A Wolf's Pride (23 page)

She thought
on the question for a moment before answering. “No.” He growled.
“Oh, wait, breakfast was delicious?”

His hand shot
out so fast that it was a blur to her eyes. He grasped her wrist,
his large hands surprisingly gentle as he pulled her towards him.
His head lowered to the finger shaped bruise that had appeared on
her skin and he inhaled, sifting through Chloe’s unique scent to
find that of the person who had grabbed her. “Anthony,” he
snarled.

“
What are you
doing?” she questioned. “Who’s Anthony?”

“
A dead man,”
he replied, his voice intense. He released her hand and began
moving away from her.

“
Ryan wait!
Where are you going?”

“
I told them
not to hurt you. I warned them of the consequences. They didn’t
listen. I’m going to punish them, Anthony in
particular.”

As he spoke
the words of the man she had bumped into earlier returned to the
front of her mind. “Hanging by their intestines?”

He turned to
face her. “Anthony told you did he? Well at least he was listening,
shame he didn’t try all that hard to follow my
instructions.”

“
Ryan, calm
down. It was an accident. I fell down and he helped me up,” she
told him, hoping that her version of events was enough to get the
poor man out of the line of fire.

“
Don’t lie to
me Chloe, don’t lie to me for him.”

I forgot he
can tell if I’m lying,
she cursed before
grabbing one of his arms with both of her hands, hoping to prevent
him from leaving. “It really was an accident Ryan. I walked out of
the room and wasn’t looking where I was going. We bumped into each
other, I fell down and he helped me up. It wasn’t intentional, I
swear.”

“
He should have
been paying more attention.”

“
How? He was
busy, he wasn’t expecting me to walk out of the room.”

“
He hurt you
Chloe, look at your wrist. The bruising alone is going to earn him
a beating.”

“
You have got
to be kidding me.”

“
No.”

“
Ryan, you said
it yourself once, you wolves are much stronger than I am. If he did
hurt me I guess it was because he didn’t know he would.”

“
He should
have…” Ryan’s voice trailed off, unable to think of anything else
the man could have done.

“
He should have
what?” Chloe demanded. “I’ve seen two humans in this entire place,
me and Alex, that’s it. I guess he isn’t used to having to rein in
his strength. If you really want to go and fight him, then fine,
go. Just don’t expect me to welcome you back with open arms.”
Releasing her grip on him, she turned away, folding her arms over
her chest and waiting expectantly for him to leave. “Stupid,
arrogant jerk,” she muttered softly under her breath.

His arms came
around her again, pulling her backwards into his embrace. “I’m not
sorry for worrying about you Chloe, you can’t hold that against
me.” She groaned in exasperation. “But I won’t hurt Anthony. I’ll
talk to him when we get back, I’ll talk to them all when we return
about being more careful in how they handle you.”

“
Thank you,”
she paused, a thought occurring to her. “This may sound silly but I
want you to answer me honestly.”

“
Whatever you
want is yours love.”

“
Alex is Queen
right?”

“
Yes.”

“
And she’s
human?”

“
A special
human but yes.”

“
Well seeing as
she lives surrounded by these guys, wouldn’t they have had
experience in reining in their strength?” A moment passed before
Ryan burst into laughter. “What’s so funny?” Chloe
snapped.

“
I’m not making
fun of you love, don’t worry about that.”

“
Are you going
to answer my question or not?”

“
Okay, okay,”
he hiccupped, his laughter coming to an end. “Most people in the
estate haven’t had the chance to temper their strength by touching
Alex. If you think I’m bad, that your family is overprotective then
Tobias would be your worst nightmare. She’s been through a lot in
her life. Her mother committed suicide because her father beat her
and when she was gone, the bastard began to hit her instead.” Chloe
gasped shocked, she had never suspected that the friendly woman she
had met was the victim of such violence. “When she got here things
were on shaky ground for a while, a woman called Lucinda wanted
Tobias and Alex ended up having to fight for him. Then she was
abducted from here by Tobias’ cousin and seriously hurt again.
After all of that Tobias became understandably concerned about her
safety. He started imprisoning people for the smallest of things,
Alex let them go immediately after, but word spreads quickly within
the clans. Tobias’ protective streak became legend and now no male
even wants to go near her for fear that something will go wrong and
they’ll have to deal with their king’s wrath.”

“
Are you
serious?”

“
Of course I am
love. The next time you see Alex, invite her for a walk and you’ll
see. Men cling to walls when they see her pass to avoid
accidentally touching her.”

“
It’s just the
men?”

“
We do our best
not to harm women, you never know whose mate she might end up
being.”

“
You guys take
this mating things very seriously don’t you?”

“
Of course. A
wolf is nothing without his mate,” he answered honestly.

He was
looking at her again with those intense honey eyes and Chloe’s body
warmed, trembling slightly, in response. Her body’s reactions to
him were still unnerving and so she pulled away, deciding to change
the subject. “In your letter, you said you wanted to take me
somewhere.”

“
Yes, there are
some people I want you to meet. They’ve very important to me and I
think you should get to know each other.” He grasped her hand
within his, entwining their fingers together as he pulled her
towards another balcony. The grounds stretched out before them and
from their higher position and Chloe wondered just how far wolf
land spread. She squeaked as Ryan lifted her into his arms and
walked over to the edge.

“
Do you trust
me?” he asked.

“
No,” she
replied simply. “I haven’t known you long enough to trust
you.”

“
You will soon
enough. For now I’ll just have to go about earning it, we’ll start
with the first leap of faith.”

“
Huh?” she
grunted in response to his cryptic response.

He smiled
before hoping up onto the stone barrier. Chloe’s stomach lurched as
she looked over the edge and she shook her head frantically. They
weren’t all that far up but judging from Ryan’s tensing muscles he
intended to do something that could very well endanger her
life.

“
No Ryan,
no.”

“
Yes Chloe,
yes. The first leap is a test, one that I want us to pass together.
Trust me. Trust your mate to make sure that no harm comes to
you.”

“
No, no, no,”
she repeated but it was to no avail. With a wide smile, Ryan leapt
from the rail, Chloe shrieked in terror.

Air rushed
past them as the ground loomed ever closer, the edges of their
vision blurred. The fall didn’t take long but rather than fall to
their deaths or at least paralysis, as Chloe had predicted, Ryan’s
legs took the impact of the fall. He didn’t even stop for breath,
instantly moving into action, his legs pumping quickly as he
ran.

“
What’s wrong
with you?” Chloe screamed, struggling in his arms.

“
Nothing,” Ryan
chuckled. “And from what I can see there’s nothing wrong with you
either.”

“
We could have
been seriously hurt.”

“
I told you to
trust in me. I’m your mate, as long as I’m around no harm will come
to you, I’d give everything in pursuit of that goal. Relax. This is
the fun part. You like it when I run this fast
remember?”

He was right.
As her heartbeat began to slow after the terror his fall had
resulted in it settled into a new one. It was going much faster
than it normally did, beating quickly with excitement. The wind
blew past them, mussing her hair and making tears leak from the
corner of her eyes. The ride was exhilarating.
I could get used to this,
she
decided, whooping with excitement. Her laughter and excitement were
contagious and Ryan joined in, his deep booming laugh filling the
air as they ran.

“
Trust me?” he
questioned again.

She frowned
knowing that her answer would inevitably lead to an unwelcome
surprise. “The answer is the same as the last time you asked me
Ryan, no.”

A mischievous
smile crept across his face and Chloe gulped, her body tensing in
preparation. His grip on her body tightened for a moment as he
shifted her in his arms. She loosened her tight hold around his
neck to aid him and it was then she realised she had made a
mistake. He threw her high into the air and she screamed, long and
loud preparing to make contact with the ground. Again her
prediction was wrong, he caught her easily in his arms, running on
as though nothing had occurred. Thrashing wildly in his grip she
tried to free herself but it was to no avail, his arms didn’t
loosen in the slightest. The trip continued in this manner, Ryan
running and occasionally throwing Chloe into the air, until she
actually came to enjoy the way her heart stuttered when he threw
her. Any concerns she may have had about falling soon dissolved, he
hadn’t dropped her once and she was beginning to trust that he
wouldn’t.
I still don’t trust him,
she reassured herself.
I
just trust the strength of his arms. Yes, the strength of his
arms.
Even to her own mind the words rang
hollow.

Chapter
Twenty

It was a bad
idea to hold her like this. Such a bad idea, a very, very bad
idea,
Ryan’s mind chanted as he continued
to approach their final destination. Chloe’s scent and the feel of
her soft, luscious curves against him were wreaking havoc with his
concentration and his body. He threw her into the air once again,
using the few seconds that they were apart to try and calm himself.
It wasn’t enough time and he growled angrily before speeding off to
catch her before any harm came to her.

His
self-restraint had been pushed to unbearable limits since he had
first met Chloe and he could do nothing about it. The only reason
he hadn’t tried to do anything more than occasionally touch her was
because he was well aware of the restrictions the instinct had
placed on his body in regards to his very human mate. The instinct
wouldn’t allow his body to claim her unless she had seen and
accepted the wolf side of him. His wolf growled in protest but knew
that nothing could be done to avoid the dictates of the instinct.
The only thing that was reassuring him was the approaching full
moon. While he didn’t have to wait until the moon was full to claim
his mate, he was doing his best to give her time to get to know him
before the moon gave control over to his more animalistic side who
would use every trick available to it to ensure that she was
claimed. She was beginning to like him, he could tell. She might
not want to admit it, might not realise it herself, but he knew.
Her scent gave her away every time and it was that alone that was
helping his restraint.

He slowed,
coming to a halt in front of another large building designed very
much in the way the royal estate was. It was made from heavy grey
stone, was several stories tall and spanned a good distance either
side.

“
Where are we?”
Chloe asked.

“
My
home.”

“
I thought you
lived back there. All your things were there.”

“
No. I’m a Lord
of the Southern clan not the royal one. I spend about a quarter of
the year at the royal estate but the rest of the year is spent
here. I should be living here at the moment but Tobias wants those
he really trusts to look out for Alex and his children, they’re
very vulnerable right now. This is where we’ll be living.” He
lowered her to the ground slowly, relishing the way her body slid
down his and drawing in a deep breath to calm himself as his body
began reacting as it always would to her presence and
touch.

As soon as
her feet touched the ground, Chloe sprung away from him. Whenever
her body was near his she couldn’t seem to control herself and she
was in a strange new environment, she needed all her wits about
her. “What are we doing here then if you live at the royal estate
now?”

He clasped
her hand and led her inside. “I told you, there are some people I
want you to meet. They’re very important to me.”

As they
walked down the halls, Chloe realised again how similar this place
was to the estate they had just left. Just as had been the case
when she was in the royal estate that morning, people were rushing
around hectically, slowing to flash them a quick smile as they
continued to run. With Ryan’s warm hand gripping her own tightly,
his calming scent surrounding her and the distinct lack of scowls
directed at her, she began to relax.