Leashed by a Wolf (12 page)

“Why thank you, my beta.” Heath chuffed.

“I can’t believe you thought I would be safer with my family than with shifters who could take on Christophe.” Laney looked at him as if he were a biscuit short of a full packet.

“Laney.” Heath leaned in, nuzzling her neck, scraping his fangs over the tender flesh where his mark would be soon. “Let’s just say I don’t always think straight when I am near you.”

“So you’re horny now and thought I might like to come back and play?” Laney tried to shove him away but Heath wasn’t ready to move. He only leaned back so he could look down at her.

“What the hell?” he asked, amazed. “You think this is a booty call?”

His anger was reflected back at him in her eyes. “What else am I meant to think? We killed the threat a week ago, yet you haven’t even been to see me until now.” She tried to push again but still Heath refused to move.

“You are meant to think I was looking out for you, protecting you from what we are, from what I am. We are animals, beasts and monsters,” Heath spat.

He should have seen it coming, but she had blinded him again with her words. He didn’t see her reach back or see the slap coming until the sound of her palm hitting his face broke the silence of the night.

“Don’t you ever say that to me again,” she said, panting angrily. This time when she pushed he let her move him away. Laney paced and Heath watched, ready to drag her back if she tried to leave, but she took four steps away before turning and marching those four steps back so she could get right up in his face.

“You are not monsters, you are not animals, you are not humans; you are something so much more. You have a little of everything in you and that’s what makes you special, why people are drawn to you,” she avowed, shaking her index finger just inches from his nose.

It was that move, the way she defended him against himself that sealed her fate. Laney St. Clair was his mate, his woman, his life no matter what she had to say about it.

*

Anger didn’t begin to cover what Laney was feeling. She had started out mad, moved right on to confused, then wanting him badly, and now she’d come full circle to mad. She closed her eyes trying to get control over herself.

How could he describe himself as a monster? Was he not there when Christophe had been killed? Did he not see she was just as much an animal as he was? They had taken the man out together, and now that Laney knew the danger had been to her personally, she was feeling less and less guilty about it.

Laney took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and froze. The angry man of a few seconds ago was gone and in his place was her Alpha, the sensual, dominant male who could make her scream his name without effort.

Laney’s eyes went wide. She didn’t know what had changed but she was angry and she wanted to stay angry. If Heath touched her when he was like this, she would be lost. Her body screamed at her to give in, to step closer and enjoy while her mind screamed for her to run. Before she could move either way, Heath reached out, snagging her around the waist and pulling her hard against his body.

“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

“Showing you what it’s like to be mated to an Alpha,” Heath told her as he ran his hands down her waist until they cupped her butt. Laney put her hands on his chest as she leaned away.

“You really think I’m going to be your booty call?” she asked with as much disdain as she could muster with his hard-on pressed too enticingly against her.

“This isn’t a booty call. If I just wanted sex I could get it anywhere.”

“Well, aren’t we the cocky one.”
If he can get sex anywhere, he should just go there and get it!

“Cocky? Only for you.” He grinned and ground his hips against her. Laney couldn’t withhold her groan as she felt his hardness again. Damn it, he wasn’t playing fair. She wanted to stay mad and hurt; she didn’t want to lust after him.

“But I don’t want sex,” he told her.

Laney had to bite her tongue to stop from begging him to carry on when he stopped moving.

“What do you want then?” she finally asked when she had control enough of her body. “Why did you come here tonight? Why did you scare away that guy? Most importantly, what do you want from me, Heath?”

She asked every question; she couldn’t hide from them anymore. Laney needed answers before she could move on.

Heath didn’t move back. He pulled her tighter to him. Laney watched as he became serious, his expression tense, but there was something more there, something that looked like hope but it was gone before Laney could really read it.

“I came here tonight because I wanted to see you. I have missed you more than you could know, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay after everything that happened last week.”

Laney waited as Heath took a breath, and then the arrogant Alpha returned. “I scared that jackass away because no one—and I mean no one—not ever again lays hands on what is mine and you, Laney, are mine.” He spoke with such intensity in his eyes that Laney’s breath caught in her throat. “What do I want from you?” He repeated her question. Laney’s heart skipped a beat as he leaned down and kissed her so tenderly it melted the last of her anger away.

Heath pulled back and looked deep into her eyes. Laney was convinced he was looking into her soul.

“What I want is forever. I want us to grow old and grey together, to run the pack together, and I want us to have many pups. I want us to be a family. You mean more to me than my next breath, Laney-girl, more than seeing another day. I have been so miserable without you this last week that I think even my own pack might turn on me.”

Laney felt a click inside. It wasn’t loud or painful, it just sounded like a door latch opening. She was waiting to see what it meant when a warm, glowing feeling started to spread through her.

Laney had come here a few short weeks ago looking to scratch an itch with a man who had been getting under her skin for five long years. She had thought it would be nothing more than some fun together, but she hadn’t looked deeper; she hadn’t looked into why she sought Heath Marsterson when there were any number of men who were available. Not until now had she realised that she hadn’t wanted anyone else, that she would only ever want this man, this wolf.

Laney slid her hand up Heath’s chest, watching as his eyes went wide, until she could cup his cheek.

“I love you too,” she told him. A split second later Heath raised her off her feet, spun, and pinned her to his truck.

“Again,” he ordered.

“I love you too, Heath,” she repeated with a smile. He took her mouth in a fierce kiss, his tongue tasting her as he stole her breath.

He kissed his way up the column of her throat until he could speak directly into her ear.

“I love you too, my beta.”

“Show me,” Laney urged as she tipped her head, allowing him full access to her neck. She had no idea what would happen but she knew this was right; she could feel it down to her toes.

Heath didn’t wait to be told twice. She watched as his fangs descended fully and his eyes turned to his wolf's. He leaned forward and bit down hard.

Laney felt a second of pain before her body tightened and a hard orgasm ripped through her body. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist as she ground her core against him, riding out the orgasm.

Heath pulled his fangs from her and licked the wound as Laney tried to catch her breath.

“Holy hell! Warn a girl next time you plan to do that and send her screaming off!” Laney gasped.

Heath chuckled as he kissed the bite.

“Didn’t you enjoy it, my beta?” he asked as he leaned back to look at her.

Laney saw the smug smile on his face but couldn’t muster the energy to care.

“I would enjoy it more if you were in me,” she told him honestly.

“Now that I can do,” he said as he stepped away from the truck and pulled the door open. Laney found herself deposited in the cab before Heath dashed around to jump into the driver’s seat.

Heath started the vehicle and pulled out of the car park. Laney watched as he flicked a look at her legs, crossed at the ankle. Laney gave a small smile and she uncrossed her legs and moved them wide apart.

“Good girl.” He winked as he drove to his home with a hand on her knee. “I am going to make you come and come and come until you can’t think straight. Do you trust me to do that, my beta?”

Laney took hold of the hand on her knee and squeezed. This was her mate, her other half, the man who understood her in ways that she was only just understanding herself. They had a lifetime together to figure it all out. Laney turned and smiled at Heath when he glanced her way. She gave him the three little words she knew he had been waiting for, since the night she had turned up at the bar ready to seduce him, the ones that would tie her to him forever.

She raised his hand to her chest and simply said, “Yes, my Alpha.”

The End

About the Author:

I am *takes a deep breath* a daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, aunt-in-law, great-aunt, godmother, and resident IT geek for UCW. All that at not even forty yet! I have been writing for most of my life but kept it my "dirty little secret" until I saw an advert in the back of a Mills and Boon book for the New Voices Comp 2010. Although I didn’t win, entering that competition opened up a whole new literary world! I decided it was finally time to give writing a serious try.

Now I can be found at just about any time, even at my normal day job, jotting notes and thoughts down for my stories. I think my family, friends, and colleagues are used to me having whole conversations with myself now as I flesh out different characters. Thankfully they don’t all walk the other way when they see me coming.

I am a paranormal romance fan, and love to read and write in that genre. Show me a shifter wolf, tiger, or bear and I am one happy bunny.