A Wolf's Pride (21 page)

“
I wish I’d
thought of doing that with my brothers, maybe they wouldn’t be so
useless now if I had done.” She thought on the matter for a moment
before chuckling, “Who am I kidding, they would have ignored me if
I’d tried anything like that. If I tried to single one of them out
then they would have called in the cavalry and ganged up on
me.”

“
Are you close
to your brothers?”
Please say
no.

“
I love my
family, they’re the only ones who have ever accepted me as I am and
not demanded that I change something about myself.”

“
I accept you
for who you are Chloe,” Ryan reminded her. “I wouldn’t change
anything about you at all. And I don’t go around hurting innocent
people either,” he muttered the last though apparently he hadn’t
been quiet enough.

Chloe’s eyes
narrowed. “Ryan, don’t talk about my family like that. If you want
to keep bad mouthing them then you’ve ruined your chance and I’m
leaving.” She stood up but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist,
keeping her in place.

“
I’m sorry
Chloe, don’t go.”

She sat back
down. “If this chance is going to work then we’re going to have to
agree not to talk about my family. We have very different opinions
on them and all that’s going to happen if we talk about them is an
argument, is that what you want?”

“
I don’t want
to fight with you Chloe.”

“
Then my family
is off limits.”

“
Can I ask just
one thing and then we won’t talk about them again
tonight.”

Her eyes
narrowed once again in suspicion. “What is it?”

“
Your mother,
where is she? You’ve never said anything about her. Whenever you
talk about your family you only ever mention your father and
brothers.”

“
My mom died
about ten years ago,” she answered simply.

Please don’t
let it be one of our people that killed her. If that’s what
happened then she would have actual reason for being wary of
me.
“How did she die?”

“
It was a car
accident, a drunk driver that shouldn’t have been allowed on the
road, ploughed into her car. The doctors said she died instantly,
there was nothing anyone could do.”

“
I’m sorry
Chloe.”

“
Don’t be. It
was a long time ago and you never knew her.”

“
I know I
didn’t but to lose your mother when you were so young, it must have
hurt.” He chose not to mention that many young wolves were forced
to go through what she had because of the actions of her family and
their organisation. Her suffering was genuine, he didn’t need to
ruin his chance by telling her something she didn’t want to hear
and probably wouldn’t believe.

“
It did at the
time but I’m better now. I remember I refused to learn to drive
after the accident because I was so scared that it would happen to
me too but I learnt that I was curbing my own independence by doing
that. Someone in my family would always have to take me where I
wanted to go and if they didn’t like what I might be doing they
would just refuse to take me. The lot of them are far too
protective of me.”

“
That’s the one
thing we have in common.”

“
They don’t
even like the idea of me living alone. When I last spoke to my dad
he was demanding that I move back home.”

“
He was right,”
Ryan commented.

“
What?”

“
I said he was
right. The world is a dangerous place.”
And you’re far too unaware of that fact.

“
That’s exactly
what my dad says. Maybe you have more in common than you
think.”

“
You’re a
unique case love, but you’re wrong. Your father and I don’t have
anything in common besides wanting you safe. I don’t want you to
move back into his home, I want you to stay here in
ours.”

“
Where everyone
is on your side and trying to persuade me to stay here with you?”
she chuckled, smiling widely at him.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Every woman
I’ve met, except Erica who took her children and ran away from me
as if I were the devil, has championed your cause telling me how
wonderful you are. First Alex, then Helen and Alice.”

“
Don’t you
agree with them?” he purred, his hand moving to her thigh and
beginning to gently caress the flesh beneath his hot palm. “I’m
irresistible.” His hand moved, sliding under her dress through the
long slit in the side to touch her skin directly and heat instantly
flooded her body.

“
It’s hard to
think when you touch me, why is that?” she questioned breathlessly.
“I’m not usually this susceptible to simple touch but with you I
seem to lose all common sense.”

“
It’s because
we’re mates Chloe, your body knows that mine is meant for your
pleasure. Even humans have a sort of instinct. Sometimes you just
know that someone is up to no good, in this case you subconsciously
know that we’re meant to be together. Your body is only doing what
it knows is right.”

“
Is this a one
way thing?” Her breath hitched as the hand on her thigh crept
higher leaving heated shockwaves in its wake. “You seem
fine.”

“
If only you
knew how not fine I am. I meant it when I said you’re a walking
temptation. If you could only see the things going on in my head,
the things I want to do to you…” He trailed off, groaning, as his
mind was momentarily overwhelmed by images of him and Chloe
writhing in pleasure, wrapping each other in heated embraces. “If
the instinct weren’t preventing me, I would be doing my utmost to
seduce you into accepting me here and now. I would take you on this
table, drag you back to our rooms and take you again. Over and over
until I were completely exhausted and just so you know, it takes a
long, long time for a wolf to sate himself completely on his mate,
especially when his mate is as perfect as you.”

Shaking her
head, Chloe tried to shed the haze of desire that had enveloped her
thoughts. Placing a restraining hand on Ryan’s she smiled calmly at
him, surprisingly unconcerned with the amber that had filled his
gaze. “We should stop this.”

He exhaled a
shuddery breath, “You’re right. We came here to talk and get to
know each other better, so let’s talk.”

The level of
self restraint he possessed was admirable, Chloe decided. She was
pleased that he hadn’t pressed the issue because she was unsure of
how she would have resisted him. He had been right about something,
when near him, her body was like a musical instrument and he was
seducer’s equivalent of Beethoven. If he had pushed the matter, she
may very well have given into him, logic and reason thrown to the
wind.

As the night
passed, without major incident, it became harder and harder to
think of Ryan as her kidnapper. He was funny, caring and genuinely
interested in what she had to say, all that combined with his
handsome face and physically perfect body was wearing away at her
resistance.
Maybe I should just see where
this goes,
she decided.
I’ve definitely done worse in my life. For once, I’m just
going to go with the flow, maybe all of this was meant to happen.
Ryan definitely seems to think so.
He
laughed and she felt that curious shifting sensation in her chest
that she was coming to associate with him.
Yes, I think that I’ll just see where this goes.

Chapter
Eighteen

“
I hate chasing
leads that don’t go anywhere,” Jonathan groused from the front seat
of the car as he and his family began the last leg of the trip
home. The call for assistance that Harry had received on Sunday had
turned out to be another dead end. The branch that had called was
filled with mainly new recruits who had confused a man that lived
alone with a wolf hybrid for the genuine thing, the lecture they
had received had been long, their punishment swift. Mistakes like
this one had become a common thing though in the past few months.
Vincent Cooper, a man who had risen quickly through their ranks had
led practically his entire branch to their deaths and the
organisations resources were having to stretch to make up the
gaping hole he had left. While it was fairly simple to recruit new
members, they lacked experience and contact with genuine werewolves
making them prone to mistakes.

“
I especially
hate chasing pointless leads when they interrupt my Sunday
breakfast. My one cooked meal of the week. Wasted,” Daniel groaned
from the back of the car.

“
It doesn’t
have to be that way,” Christian inserted, his eyebrows moving
suggestively. “There are other ways to get a home cooked
meal.”

“
I’m not going
to whore myself out to whatever woman comes my way just so I can
get some food. I’m not going to degrade myself just so you have
someone else on your level,” Daniel retorted.

Christian
shrugged. “Your loss.”

“
It wouldn’t be
the same if Chloe didn’t make it so no, it’s not my loss,” Daniel
concluded.

“
She has your
mother’s touch,” Harry added, his eyes never leaving the
road.

Sounds of
agreement filled the car as they all rushed to agree.

“
Still, a
willing woman and a hot meal can’t hurt,” Christian smiled. “I
wonder if any of my lovely ladies are up for entertaining tonight,”
he mused.

“
You’re
impossible,” Daniel lamented, punching his older brother playfully
in the arm. Christian retaliated with a punch of his own and Harry
groaned.

“
Look at them,”
he began, directing his comments at his eldest son. “These are the
men that are going to have to lead with you when I finally decide
to leave the organisation in your hands Jonathan. Does that worry
you?”

“
Don’t be so
down hearted dad, those two have always been like that. Besides,
you have lots of years left in you before you retire. Hunting is in
your blood, you’ll only give it up when your body can’t keep up and
you’re as fit as a horse.”

“
That was
before now. That Chloe is taking years off my life with her dammed
need for independence. She doesn’t realise the dangers that are
lurking around every corner.”

“
It’s not your
fault that she didn’t want to believe you when you told
her.”

“
Maybe I should
have shown her one of them,” Harry groused. “Then she would have
believed the truth.”

“
You wouldn’t
have wanted to do that dad, none of us would. Chloe doesn’t have
the stomach to handle what we do. She’s as innocent as they
come.”

“
I know. It
probably hasn’t helped that I’ve been so soft with her but how
could I be different? She’s my baby girl and she reminds me so much
of your mother.”

“
You can’t take
all the blame for Chloe being how she is onto your shoulders dad.
We’ve all had a part to play. She’s the only girl in this family
and we’ve all been so protective of her. There’s nothing any of us
wouldn’t do for her or protect her against. We’ve sheltered her for
her entire life and now she wants to get away a little, it’s only
to be expected.”

“
Well I can’t
let that happen. Can you imagine what would happen to her if a wolf
got his filthy hands on her?” A deep frown settled over his
features at the mere thought.

“
Who knows dad,
when you finally choose to retire, wolves might be extinct,”
Christian joked trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere that
suddenly filled the car.

“
Like that’s
going to happen,” Harry growled angrily. “The werewolves are
getting smarter, more adept at hiding, leaving the safety of their
damn hidden clans less often. It’s making our jobs difficult. We
had a perfect opportunity with that female a few months ago but
Vincent fucked that up.”

“
And now we’re
running up and down the country at the merest hint of a werewolf,”
Daniel added. Since Vincent had allowed Erica to escape him, their
unit, that of the high commander, had been constantly checking in
on the various branches to see if any of them had successfully
captured a werewolf. While Vincent's plan had been terribly
executed, the idea behind it was a good one. It shamed them that
they hadn’t thought of it earlier but most of the female wolves
they had caught had been killed quickly else a male wolf came to
retrieve them. When the females died, the males had lost the will
to live and it had been pointless trying to extract information
from them. They had longed for death and it had been given to
them.

“
Don’t worry
dad,” Christian comforted. “They can’t hide forever, it isn’t in
their nature. The full moon is approaching, they’ll be overcome by
their animal instincts, they’ll make mistakes and we’ll be there to
call them on them.”

“
Christian’s
right dad,” Jonathan assured.

“
I hope you’re
right,” Harry concluded pulling the car into the house’s driveway.
The engine was turned off and the four men disembarked from the car
and entered the house, what awaited them was a surprise.

“
Robert,” Harry
growled displeased that his subordinate had entered his home
without permission. “What are you doing here? I didn’t invite you
into my home. You know the rules; you wait outside unless expressly
given permission to enter. If you show disregard for the rules then
those under you are likely to follow your example. What would Chloe
say if she saw you and whoever else decided to break in? The rules
are there for a reason. I don’t want my daughter involved in what
we do.”