Page 15 of Claiming Claire

CHAPTER 7

JACE

It was admittedly a douche move to leave Claire laying in our shared bed, naked, trusting that her other mates would take care of her throughout the night, but it was a move I had to do. One bite, one extremely pleasurable bite, had my wolf begging me to curl up into her side and never leave and I couldn’t have that.

I bought her for one particular reason. Two actually. To breed and to get back at her no good, useless father for what he had done to my own. I wasn’t supposed to like her, only care for her, see that her needs were met, and make sure no harm came her way.

Too bad my wolf didn’t understand that. He whined, scratched, howled at me from the inside, insisting we march back into that room and make sure she was safe with her other mates. I trusted them, and he usually did too. But something possessive took hold the moment we marked each other and suddenly, she was his only priority.

I couldn’t deal with his constant badgering so the moment the sun peeked past the horizon, I left. I used a poor excuse of pack business, which my men all instantly saw through, and promised to see them later.

Only now, it’s hours later, and we were standing in front of the elders, and all I could do was fight irritation. Claire stood next to me, smelling strongly of Gabriel, unaware of the turmoil she was causing my wolf. The elders loved her, they ate up her charm and innocence like I knew they would, welcoming her as a new pack member without an ounce of question.

I refused to let my wolf control me, even as he begged I step closer, take her hand, bury my nose in her hair. A Blackwell, no matter male or female, would never be welcomed into my heart, even when she looked at me with those big, sad eyes, silently begging for me to talk to her.

She’s a Stonewall now. My inner voice tried to reason, but deep down, I knew she would always be Lester Blackwell’s child. An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and if I let my guard down, I would surely be sideswiped.

The elder’s dismissed us, approving the celebration for three days and giving me and my mate . . . mates . . . their blessings. I walked them all to the truck, not intending to follow them home. Despite my better judgment and mentally scowling myself not to, I glared at Gabriel. “You reek of our mate. In front of the elders, too. Have you no respect?”

“The only one who seems to really mind is you. If the elders had a problem, they wouldn’t hesitate to speak it.” Gabriel leaned against the truck, his eyes looking past me to Claire, who was sandwiched between Vix and Laden as they walked down the sloped driveway. After a short pause, he spoke again, “Why did you leave?”

“I had matters to take care of.”

“Bullshit,” he spoke the words loud enough to cause the mates’ heads to turn in my direction. “We’ve been a family for years now, Jace. Never once have you had sudden matters to take care of in the middle of the night.”

“Just because I hadn’t in the past, doesn’t mean I can’t now.” I stared him in the eyes, and he shifted, trying not to look away from my superiority.

“You’re scared,” he finally offered. “Of what? I don’t know.”

I looked over my shoulder then back to Gabriel and sighed, “She’s a Blackwell. They are a cold-hearted bunch.”

“She’s a Stonewall and not an ounce of cold in her heart.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Look, go ahead and fuck this up for yourself, but don’t you dare ruin it for us. They love her. Look at them.” His eyes watched his mates interact. “Don’t break her heart, Jace, because we are all tied to it.”

I brushed him off, unable to respond now that Claire was so close. It didn’t matter what I would have said, Gabriel would have sided with Claire, already fallen in her mesmerizing trap. I’d made a mistake, I could clearly see that now. At the auction, I let my wolf push me toward what he wanted, and I was convinced it would be a sweet deal, a prime opportunity to show Lester Blackwell I one-upped him.

But I didn’t think it through. I assumed all my mates would be on the same page, would know that she was a tool, not a treasure. But the moment the vow ceremony was completed, I think I lost them all. Admittedly, I lost myself for a bit too, until I was alone and I let myself think about all the ways having her around could be wrong.

She could be a spy.

She could frame our pack.

She could give Blackwell access to our funds.

I wish I’d thought of the large amount of negative bringing Claire into the fold would have brought to us, instead of the single vengeful positive thing. Now? Well, now the only thing I could do was live through the bare minimum of this relationship. Go through the motions, but not let myself get too close.

She had saddled up to my side, and I hadn’t even realized she was near me, I was too focused on my thoughts and the conversation with Gabriel. “Are you coming home too?”

Home? How could she be with us less than twenty-four hours and yet, already call my house, my land, my men . . . her home? “I have business to take care of.”

It wasn’t a blatant lie, but it wasn’t entirely true either.

“Oh.” She wrung her hands together in front of her, like being next to me made her nervous. A ridiculous notion since I’d seen and touched every inch of her creamy skin as she writhed and moaned underneath me. My cock began to stiffen at the memory, and I urged my thoughts elsewhere. “Do you know what time you will be home tonight?”

Jesus, not even a full day married, and she was already trying to keep tabs on me. “When I get home.”

My words came out harshly, and she flinched. “I just thought . . . never mind.” She shook her head as if she was clearing her head. “I’ll see you when you get home, Jace.”

She stood on her toes and stretched as far as she could reach, placing a little kiss on my jaw before opening the truck door and climbing inside, not even giving me a second glance. Each of the men followed her, but not before glaring at me like I had done something offensive. I stood there as they backed out and drove away, kicking up a cloud of dust around me, and watched my best friends and our mate leave.

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