A Wolf's Pride (26 page)

“
Ryan,” Chloe
scolded, running to the door to retrieve the box and her
possessions. To her surprise it was already gone, held in the arms
of a woman who was running down the hall, her arms held far away
from her body as though she were carrying toxic waste. “You’re not
seriously throwing away my things are you?”

“
Of course
not,” he scoffed and she sighed in relief. “If I just threw them
away then the stench would still be in the air. A smell like this
is etched too deep to simply be washed away. No, the only way to
deal with this is to burn the things. Didn’t I already say that?”
His voice was calm, steady showing just how firm his resolve was
and Chloe’s face fell in response. He was serious.

“
Ryan?”
Sebastian coughed from the doorway, covering his nose with a cupped
palm to avoid inhaling the unpleasant smell. He hadn’t fought often
in the course of his life and had never injured another wolf to
such an extent that blood had been drawn. The only time he had
smelled such large amounts of wolf blood was when Erica had fallen
after being held captive and tortured by the hunters. The memory
brought a snarl to his lips. “What the hell is this stuff doing
here? What would you have done if Erica had walked by?”

“
Don’t worry
Sebastian, I’m getting rid of it now. I can’t stand the
smell.”

“
What smell?”
Chloe shouted. “I can’t smell anything. Why are you doing this
Ryan?”

“
I know you
can’t smell it love, but I can, so can everyone else. There’s blood
here, blood from several different people, wolves, our clansmen. We
can’t have this stuff here. Sebastian, help me.”

Sebastian
nodded, opening the doors wider and beckoning several other men
from the hall into the room. Their noses wrinkled simultaneously in
disgust but they moved forward, opening boxes and sniffing them. As
they moved through the room, Chloe noticed a pattern developing. It
was only the boxes with things from her familial home that were
removed from the room with the occasional item from one of the
other boxes taken. She stood, frozen in shock as they emptied the
room, her mind unable to process what was going on. How had they
gone from laughing and joking to him threatening to burn her most
treasured possessions?

“
Chloe love?”
She turned to look at him, disbelief imprinted on her face, the
room was now half empty, most of the boxes gone. “I need the
picture.” He held out his hand for the frame that was clutched
tightly to her chest.

His request
snapped her out of her dazed state. “You want what?”

“
The picture
Chloe.”

“
Not on your
life,” she hissed. “If you think I’m going to allow you to burn
this then you really are crazy.”

“
It can’t stay
here love.”

“
You’re ruining
the chance that I gave you. If you actually go through with this
don’t expect me to forgive you. I’m not known to hold onto a grudge
but for you I would make an exception. I’ll make it my life’s
mission to make you miserable.”

“
Chloe, we’ll
talk about this later. Give me the frame, please.”

“
I said
no.”

He stepped
forward, his hands reaching for the frame. She struggled, clutching
it tighter against her chest but his superior strength won and the
picture was taken from her. “You bastard,” she snarled, her hand
moving of its own accord to slap him hard across the
cheek.

He touched
his face, surprised. “Chloe,” he groaned, reaching for
her.

“
Stay the hell
away from me Ryan! If you come any closer I don’t know what I’ll
do. You inspire heights of violence in me I hadn’t thought
possible.”

“
I’ll give you
some time alone to calm down. We’ll talk when I get
back.”

“
There will be
nothing to talk about if you go through with this Ryan.”

“
Don’t be
silly, we still haven’t properly spoken about the
claiming.”

“
I don’t care
about your stupid claiming. I want nothing to do with you. I knew
things between us were going too well. It was only possible because
we were hiding from the truth, but now it’s all out in the open.
You’re an ass! I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

“
Chloe, you
know you don’t mean that.”

“
I do. I mean
every word.”

“
I’m going to
go now. If I stay you’ll only say more hurtful things that you’ll
come to regret. I’ll be back soon. Just stay here.”

“
Fuck
you.”

“
You shouldn’t
say things like that love. You never know if I might act on your
provocations.” Turning on his heel, he spun and left the room,
leaving Chloe alone with her thoughts. He closed the door behind
him and walked a few feet down the hall when a large, heavy body
barrelled into him, slamming him against the hard wall. Amber
flooded his eyes, fangs erupted in his mouth and claws sprang from
his nails, his body preparing to attack. His eyes locked with his
assailant and he tried to force himself to relax. Owen was his
friend, they had been scuffling together since they were pups, but
then he remembered, Owen had lost his uncle to the
hunters.

“
What’s going
on Ryan?” Owen growled. “Have you lost your mind? How could you
even think of bringing the blood of our fallen clansmen into our
home?”

“
I didn’t
know,” Ryan began, his voice calm. He didn’t want to fight Owen,
they had been through a lot together, he was almost like a second
brother to him.

They had
first met when Owen had tried to start a fight with Sebastian, Ryan
had quickly put a stop to that but the older boy had admired his
strength, his tenacity and his willingness to protect those he
loved. It had taken a while for Owen to earn Ryan’s trust and
forgiveness after their initial encounter but the boys had quickly
become firm friends. Owen had been willing to do all the physical
activities that Sebastian was reluctant to take part in, they had
grown up together, bled together protecting each other’s backs, how
had it come to this?

“
I only just
found out myself. I’m dealing with the situation.”

“
Get rid of it
Ryan,” Owen commanded. “You don’t want to deal with the
consequences if you don’t.”

“
Are you
threatening me?” he hissed.

“
Take it for
what you will. I’m only telling you the truth.”

“
I’m dealing
with the situation.”

“
I hope that
means you’re getting rid of that affront to our people.”

“
My mate
treasures those things. She can’t smell what we can.” Though he
himself had decided to destroy the things, his mouth automatically
rebelled against the order when given by someone else.

“
She can’t
smell it but I can, we all can. If you don’t get rid of that smell
somehow then the clansmen will resort to violence and this close to
the full moon, who knows what might happen.”

“
That
definitely sounds like a threat. I beat you once Owen, don’t think
I won’t do it again, especially for her.”

“
That was a
long time ago Ryan, I’ve grown up since then. If we were to fight
for real now, the outcome is uncertain. Besides, you’re only one
wolf, you can’t take on every member of the clan.”

“
Do you think I
wouldn’t try for Chloe? She’s my mate. I would die
trying.”

Owen released
him and took a step back. “I don’t want you to die Ryan, we’re
friends. Get rid of the smell, if not for your own life then for
her safety.” He turned and walked away, disappearing as he rounded
a corner.

Breathing
deep, Ryan tried to get his own emotions back under control. He had
felt a pang of guilt when Chloe had slapped him. His heart had
twisted within his chest when she screamed that she hated him, the
words planting a seed of doubt within his mind. She had given him a
chance, could he really risk it?

Her safety
comes first,
he decided, walking back
towards the bedroom.
Besides when balanced
against her life, things aren’t important. Most of the things with
blood on them weren’t in her apartment, they couldn’t have meant
that much to her.

Protect her
Ryan,
his wolf inserted.
Burn them.

He reached for
the key in his pocket and twisted it in the lock.
It’s better this way. I can’t risk losing her,
she’s too important.

Chapter Twenty
Two

Throwing
herself on the bed, Chloe screamed long and loud, furious with the
man’s insufferable actions. “He’s just kidding,” she reassured
herself. “He wouldn’t actually do something like that. I know he
wouldn’t.” Her attempts to delude herself were short lived as the
acrid smell of smoke drifted to her nose from the open window.
Rushing to her feet, she raced to the window, her heart dropping
when she saw a high cloud of dark smoke. Her eyes narrowed,
attempting to see further. People surrounded a large fire, throwing
boxes into the flames and making the smoke rise higher. Pushing
herself away from the window, Chloe ran to the door, screaming
loudly in anger when she found it was locked.

“
The bastard
locked me in?” Shrieking in frustration she ran back to the window,
throwing it open wider. “Ryan you fucking bastard,” she shouted.
“We’re finished! I hate you. If I never see your face again, it
will be to soon.” Closing the window she moved back to the bed and
lay back against the sheets.
I should have
known better. It was never going to be simple. I shouldn’t have
deluded myself into believing otherwise. This is my comeuppance for
believing him.
“I won’t make that mistake
again.”

She was still
lying on the bed when Ryan walked into the room, bringing the
pungent smell of smoke with him. She didn’t really have an
alternative. The door was locked and she had only succeeded in
bruising her shoulder when she had tried to force it open. Climbing
out of the window wasn’t an option seeing as they were on the third
floor. Ryan might not have been worried about falling to his death
but she was. Lying on her stomach, she could hear his feet as he
approached the bed but she refused to move, he wasn’t worth the
effort, not after what he had done. While he had been gone she’d
played out this conversation several times, but now that the
confrontation was upon her, she couldn’t get past her anger to
begin so she clutched the pillow tighter and willed him
away.

Ignoring the
anger that Chloe’s body was emitting, Ryan walked to her side and
turned her on to her back. “Chloe love, what are you doing? Are you
asleep? It’s the middle of the day, come on, wake up. I’m hungry
and you haven’t eaten since this morning. We’ll go down to the
kitchens and get something to eat.”

Her jaw dropped
and she stared dumbly at him. None of her mental scenarios had
envisioned this.
He’s acting as though
nothing were wrong. You have got to be kidding me, is there
something wrong with him?

“
Chloe?” he
called again, shaking her gently.

She shot up,
dislodging his hand as she left the bed. Standing on her feet, she
continued to look at him in shock, anger building with every
second, the sharp smell of smoke didn’t help. He looked confused by
her response, as though he hadn’t expected her to react in such a
manner. “What’s wrong with me?” she hissed. “What’s wrong with me?
You just burned my things, I saw you doing it and you’re asking me
if I’m hungry?”

“
Are you
love?”

“
You’re
unbelievable,” she shrieked reaching for the nearest object and
throwing it at him. He dodged and the lamp shattered against the
wall. Her eyes narrowed in disgust and she reached for something
else, determined to hit her mark and wipe the smile from his
face.

“
Chloe, why are
you throwing things? It’s dangerous, stop.”

“
No,” she spat,
hurling the pillows at him all the while wishing she had knives to
throw instead.

Rushing
forward, he forced her body back on to the bed, pinning her in
place with his own. She struggled frantically beneath him, bucking
and trying to extract her wrists from his firm grip. His hands were
holding both her wrists to the bed and as she struggled, her skin
chafed against his, but she pushed the sharp burn to the back of
her mind determined to escape him.

“
Chloe, what’s
wrong?” he asked innocently, the question only serving to further
infuriate Chloe whose struggles intensified. “Calm down, you’re
going to hurt yourself,” he pleaded.

“
I don’t care!
As long as I hurt you in the process then justice has been
served.”

Ryan groaned,
laying more of his heavy body atop hers. While he was genuinely
concerned for her well being, his motivations weren’t entirely
altruistic. Her struggles were bringing the soft, gentle curves of
her body into intimate proximity with his and this close to the
full moon, his body was reacting. He looked at her, instantly
deciding that it had been unwise to do so. Even in anger she was
beautiful and the blood in his body was rushing south to his
rapidly hardening shaft. Her eyes narrowed, an evil glint entering
the violet depths and Ryan gulped. Whatever she was planning wasn’t
going to benefit him, that much was clear.