Claiming Clara Page 4

  He risked a glance at Heath who stood with a soaking wet Duke. Both men grinned at him like idiots.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Wall nodded at her.

  “Good, now go get cleaned up. Clara will never forgive me if you catch your death.”

  He nodded slowly and started to get to his feet.

  “They were grinning like idiots, weren’t they?” she asked him so softly he wasn’t sure she had spoken until he caught her slow wink. With a downward cast of his eyes, he nodded at her, barely moving his head at all.

  “Walk in front of me,” she instructed.

  Wall didn’t ask questions. If his beta had a plan, he was all for getting in on it. He took a step forward so she was behind him.

  “On my mark, Wall.” She breathed. He heard her move the hose as he moved closer to Heath.

  “Drop.” It was the only word she said before he acted, hitting the ground. Laney let loose with the hose, dousing both Heath and Duke.

  Wall rolled to the side and protected Laney from the men who rushed her trying to get the hose away from her.

  “That’s three, my beta!” Heath yelled, ducking another full-facial assault.

  Laney squealed, shocking Wall that such a hard and scary woman could squeal like a fifteen-year-old girl at a boy band concert.

  Laney dropped the hose and ran with Heath close on her tail.

  Wall watched them go with a smile. He and Clara would have that one day, once he made her see sense, and of course, he spanked her good for scaring the life out of him!

  Chapter 4

  Wall stayed away from Clara until night had long fallen. He wanted to give her as long as possible to rest before he punished the little minx.

  He didn’t know much about her life before Heath had come to take over the pack, but it must have been scary and ensured Clara always woke up ready to move if she had to.

  To be fair, she knew even less about his past. He’d only been back in the pack a few months when Heath challenged Christophe. It never seemed the right time to fill them in on exactly what he’d done before he had come home. Now it seemed even less appropriate.

  Clara stirred in her sleep. Turning, she opened her eyes and looked directly at him. Wall gave her a slow smile as he simply sat and stared at her. She moved cautiously, as if she was nervous that if she moved too quickly he would pounce on her. She didn’t need to worry. She was his for the taking, and they both knew it.

  “Laney said I had to rest,” she said in a hushed tone.

  “Mmm, you said that earlier, and I have let you sleep all day.” He purposely kept his voice as casual as possible. He knew she expected him to drop straight into his dominant role, but he wouldn’t, not yet. He wanted to keep her off-kilter as long as possible.

  “Oh,” she whispered.

  “Now that I’ve let you sleep all day, what do you think I should do with you?” Wall asked as he dusted his hands together.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Tut tut, my own, you know I like to hear you say the words,” he reprimanded.

  Oh how he did like to hear her say the words, describe what he would do to her and what they would do together.

  “Spank me,” she whispered.

  Wall smiled down at her, his fangs visible as he pushed himself up out of the chair and walked to her with measured paces. He saw her shudder and her pupils dilate. The way she caught her lower lip between her teeth and the hooded look she gave him nearly brought him to his knees.

  “Is your shoulder paining?” he asked, pausing a step away from the bed.

  Clara shook her head.

  “Good.” He sat on the edge, his back to her, and held out a hand. He wanted her to come to him of her own will. He would not force her.

  His heart missed a beat when he felt the bed shift and her small hand slide in to his.

  Gently, he pulled until she stood in front of him. He looked up at her, leering at the blue hospital attire she still had on.

  “You know why I love these gowns?” He tugged the bottom of it.

  “No.”

  “Because they open in the back.” He flashed a fang-filled grin at her. Bracing his legs apart, he pulled her so she lay across his lap.

  The gown opened around her body, showing off smooth skin. Wall ran a hand down her back.

  “Does this hurt your shoulder?” He softly stroked a finger over the bandages.

  “No.”

  “Don’t lie to me, my own. The only pain I want you to feel is my palm on your luscious ass,” he warned.

  “I promise it doesn’t hurt. The wound has already healed,” Clara assured him.

  “Good girl, my own.” He stroked his hand down her back to her ass. “These are not a favorite, are they?” He fingered the elastic of her panties.

  “Laney bought them from the hospital store.”

  Wall released his claws, ripping the pink cotton in seconds. He heard Clara’s gasp before she moaned. He grinned. She was perfect for him.

  “How many?” He swallowed his grin, allowed his dominant growl to fill the air.

  “Five, Wall,” she murmured.

  “Wall? That makes it six, my own. You know better.”

  “I’m sorry, Harvey,” she almost purred.

  He growled low. His woman was a tease, and he loved it.

  Without warning, he slapped her butt, spanking her in a different place each time until all six had been doled out and her butt glowed red with his handprints.

  He carefully raised her up again.

  “How’s the arm?” he questioned as he lowered her to his lap. Clara groaned when her bare skin touched his denim-clad thigh.

  “Fine.” She sighed when she settled.

  Wall pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin, holding her tight.

  “I nearly lost you,” he whispered into the quiet room.

  “I am still here.”

  “I won’t risk that again, my own,” he warned.

  “I can take care of myself, Wall.” She tried to pull away, but he held her tighter.

  “You have a bullet hole which says differently. I won’t let you get hurt again.” He turned and laid them both back on her bed.

  “I am the sister of the Alpha. I can look after myself.” Clara tried again to reassure him, but he refused to hear it. Someone had tried to take her from him. It would not happen again.

  “We could argue about this now,” he spoke directly into her ear, “or we could argue about it later.” He pulled the front of her hospital gown up slowly until he bared her sex to his questing fingers.

  “You can’t distract me,” she scolded him even as she allowed her legs to fall slightly apart, giving him better access.

  “I don’t want to distract you, my own. I want your full attention on me.” He nipped at her ear as he eased a single finger into her wet sex. “I never thought I would find a woman like you.” He stroked his finger over her clit.

  “Mmm.” She moaned.

  He loved the noises she made when he touched her.

  “Please.” She took hold of his wrist and tried to pull him closer, deeper.

  Wall laughed. “Don’t rush me, my own. I have all night to check each and every inch of your body in case you have more injuries.”

  “Wall!” Clara squealed as he nipped her again.

  “All night.” He grinned down at her.

  Her smile nearly blinded him.

  * * * *

  Clara sat on the porch of the pack house watching the others go about their daily business. A scent wafted past her and Clara smiled.

  “Hey Abby, didn’t know you were here to visit.”

  “You know it is really annoying when you lot do that, right?” Abby sat in the empty chair next to her.

  “If you full humans weren’t so stinky, we wouldn’t be able to smell you coming.” Clara laughed.

  “You know my cousin is a full human, right? But she tells me she is like queen and everything now.”

  “Laney is just
as stinky as you.”

  “Clearly a family trait then.” Abby smiled at her.

  “You said it.”

  “So I hear tell you got shot,” Abby said it in such a bored tone, Clara raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, they missed all the important bits though, so couldn’t have been too good.”

  “Not so sure about that. Laney is considering speaking to our mothers.” Again, Abby used the bored tone, but Clara knew it was for effect.

  “Your mother and her mother?” she clarified.

  “Yep. You want her to, or should I step in?”

  Clara swallowed nervously. Elizabeth St. Clair and Emily Short were twins. Both were nearing sixty years old, and each was probably more predatory than Clara and the whole pack put together.

  Heath still wouldn’t talk about the conversation he’d had with Elizabeth when she first came to visit right before he claimed Laney, but every time it was mentioned, he got this small tick in the corner of his eye. She’d always found it quite funny, right up until this point.

  “Is that why you came to visit?”

  “Yep, I heard what was going on and thought it best if I head on down before world war three was started.”

  “Damn interfering family!” Clara growled.

  Abby laughed. “Yeah, welcome to my world.”

  Clara glared at the other woman. “I don’t see why they should be bothered. It’s not like I am family. Laney married Heath, not me.”

  Abby patted her shoulder and shrugged. “Yeah, that doesn’t really run with the May girls, I am afraid.”

  “Dude!” The shout made them both jump as Wall came charging around the corner.

  “Hey Wall.” Abby laughed as he lifted her into a bear hug.

  Clara felt a bite of jealousy at the affection he showed the other woman but squashed it. This was Abby Short, Laney’s cousin and by her own admission, one of the boys. The woman had a low self-opinion, something that made Laney growl every time Abby made a self-derogatory comment. Abby was also a friend, and not the sort to steal someone’s man when his mate wasn’t looking.

  “So you came to play, right?” Wall grinned as he put Abby back in the chair.

  “Maybe; depends on if your skill has improved really. Last time I was here, he totally got me killed by the ogre,” Abby told Clara.

  “Oh no, not the ogre.” Clara rolled her eyes. Yep, Abby was a friend and almost as dorky as Wall could be.

  “Dude, one time and you just won’t let it go.” He hung his head in shame.

  “Come on then, doofus. Let’s see if your skill is any better.” Abby winked at her and headed back into the house with Wall following close behind.

  Clara had just pulled her phone out of her pocket when Wall came rushing back, leaned over, and gave her a hard quick kiss and then headed off again. Clara smiled.

  Yep, he was a big old doofus. She smiled.

  When she was alone again, Clara dialed and waited.

  “You still alive?” the gruff voice asked in lieu of a hello.

  “Yep. Abby arrived, told me the May sisters were about to step in. We need to find Alberto quickly. I won’t let anyone else get hurt.”

  “I know someone who might be able to help, but you won’t like it.”

  “I want him found, Duke. I want him found, and then I will kill him. No one takes a shot at me and mine.” Clara promised.

  “Give me a day or two, and I will see what I can find,” Duke said before he hung up.

  Clara dropped her phone back onto the table just as it vibrated with a text message. Swiping a finger down the screen she smiled. “I always said your reflexes were slow.”

  She laughed, tapped a quick response to her friend, and pulled herself out of the chair. The scar from her bullet wound pulled but was almost completely healed now.

  Her wolf longed to be free and prowl the land, but Heath had put her on house arrest, forbidding her to leave the pack house and garden. She chaffed at the strictness but gave in when she’d looked into his eyes and saw fear for her safety shining back at her.

  She had to worry about threats on her life, threats to the rest of the pack, and the St. Clairs. Now she had to add worrying about the May sisters getting involved to the pot as well. Well they did say it never rains but it pours!

  She walked down the steps of the porch and over to the garage, the same place where Laney was kidnapped from a few months ago.

  Christophe had stolen her clean out from under their noses, and if it hadn’t been for Laney’s calm manner and genetically inherited insanity from her mother, they would now be mourning the loss rather than celebrating the mating of her and Heath. Christophe had been a mean alpha. Clara knew there were several whom he had forced from the pack because they dared stand up to him.

  When she and Heath joined them, intending only to pass through, they had been looking for something else, something more. However, one look at the Hillside Pack and they knew they couldn’t allow this man to control them anymore.

  It had taken Heath less than five months to gain enough support from within the pack to challenge Christophe. Over the years, the old Alpha had made sure anyone who challenged him would fail. Christophe had never played by the rules. Wall had been one of the first to back her brother. The two of them gained support, and on the night of the challenge, Wall made sure there was no outside interference—something that, according to rumor, Christophe had arranged before.

  Wall hadn’t been back long himself. He once told her that he’d gone off to “find myself, dude.” Clara had seen the scars on his body. Apparently looking had been a little dangerous.

  She walked into the garage and turned on the light. If anything had happened to Laney that day, she wasn’t sure how Heath would have survived. He was a strong man and Alpha, but Laney was his heart. Clara feared Wall had become her heart and soul. If anything happened to him because of this, she wasn’t sure if she would survive.

  “Thinking of stealing a car and running?” Her brother’s voice from the shadows had her smiling.

  “I may be a little rusty, big brother. I haven’t had to steal a car in a while now.”

  “Hmm, bet I’m still quicker than you,” Heath stepped out of the shadows.

  “Yeah, right. You know I was always the best. Simply put, bro, you just weren’t good enough.” Clara winked.

  “You know I could totally still kick your ass, right? It’s my role as your older brother to remind you that I am bigger and better than you are and that, as my little sister, you kinda suck.” Heath leaned against one of the cars smirking at her.

  “Is it fun in your world? Are there flying ponies and fairies there too?” She smirked back at him.

  She missed this sometimes. Since Heath had become Alpha, there was a level of respect that she had to give him when with the pack. The pack and their business took up most of his time, not that she begrudged him that. She was proud of him, but there were times when she missed him just being her pain-in-the-ass big brother.

  “Yeah, and there are no annoying, bratty sisters there either,” Heath told her.

  Clara rolled her eyes at him.

  “You suck.”

  “You suck more.”

  “Is that the best comeback you can come up with, Heath, oh Master of the World?”

  “Shut up, brat!” He snarled before taking a step forward and wrapping her in a tight hug.

  “I want you safe, little sister. I know confining you to the house is not fun, but I will not let anything happen to you,” he said against her hair.

  Clara held him close, breathing in the scent that had calmed her when they had been younger and she had been scared or sad.

  “I know, Heath.” He pulled her closer for a brief second before stepping away.

  “Besides, telling the folks that you went and got yourself killed will only make them mad at me, and I am not taking the blame for your dumb ass.” He shoved her, pushed her back with a hand on her forehead.

  “You are suc
h a butthead!” Clara yelled, shoving him back.

  They tumbled out of the garage shoving each other. A few of the pack stood not far off watching them. Both Marstersons stopped to give them overly bright smiles.

  “That was so your fault,” Heath said out of the side of his mouth.

  “Not even!” Clara whispered back.

  “So was!” He shoved her one more time and then headed off. Clara glared at the back of his head. Well perhaps she didn’t miss this side of him too much. With a sigh, she headed off back to the house.

  Clara didn’t see Laney, Duke, and Abby step around from the side of the garage.

  *

  “Our mothers are out for blood. I was hoping to distract them long enough so this could be dealt with a little more subtly,” Abby told the siblings.

  “I found someone who can help, but it may be a day or two before he can get here,” Duke assured them.

  “Good, I want Alberto found,” Laney said. “Keep close to her, Duke. I will not have another member of this pack hurt by any member of that scum’s family. Am I clear?”

  “Not a problem. But what about Wall? He’s not my biggest fan right now.”

  “Leave Wall to me. This is my pack now, and I will do what I have to in order to protect it, even if it does piss them off.”

  “I’ll run interference, but Laney, neither of them is stupid. Wall is not as dumb as he acts,” Abby assured her.

  “I know, cuz, but we keep Clara safe, and that way he will be focused on her and not on us.” Laney shrugged.

  “What about Heath? He won’t like you getting in the way on this,” Duke told her.

  “By the time Heath knows what is going on, we will have dealt with the problem.”

  “Yeah right, but it will be your funeral Laney-Girl. I’ll let you know as soon as I have more.” Duke nodded before heading off back into the woods.

  Abby rolled her eyes and headed back to the house and the computer game she had been playing with Wall.

  “It won’t be me that will be dead and buried when this is done.” Laney promised, her smile chilling.