A Wolf's Pride (32 page)

“
Leave me
alone,” she protested feebly, sitting upright.

“
No, tell me
what’s wrong.” He lifted her into his arms, moving to sit on the
edge of the bathtub and gently washing her face with a nearby
flannel.

“
You burned my
things.”

“
I know. I’m
sorry. But please just tell me what’s wrong with you. Do you need a
doctor? I’ll go and get one,” he rambled, his voice
panicked.

“
I’m fine. Just
a little hung over. I don’t think I’ve ever drunk so much in my
life. There was this competition to see who could drink the most.
Eugh, if I never see another bottle of beer it will be too soon.
Why am I telling you this?”

“
You’re sure
that you’re going to be fine?”

“
Yes, you act
as though you’ve never seen a drunk person before.”

I haven’t.
Wolves don’t get drunk and the few humans I’ve known over the years
either didn’t drink or knew how to hold their liquor.

“
Just leave me
alone for a few minutes. Let me make myself look somewhat human
again and when I’ve strength again, we can begin our argument all
over again.”

“
You look
beautiful,” he stated honestly and to him she did.

“
I look
terrible. I know what I look like in the mornings and if that isn’t
bad enough, I know what I look like after a night of
drinking.”

“
I’d never lie
to you Chloe. When I tell you that you look beautiful, I mean it.”
Moving slowly so not to jostle her, he placed her carefully on her
feet and walked out of the bathroom.

A few minutes
passed before Chloe stumbled out of the bathroom, her eyes widening
in shock at the broken door. Ryan shrugged. “I needed to get to
you,” he explained simply. “Chloe, I’m sorry about your things. I
didn’t realise that you would be so upset. Here.” He thrust his
hands towards her, offering her the gifts he had brought for
her.

“
Flowers,
chocolates and jewellery aren’t going to make things better Ryan.
What you did is far too big for that.”

He threw the
gifts aside and closed the distance between them, grasping her
hands tightly to ensure she couldn’t escape. “I’m sorry Chloe, I
was doing what I had to do to protect you. I know this is going to
be hard for you to accept but it’s the truth. Everything I do, I do
for you.”

“
I doubt that,”
she scoffed.

“
It’s true
angel. I know you couldn’t smell it but there was wolf blood all
over your things. The smell was driving me crazy, inspiring my wolf
to violence and if it was doing that to me I don’t even want to
imagine what it was doing to everyone else. You have to know that I
never meant to hurt you. I was only thinking of your safety. If
those things had stayed you would have been risking your life.
People would keep trying to attack you.”

“
And here I
thought you said you would protect me.”

“
I would damn
it! But to protect you in that situation would have cost me my
life.” She gasped, shocked at the revelation. “Don’t get me wrong,
if you ask for my life, it’s yours so long as I know you will be
safe after I’m gone and there was no way that would have happened
if I’d died then. I would have had to take on more people than I
could even imagine, entire clans would be hunting us. There’s
nothing I wouldn’t do for you, no length I wouldn’t go to to ensure
your happiness but I’m only one wolf, there are limits to what I
can do. If those things had stayed I couldn’t even count on the
support of my family.”

“
They would
have fought you?” she murmured shocked.

“
Maybe not all
of them but I think Sebastian would have eventually tried to hurt
me. He might not have tried to kill me but he would have done his
damndest to take me out of action long enough for him to dispose of
the things himself and if you had tried to stop him…he might have
hurt you and then I would have to do him serious
damage.”

“
You would have
fought against your twin?”

“
For you? Of
course. It would have hurt me to do it. I’ve spent my entire life
looking out for him, to turn around and hurt him would be a hard
thing to do but he would understand.” She turned her face away from
him, mulling over his words. “What do you want me to do Chloe, beg?
If that’s what it takes to earn your forgiveness then I will.” He
dropped her hands and fell to his knees. “Chloe, please. I’m sorry.
I want my mate back, I want you back. I can’t stand the distance
between us. You mean the world to me. I swear I’ll never do
anything like this again. Forgive me.”

“
Get up!
Begging won’t change anything. My things are gone, burnt to a
crisp, an apology isn’t going to bring them back.”

He stood,
locking eyes with her. “I know that but it’s all I have. I’m an
idiot. Everyone that cares about me tells me that on a near daily
basis. I don’t think things through. I’m rash and arrogant. Why
would you want me for a mate?”

She pursed
her lips, preventing the words that would contradict him escape. He
may have been rash and arrogant but he was also kind, caring,
funny, tender, exciting, considerate, the list went on and on. She
had seen evidence of his good traits during their brief period of
truce but he didn’t need to know that. He had brought this upon
himself. His words of apology and explanation had given her an
insight into his thought process and to a small extent she could
even understand why he had done what he had done but her statement
was equally valid. An apology wasn’t going to bring back her
treasured possessions.

“
Despite all of
that,” he continued. “I’m your mate. Everything about you is
perfect to me, I’m drawn to you like a moth to a flame, I want
nothing more than for us to be happy.”

“
Ryan,” she
groaned.

“
I know,” he
interrupted, an idea forming in his mind. “An apology isn’t going
to bring them back.”
But maybe I
can.
“Here,” he reached into his back
pocket presenting her with a small envelope. “I’m not heartless. I
can sometimes think ahead. I did what I could with them. They
should be free of the scent now. Much as it might pain me, you can
display them in our rooms but if someone else comes in, hide them.”
Pressing the envelope into her palm, Ryan placed a chaste kiss to
her cheek, unable to resist her allure before leaving the
room.

Chloe watched
confused as he retreated, her free hand rising to her face. She
could still feel the warmth of his lips against her skin, the heat
of his breath, his rich intoxicating smell. She shook herself;
freeing her mind of him before opening the envelope he had given
her. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of her family
pictures.
I thought he burnt
everything,
her mind murmured while she ran
a finger almost reverently over the first picture. Ryan’s last
words floated back to her mind and she smiled.
For an arrogant ass, you’re actually pretty sweet. He’s still
the arrogant ass that burnt my things,
her
mind reminded her. “Yes. He might have saved a few pictures but he
destroyed my things without a word of consultation and there’s
nothing he can do to change that. I warned him that he would ruin
the chance I’d given him if he did but he refused to listen.” Her
heart ached at the words. “I really, really wish he had
listened.”
I wanted to give him that
chance. I wanted it so much.

Chapter Twenty
Seven

Her head was
still pounding, moving made it throb, nausea was an almost constant
companion and it was only now that she was regaining feeling in the
extremities of her body. Hours after the drunken celebration, Chloe
was still fighting the effects of her anger induced binge drinking
session. The massive headache reminded her why she didn’t drink
often, the hangover wasn’t worth the hassle. However, the night
before when anger was pumping through her veins, the blissful
numbing sensation that alcohol offered had seemed like a good idea.
How was she to know that it was almost impossible for werewolves to
get drunk? The drinking game had also seemed like a good idea at
the time, her liver wasn’t going to thank her for the abuse. Her
headache was made worse by the fact she was actually trying to
think. Normally when she had a hangover, thinking was the first
thing crossed off her to do list. Confining herself to bed for the
morning after in blissful silence was her normal routine. However,
normal seemed to have gone out of the window since she had come to
live with the wolves.

Ryan’s
heartfelt apology had managed to affect her, despite all her
internal chastising to the contrary. She had made the mistake of
looking into those warm chocolate brown eyes and had fallen long
and hard. His words had wormed their way into her heart, pleading
for her to forgive him anything and everything. It was difficult to
believe that her possessions were putting her life in such danger
but the look of fear in his eyes had been genuine. He hadn’t looked
afraid for himself but for her and despite his forcing her to this
place he himself had done nothing to harm her, going out of his way
to protect her from others.

It doesn’t
change the fact that he destroyed my things. I can never get them
back now.
Her mind uttered rebelliously. “I
don’t know what to think.”

A knock at
the door provided a welcome reprieve from her thoughts even while
the loud sound aggravated her headache.

“
Who is it?”
she called nervously, while moving quickly around the room and
gathering the pictures of her family that Ryan had given her. If
what he had told her was true, then even having these pictures
nearby was asking for someone to assault her. Her mind flashed back
to the man who had cornered her alone in the hall when she had
first arrived. His body towered over hers, forcing her back into a
wall while his mouth spoke threats that she somehow knew he was
prepared to act on.
If Ryan hadn’t shown
up…
Her body shuddered in fear.

“
Chloe, it’s
Erica.”

“
And Alex.
We’ve come to take you to lunch.”

Despite
hearing familiar voices, Chloe continued gathering her pictures,
hiding them from sight before opening the door. “Hi,” she smiled at
the grinning duo. After spending most of the day before with the
pair, she had acquired a certain level of comfort in their presence
and wasn’t afraid to voice her opinions on matters.

“
How are you
feeling?” Erica chuckled. “From what Alex has told me your head is
probably spinning.”

“
Well aren’t
you the lucky one, never having to suffer from hangovers. I’m
blaming you for my killer headache. If you hadn’t coerced me into
that drinking game, I wouldn’t be in this condition.”

“
Coerced?”
Erica gasped in mock disbelief. “I did no such thing. I told you
not to join in. I said that I didn’t think you could keep up with
us wolves.”

“
It wasn’t what
you said, it was how you said it and there was a definite challenge
in your tone. Alex, you were the smart one. You didn’t even take a
sip of anything despite everyone around you doing it.”

“
I don’t
drink,” Alex stated starkly, a sad expression falling over her
normally smiling face. Shaking herself, a strained smile made its
way onto her face. “Sorry about that. Bad memories. I can be such a
ninny sometimes.”

Erica's
eyebrow rose at the strange word. “Ninny?”

“
Yes. What
about it?”

“
Nothing, I
love your little English eccentricities,” she laughed. “They’re
always funny.”

“
We didn’t come
here to laugh at my accent or my way of saying things, we’re here
to take Chloe to lunch. The head chef has already prepared a
spread, it’s waiting in my rooms. I want to get back quickly; I
left Maria with the triplets. They were sleeping when I left but
who knows how long that will last.” Shackling Chloe’s wrist, Alex
pulled her from the doorway and into the hall.

“
Who’s Maria?”
Chloe questioned as they walked along the corridor towards lunch.
Her grumbling stomach was grateful for their intervention while her
mind was thankful for the distraction their company was providing
from her own conflicting thoughts.

“
She was
Tobias’ nurse when he was a baby.”

“
I know I
haven’t spent much time with him but I would have thought Tobias
would be the kind of father that would want to look after his kids
himself. Where is he? If you don’t mind me asking,” she added
hurriedly.

“
Tobias left
early this morning.”

“
So did
Sebastian. When I asked him where he was going he got all cryptic
about it. Now that I know what to look for I can see that my mate
is a terrible liar, it makes me wonder how he managed to keep me in
the dark for so long after…Well after you know.”

Alex stopped
at the door to her rooms, turning the handle and opening the door,
indicating with a wave of her hand that Erica and Chloe should go
in. “As Tobias constantly tells me, you’d be amazed at the things a
male can do when his mate needs something.”