Leashed by a Wolf

Leashed by a Wolf

Leashed by a Wolf

Cherie Nicholls

Published 2012

ISBN 978-1-59578-897-9

Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © 2012, Cherie Nicholls. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Liquid Silver Books

http://LSbooks.com

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Blurb

Mechanic Laney St. Clair doesn’t want much in life. All she wants is to run her father’s garage as she sees fit, her brothers to stop treating her like she is still their baby sister, and for Heath Marsterson to realise that under all the grease and overalls she is a grown woman, ready, willing, and able to show him just how talented her hands can be.

Heath’s an alpha shifter who knows he needs a mate to help him rule. A strong woman who can stand with him and up to him when needed, a woman who can help keep his pack safe. What he doesn’t need is a fragile human whose family protects her as if she’s made of spun glass. No matter how persuasive little Laney-girl tries to be or how much he wants her, Heath knows she’ll never be strong enough to handle his true self no matter what she says, moans, screams…

Dedication

For my mum, my family, Tracy, Natasha, and for the UCW ladies, all of whom inspired me to be who I am and helped me to follow my dreams whether they realized it or not. They made me want to be a writer no matter who stood in my way, even if it was my own self-doubt!

Chapter One

Laney leaned back into the shadows and sipped her drink. She had been here an hour, hiding in the darkest corner of the bar. Tonight was a long time in the planning and she would let nothing ruin it.

The door opened and Heath walked in. His slow, confident stride carried him over to the bar with a grace most catwalk models would have killed for.

She had waited five years for this night. Five long years of cold lonely nights, dreaming of nothing but his shoulder-length white-blond hair, and that six foot plus, hard muscular frame. Taking another sip, Laney watched as he leaned casually on the bar and ordered a drink. Heath Marsterson had starred in all of her dreams since she had walked out of her father’s office and found him talking to one of her brothers.

With one final sip she placed her glass down, pulled herself out of her chair and walked up behind him. She saw the second he caught her scent. His spine went rigid and his shoulders tensed. He always did that around her as if he were expecting trouble. Laney waited as he slowly turned to look at her.

He opened his mouth to give her the lecture she knew he would deliver. She could practically hear him now.
“Laney-girl, what are you doing here? Who did you come with? How are you getting home? Do your brothers know you’re here?”

The words she knew he would have delivered if they hadn’t caught in his throat when his gaze finally fell on her.

She was proud of the results an all-day makeover session had achieved. Gone were the trainers, jeans, and old T-shirt with a long-forgotten band on it. Her short brown hair feathered around her face and framed it like a picture, or so her sister-in-law had said when she’d finished working her magic. Her pale complexion was enhanced with neutral makeup that highlighted her ice-blue eyes. The only real colour was the cherry red staining her lips.

Laney watched as Heath’s gaze stroked down her face to her body and the dress she had poured herself into. The dress was strapless, sinfully tight, short, black, and slit up the right side almost to the waist. She watched him swallow hard, take a deep breath, then growl low and deep.

“Evening, Heath.” She smiled up at him. His eyes narrowed as he looked back at her. Laney willed her legs not to tremble when he took a step closer to her and leaned down to breathe softly into her ear.

“Do you have a coat?” he asked in a low whisper. Laney’s breath caught. She had expected interest but she hadn’t expected him to move this quickly. She leaned back and looked at him. He seemed to be angry—really angry—if the tic in the corner of his eye was anything to go by.

“No.” Laney shook her head.

“Good. We’re leaving now.” Heath took hold of her arm and started to pull her towards the doors. Laney was in shock until the night air hit her body. Finally she realised he was heading towards his car.

“Whoa, buddy.” Laney dug her heels in, her four-inch stilettoes not allowing her much stopping power.

Heath didn’t miss a beat when he swung around and unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” Laney yelled, trying to keep the skirt of her short dress covering her butt.

“You want down? Fine!” Heath dropped her on her feet.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Laney asked as she pulled her dress back into place. She let out a squeak when Heath dropped his leather jacket around her shoulders.

“Not a thing.” Heath pulled the collar of his jacket closed around her. Leaning down, he looked into her eyes. “Who is he?”

Laney looked back. She could see the caged animal just under the surface.

“Who is who?” Laney was confused. This sure as hell wasn’t going as she had thought. Right about now Heath should be sweeping her into his arms and kissing her until she couldn’t remember her own name. She may not have dated much in the last few years, but she didn’t think she would get it this wrong.

“The guy you got dressed up for. Who is he?” Heath asked again. Laney could feel the barely controlled aggression under his skin.

“You think I got dressed up for some other guy?” Laney frowned. How could he think that?

“I promise, Laney, I won’t hurt him. I just want to talk to him,” Heath assured her.

Laney’s nerves hit her full force. What if he didn’t want her? Surely he had to know she wanted him. She’d wanted Heath from the second he’d moved into the area.

Who was she kidding? She was just a grease monkey in her father’s garage. There was no way he would want her.

So you are giving up? Is that the St. Clair way, now? I don’t think so.

No! No, she had waited too long to back away now.

Laney took a deep breath and decided it was now or never. Leaning just a few inches forwards, she kissed him. Not a modest peck on the cheek like she had given him in the past, but the full-on, no-holds-barred kiss of a woman who knew what she wanted and exactly how to get it.

*

From the second Laney’s lips touched his, Heath’s body went up in flames. It had taken all his control not to pin her to the closest wall and take her the moment he had seen her dressed like that.

Where had the tomboy gone? If you needed an engine fixed or a drain plunged you called for Laney; she was magic with a hammer and chisel. The woman kissing him now was so different. He always thought she was pretty under the dirt and grease she always seemed covered in, but this woman had nearly knocked him on his ass when he’d seen her.

It had taken a minute for him to realise there was only one reason she was in the bar dressed like sin on legs. She was meeting a man, and with that one thought he had growled low, his anger spiking. His wolf fighting him for control had caught him off guard too.

Whenever he was around Laney the stupid animal practically vibrated. He had ignored it, not wanting to acknowledge what the animal was trying to tell him. But now his wolf was growling low at the thought of anyone else touching her.

The man in him screamed for him to push her away, to remember this was sweet, innocent Laney. The wolf in him told his human half to shut the hell up and find the closest flat surface.

He felt her hands run up his T-shirt clad chest and around his neck; such a simple touch, but the feel of it burned him, setting his blood on fire.

He stepped closer still and pushed her back against his vehicle, trapping her with his body. Kissing his way down the column of her throat, he found the soft skin at the join with her shoulder. Gently he let his fangs extend and graze over her neck. The shudder that ran down her body made him want to howl at the moon.

“Please.” She spoke softly but that one word made him realise who exactly he had pinned to his truck like a barfly. What the hell was he doing? This was Laney, for crying out loud!

Heath took a step back from her warm, inviting body, growling low when she went to follow him.

“Laney we can’t do this,” he said in one rushing breath. He watched the tempting little vixen take a deep breath of her own, grabbing for control before she looked up at him, the confusion and hurt clear in her eyes.

“Why not?”

It was a simple enough question for her to ask. After all it was barely a minute since he’d had her pinned up against the truck, but to answer her truthfully could lead to more, so much more than Heath could handle right now. Bringing Laney into his life would be dangerous for them both. The old Alpha—the man who he had ousted—was back and had started to cause problems for the pack. But he couldn’t explain that to Laney, at least not now.

“Because we can’t, Laney. Do you know what your brothers would do to me if they found out I kissed you?” he said instead, making his wolf howl in protest as he pulled his coat more securely around her body.

Just like that, Heath watched as the sexy, cool, well-kissed woman disappeared and the woman he knew, the rough-edged tomboy, came roaring back. Her eyes, full of cold fury, turned on him.

Slowly she pulled both lapels of his coat out of his hands and stepped to the side away from him. Never once did she break eye contact with him.

“I apologise.” There was nothing but contained fury in her voice. “I should have realised you wouldn’t do a thing without checking with every male in my family.” She snapped each word at him.

“Now come on, Laney-girl, don’t be like that.” He reached for her again. He figured he had hurt her feelings and that didn’t sit well with him.

“No, it’s okay.” She stepped back out of reach. “I understand if you’re not man enough to stand on your own without my family backing you up. I understand you’re scared of them. It’s okay.” She shrugged out of his coat and handed it back.

“But you need to realise I am not some sweet innocent girl. I’m nearly thirty years old, and this is not the Middle Ages where only the married females have sex. I was away at college for four years and I know exactly what I like.” She ran her gaze down his body. “I thought that I liked you, that maybe you could help me scratch an itch, but I am woman enough to admit I was wrong. Have a good evening, Heath. I plan to.” Laney’s gaze wandered over him one more time before she walked back into the bar.

Heath watched her go. For once both his wolf and his human were in agreement, and both were confused. Laney knew damn well he wasn’t scared of her brothers; he only had a healthy respect for them that any sane man would. But the one thing that seemed to focus both sides of his soul was her reminder that she wasn’t a child, that another man had laid hands on her.

That’s where his confusion came from, because both sides had growled one word when she had talked about her past, a word he had never thought of when talking to a woman—any woman—until now.

Mine.

Laney had walked back into the bar, furious. Heath could smell her anger as it hit him full force. He took a breath before following her. He needed to stay in control. He knew Laney well; she would be out for trouble now, but he would put a stop to it.

As he returned to the bar he watched her walk over to the table where he figured she had been hiding before he had arrived, and she caught the eye of the waitress.

“Jack straight,” she said. Her request was met with raised eyebrows but thankfully the woman didn’t say anything and placed Laney’s order without comment.