Page 25 of Possessive Alpha

He nudges the card closer. “You won’t. Regan and I trust you.”

“But I—” His cell phone vibrates across the table, distracting him and me.

He picks up the cell phone but doesn’t answer it. “I insist. For pack purchases.”

“You should answer. It could be important.”

His eyes are serious. “So is this.”

Ignoring his vibrating phone, he waits for me to take the card.

Finally, I relent. “For pack purchases only.”

I take the card from him and rise to pocket it when he adds, as an afterthought, “And whatever else you and Clara need that you refuse to ask Regan for.”

Before I can change my mind, he answers the call, and it’s too late to hand the card back.

So I sigh, turning to leave him to his phone call with a contractor. And I tell myself that I’ll find the first opportunity to return the card because Regan and Jackson are doing way too much for Clara and me.

Way too much for people who won’t be staying.

CHAPTER 9

I’m getting ready to go up to bed, and there’s no sign of Clara.

I wander down the stairs from our shared room to look for her because it isn’t like her to disappear for hours. Last I saw her, it was at dinner, and she barely cleared her plate before she was rushing out, saying she had somewhere she had to go.

“Has anyone seen Clara?” I ask everyone I see as I pass through the entryway, the kitchen, the den, and in the front yard.

No one has.

I prowl through all the downstairs rooms. The only room I don’t enter is Jackson’s office. Briefly, I hesitate in the entryway, considering my options. I could go ask Jackson and Regan, but if they’re in there having a meeting, do I really want to interrupt them if Clara just went for a run on her own, something she’s done before?

Shaking my head, I track her most recent scent. On the porch, I yell her name.

“She went for a walk,” a newly arrived female shifter responds.

I can always tell the new arrivals because they always stay outside or as close to the way out as they can. Clara and I were the same, waiting for the first sign to run.

It never came.

I take in the rapidly darkening sky. Other than when we go on pack runs, Clara stays close to the house. Close to me. Especially at night. And especially because of all the trouble we ran from in Minnesota. She’s gone for a run as a wolf on her own before, but never this late.

“Was she alone?” I ask, hoping she’s with Mia or Lucia.

The dark-haired woman with pale gray eyes shakes her head. “A couple of guys went out after her.”

A couple of guys?

Alarm bells start ringing.

“What do you mean, after her?” I’m not sure I like the sound of that.

She frowns as her expression turns thoughtful. “Uh, she left and then they followed maybe five minutes later.”

“Which guys?” I demand.

She edges away from me. Not that I can blame her, since I’m all up in her face.

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