, watched her go.
That cheeky little minx!

“Did I ever tell you how much I like her?” Clara asked as she came to stand next to him.

“She is a pain in the ass, and she will
have
a pain in the ass if she carries on talking to me like that!” Heath growled after Laney.

“You should keep her.”

Heath frowned down at his little sister—one of the smartest women he knew—and wondered if she had hit her head.

“I can’t keep her; she’s not Alpha material.”

Clara turned amazed eyes on him, causing Heath to deepen his frown.

“You still don’t get it, do you? That woman stands up to four very large men on a daily basis, has them jumping at her every order, controlling everything.”

“I told you before her family would never hurt her; they probably just let her think they’re following her instructions to keep her happy.” Heath dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. Clearly Clara was clutching at straws. He would have to set her straight before she said something to the rest of the pack, or worse, to Laney herself.

“Are you insane? Those men would never pull their punches, especially with one of their own,” Clara pointed out.

Heath shook his head; she just didn’t understand. The St. Clair men treated Laney like he treated his sister, with kid gloves.

“Now correct me if I am wrong, but did she not just get all up in your fangs too, Mr. Alpha?” Clara continued.

“I would rather die than hurt her. She knows it’s a safe bet that she would walk away unscathed.” Heath shrugged.

“Oh my God!” Clara threw her hands up in the air. “I swear you are as dumb as bricks sometimes! That woman has a vein of steel running through her, she’s stronger than you think, and she would prove it if you gave her half a chance,” Clara said before storming away, muttering about men and their shortsightedness.

Heath watched his sister go with slight amazement. Clara didn’t get it; Laney wasn’t that strong. His Alpha female needed to be seen and feared and respected all at once, and that wasn’t Laney.

Heath wiped his hands down his jeans and took another look around the edge of his land. He had to put thoughts of Laney and the future from his mind. He had to protect her until they could find Christophe and kill the threat he presented.

“Dude!” Wall yelled, catching his attention. The other man waved a beer above his head.

Heath smiled; yes he had a job to do, right after this beer.

*

Laney was trapped. She had tried to leave several times over the last few hours, ever since she had been unceremoniously kidnapped, but each time she made a move to go one of the pack stopped her. No one was using force; they would simply stop her and start chatting, some even asking her opinion on some mechanical issue or another.

Now here she was long after the sun had set, sitting around the fire laughing and joking with a group of people that science would never believe existed.

She shot a quick look at Heath, who was chatting with Wall. He had barely come near her since their earlier encounter. Snorting a laugh, Laney shook her head. Who was she kidding; he had barely spoken to her since he had rushed her out of his bed at the beginning of the week.

Just about every day one of his pack had shown up at the garage, hung out and then left when she headed for home. Laney thought for sure her brothers would run them off, but on the first day she had found Wall and Duke in close conversation. Now that the pack had become part of the furniture she could barely move without tripping over one of them. The day before, she’d come out of the shower to find Clara going through her wardrobe, demanding to know who had bought her all these “manly clothes.” Once Laney’s heart had stopped trying to beat its way out of her chest, she’d calmly explained why she had her serviceable clothes.

Laney wasn’t an idiot; she knew there was a threat, but what she couldn’t figure out was why he had put a protection detail on her.

The only time Heath had ventured close since she arrived was to drop a plate of food in her lap. She’d considered throwing it at him but he simply raised an eyebrow at her when her stomach rumbled. Even her body was conspiring against her.

She grabbed the empty paper plate and headed over to the recycling. Dumping the food waste in the bin provided, she tossed the paper into the paper bin. Laney shrugged. She shouldn’t be surprised that part wild animal people loved the environment.

“So are you going to kill him quickly and should I get some sheets out to protect the floors from all the blood?” Clara asked as she came to stand with Laney.

“I haven’t decided yet. There are so many possibilities.” Laney shrugged.

“That is true.” Clara nodded as she took a sip of her beer. The women stood for a few minutes watching the rest of the group eating and chatting. Laney wondered when Clara would get whatever was bothering her off her chest.

“He cares for you a lot, you know,” Clara finally said.

“He enjoys the sex, Clara; don’t confuse that for something more.” Laney picked up a can of soda.

“Don’t confuse caring for nothing more than sex,” Clara returned. “I know my brother; I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

Laney shook her head. “He’s just keeping me in his sights in case I come at him with a knife from behind.” She had given the idea serious consideration before she realised that she was in a group of predators and probably wouldn’t make it back to the car alive. “Ow!” Laney rubbed her head. Clara had slapped her around the back of the head before walking off muttering about two peas in a pod. Apparently the crazy gene was present in all of Heath’s family.

As she sipped her soda she caught sight of the garage. One of the pack had mentioned he had a cylinder that was misfiring; maybe now whilst the crazy people were around, she could go check it out.
No doubt better than getting my head slapped every five minutes
, Laney huffed.

She hadn’t taken more than a few steps when she was stopped.

“Where you off to, Laney-girl?” Laney looked up into the blackest eyes ever. They belonged to Jones, a pack member and a hottie unlike just about any man she had ever seen. He had that whole fallen angel thing going on.

“Don’t worry, I’m not running away, just going to check on the truck that you guys told me about earlier,” Laney assured him.

“I’ll come with you.” Jones smiled as he bent to pick up his beer can.

Laney rolled her eyes. Seriously, these people were harder to shake than a case of the flu.

“No, you stay and enjoy yourself. I can find the place,” Laney told the man with a pat on his chest.

“It’s no bother,” he said as he fell into step with her.

Laney gave a big sigh. “Without being rude, Jones, I want to look at the engine and I work best when I am on my own.” Polite wasn’t working for her, so she tried straight to the point.

Jones turned and looked at her, then back at the garage, which was no more than a few meters away, then back at her again. He nodded to himself and then patted her on the shoulder.

“Don’t run off, the Alpha will kill me,” Jones said before turning back to his friends.

“I doubt that,” Laney muttered as she headed off to the garage. She didn’t think Heath would even notice she was gone until someone pointed it out.

The garage was dark when she pushed open the doors. Feeling around on the wall, she found a light switch that lit the single bare bulb. The building housed several trucks and pickups, all in different stages of repair.

Catching sight of the bottle-green one causing the problems, Laney weaved her way through the scrap heap. The hood was up already; tipping a crate over, she hitched herself over the edge to take a look.

“You want to be careful; you could hurt yourself.”

Laney jumped at the sound of the voice directly behind her. Spinning, she clutched her chest to stop her heart beating its way out when she saw a familiar face.

“You took ten years clean off my life!” she exclaimed as she stepped down off the crate.

“Ah, sorry, Laney, didn’t mean to make you jump.” The man’s face creased as he smiled at her.

“No harm done.” Laney nodded as she took a long look at the man. He had aged since she had last seen him; his clothes were looser where he had lost weight. There was more grey in his hair, but she figured that was normal for a man of his age. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.” She smiled.

“Hmm, you could say it’s a bit of a surprise.”

Laney frowned at the tone. Something wasn’t right. Flicking a glance over his shoulder she looked for the door. He was old; surely she could make it to the door if she had to?

“I wouldn’t try it, human.” Then he smiled at her and Laney’s stomach sank. All she could see were two rows of strong white fangs gleaming back at her.

“What’s going on?” Laney asked, stalling for time. She had been shadowed most of the night and no matter what Jones had said, she knew the pack wouldn’t leave her alone for long. She hoped.

Reaching out, he grabbed hold of her shoulder and pressed down. The last thing Laney thought before the blackness took her was
Heath is going to be pissed.

* * * *

Laney’s ears were ringing when she finally started to come around. Taking stock of her body, she was relieved to see she didn’t seem to have any real damage, nor was she tied up. She was face down on what felt like dirt and leaves. Slowly she moved her hands under her and pushed up.

“Ah, you’re awake, good. I was worried I had pressed too hard.”

Shaking her head, Laney forced her eyes open to glare at Christophe.

The man sat on the other side of the clearing with his back against a large fallen tree. Overhead the canopy of trees was thick, but Laney could see the moon high in the sky. Clearly she hadn’t been out too long as it was still dark.

“You realise that you just made huge errors in judgement don’t you?” she asked as she moved to sit back against a tree trunk.

“And how did I do that, human?”

Laney watched as he stretched his legs out in front of himself, seeming to get more comfortable. There wasn’t much space between them, less than five feet total.

“Let me list them for you.” Laney raised a hand and started ticking off on her fingers. “You just took me from what can only be described as a large group of human sniffer dogs.” She casually glanced around the small clearing he had taken her to. She couldn’t see any landmarks so she wasn’t sure how far they were, but from the unhinged look on his face she didn’t think they had gone far.

“That is something I’m counting on. Marsterson is a pretentious upstart not worthy of the Alpha title. He stole it from me and I aim to get it back.” Christophe ended his words with a sneer.

“Two. I heard he kicked your ass from here to the town border.” Laney shrugged. She gave herself a silent cheer as the smile faltered on his face.

“I assume you have more on your list?” he asked with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“You seem to have forgotten that I come from a family who really doesn’t like their baby sister messed with.” She pulled down another finger.

“You seem to think I should give a damn about some pointless humans who will be dead long before they realise you are missing.” Christophe sighed.

He threatened everyone she loved. She prayed Heath and his pack would get to her before Christophe could make good on his promise.

Laney narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. He may be a wolf shifter who could kill her with a swipe of his claws, but he had made one fatal mistake. She felt a dangerous calm settle over her.

“Do you want to know the biggest mistake you made?” Laney asked as she gave him the sweetest smile she could muster, the smile Duke called her “viper look.”

“Please share with the class.” Christophe smiled back at her. Laney sat forward, pulling her knees up so she could wrap her arms around them.

“You took
me,
” Laney growled before she launched herself at the shifter. Part of her mind was frozen in shock at the action, clearly screaming and asking her what the hell she thought she was doing? He was going to kill her! The other part of her mind—the part that had grown up with older brothers—calmly reminded her that she only had one chance at this and if she got it wrong she would be dead.

As she closed the small space between them, she grabbed the sides of his head. Taking handfuls of hair in each she smashed his head back against the tree trunk.