A Wolf's Pride (2 page)

Her family
had chosen to do neither and the house reflected that decision. Old
takeout boxes littered the living room, covering all available
surfaces and a large portion of the floor. She made her way through
the treacherous terrain, years of practice serving her well. The
house that she had grown up in was large, but it had had to be to
fit her large family, sprawled out over two floors with enough
bedrooms for each of her father’s children. The only room in the
house that was clean was the kitchen because it was rarely used and
she made sure to severely scold her family if they left it in a
disgusting state. She had once threatened to never cook for them
again should they leave it in the same condition as the rest of the
house and they had apparently taken the threat to heart.

Once she was
firmly in the kitchen, her hands moved automatically, cooking with
the kind of skill that came from years of practise. She knew
exactly what each member of her family wanted for their breakfasts
and cooked accordingly. There was no point in cooking what was
likely the only home cooked meal they would eat for the week if it
weren’t made to their exact specifications.

As she moved
about the kitchen she felt a sense of comfort wash over her. She
had moved out a few months ago determined to show the
overprotective males that made up her family that she could take
care of herself. Her family were the very definition of
overprotective. While she loved them, they had not made her life
easy when she was growing up. Every one of them was tall and very
well built, making her feel excruciatingly small in comparison.
Unfortunately, they had also made any male that had expressed even
a modicum of interest in her experience similar feelings. She had
never had the most attractive figure in the world, years of living
with a group of males who lived on nothing but takeouts had seen to
that. The pickings had been slim even without the help of her
family. If any of the few males that had liked her and she had
liked in return had chosen to brave the dangers of her family, they
had gone out of their way to inspire fear in them and make sure
that whoever they were knew they weren’t wanted. Every member of
her family was convinced that the world was a dangerous place and
every man had circumspect intentions. Needless to say it had made
dating very difficult and moving out even more so. They had done
their best to convince her to stay within the safe protection of
their home but she had been adamant in her determination to move.
They had eventually accepted her decision though they made sure she
was aware that they disapproved.

The scent of
cooking food seemed to draw her family from their beds and the
sound of heavy footfalls on the stairs was soon heard. Jonathon,
her eldest brother at 27, was the first to crawl from his bed and
down the stairs, closely followed by her younger brothers,
Christian and Daniel. Her brother’s had all inherited their dark
hair and stocky builds from their father, making Chloe with her
bright blonde hair seem sort of an outside now that her mother was
no longer alive. The only thing that they shared was their unusual
violet eyes. Mumbled grunts of appreciation were thrown in her
general direction as she placed plates of food in front of
them.

“
Now that isn’t
the way to say thank you to your sister is it?” The sharp reprimand
had Chloe turning to look at her father as he descended the
stairs.

“
Don’t worry
about it daddy, I’m used to it by now.” She smiled, moving to his
side and placing an affectionate kiss against his cheek. “I’ve been
trying to change them for years and nothing I’ve done has affected
them in the slightest, they’re too old and stuck in their ways to
change now.”

“
But
still…”

“
Daddy, just
eat your breakfast,” she sighed, placing a plate of food in front
of him.

Harry picked
at his breakfast, his eyes focused instead on his only daughter.
“So Chloe, how is the new apartment?”

“
Yeah Chloe,”
Christian inserted. “How goes independent living?”

“
It’s
wonderful. I love it.”

Harry mulled
over the latest piece of information before slamming his cutlery
against the table. “Chloe, come home. I don’t like the idea of you
living away from us.”

“
No,” she
replied calmly, continuing to eat her breakfast as though her
father had not spoken.

“
Chloe, I’m
serious,” Harry growled.

“
So am I daddy.
I’m not moving back home. I like being independent, I like having
my own place and I like my job. There’s nothing you can say to me
to change those facts.”

“
The world
isn’t a safe place, especially for someone like you.”

“
Daddy, you’re
paranoid. I’m aware of the dangers that lurk around corners and I
know how to avoid them so stop worrying.”

“
Chloe,” Harry
was cut off as his mobile began to ring. It never left his side. He
answered with a sharp, “What?” His attention began to be absorbed
by what the person on the other end of the line was saying and
Chloe sighed, disappointed. She knew where that look led. “We’ll be
there as soon as we can,” he stated calmly.

Her brothers
had stopped eating when her father had answered the phone and were
now looking at him expectantly. “Get dressed, we’re
leaving.”

“
A hunt or
reconnaissance?” Jonathan asked.

“
Reconnaissance, but Robert thinks that this is a genuine
lead.”

Her brothers
stood and Chloe frowned. “Daddy,” Chloe groaned. “We’re eating
breakfast.”

“
I know sugar
but this is important.”

“
Daddy,
werewolves don’t exist. You’re wasting your time and Jonathan’s,
Christian’s and Daniel’s. Just come and sit back down and we can
pretend that you didn’t get that phone call.”

“
We can’t
Chloe, I’m sorry about breakfast,” he apologised, placing a kiss
against her cheek before he left the room and walked back up the
stairs.

Chloe began
moving around the kitchen cleaning up the barely eaten breakfast
that she had made. Her family leaving half way through the meal was
as much a part of the tradition as the breakfast itself. Her father
enjoyed hunting and while she had initially had nothing against his
hobby, it had helped him overcome his grief when her mother died,
it was now getting ridiculous. Her father was obsessed with the
idea of werewolves and had ingrained the obsession onto his sons.
They had even gone so far as to get tattoos permanently engraved
into their skin. It was ridiculous. Her grandfather had been just
as obsessed so it was to be expected. Werewolves didn’t exist, why
couldn’t they accept that?

Chapter
Two

Ryan didn’t
like cities. He hated them with a blazing passion. It was a well
known fact among the members of his clan and nevertheless here he
was, yet again in another city that was pushing his tolerance to
its limits. He supposed from the perspective of a human San
Francisco was a beautiful place, but to his heightened senses it
was nothing short of hell. It was loud, too loud, the noise
pressing in on him so hard that he thought his eardrums would
burst. There were far too many smells in the air and most of them
were distinctly unpleasant and the final straw was the distinct
lack of greenery around him.

Everywhere he
went there was concrete, concrete and more concrete. He had begun
to feel trapped, hemmed in by his suit and kept in his own personal
hell by businessmen that seemed to be lacking in basic common
sense. If he had not been the representative for the interests of
his clan, he would simply have walked out and not spared a single
glance back. But the fact remained that he was. It was his
responsibility to ensure that the clans remained wealthy enough to
maintain their privacy. The business tasks themselves weren’t all
that hard, he had the instinct guiding him after all; it was simply
the environment that was taking its toll. After two hours in this
place he had immediately regretted his decision to leave early but
Monday was drawing to a close, the meetings had concluded with the
clan gaining significantly and he could finally return
home.

He had left
the building where the meetings were being held and was now making
his way from this city, determined to get back to the peace and
tranquillity of familiar surroundings. He walked along the
darkening streets with confidence, there was nothing out there more
dangerous than he. His journey took him past a small elementary
school and he smiled at the bright colours that covered the
school’s welcome sign. He had always loved children, often
relieving stressed parents within his clan of their young and
taking care of them for hours at a time. His own mother had had
difficulties conceiving a second time around and so he had never
had any other sibling than his brother Sebastian. Now however, he
seemed to be inundated with new children in his family. His mother
had given birth to twins and they were perfectly healthy, his
brother was acting as a surrogate father figure to his mate’s
siblings and his cousin’s mate would give birth to triplets any
day. While the knowledge that his family was growing dramatically
in size brought a smile to his face, it was a sad one. His mind
continued to wander to the mate he had yet to find, imagining what
their children would look like. He sighed dejectedly moving away
from the school.

His steps
halted abruptly as a delectable fragrance wrapped itself around his
brain. His eyes closed to savour the scent and he found that his
body had begun moving of its own accord to reach the source. The
smell was clouding his mind, making it difficult to think, though
his wolf had finally ceased its frantic demands. He walked on
silent feet as he padded round the outside of the school building,
finally coming to a halt in front of an open window. The window
looked into a classroom that was on first glance empty but as he
continued to scan his surroundings, he finally laid eyes on a
woman. She was hunched over a desk, her hands moving quickly and
efficiently over the sheets of paper that covered the table’s
surface.

Mine,
his wolf purred.
Our
mate.

Ryan’s heart
sped up at the realisation of who this woman was and he took the
time to look her over. She had hair the colour of the sun, cut
short to frame her softly rounded face. Her skin was a healthy tan
and seemed to be calling out to him, inviting him to touch. He
couldn’t see her face properly or the colour of her eyes as she had
her face close to the desk. She wore very loose clothing and he had
to resist the urge to growl at the different obstructions to his
observation.

I have to find
out what she’s hiding beneath those clothes,
he decided.
There’s too much I can’t
see. She’s my mate, I deserve to know everything about
her.

Take her,
she’s ours.
His wolf suggested.
Throw her over your shoulder, take her back to
the clans and claim her.

Ryan
smirked,
That’s a very good idea.
He had and his wolf had a very good relationship,
one where they rarely disagreed. It led people to believe he was
impulsive, his actions rash but he could tolerate their accusations
so long as he had peace of mind and he did.
As long as we have her, we can work on our relationship. Yes,
taking her back to the clans is a very good idea.

Do it
now.

No, not
yet.
Despite the fact that they were often
in agreement, Ryan was still hampered by reason, he could
understand the consequences of his actions. While they had minor
disagreements about the methods used, the end results were the
same.
We’re far from the clans and
she,
he inhaled deeply,
she’s human. We can’t go back the way we came. I doubt she
would come willingly. I need to make provisions.

Will you take
long?

I only need
some form of transport, everything else I can get along the
way.

I love the
way you think.

The feeling is
definitely mutual.
“Wait for me love, I’ll
be back before you know it,”
he whispered
to her before slinking away into the night to complete his
tasks.

As Chloe marked
the work of the children in her class, she couldn’t shake the
feeling that someone was watching her. Her head lifted suddenly,
spinning to look at the only window the classroom had. There was no
one there.
I’m just being paranoid,
she decided.
It’s
probably because I’m working here so late by myself, it’s creepy to
be in the school with no one about. I’ll finish the marking at
home.
Gathering her students’ work, she
placed them in her large bag and strode out of the building. She
only realised how late it was when she was outside, the sky was
dark now though she supposed as winter was approaching that was to
be expected. She walked quickly to her car, her shoes clacking
loudly against the concrete that covered the parking lot. Hers was
the last car there; if her father or brothers found out about this
she would never hear the end of it.

The drive
home was quick but she had chosen her apartment because of its
proximity to the school she had just started working at. She loved
her job as a teacher, working with the children everyday brought
her such joy though it had been a battle to make her family see
things that way. They had seen so many things on the news where
teachers had been attacked by their pupils, that they had decided
it was too dangerous for her to be in that occupation. Chloe had
laughed off their concerns, she was teaching elementary school for
crying out loud.