A Wolf's Pride (54 page)

As he
continued to stare at her, her eyes fluttered open the unusual
violet even more stunning against her now alabaster skin. “Ryan,”
she moaned weakly before her eyes drifted closed. His muscles were
tense, his claws digging into the metal beneath his palms as he
resisted the impulse to struggle and reach her side. Though it
pained him, he stayed still awaiting Harry’s next move.

“
So if I
stabbed you in the heart…” The blade pierced his heart a little
more. He grunted, resisting the desire to scream while Chloe moaned
weakly in response. “Chloe would feel it?”

“
Yes. You have
eyes. You’ve seen the evidence for yourself. Please,” he begged,
discarding his pride. “You’re meant to be her father. You’re meant
to love her. She loves you for crying out loud! She loves all of
you,” he snarled glancing at her three brothers who were all
huddled around Chloe’s prone form. “Love her in return, stop
hurting her.”

“
I’m trying to
do that,” Harry snapped. “Now if I stabbed you in the leg for
example…” His voice trailed off but his intent was clear and sharp
as he embedded a blade deep into Ryan’s thigh. Though he’d vowed
not to show any sign of weakness in himself, Ryan roared loudly in
pain.

Unconcerned
with Ryan’s predicament, Harry turned to his daughter, smiling in
relief as she continued to sleep on, oblivious to Ryan’s condition
in her own state of unconsciousness. His eyes fell to her upper
thigh, fully expecting to see a new ugly wound against her skin but
there was nothing. No wound, no blood and no sign of pain from
Chloe as she continued to rest, slowly recovering her
strength.

“
Well what do
you know,” Harry began, “the mutt is capable of telling the truth.”
He turned to Ryan, eyes aflame. “Now, that Chloe’s safe. I want you
to give me a little bit of information.”

“
I have no
intention of saying another word to you. I’ve made sure my mate is
safe, that’s all that matters to me.”

“
You’ll tell me
what I want to know, or suffer the consequences.”

“
And what
exactly do you want to know?” Ryan drawled, fully aware that
whatever it was wouldn’t be beneficial to him in any
way.

“
I want you to
tell me where your clans are. Your species needs to be
exterminated, only then will mankind truly be safe.”

“
It’s really
strange,” he mused, his voice thoughtful as he quickly changed the
tone of conversation. “How did a raving lunatic like yourself,
manage to raise such a wonderful daughter? One day, when Chloe and
I have kids, I’ll be sure to keep them away from you. Lunacy is
contagious and just because Chloe managed to escape it doesn’t mean
it’ll happen again.”

“
You’re never
going to be allowed within a mile of my daughter now tell me what I
want to know!”

“
I’m not
telling you anything about the clans and if you think that you can
keep me from my mate then you really are insane.”

Harry leaned
down into Ryan’s face, his breath hot against Ryan’s skin, his
spittle flying into his face. “You will tell me exactly what I want
to know. Killing you will kill Chloe so I won’t do that. I love my
baby girl but I’m going to hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine.
I’m going to make you wish that I could kill you before you
eventually tell me what I want to know. And then, when I’ve got the
information I want, I’m going to keep you alive and Chloe will
forget you and go about her life as though nothing had ever
happened. Once that happens, I’ll keep you as my own personal pain
testing pet. Now, tell me what I want to know.”

I’ve only got
to make it through the next two days. What damage can he do to me
in two days?
“No.”

Harry stood
up and turned to his sons. “Take her back to her room, have some
people watch the door and then come back here. We have some serious
work to do.”

Chapter Forty
Six

“
I want to see
him Christian,” Chloe pleaded as her brother led her back to her
room.

It had been a
full day since she’d been brought with Ryan to this bizarre place
and it had been almost as long since she’d seen him. The pain that
had ravaged her body had gone almost as suddenly as it had come and
that was what worried her. She knew with an unswerving certainty
that the wounds she’d sustained hadn’t been hers. She had seen Ryan
get shot and it was only then that she began to hurt. She hadn’t
been shot, bullets had sung through the air but none had even
grazed her. Something had happened to her mate and her family was
lying about it. They never left her alone except when she was
within the four walls of her room; strange, heavily armed men
patrolled the halls, all deferring to her family as though they
were royalty but never speaking a word to her. She could just about
wrap her mind around the idea of the small army that lived within
the walls of her gilded cage but she couldn’t come to grips with
the lie she knew was about to flow from her brother’s
lips.

Christian
rolled his eyes, silently impressed by his sister’s tenacity though
he wished she would direct her efforts to a more worthwhile cause.
“He’s not here Chloe. We apologised,” he coughed, the word sounding
forced. “For shooting him and he left. He said he wanted nothing to
do with you. I’m sorry, but you’ll move on. You’ll find someone
better than him.”

A month ago,
she might have believed her brother’s words. She might have
wondered why would a man like Ryan want to stick around for a woman
like her? But those thoughts belonged to the Chloe of the past; the
Chloe of the present was a completely different case. With the same
certainty that she knew air was necessary for life, she knew Ryan
would never leave her. He might have been brass, stubborn and on
occasion blind to the logic of common sense, but above all else he
was loyal. Ryan was still here, that was a fact. Her family was
lying to her under a misguided assumption that she would swallow
the falsehoods meekly. Once upon a time she might very well have
done, but things were different now.

Even if her
mind wasn’t absolutely certain that he wouldn’t simply have left as
Christian was saying he had, her body knew better. Since Ryan had
claimed her, she was aware of his body when it was within the
proximity of hers. Her heart beat faster, her pulse raced and her
entire body thrummed in anticipation. The closer they got to her
room, the more aware of him she became. He was close, she could
feel it. In fact, if her newfound sense of awareness was anything
to go by, he was right beneath her feet.

An idea began
to form within Chloe’s mind and a mischievous smile touched her
lips.
If they can lie, why can’t I?
“Is he really gone Christian?” She struggled to
inject just the right amount of sadness into her question, a hard
thing to do when she knew that Ryan hadn’t gone
anywhere.

“
Yes, Chloe.
He’s gone and he’s not coming back. What did you expect? He’s a
werewolf, they aren’t exactly known for being faithful, they’re
filled with an animalistic lust, he was bound to stray at some
point.”

She barely
resisted the urge to correct him. A werewolf was very similar to an
actual wolf and mated for life though unlike a true wolf, he
wouldn’t move on if his mate died. Ryan gave a whole new dimension
to the word monogamy. “He’s not coming back is he?”

“
I’m sorry
Chloe but no, he isn’t.”

They reached
her bedroom door. “I really thought he might be different.” She
hoped she’d managed to inject a believable quiver into her
voice.

“
Don’t think
about him anymore Chloe, he isn’t worth the time.”

“
I’m just going
to sleep, maybe when I wake up I’ll find out that meeting him was
just a horrible dream.”

“
Maybe.”

“
You know there
are plenty of perfectly eligible men here, I could try and set you
up with one of them…”

“
Thanks for the
offer Christian but I just want to be left alone.”

Christian
regarded his sister sadly for a moment hesitating for a moment
before mumbling, “I know you would probably rather do the man
bashing thing with one of your friends, but I’m here for you Chloe,
we all are. We could…I don’t know watch a girly movie or
something.”

Her jaw
dropped in shock. Her womanising brother was offering to sit
through a chick flick with her, there was definitely something
going on. “Thanks for the offer Christian, but I just want to be
left alone.” She turned the door handle and slipped inside her
room, “Goodnight.”

The closed
door now a barrier between her and anyone that might try and
interfere with her plan, Chloe sprung into action. She ran her
fingers gently over the bite marks on her neck, shivering lightly
as anticipation thrummed through her. The mark seemed to act as a
beacon, causing her body to react more intensely the closer she was
to Ryan. It was as though it were trying to prepare her for his
lusty desires. While Christian had been wrong on most accounts
about a werewolf, he was right about one thing. Ryan did have an
almost animalistic lust, he was insatiable at times but all that
energy was directed at her. She walked the perimeter of the room
caressing her flesh, gauging the strength of her body’s reactions.
The closer she got to the centre of the room, the more intense the
pleasure became. She fell to her knees, fingers still running
lightly over the seemingly engraved initial on her neck. The
sensations wracking her body grew stronger the closer she got to
the floor and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was
directly beneath her feet. Her family were lying to her and it was
about time she found out why.

She looked
towards the door but the memory of the many men who had lined the
hall made her quickly dismiss any notion of leaving that way.
Violet eyes landed on the open window, her heart speeding up as she
reached a decision. Her room was a hunter’s paradise, mounted heads
and ancient shotguns everywhere but those weren’t what she was
looking for. As her eyes landed on a thick length of rope, she let
out a silent cheer of triumph. Her hands were nimble and quick as
she rolled the rope, testing its length. Satisfied that she
wouldn’t run out of rope on her trip down, she strode to the heavy
bed, looping a sturdy knot over the frame.
One day, when this is all behind us, I must remember to thank
dad for teaching me how to make strong knots, it might just save my
life.
Her steps were steady as she walked
to the window, it wasn’t until she opened it, throwing the rope out
into the night that doubts began niggling at her.

The darkness
of the night sky made the fall seem infinite, the chances of
success slim. “I can’t do this,” she mumbled, stepping away from
the open frame. “I’ll fall and this time Ryan won’t be there to
catch me.” She was shaking with fear, remembering the way she’d
flown through the air when Lucinda had thrown her, how her stomach
had jumped into her throat, how the ground had seemed unbelievable
close. It was the memory of Ryan’s strong arms catching her that
calmed her. It was the memory of his voice soothing her fears even
as they plummeted to earth that made her grab the rope and it was
the memory of his broken body, blood pooling all around him that
made her jump. He had risked his life to save her, how could she
not do the same for him?

She had
always thought her arms to be weak, lacking in strength but there
were apparently no limits to what she would do for him, what her
body was prepared to go through to see him. The thick rope chafed
against her hands but she held on tightly, locking her legs around
its length. Increasingly certain of her position, Chloe began to
lower herself down the rope. Though her progress was slow, she was
moving. There was a light directly below her. Ryan had to be in
that room. Minutes passed, sweat beading on her forehead from the
strain but she was in front of the window. An angry curse slipped
past her lips when she saw that it wasn’t fully open but only
slightly ajar. Her arms were beginning to feel weak, trembling
slightly from having to carry her weight. She contemplated just
climbing back up the rope and waiting for Ryan on the outside,
after all her family couldn’t keep her in this strange place
forever, but then she saw him. He lay, still as stone, against what
looked like a table, dripping blood onto the floor.

Her heart was
racing now, her strength rejuvenated. Ryan was hurting. She needed
to get to him and the window was an obstacle that needed to be
removed. Things were that simple. She swung, slowly at first but
quickly gaining speed. Her fingers reached out for the window’s
edge but she missed by mere millimetres. Quickly wrapped her arms
around the rope again, she swung with more determination, reaching
out almost blindly for the window. Her fingers touched the frame,
curling as she dug her nails in, pulling herself closer. It was
surprisingly easy to lever body into the room now that she was no
longer concerned with her own fears but her terrified for her
mate’s life.

She ran
headlong towards the table, not even checking to see whether anyone
had seen her fantastic feat. Mindful of the puddles of blood, she
approached him, gasping in horror at the state of his body. Tears
welled in her eyes and she chocked back a sob. “Ryan,” she
whimpered. His wrists and ankles were bound, the skin around his
shackles burnt and blistered. Knives covered what looked like every
inch of available skin on his arms and legs and there was a piece
of metal held between his teeth, his mouth as burnt as the skin on
his ankles and wrists. Reaching forward slowly, she caressed his
cheek gently. “What have they done to you?
Why
have they done this to
you?”