A Wolf's Pride (27 page)

“
Fuck you
Ryan,” she screamed, before moving the only way her current
position allowed. She lifted her head, bared her teeth and bit the
exposed skin of his neck hard.

Ryan roared,
his eyes instantly turning amber.
She
marked us,
his wolf purred.
She’s definitely open to our advances. The
claiming will go ahead this moon.

She’s angry
about something,
Ryan remarked, trying to
suppress his more animalistic instincts. Chloe may have bitten him
in anger but his wolfish side wasn’t interpreting the action in the
way she had intended. As his shaft hardened further, he groaned,
disappointed and relieved when she finally removed her mouth from
his skin.

“
Did that hurt?
I hope it did,” she spat, glaring at him. His expression was dazed
and she tried to take advantage of his momentary distraction,
resuming her struggles to be free. As she shifted, Ryan’s stiff
shaft pushed against her, extracting a moan from him and a scowl
from her. Her eyes narrowed to thin slits. “You’re sick,” she
hissed. “How you got turned on by me biting you, I don’t know. It
wasn’t a sign of affection. It was meant to hurt. Seeing as that
didn’t work, let’s try this on for size.” She moved again, aligning
her body with his before lifting her leg sharply and kneeing him
much as she had done the first time they had met.

His grip
loosened and Chloe leapt from the bed and ran for the door.
So maybe I was wrong,
Ryan’s wolf conceded.
Maybe she is
angry.

What gave it
away?
Ryan groaned, waiting for the pain in
his groin to pass so that he could catch his errant mate. Much as
was the case with their first meeting, Chloe didn’t get far. Ryan
was a wolf, the thought of chasing his mate only served to spur him
into action. A few seconds passed and he was back on his feet,
lunging for her and thwarting her attempt at escape.

“
Chloe, that’s
enough,” he scolded, lifting her into his arms so that she couldn’t
try to attack him again. He moved them back to the bed and sat
down, holding her tightly against his chest. “We have something
important to talk about.”

“
What? Do you
want to talk about how you destroyed my things for no reason
whatsoever? I misjudged you. You’re a cruel bastard. You teased me,
showing me my things only to have them burned as soon as I touched
them.”

“
Chloe, the
things are gone now. They aren’t important. We have to discuss the
claiming,” he explained patiently.

Realising
that she wasn’t going to escape him physically, her struggles
abated, but her words more than compensated. “I don’t give a rat’s
ass about your claiming. You don’t care about me, that much is
obvious. I can only extend the same courtesy towards you. You don’t
care about what’s important to me, I don’t care about what’s
important to you.”

“
A relationship
isn’t built on tit-for-tat, love.”

“
I don’t know
what world your mind lives in, but here on earth what we had could
hardly be classified as a relationship and what we have now is even
less than that.”

“
Chloe, we’re
mates. Of course we’re in a relationship, the highest form of
relationship.”

“
So mates go
around deliberately causing each other harm? If that’s what it
means to be mated then I want nothing to do with you or
it.”

“
You can’t
change what already is love. Now, we have to talk about the
claiming. The moon will be truly full tomorrow, but you’re human so
there’s an extra stage that we have to go through –”

“
Shut up!” she
interrupted, screaming loudly. “I told you once before, I could
care less about what you want. I want nothing to do with you or
your stupid claiming.”

“
Chloe, I don’t
understand. You were willing to talk to me about it when we came
back from my mother’s, what’s changed?”

“
What’s
changed?” she asked, stunned. “What’s changed? After what you did
how dare you ask me such a thing? You’re acting as though you’re
innocent, as though you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“
I haven’t done
anything wrong. I protected my mate. There’s nothing more right
than that.”

Her struggles
to be free resumed. “Let go of me. Let go of me! You’re an ass.
You’re beyond insufferable. I can’t even put into words how much I
hate you.” His grip tightened slightly and she winced in
response.

Ryan’s blood
ran cold at the softly uttered sound. His heart was pounding in his
chest at the realisation of what he had done. He had hurt his mate,
the one person he was sworn to protect above all others. His eyes
wandered over her frame and he gasped at her red wrists, shocked
that there was visible evidence of his abuse.
I need to go. I need to leave her alone. If I stay here
she’ll only struggle more. I can’t hurt her any more than I already
have.

The claiming
Ryan,
his wolf prodded gently.

The claiming
will go ahead, with the full moon it isn’t as though I can do
anything different. I’ll give her time to calm down and then coax
her into accepting us later.

It’s the
right thing to do, you know that right?

Yes.
He stood and gently lowered her to the mattress as
though she were the most fragile thing in existence. Confused by
his strange behaviour, Chloe watched him move apprehensively. “I’m
going to leave you now love. I’ll be back later so we can begin the
claiming.”

“
Fuck you,” she
snarled angrily. Her expression quickly turned to one of confusion
again as the dazed look left his face and he smiled.

I will,
later.
“You’ve got to stop asking for such
provocative things, you never know when I might take you up on your
offer.” His voice rumbled over her and Chloe scowled as her
treacherous body reacted to him. “Like I said love, I’ll be back
later. If you don’t want to talk about this then fine, we won’t. As
your mate I should try to listen to your wishes and do my best to
fulfil them.”

“
You could have
fooled me with how you were acting earlier,” she
groused.

“
Your safety
will always come first. I’ll see you in a few hours.” He turned on
his heel and left, the sound of Chloe’s angry scream echoing in his
ears as he continued to walk.

The hours
passed slowly from the confines of the room. Ryan had locked her in
again and so she was trapped. The hallway was filled with noise,
the sounds getting louder as the sky became darker. Moving to the
window from which she had seen her prized possessions destroyed,
Chloe glanced up at the dark sky and the heavy hanging moon that
shone its light to earth. “Stupid Ryan,” she cursed, resuming her
pacing. The door swung open and Chloe turned to look at who had
walked in. “It’s you,” she snarled.

Ryan didn’t
respond. Instead he moved towards her, his strides filled with
purpose as he stared at her with possessive amber eyes. Not a word
was spoken as he lifted her from the ground and hefted her over his
shoulder. “Hey,” she screamed struggling against him. His steps
were steady as he dodged the crowded halls and walked outside. She
pushed the delicious sensation of his body against hers to the back
of her mind as he slid her down his body. It was then that he spoke
his first word since their argument that afternoon.

“
Run,” he
growled.

“
What?”

“
Run,” he
repeated.

The forest
surrounded her and fear crept into her mind but when she looked
back at Ryan, her resolve firmed. Spinning away from his body she
ran back towards the estate, her thoughts hectic.
A car. I need a car. There’s no way I’m going to
run through that forest without some form of protection. If the
idiot is going to give me a chance to run away, then I’m going to
take it.
We drove a car here, its got to
be around here somewhere.

Her hunch
turned out to be correct as a garage came into view. She rushed in,
her eyes searching for a vehicle. There were a great number for her
to choose from but she opted for the small jeep near the front,
throwing herself in and rummaging for a pair of keys. “Yes,” she
cheered as her hands came into contact with the small metal
objects. “You’ve got to love these wolves for not being security
conscious.” The engine started with a loud roar and she pushed her
foot against the accelerator determined to get as far away from
Ryan as possible in case he changed his mind. Tree branches smacked
against the pane as she drove through the woods and the car jumped
as it traversed the rough terrain.

Minutes
passed and her heart began to calm as the distance between her and
Ryan increased. Despite this she refused to slow, she had seen
first hand how fast he could move. If he wanted to, he could catch
up to her. “Speak of the devil,” she scowled. The bright beam of
her headlights, illuminated the area in front of her and it was
easy to make out the dark brown wolf sitting complacently directly
in her path. “I think we’ve done this before Ryan,” she cooed,
remembering their first meeting. “But things are going to end a
little differently this time.” She slammed the car into gear and
stamped her foot hard against the accelerator and sped directly
towards him.

Chapter Twenty
Three

The car was a
surprise. When he had told her to run he hadn’t expected her to
seek out alternative transportation. His people used nothing but
their legs to begin the chase that preceded the claiming.
I guess it’s to be expected with a human
mate,
he concluded. Chloe was slower than
he, she would feel compelled to compensate for their physical
differences; it was the human way.

“
Too bad it
won’t work,” he smiled allowing the transformation to wash over
him. With the moon full in the sky, the change took mere moments.
Everything within him was working towards a successful claiming,
the instinct, his wolf and his own desire to claim her. Chloe
didn’t stand a chance. Now all he had he had to do was catch
her.

His body, now
that of a sleek wolf designed for speed, ran off, eager to catch up
to her. A car may have been fast when compared to the speed of a
human but it was nothing compared to a wolf determined to meet up
with his mate, especially not one that was held under the sway of
the moon. Though to others her scent may have seemed faint, trapped
as it was within the metal enclosure of the car, to Ryan’s nose her
lush smell was thick in the forest. His every sense was focused on
her, even if she had been miles away he would have smelled her.
Guided as he was by his superior sense of smell it was easy to
track her down. He ran unnoticed beside the car for a few moments
before putting on a burst of speed and stopping directly in her
path.

The
headlights were bright, too bright for his sharp eyes but he stood
his ground. There were thick trees on either side of the rough
path, the only way she could get past him would be to drive through
him. He waited patiently for her to slow and leave the car so the
claiming could truly get underway but to his surprise she sped up.
His lupine eyes met with hers and he knew that it was no accident.
Her violet eyes were aflame with anger and a cruel smile was on her
soft lips as the car rushed ever closer to him. His body was frozen
for a few moments at the realisation that she, his mate, intended
to mow him down. It was only thanks to his lightning fast reflexes
that he didn’t ended up as road kill, squashed beyond recognition
on the dirt floor of the woods. He leapt out of the way and Chloe’s
car continued driving as though nothing had happened, moving
further and further into the distance.

She tried to
kill me. She actually tried to kill me. She sped up, in a jeep and
tried to run me over.
Ryan’s mind was
reeling with shock.
Why would she do
something like that? She was upset about something but I haven’t
done anything hurtful enough to warrant my death.
Anger and frustration was embedded deep into her
scent, he would have had to be an idiot not to know that something
was wrong, but still he couldn’t understand what had happened to
make his seemingly peaceful mate consider resorting to such
violence. His mind flashed back to her reddened wrists and he
shuddered.
Maybe she does have a right to
be angry. Does she think that I’ll hurt her again?

Ryan,
his wolf prodded.
You’re
thinking about this all wrong. Our mate would never try to kill us;
she doesn’t have it in her. She knew that we would get out of the
way. She’s teasing us.

Teasing?
Ryan mused.

Yes, someone
must have spoken to her about the claiming, someone that we trust
otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to get into the room. They
must have told her how much it means to us and what it entails and
she’s trying to make the chase and claiming a good one. Why else
would she take a car? She knew that on foot she wouldn’t be much of
a chase, she’s testing us, testing our will to catch
her.

Why is it you
always so much sense?
The wolf made a sound
that was the equivalent of a nonchalant shrug.
I want her more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire
life.