A Wolf's Pride (16 page)

“
What about
those two?” Chloe murmured her eyes falling on a small brunette
whose hand was entwined with the man at her side. The pair were
staring at Erica and Sebastian, the tension between them so thick
she could practically feel it in the air. The short haired blonde
man seemed to vacilitate between ambivalence and annoyance but the
woman was staring at Sebastian with hatred in her hazel eyes though
her gaze softened when it landed on Erica.

“
That’s Lord
Michael and Lady Anna of the Western clan. He’s a nice man but
she’s a spiteful woman who, in my opinion, is out of touch with
reality. But that’s a story for another time. Just take my advice
and stay away from them. The couple next to them are the Lord and
Lady of the South Western clan, Seth and Isabelle.”
They will definitely not like what I have to say.
They lost one of their sons to the hunter’s madness.

“
And what about
those two?” Chloe pressed indicating the last two people who hadn’t
been accounted for.

“
They aren’t
together Chloe. The woman is Lady Eliza of the North Eastern clan;
her mate is supposedly away on business so she came in his
place.”

“
Supposedly?”
Chloe questioned confused by his words.

“
I say
supposedly because I don’t think the man is brave enough to come
near Tobias or Alex again. His daughter caused a lot of trouble for
them a while back. It all ended in a fight, I trained Alex and she
won.” His face glowed with pride. “But then she, Lucinda, literally
tried to stab Alex in the back and Jeremiah was the one to plead
for her life. Regardless to say they’re not generally welcome
around here. Finally we have Lord Nathaniel of the North Western
clan, his mate doesn’t like coming to these meetings. She much
prefers to tend to the more personal matters of her clan and her
family. She’s human like you; there are more of you here than you’d
think. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“
There are a
lot of crazy people in the world?” she asked innocently causing
Ryan to scowl.

His attempt
to scold her was interrupted by the arrival of Alex and Tobias and
he immediately felt anxious. All the clan representatives were
present, he would have to explain himself and he didn’t try to
delude himself into thinking that this meeting would go smoothly.
Alex smiled, taking her seat and judging by the scowl etched on
Tobias’ face Ryan’s guess as to why it had taken them so long to
arrive had been accurate. Tobias’ grey eyes flickered to his mate
as he took his seat, assessing her before turning his attention on
Ryan.

“
So Ryan, you
called this meeting I presume to explain your rash actions.” Ryan
nodded in agreement. “So explain.”

It was
obvious Tobias wasn’t in a good mood and Ryan found himself cursing
Alex’s stubborn streak. The meeting would have gone badly enough
without Tobias’ foul attitude colouring the discussion.

“
Firstly I
would like to formally introduce my mate to those of you who
haven’t met her, I doubt that any of you haven’t heard of her
though. This is Chloe Evans.” He smiled at her, gently squeezing
her hand beneath the table. Murmurs of congratulations filled the
room and his smile dimmed.
I wonder how
long it will take for their congratulations to turn to outrage once
I tell them what’s going on?
“In case you
weren’t aware, I forcibly took her from her place of residence and
brought her here.”

“
There’s
nothing wrong with that,” Lord Nathaniel boomed, his green eyes
sparkling with merriment. “It’s how my mate and I began our
relationship and look at us now. One hundred and fifty years on and
we’re still going strong. It’s how the instinct works young lord.
On behalf of you and your mate, I wish you two many centuries of
happiness.”

Chloe
scowled, Ryan grinned. “Thank you Lord Nathaniel.”

“
If that’s the
reason you called this meeting,” Lady Isabelle began. “Then I think
we should call it to an end. My pups are probably running amok at
home, they are at that age.” She rose from her chair and her mate
followed suit but Ryan quickly cut them off.

“
If that were
the only thing I had to discuss then I would have allowed the
gossips to tell you all of what was going on.” The lord and lady of
the South Western clan once again took their seats. “As you may or
may not know the authorities were involved. I was
arrested.”

“
Don’t worry
about that Ryan,” Sebastian said reassuringly. “The files
concerning you have conveniently gone missing.”

“
Thanks
Sebastian. I guess that just leaves one last thing to discuss. I
know that many of you think of me as impulsive, reckless and rash
but I wouldn’t have committed to this course of action without
reason. I admit that I broke into Chloe’s residence but I wouldn’t
have simply taken her then and there without good cause. My plan
was simply to see her, leave and arrange a meeting in a more
appropriate time and place.” He turned to face her. “I intended to
give Chloe a small amount of time to get to know me before I
brought her back here.”

“
So what
happened?” Amanda demanded, disapproval at his actions written
clearly across her face. It was to be expected he supposed. After
all that she had gone through with Elijah it was reasonable for her
to be suspicious of the high handed actions of males intent on
claiming their mates.

“
She woke up,”
he sighed. “She saw me and then we began to talk and after what she
told me there was no way I could leave her behind with them.” The
deep timbre of his voice rumbled through the room as anger flooded
him.

“
With who?”
Erica inquired curious.

He couldn’t
look at her knowing that the next words he spoke would bring forth
painful, unwanted memories. “The hunters.” The room was silent for
a moment before it exploded with sound as the leaders threw
question after question at him. His attention wasn’t however on
them but Chloe, she was beginning to tremble beneath his hand as
angry stares and harsh comments were thrown at her.

“
Hush!” Tobias
bellowed bringing silence to the room once more. His gaze was
intense as he stared at the small woman beside his cousin with new
eyes. “Your mate is a hunter and you brought her here?” His gaze
flickered back to Alex, resting on the large mound at her stomach.
“Are you insane?”

“
Chloe isn’t a
hunter Tobias, she’s innocent. You only have to look at her neck to
see that. She doesn’t bear the mark.”

All eyes in
the room fell on her and Chloe trembled harder in response. She had
wondered why Ryan had insisted she wear the low cut shirt that
adorned her body and now she knew. Her neck was clear and exposed
to their scrutiny and she was decidedly pleased that there wasn’t
even a single blemish against her skin. The wolves that had looked
ready to tear her apart moments before were calming.

“
Explain what
you meant then Ryan,” Tobias demanded.

“
She isn’t a
hunter but her family is. Every single member from what she told
me. I met an actual hunter along the way and he confirmed it.
Apparently she’s their high commander’s daughter whatever that
means to them. Once I found that out, I couldn’t leave her behind
and allow them to spread their vile filth to her. They’ve been
trying to do so her entire life but she believed they were
delusional. I couldn’t take the risk that they would convince her
otherwise.”

“
The high
commander’s daughter?” Lord Seth mused. “I’m surprised that you’re
still in one piece after being in contact with her so long. Has she
not tried to put a silver bullet through your head yet?”

“
I don’t even
know how to shoot a gun!” Chloe cried indignantly, the response
automatically leaving her mouth though as the attention in the room
was once again focused on her she wished she had simply stayed
silent.

It was true
that her father and brothers had tried to teach her gunmanship when
she’d been younger but she had refused the lessons though she was
now wishing that she had allowed herself to be swayed by the power
of their arguments. The idea of killing something for pleasure had
turned her stomach, while she engaged in harmless sibling violence
with the occasional punch or kick there was no possibility of death
to put her off the idea. She was however regretting failing to
listen to her father’s demands that she take self defense lessons.
He’d told her that they would come in handy should she ever
encounter a werewolf. She’d laughed, dismissing his concerns,
telling him that werewolves didn’t exist and all other potential
attackers could be deterred effectively with a well aimed shot of
pepper spray. How was she to know that a genuine werewolf would
break into her home and catch her off guard?

Lord Seth
glared at her and when she realised what she had done, her mouth
closed with a resounding snap. She had no business angering
werewolves who could probably tear her limb from limb. The Lords
and Ladies that had gathered were unknown variables and she had no
guarantees from them that they wouldn’t harm her.
Ryan won’t let anything happen to me.
A rebellious part of her mind whispered,
remembering his willingness to put her well being over his own
family’s. She barely resisted the urge to groan in
response.

“
Lord Ryan,”
Amanda called, her voice clear and sharp, easily carrying over the
din of clambering voices that filled the room.

“
Yes.”

“
I insist that
you take that woman home.” Ryan growled but she continued
regardless. “You abducted her, took her away from all she has ever
known and want to force her to be your mate. It’s wrong and I’ll
not stand for it.”

“
I’m not going
to force Chloe into anything,” he snarled, amber filling his eyes
at the thought of being separated from her. “I’m not going to let
her go. We’re mates, we belong together. In time she will agree
with me. I’ll do every thing in my power to see to her happiness
how could she not?”

“
I agree with
my son,” James inserted. “The circumstances surrounding Chloe’s
arrival and her affiliation with the hunters isn’t ideal, but she’s
Ryan’s mate. Nothing we do or say will change that.”

Erica's face
had blanched when Ryan had first mentioned the hunters but when her
father-in-law repeated Chloe’s link to them, unwelcome memories had
been forced to the front of her mind. As the conversation continued
to flow around her, images of her time in captivity flashed before
her eyes and her body trembled in response.

“
Erica,
sweetheart?” Sebastian's voice pulled her away from her painful
memories but she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease and fear that
now filled her. “What’s wrong?”

“
I can’t do
this Sebastian,” she whispered before standing from her chair and
making a quick escape.

Sebastian's
chair scrapped loudly over the stone floor as he rushed to stand,
drawing attention to him and his missing mate. He turned to his
brother easily identifying the look in Ryan’s gaze as a plea for
acceptance. “Despite all that her family have done, she’s my
brother’s mate, I’ll not stand for them to be separated. Welcome to
the family Chloe.” With that he left, following in Erica's
footsteps as he sought to find his mate.

Ryan breathed
a sigh of relief at the acceptance and support his family had given
him, the other clan leaders he wouldn’t have to deal with on a
daily basis, their opinions mattered very little to him especially
when they were trying to separate him from Chloe.

Anna spoke
and Ryan’s body tensed in preparation for the unpleasantness that
would undoubtedly spill from her mouth. She had once tried to send
Sebastian to his death because of something that no member of their
family could have prevented. Her two brothers had been killed by
hunters while he, Sebastian and their father had lived. Her warped
mind had somehow laid the blame for their deaths at the feet of the
Lords of the Southern clan and she acted accordingly. “After all
that they’ve done,” Anna began. “We shouldn’t show her any mercy.
The hunters have broken many families; it’s only fair that we do
the same to them. If this high commander position is one of
importance then it makes even more sense to dispose of
her.”

“
If you think
to harm my mate then you invite your own end. Any who try to touch
her should expect my retribution. It will be quick but painful. You
in particular,” he snarled at Anna, “should stay away from her. I
don’t want you to even breath the same air as her.”

From where he
sat, Tobias could see the situation was rapidly getting out of
hand. “Nobody is suggesting that we hurt Chloe let alone kill her
Ryan.” His voice was calm as he tried to calm his cousin but he was
well aware that Ryan’s anger was justified, if someone had said
something similar in regards to Alex, he would have had them
executed.

“
That’s exactly
what I’m suggesting.” Anna reiterated and Tobias groaned in
dismay.

“
I agree with
Lady Anna,” Isabelle stated calmly, her face twisted into a mask of
grim determination. “One of our sons was taken from us by those
monsters, it’s only fair that we do the same to them. She’s a
threat to us all; she cannot stay here your majesty. Surely you
aren’t comfortable with the idea of having someone so closely
related to the hunters near the Queen right now, in her
condition.”