A Wolf's Pride (12 page)

This newcomer
was, if possible taller than Ryan and she struggled not to feel
intimidated by his steel gaze as his stormy grey eyes bored into
her. He acted as though he already disliked her and she couldn’t
prevent a shiver of fear running through her body. His shoulders
were as wide as Ryan’s though he seemed more heavily muscled and
while Ryan’s strength had thus far been used with the sole
intention of protecting her, she could easily imagine the newcomer
using his strength against her. His black hair was so dark that it
seemed to blend in with the night that surrounded them and she had
a sinking feeling that if he chose to harm her she wouldn’t know it
until it was too late.

“
Tobias,” Ryan
growled. “Stop looking at her like that, you’re scaring her.” He
pulled her closer to his body, whispering in her ear, “I’m sorry
for my cousin’s behaviour. He’s been under a lot of pressure
lately.”

“
You’re related
to him?” she hissed, her voice low as she tried to keep the
attention drawn to herself low.

“
Yes. Tobias,
are you ok? You’re not normally this harsh to people you don’t
know. Has something happened to Alex?”

“
No, she’s
fine. She’s back at the estate where she belongs….” His voice
trailed off as a pack of wolves ran towards them. Tobias’ shoulders
tensed and Chloe squeaked in fear, he seemed if possible more
dangerous than he had before.

Her gaze was
instantly drawn to the animals as they drew to a halt in front of
them. She watched in morbid fascination as they began the process
of transformation that Ryan had once shown her. The change was
quick and soon there were another five people in their vicinity,
four men and a single woman. The men were all tall, muscular and
solidly built while the woman made Chloe cringe. She was physically
everything that she was not. Tall, slim and to Chloe’s eyes
beautiful. Long black hair fell down her back like a waterfall and
Chloe couldn’t help but be entranced by the woman’s seductive
movements as she walked towards Sebastian. Apparently she wasn’t
the only one as when she took a moment to look at Ryan’s brother,
he seemed just as fixated.

“
Erica,”
Sebastian breathed as she reached him. Her hands stroked his torso,
rising to his neck and pulling his head down to her own and
pressing their lips together for a searing kiss.

Diverting her
attention from the intimate couple, she looked back towards Tobias
to find that he and the four other men had moved away from them.
His voice carried the distance that separated them and though she
couldn’t make out each word he spoke, she got the general
impression that he was angry and the thought didn’t sit well with
her.

“
What’s going
on Ryan?” She had always been curious, wanting to know exactly what
was going on around her and this situation intrigued her as much as
it terrified her.

“
I think that
Alex has done something to upset my cousin. He’s never normally
this insensitive towards strangers. ”

“
Alex? Who’s
that?”

“
She’s his
mate, our Queen. And judging by the fact that her guards are here,
I’m going to guess that she isn’t where he left her. I don’t think
he likes leaving her alone after what happened to her the last time
he did. She was almost killed.”

“
Where is she
then?”

“
Alex is on her
way here.” The black haired woman answered. Having greeted her
mate, she had made her way back to where Chloe was clutching Ryan’s
arms tightly, increasingly overwhelmed by this new turn of
events.

“
Excuse
me?”

“
I’m sorry, I
haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Erica, Sebastian's mate. Alex
and I wanted to meet you so we set out after Tobias, Sebastian and
some of the estate guards had left. It was fairly simple to follow
them.”

“
Why would you
want to meet me?”

“
Because you’re
the newest member of our family,” Erica scoffed as though the
question didn’t even merit answering.

“
Was this your
idea sweetheart?” Sebastian questioned, remembering his mate’s
penchant for getting into trouble and the situation at hand
definitely seemed to be brewing into one that his mate was known
for getting involved in. His hand gripped her side and pulled her
against him, a subconscious move to protect her from the likely
wrath of his cousin.

“
Actually, it
was all Alex’s idea,” she smiled, confident that there would be no
repercussions from her and Alex’s joint excursion. The idea had
actually originated from both of them but they had agreed that it
would be better if the idea was laid at her door. She was the Queen
after all, nobody could question her decisions in the King’s
absence.

“
She didn’t
used to be like this,” Ryan commented. “But now, once she has her
mind set on something it’s impossible to make her think differently
I think that aunt Yvonne has taught her too well. The one I feel
for is Tobias, she’s all set to take on the world but in her
condition all she does it make him worry.”

“
Speak of the
devil,” Sebastian laughed and Chloe turned within Ryan’s arms to
see another pack of wolves approaching although this time there
were two human figures amongst them. It was difficult to make out
in the dark but she managed to make out the figure of a large man
carrying a much smaller person. As the new wolves approached,
Tobias returned to them, a frown etched onto his strong features.
When they were close enough, Chloe could finally see the figure
that had been carried amongst the wolves. The woman was small,
caramel skinned with wildly curling brown hair and as she neared
them, Chloe could hear her voice calling out to them.

“
Tobias,” Alex
called out. Her voice was cheery though Chloe sincerely believed
that if she could have seen the anger on Tobias’ face she wouldn’t
have been so happy.

As soon as
they were close enough, Tobias moved, removing Alex from the arms
of the guard he had assigned to her care and well being, pulling
her against him. The idea that another male had been so close to
her body had his wolf snarling within his mind and he had to agree
with the wolf’s sentiments. “Xandria, what are you doing
here?”

“
I came to see
Ryan’s mate,” she laughed. “Put me down. I can still
walk.”

The gentle
care with which Tobias lowered the woman to the ground surprised
Chloe but as soon as Alex’s feet touched the ground it became clear
why he had been so tender. Alex’s stomach was distended, the large
bulge telling Chloe without words that she was pregnant. The large
bump seemed too big for such a small woman and as she approached
her, Chloe noted that she walked very carefully, each step measured
and cautiously taken. It was rather amusing to see the man she had
initially been afraid of trail behind the woman as though she could
simply fall down at any moment, care and worry evident in his grey
eyes.

“
Hi,” Alex
grinned when she was in front of Chloe, bright green eyes
practically glowing in the darkness. “I’m Alex.”

“
Hello, I’m
Chloe,” she replied unwilling to be rude in the face of such
politeness.

“
Good Chloe,”
Ryan whispered into her ear, his warm breaths feathering over her
ear and causing her to shiver slightly. “Don’t be rude to Alex. All
these men around her are prepared to give their lives to protect
her and if I know Tobias he’s probably told them to keep her safe
from everything, threats and insults included.”

“
So you’re
Ryan’s mate?” Alex asked happily.

“
I’m Ryan’s
nothing,” she replied simply and awaited Alex’s
response.

Alex
chuckled, “I know that’s how you feel now, but things will change I
promise.”

“
I have no
intention of developing this relationship beyond kidnapper and
victim.” She could hear Ryan wince loudly from behind her and she
struggled not to feel sympathetic towards him.

“
I knew there
was something going on,” Alex shouted triumphantly. “I just knew
it. Everyone was getting so worked up, there had to be something
more going on than you just bringing your mate home.”

“
It was sort of
obvious that you guys were up to something especially when you
refused to answer any questions about your brother,” Erica
inserted, gently stroking Sebastian's forearm. “You should have
just told us what was going on.”

Taking note
of the anxious look on Chloe’s face, Alex tried to reassure her.
“I’m going to apologise on Ryan’s behalf for what he did to you.
There seems to be a habit of kidnapping in this family.”

“
What?”

“
Well when I
first moved to the estate, I remember accusing Tobias of kidnapping
me and both Ryan and Sebastian of helping him.”

“
Don’t remind
me,” Tobias groaned, resting his hand lightly on his mate’s
stomach, his long fingers stroking the mound. “I get chills just
thinking back to that time. I still have trouble understanding why
you were so mad.” He noted the slight agitation that was thrumming
through her and sought to head off an argument before it began.
“But that’s all in the past, we don’t have to worry about it any
more, we have more important things to focus on.” The fingers on
her stomach splayed out protectively.

Watching the
intimate scene pass between the two, Chloe found it difficult to
believe that they had begun in similar circumstances to her and
Ryan. “So you were kidnapped too?”

“
It seems they
like to do that when their mate is human,” she laughed.

“
You’re human?”
Chloe gulped. “You’re not one of them?”

“
Well last time
I checked I was definitely not a werewolf, though I’m different to
what you’d normally expect.”

“
Thank God,”
Chloe sighed, gingerly stepping away from Ryan and moving towards
Alex. “You have to persuade him to let me go, to let me go
home.”

“
Chloe,” Alex
groaned in response, unsure of what she could say. “You’re Ryan’s
mate, there’s nothing I can do to change that. He’s a good man even
though sometimes he can be hard to manage. We don’t separate mates
in our culture without very good reason. Do you have
one?”

“
I don’t want
to manage him, I want to go home.”

“
That isn’t a
good enough reason Chloe. I doubt he’s hurt you or done anything to
compromise your health and safety. I know he’s doing his best to
make you happy and unless he’s done something that’s contrary to
those reasons, there’s nothing we can do.”

“
In a few years
you’ll look back at this time and laugh,” Erica added. “Trust
me.”

“
Alex, you must
understand that I can’t do this. It’s too much to take in at once.
Werewolves aren’t meant to be real and now one wants to take me
away from everything I’ve ever known? I can’t deal with this.”
Chloe placed her hands on Alex’s shoulders forcing her to look at
her.

“
Chloe,” Alex
began before a low groaned slipped past her lips. The small woman
swayed on her feet, clutching her distended stomach and the earth
beneath their feet rolled in sympathy. Tobias moved quickly and
silently, preventing Alex from falling and pulling her small body
into the protection of his own. The speed at which he had moved
only served to cement Chloe’s belief that should he identify her as
a threat, she would never see him coming.

Alex smiled
weakly up at her mate, slightly shocked by how quickly her fatigue
had caught up with her. While the last few weeks of her pregnancy
had been trying, she had thought that she would be able to manage
this small trip. She had practically coerced her overprotective
guards into taking her, convinced that as she wouldn’t be doing any
physical labour, her body would be able to cope.
I should have known better,
she mentally scolded. It had not been merely the lack of
energy she had had to contend with in the last few weeks, her
abilities seemed to have gone haywire. She was half convinced that
it was because of her powers that she was exhausted so
often.

The gardens
around the estate had been receiving quite a workout with the
constant cycle of growth and reduction. In her sleep she seemed to
grow the nearby greenery to massive proportions and had to return
them to their regular size when she awoke. It was exhausting. As
the estate’s limited medical staff had never had to deal with a
human quite like her, they couldn’t offer her advise that was
specific to her situation. They could only recommend that that she
rest and take it easy and hope that was enough to overcome the
problems she was experiencing. Tobias had taken their words to
heart and seemed intent on relegating her to bed until she gave
birth. Maybe he had been right; her excursion was increasingly
seeming like a bad idea.

“
Xandria,” he
growled, turning her to look at him.

“
Maybe it
wasn’t such a good idea to make the journey out here,” she
remarked, her voice small. “Are you mad?”

“
At you?” She
nodded. “I could never be angry with you dearest. Your guards on
the other hand…I should have you severely punished,” he snarled at
the large men, amber flooding his grey eyes. “There’s a car around
the corner, bring it to the entrance and I’ll consider not jailing
you. What were you thinking! Carrying the Queen like that in her
condition? Are you insane?”