A Wolf's Pride Read online

  “Yes,” Chloe replied the tone of her voice reflecting the distracted state of her mind. Alex was human and yet she didn’t think of the wolves in the way that Chloe did, was there more to them than met the eye?

  “Just continue up along the drive, we’re on wolf territory now. We should be home any second now.”

  “Do you like living with them?” she questioned, unable to grasp the idea that anyone could enjoy living so far from civilisation. The path they were on was surrounded by trees and as she stared into the darkness, she got the feeling that the greenery went on for a long distance. Having lived in a city her entire life, the change in her surroundings was understandably shocking.

  “Tobias and the wolves are the best thing that has ever happened to me. If it weren’t for them I don’t know where I would be right now. It’s possible that if we hadn’t met I could be dead right now. Of course I love living with them.”

  “Right,” Chloe drawled her eyes scanning the woods on either side of the car fully expecting a wild animal to try and assault them as they moved through its territory.

  The dirt path abruptly became smooth and Chloe forced her attention back to the road in front of her. She felt her jaw drop as a large building came into sight, easily dominating the horizon. The large stone dwelling was at least three stories high and she wondered how she had managed to not notice it before.

  “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Alex asked, as she looked at the shocked expression on Chloe’s face. “A bit daunting I must admit. When I first saw it I felt the same way.”

  “You live here?” Chloe asked, her voice filled with disbelief.

  “Yes,” Alex laughed. “Where did you think we lived, in the trees?”

  Chloe averted her gaze from Alex, mumbling, “The thought had crossed my mind.” I suppose if I have to endure this abduction, there are worse places to do it. She looked at the estate once again as they began to come to a halt. Yes, there are definitely worse places to be kidnapped to.

  Chapter Twelve

  The wind rushed through his ears and ruffled his fur as Ryan ran. His heart beat steadily as his paws pounded against the earth, his tight muscles pushing him onwards and he relished each sensation. He hadn’t enjoyed his time in human civilisation and was anxious to return to the simplicity and peacefulness of life in the clans. The only good thing to come out of his exposure to the hell of the cities was Chloe. At the mention of his mate’s name, the wolf stirred with interest.

  We’re almost home, it commented casually.

  What of it?

  Chloe should be at the estate now.

  He had chosen to run behind the car Chloe was driving, with a few of the men that Tobias had assigned to protect Alex, and guard her from behind. They had had to stay well hidden while they were in human territory but now they free to run however they wanted. Freedom was definitely underrated. The run was exhilarating and knowing that Chloe was waiting for him at the end of the journey only made it that much sweeter. What are you getting at?

  Nothing, it growled defensively. I was just imagining what she would look like against our sheets in our bed.

  You have a wonderfully one track mind, Ryan laughed

  He could just about make out the estate in the distance when a scream rang through the air disrupting the quiet serenity of the woods and turning his blood to ice. Chloe! His mind screamed. His heart was no longer calm and steady, fear riding him hard as he sped towards the estate. As he continued his approach, Chloe’s scream whistled through the air once more. He breathed a sigh of relief once he could see her again and immediately begun the transformation from wolf to man stopping only once he was at her side.

  “Chloe love, what’s wrong?” his voice was calm but inside he was anything but. His mate’s panicked state of agitation was starting to affect him now that they were in such close proximity to each other.

  “Get it off me!” she shrieked, her hands waving frantically as she jumped wildly into the air.

  The scene would have been amusing if not for the smell of genuine fear that was rolling from her skin. “Chloe, stay still for a minute and explain what’s wrong.”

  His words penetrated the veil of her fear as she stilled though her body was visibly trembling. “Get it off of me,” she pleaded, pointing at her shoulder.

  He stepped forward, his gaze intense as he sought to find what had scared her. His brows furrowed in confusion. He couldn’t see anything that warranted her intense reaction.

  “Hurry Ryan. Get it off of me.” She pointed again, her finger quivering.

  “The spider?”

  “Yes! What else? Please hurry.”

  He still couldn’t understand her reaction to the insect but the pleading tone of her voice assured him that it was the spider she was afraid of. The insect moved, edging its way to her neck and she shrieked again. His hands reached forward, cupping the spider within his palms before he released it into the wild.

  “I knew it. I knew that this place would be the equivalent of insect heaven,” she sobbed, her body still trembling.

  Pulling her against him, Ryan held her tightly within the safety of his embrace. His hands ran gently up and down her back as he made soothing noises meant to reassure and calm her. “It’s ok Chloe, the spider’s gone now. It can’t hurt you. I’ll never let anything hurt you.”

  Her tears didn’t cease despite his reassurance. “But there will be more. You live in insectopia and you want me to stay here? It’s impossible. I can’t do this.”

  “Of course you can love. I’ll take care of any bugs in the future so don’t worry. Please stop crying, your tears are killing me. I can’t stand the thought of you suffering.”

  Her sobs quieted but the occasional hiccup escaped her lips as she continued dry heaving against his chest. I’ve made a complete fool of myself. I don’t know these people but I’ve let them see me break down over a spider? I really hate insects! The words were forceful, her mind reliving the feel of the spider’s legs against her flesh. She had never been fond of bugs and her dislike had over the years mutated into terror, it was one of the reasons she had refused to go camping with her family. The thought of being outside and exposed to a multitude of bugs gave her nightmares. She had very firm beliefs on the subject of insects. They had their domain and she had hers, as long as they stuck to the rules they would have no problems. Ryan had dragged her across the country and into her worst nightmare. What am I talking about? She scolded. These people are accomplices to a crime. My abduction! Why should I care about what they have to say?

  As the tremors that had racked his mate’s body subsided, Ryan breathed a sigh of relief, his body relaxing in tandem with hers. The emergency now over, he became increasingly conscious of the feel of her against him. His hands were filled with her generous curves, her lush breasts were pressed against his chest and her warm breaths feathered over the exposed, heated skin of his neck. The wolf was rising within him, fully prepared to take advantage of her vulnerable state. Its demands were insidious as it pushed images of him and Chloe locked in heated embraces to the front of his mind. For a moment Ryan was tempted, considering acting on the wolf’s suggestion. He had always done so in the past and doing so had served him well over the course of his long life.

  The moment was broken by Tobias, his voice distracting Ryan from the images his wolf was sending him. “Ryan, we need to talk. You have a good sense of judgement despite more often than not listening to your wolf’s impulsive requests. Doing something like this, even to claim you mate, isn’t like you. What’s going on?”

  “Tobias,” he sighed. “It’s late. I want Chloe to get some rest, the journey has been hard on her and I’m sure you’d much rather make sure that Alex and your babies are alright than talk to me about why I did what I did.”

  Tobias turned from Ryan to watch his mate. She was leaning against a tree, her eyes closed as vines wrapped themselves around her legs with a few odd appendages laying themselves across her stomach. While the
abnormal behaviour of the plant life may have frightened others, over the months Tobias had begun to be comforted by it. After years of being a prisoner in her father’s home he couldn’t bring himself to deny her any freedom. It was good to know that he wasn’t alone in his quest to keep her happy, healthy and safe. Ryan was right. He had doctors, nurses and midwives on constant standby and he wanted someone to tell him everything was well. The plants might have comforted him but they couldn’t tell him what was going on, couldn’t tell him whether Alex and his children were in danger or not.

  “We’ll talk about this in the morning.” Tobias conceded, moving away from Ryan towards Alex.

  Shifting the position of his arms, Ryan easily lifted Chloe into his arms. Her eyes were closed and judging by her steady and even breaths she was falling asleep. Her face was streaked with tears and the sight of them had his heart twisting painfully in his chest. I’ve never seen her smile. He realised and the ache in his chest increased. I’m going to make her smile, he declared, turning his gaze skyward to look at the waxing moon. Before the full moon arrives.

  The journey to his rooms took far longer than it normally did. His steps had been slow and cautious, determined not to wake Chloe now that she was resting peacefully. Her rest in the car had been uncomfortable, the brief sleep she had taken when he carried her to the city, fitful. She deserved a true respite from the series of uncontrollable events that her life had become since she had met him. Life with him wouldn’t always be like this but it would take time for her to accept the truth in that statement, the least he could do for his mate was ensure she was well rested.

  His well meant attempt to prevent Chloe from waking went to waste the instant she was out of his arms, lying against the cool sheets. Her eyes opened and for a moment he was stunned, caught within her intense violet gaze. She kept her eyes trained on him as she pulled herself into a sitting position retreating from him until her back was against the headboard of his bed.

  “Where am I?” she demanded, scanning her opulent surroundings.

  Sitting on the bed, Ryan resisted the temptation to simply pull her against him. She’ll be close soon enough. His mind reassured him. “You’re in our bedroom Chloe. I’ll show you how to get here from other places on the estate tomorrow. Right now I think you’ve earned a rest.”

  Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “So you’re not going to trap me in here? You’re going to let me go wherever I want?”

  “Within reason.” Her arms folded across her chest defiantly. “If I let you go wherever you wanted you would try to leave.”

  Of course I would! she shouted rebelliously in her mind but chose to remain silent.

  “I can’t let you go but I want you to be happy here. As you probably noticed the estate is very large, you’re free to explore within its walls. If you want to go outside of them then ask for me and I’ll take you. If you try to leave without me the guards will stop you from going anywhere without me or one of them.”

  “Guards? Are you serious? You hired guards to watch me? You really are crazy Ryan. Don’t you think that’s going a bit overboard?”

  “I hired no one.”

  “But you just said,” she interrupted.

  “The guards have always been here. It’s just how we work. They’re here to protect the people within these walls and have always done a very good job. Their task is especially important now that you’re here.”

  “Why, so you can stop me from going home? Telling the authorities about this place?”

  “No. You’re currently mortal and that means vulnerable. I can’t afford to have anything happen to you Chloe. You don’t believe me right now but I hope one day that you will. I hope to make you smile.”

  “Like that’s going to happen,” she snorted in derision.

  Ryan’s smile didn’t falter in the face of Chloe’s scowl and open hostility. “I’m sure that it will. We will have to talk with some people tomorrow about the circumstances surrounding your arrival here.”

  “You mean my kidnapping?”

  “You call it that, I call it bringing you home.”

  “My home is several hundred miles away,” she immediately pointed out.

  “Your home is here now. I don’t want to argue with you Chloe, please stop trying to start a fight. I think that we’re both agreed on the fact that I don’t want to hurt you, all we need to agree on now is our attempts to make the other happy.” She opened her mouth as though to speak but Ryan quickly cut her off. “You don’t need to believe it now, I was just saying. We’re going to be meeting several important people tomorrow, get some sleep. You will want to be fully rested.”

  “Why? Why do I have to meet them? Can’t you just go and talk to them without me?”

  “They’ll want to meet you Chloe.”

  “Is it because I’m human? They aren’t going to try and eat me are they?” Her voice was panicked reflecting her well bred fear of wolves.

  Ryan laughed. “Eat you? We aren’t cannibals. We eat meat yes, animal meat only though. The only one who will want to take a bite out of you is me.” He leaned forward, mere centimetres away from her soft lips and as he spoke his breath ran over the sensitive flesh causing Chloe’s body to quiver. “I thought we had established that as well. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you except for me.”

  When she next spoke she sounded breathless. Her scowl intensified, angry at her body’s reaction to his proximity. “Why would they want to meet me then? I don’t know them and I don’t want to know them either.”

  “Your family and mine are enemies. There will be some in the clans who won’t appreciate your presence here despite the fact that we’re mated. My own brother may have similar feelings when he finds out.”

  “So not only do you kidnap me, you bring me to a place where I’m not wanted. What have my family ever done to you?”

  The warmth and amusement left his gaze leaving his brown eyes cold and hard. “They kidnapped Sebastian's mate.”

  “You’ve kidnapped me,” she pointed out calmly.

  “They tortured her. By the time we reached her she was a bloody mess. If we had arrived any later than we had done she might be dead right now and Sebastian would have died with her.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. His tone had been serious and she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was telling her the truth regardless of how unbelievable it sounded. “Erica? What did they do to her?”

  “They bound her in a silver chair. Silver burns our skin, corrodes it like acid and the pain is indescribable. She was stabbed, beaten, half drowned and God knows what else. She doesn’t like to talk about it and we don’t like to push her. She’s unfortunately not the only one who has suffered at the hunter’s hands, in fact despite what happened to her, she’s one of the lucky ones. She’s alive. Suffice to say that we have good reason for not liking your people.”

  “Is that why you took me? Revenge?”

  “I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to say this before you understand that I’m telling you the truth. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “But you just said that I’m not welcome here.”

  “If you aren’t welcome then neither am I. I’ll explain what happened to them and they will have to accept that if they want me to stay here. If they don’t then we’ll leave and live somewhere else.”

  “Why would you do that for me?”

  “Mates don’t separate. Ever. I told you that I would chose you over them and I meant it.”

  So intense. Her mind purred, unsure of how to respond to his declaration. While it was thrilling to know that someone wanted you enough to give up everything they had ever known, how were you meant to react when that someone was your kidnapper? Conflicted, she opted for silence and said nothing in response to his statement.

  Ryan sighed, finally feeling exhaustion creep up on him. He hadn’t slept properly in days and the effects were becoming clear as he struggled to keep his eyes open. “Let’s just go
to sleep Chloe ok?” Standing, he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it into a far flung corner of his room. Watching him undress, Chloe felt her heart speed up in response. Her kidnapper had a beautiful body she had to admit as he walked away from her. “We had to leave your suitcase behind at the police station so for now you can sleep in one of my shirts. Your things should be here soon enough but I’ll find you some clothes that fit you tomorrow.” He walked back to the bed and placed a large long sleeved shirt on the bed in front of her. His eyes wandered expectantly from her to the shirt, the instruction clear.

  Sighing in resignation, she stepped from the bed and stripped quickly showing him only her back. Slipping the shirt on quickly she turned to find him, surprised that he was no longer where he had been mere seconds ago. He was now laying against the sheets, beckoning her to come to bed with an outstretched hand.

  “You can’t expect me to sleep in there with you.”

  “I do,” he responded simply. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning to do anything suspect. I just want to hold my mate as she sleeps.” She stepped away from the bed and his gaze hardened. “I’m not going to change my mind about this Chloe, I’ll come over there and get you if I have to.”

  “Fine.” She slipped between the sheets and his warmth immediately seeped into her as he pressed her back against his chest.

  “Just go to sleep love, nothing’s going to happen tonight I promise.”

  I’ll never be able to sleep with you so close to me.

  Ryan soon proved her wrong. A contented growl rumbled through his chest, the sound surprisingly soothing. As time passed she found it harder to stay tense, her body relaxing against him as her eyelids became heavier and finally closed as she fell asleep. His arms were wrapped tightly around her and a small smile appeared on Ryan’s face as Chloe’s arms came to rest over his own. Things are going to work out between us love. I know they will.