Leashed by a Wolf

by Cherie Nicholls

  “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.

  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.
r />   “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?