Claiming their Mate

Chapter 5

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving. You just got here!” Kate trailed Clara down the hall and out the door, kicking up gravel as she made her way over to Clara’s Volvo. Jason and Will had offered to help Clara load up her car, but Kate had shot them down with a look fit to kill. Apparently, helping Clara leave was a betrayal in Kate’s eyes.

  “How many times are you going to say that?” Clara shoved her last piece of luggage into the trunk. “I can’t stay here. This is all just too much for me. Wolves and shifting and clans and claiming? It’s all so unreal. Look, for the umpteenth time, this is not forever. I just need to put some distance between me and this town.”

  “And me?”

  Clara sighed, pulling her sister in for a hug. “Of course not. You’re the one reason I already regret leaving.” And Adam and Xavier. She wouldn’t say that part out loud. Admitting it to her sister would only make their effect on her more real. She’d spent half the night thinking about them, her body practically shaking with arousal as she remembered their night together. And when she’d finally fallen asleep, she dreamt of them. They were far too prominent in her mind already, and she had to get away from that too-soon, too-intense connection she felt as much as she needed to escape the fact that the paranormal wasn’t just good story fodder.

  “I don’t believe you. Prove it to me. Stay!”

  “If I stay, things might get even more complicated. You heard Adam and Xavier. They think I’m their fated. Can you imagine me married to—”

  “Joined with…”

  “Okay, joined with two men? And then the claiming, and becoming—”

  “Like me?”

  “You know I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that I’m not as brave as you are. I don’t know how you went through all of this without telling anyone. And I like my nice, quiet life. Allowing this…them…into my life will ensure that it’s anything but that.”

  Both women turned at the sound of a car approaching. The cherry-red pickup truck pulled into the driveway right behind Clara’s car, blocking her in.

  “Oh, it’s Nikki,” Kate said, immediately walking toward the pickup.

  “Well, whoever Nikki is, she’s blocking me in.”

  Kate glanced back toward Clara, a smile brightening the face that had begun to grow stormy just moments before. “Yes, she is.”

  Clara frowned. Obviously, Kate was happy about the delay, but that’s all it was. As soon as this Nikki moved her car, Clara planned to be out of there. Kate would just have to understand.

  The woman cut the engine and stepped from the pickup, graceful despite her overalls and work boots. She was fit and beautiful, with long, wavy, dark hair and green eyes. She immediately reminded Clara of someone, but she wasn’t sure of whom.

  “Hey, Kate. I was just out making a materials run, and I thought I’d swing by and meet Clara. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “Of course I don’t mind. You know you’re always welcome here. Clara, c’mon over here and meet Nikki."

  Clara guessed she had to. There was no excuse for her to be rude, despite the way her body thrummed with the need to escape.

  “Clara, this is Nikki Black. Nikki, this is my little sister Clara.”

  Nikki put out a hand and Clara shook it, suddenly realizing why the woman looked so familiar.

  Kate confirmed Clara’s suspicions. “This is Adam and Xavier’s sister.” Nikki looked a lot like Xavier, but Clara couldn’t immediately see the resemblance to Adam.