A Wolf's Pride (15 page)

“
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.

Chapter
Thirteen

Morning came,
as it always did and with it came the meeting that Ryan had been
anxious to avoid the night before. The way he had brought Chloe
back to the clans wasn’t unheard of, many males had simply plucked
their human mates out of the lives they had previously led and
brought them back to the clans during the long course of their
history. It was the involvement of the authorities and the
generally suspicious circumstances surrounding her arrival that
were of interest to the people now gathered in one of the estates
several meeting rooms. He had called a meeting of the clan heads to
tell them about his mate’s heritage. News spread like wild fire
within the clans so all those sitting around the large table would
eventually find out. He had debated simply telling his close family
but had realised that it would be better to get the inevitable
confrontations out of the way. If he only told a select few he
would have to deal with these people demanding to know why he
hadn’t told them personally before they gave him their opinions on
the matter.

Ryan sat
beside Chloe, flanked on either side by his family, his father on
one side and Sebastian and Erica on the other. For once in his life
he wasn’t comforted by their presence. He was unsure of how his
family would react to his news especially in light of Erica's
experience with the hunters. Nine curious pairs of eyes stared at
him questioningly and in that moment he regretted not simply taking
the coward’s way out and allowing the clan gossips to disseminate
the news, they were after all, famous for their efficiency. Alex
and Tobias had yet to arrive and Ryan was beginning to feel
anxious. The adept clan grapevine had confirmed that all was well
with Alex this morning and yet neither the King nor Queen had
arrived. Knowing his cousin he was probably concerned with Alex’s
safety and doing his best to confine her to bed. He would fail, he
always did but the knowledge had yet to deter him from
trying.

“
Ryan, who are
these people?” Chloe whispered in his ear, her eyes scanning those
gathered as much as he had been doing moments before. “And why are
they staring at me?”

Grateful for
the distraction, he turned to answer her questions. “They’re
looking at you because you’re the most beautiful woman in the room
and they’re wondering what I did to deserve you.”

Looking
around at the several beautiful female faces that littered the
large room, Chloe scoffed, “Be serious.”

“
I am love, I
am.” His voice was intense, his tone honest and she had to turn
away from him. It was confusing trying to decide if he said these
things to shock her or if he genuinely meant them. Her kidnapper
seemed to delight in confusing her. Ryan sighed, realising that
Chloe wouldn’t be responding to his comment, she didn’t know him
well enough to understand that he was being honest with her. The
five other women in the room were physically attractive he supposed
but none held a candle to the woman at his side. “Fine, don’t
believe me.”

“
Will you
answer my questions now? Who are these people and why are they
looking at me? I don’t like being the centre of attention
Ryan.”

“
These people
are the leaders of the clans that govern our people.”

“
Clans?”

“
Yes, these are
the Lords and Ladies of our clans.”

“
Then what are
we doing here?”

“
Even if I
weren’t the one who called this meeting, I have every right to be
here. Your mate is a Lord.”

“
You?” she
scoffed disbelieving.

“
Yes, my
brother and I are lords of the southern clan as is our father. As
he’s technically the one in charge until he decides to retire, I
suppose you could call him the high lord, though to my line of
thinking he’s been semi retired for the last two
decades.”

“
And what about
all these other people?” she whispered, her mind cataloguing those
around her in case they were willing to aid her in her
escape.

She was
beginning to doubt that any one would see what Ryan had done as a
crime but it didn’t hurt to plan. When she had woken in this
strange place she had pinched herself to confirm that it wasn’t in
fact a dream that her mind had concocted, it hadn’t been. Ryan had
scolded her for abusing her skin, offering her breakfast which she
had refused on principal before dragging her from the room telling
her that they were late for a meeting she had no desire to
participate in. She had kicked and screamed the entire way and yet
none of the multitude of people she had seen along the winding
halls had so much as lifted a finger to assist her. One man had
asked if she was all right but Ryan had explained the situation to
him in such a way that his actions almost seemed reasonable. Her
throat raw, she had chosen to remain quiet when he had pulled her
into this room but as the silence dragged on she began to feel
frantic with the need to break it. She had been surrounded by noise
her entire life first, growing up with three boisterous brothers
and then choosing to teach as a career and it now appeared that she
was physically incapable of leaving a silence unbroken for
protracted periods of time.

“
Well you see
that woman with the short brown hair, blue eyes?” Chloe nodded.
“That’s Lady Amanda, the leader of the Northern clan. We’re sort of
related.”

“
Sort
of?”

“
Well there’s
no blood between us but a relation is still a relation. She married
Tobias’ cousin on his father’s side. He’s dead now.”

Automatic
condolences left her lips at his last statement. “I’m
sorry.”

“
Don’t be, he
deserved to die after what he did.” Ryan shrugged moving on to the
man sitting beside Amanda. “The man on her right is Lord Evan of
the Eastern clan.” He inclined his head at the dark haired man who
smiled as their eyes met, stroking his thick beard thoughtfully as
her eyes moved on. “He’s meant to be a nice man, I haven’t spent
much time with him so I couldn’t say for sure though. The man on
his right is Lord Richard of the South Eastern clan.”