Claiming Clara (7 page)

“Nice to meet you, Karina. Now let me tell you something.” He bent down toward her. “My mate is in trouble, and there is no one and nothing in this world that will stop me from protecting her.” Wall stood tall again as the wind blew softly across the lot. He looked over his shoulder.

“Nothing will stop me, not even sleeping pills, my own.” Clara stood off to the side, watching the play-by-play between the two.

“You really do know how to get on my last nerve, Wall!” Clara growled before storming off toward one of the rooms.

Wall watched her go with a smile. She was safe now, and, good Lord, did she look hot in those jeans.

“Wow, you really do have a special skill. Not only do you make her want to lick butter off your chest, but you also make her want to strip your skin from your body while you are still alive. That is just, wow.” Karina said from next to him.

Wall grinned. “She told you she wants to lick butter from my chest? Dude, that is hot!”

Karina rolled her eyes. Walking away, she tossed her hair over her shoulder, said she had to see a man about a dog, and vanished around the corner of the building.

Wall ran a hand over his hair, took a breath, and headed toward the room Clara had just walked into.

He didn’t bother knocking, simply walked in and shoved the door closed.

He turned. The smile on his face froze when he saw the sight before him. Clara had shifted, and he now faced a very angry wolf, an animal that looked about ready to bite his face off.

Wall raised a hand a second before Clara pounced, fangs bared, claws out, and murder on her mind.

Chapter 6

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Clara yelled, sitting on his chest while slapping him across the head.

He was grateful she had shifted back to human form after knocking him to the floor. At least now, he was reasonably sure she wasn’t planning to kill him.

“What? Darlin’, you knew I would come for you the second I woke up from, you know, being drugged!”

Clara beat at him harder. He did his best to protect his face. Damn, she could be mean.

“Catch a clue, doofus. I don’t need you here! I can take care of myself, but now I have to babysit your ass too.” Wall had enough of her hitting. With a shove, he had her off his chest and pinned below his body.

“Are you done?” he asked, trapping her hands over her head.

“No!” Clara spat at him.

“Good.” Wall ignored her, flashing an overly bright smile down at the woman who was seething. “Because I am done with this lone wolf act you have going on, my own. No more running off into the night as if you’re the only one who can stop this psycho.”

Clara tried to shove him off, but he barely budged.

“Go home. I don’t need you here,” she said through gritted teeth. She tried again to move him off her, but he only shifted, trapping her legs beneath one of his own.

“See, drugging me was just the final act, the straw that broke this wolf’s back.”

Clara stilled. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” She sniffed.

Wall’s smile went from bright to predatory.

“Are you lying to me, my own?” he asked. Leaning down, he allowed a fang to grow, grazing the column of her neck.

A moan rumbled from her chest as he licked a path back up her neck until he spoke directly into her ear.

“You drugged me, could have killed me, and you high-tailed out of the one place you were safe to run off with a smart-mouthed tiny little fox girl.”

“It was a calculated risk. There was only, like, maybe a 30 percent chance you would die.”

Wall leaned away from the woman who owned his heart and glared.

“
Maybe
a 30 percent chance? Oh my God, you can drive a man to drink!” He growled before diving to capture her mouth in a searing kiss.

His anger was hot. She was eating away at what little control he had left, and the worse thing was she knew it. He had seen it seconds before he had kissed her. The little minx knew exactly what she was doing to him.

She kissed him back with just as much aggression as he did her. Fighting for control, Wall still held her arms over her head and pinned to the floor, but that didn’t stop her. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him closer.

It was his turn to groan. She was naked under him rubbing against him in ways that would have had him purring as if he was a cat.

This was where she belonged, in his arms, close to him where he could keep her safe, make her happy, and kiss her until neither of them could take it anymore.

Wall was so busy kissing his woman he didn’t notice the scent until it was too late. The barrel of the gun pressed close just behind his ear.

“See, now I didn’t want to do this, but you really gave us no choice, puppy,” the woman said from behind him.

Wall pulled away slightly and looked down at Clara who just shrugged and gave him a half smile.

When this was over, he and Clara were going to have a long talk about what was acceptable and what wasn’t. Pushing his buttons so he would spank her, acceptable. Drugging him and having a friend hold a gun to his head, not so much.

“Up ya get.” Karina took hold of the back of his T-shirt and tugged.

Wall moved away from Clara slowly, never once looking away from her. He wanted her to read exactly what he intended for her when this was over.

“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 body. 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?