A Wolf's Pride (35 page)

She took off
running, ignoring the painful feeling in her legs. Ryan, the idiot,
needed her to get help.
But what if there
were other people helping that Lucinda woman. They might try to
hurt him. I can’t trust anyone I don’t know. I have to find
Sebastian or Tobias. Someone from his family. No one else can know.
They have to know first.
They’ll know what
to do, how to help him.

The run from
the place of Ryan’s fall to the entrance to the estate seemed to
take an eternity, the weight of being the only one aware of Ryan’s
fate pressing heavily upon her. The doors were heavy, so heavy that
she couldn’t push them open. Her hands balled into fists and she
hit the thick wood frantically, ignoring the building pain in her
hands, desperately hoping that someone she knew would open the
door. Luck seemed to have abandoned her as the door was opened by
an unknown guard. His nose wrinkled before his blue eyes shifted to
amber.

“
What have you
done to Lord Ryan hunter?”

“
What?” she
stuttered.

Thick hands
fell on her shoulders, shaking her lightly. “What have you done to
Lord Ryan? His blood is all over you. Tell me or die.”

No! I have to
get Ryan help.
She struggled frantically
before opting for the universal male weakness. Drawing her leg back
she kicked him hard in the crotch. His grip loosened and she took
off running.

“
Sebastian!”
she called loudly as she wandered the halls. “Sebastian! Please, I
need you.” Her calls were attracting attention and as she ran more
eyes turned from their normal shade to amber, the number of
pursuers increasing. She would never escape them all she realised.
The first man had been caught off guard; there would be no other
opportunity like that one. She stopped running, tears streaming
down her face. A mob would form soon and they would see her dead
and not even ask about Ryan’s circumstances. She had failed him.
“SEBASTIAN!!!” The crowd pushed in closer, growls and snarls
filling the hall.

“
Don’t touch
her!” Erica roared, forcing her way through the throng to reach
Chloe’s side. “Chloe, what happened? Where’s Ryan?”

“
The idiot
saved me,” she sobbed in relief. “He saved me and was skewered by a
tree. He’s bleeding Erica. There’s so much blood. He can’t move.
He’s going to die isn’t he? The stupid idiot wasn’t even worried
about himself; he kept going on about my small cut. Help me save
him Erica, I can’t let him die.”

“
He’s your
mate, of course he’s worried about you before himself. Don’t worry,
we’ll find him and bring him back here. We’ll take care of
him.”

“
I want to go
with you to get him. I don’t want to leave him alone.”

Looking at
the tear stains on Chloe’s face, Erica had to repress a smile. An
apology hadn’t work, neither had grovelling or gifts but whatever
Ryan had done had clearly earned him forgiveness. “Sebastian,” she
called. Within seconds he was at her side, the call of a mate was
clearly much stronger than the call of another despite the
desperation that had been in Chloe’s voice. “Ryan is hurt. He’s
going to need to be brought back here and tended.”

“
I’ll go and
get him now.”

Chloe turned
to him, fixing him with a hard stare. “I’m going too. You can’t
keep me from him.”

“
I wouldn’t
think of it. Come, the quicker we head out, the faster we can get
him back here.” Sebastian's arms wrapped themselves around her
body, lifting her from the ground; his arms lacked the searing
warmth that Ryan’s possessed. The urge to pull away from him was
strong but she realised this was the only way to get to Ryan
quickly. Sebastian made his way through the crowd. “My brother’s
been hurt, prepare his rooms accordingly.” With that parting
command, he sped off.

The run,
which with Ryan had been exhilarating, was instead nerve racking.
Chloe’s heart pounded for the entire the length of the short
journey, her mind frantic with fears that he had bled to death in
her absence. Tears were falling unhindered down her face, regret
for her actions over the last few days weighing heavily upon her.
Ryan had saved her life again and again and all he had asked for in
return was a chance for them to be together, a chance that she had
denied him and now he might die before she had the possibility to
try with him.

Sebastian's
feet ground to a halt and Chloe’s eyes automatically wandered to
Ryan, still lying in the same spot that he had left her in. His
brown eyes were fully amber and he was growling angrily at them,
sharp fangs now prominent. Had something happened between them? Was
Sebastian trying to hurt Ryan?

“
Let her go
Sebastian. What did you think you were doing? Touching my mate? If
I could, I would hit you.”

Chloe gasped
shocked, he was angry because Sebastian was touching her? It made
no sense, Ryan had always spoken fondly of Sebastian, had said he’d
do anything to protect his brother. For him to be angry with him
simply because of his close proximity to her made no sense.
Nevertheless, Sebastian lowered her to the ground and Ryan’s anger
dissipated, a strained smile appearing on his face.

Sebastian's
eyes wandered over Ryan’s frame, his mouth tightening in concern.
No matter what he did Ryan was going to be hurt. He tried to
lighten the heavy mood of the situation. “I only touched Chloe,
unlike someone I know, I didn’t kiss my brother’s mate,” he
chuckled though the memory actually had him and his wolf on
edge.

“
I didn’t kiss
her, she kissed me,” Ryan defended.

“
He’s right
Sebastian,” Erica cooed, instantly pacifying him, her hand gliding
up his arm. “It was your fault I did it. You should have told me
what was going on.”

“
Excuse me!”
Chloe shouted. “Can you have this conversation later? Ryan is
probably dying as we speak. Help him.” She moved back to his side,
lightly stroking his hair and gripping his hand tightly despite the
blood that coated the skin.

“
This is going
to hurt,” Sebastian warned as he moved to his brother’s
side.

“
I’ll be fine
as long as Chloe is here.”

“
I’m not going
to leave you Ryan. I’m so sorry, none of this would have happened
if you hadn’t been trying to save me.”

“
There’s no way
I wouldn’t try to save you angel. Your life is worth far more than
mine. Of course, I’m going to have to tell you no more standing
near windows. You should be more careful. What would I do if
something happened to you?”

“
I didn’t fall
Ryan, I’m not that careless.”

“
Then what
happened?”

“
Can’t we talk
about this later? When you’re not bleeding to death?”

“
What happened
Chloe?” His tone brokered no compromise and Chloe succumbed. The
faster he stopped talking, the faster he could get medical
attention.

“
I was pushed,
thrown actually.”

He snarled
angrily, trying desperately to move. “Who? Who would dare to do
something like this?”

“
She said her
name was Lucinda, a lady of one of the clans.”

His growl
became angrier. “I’ll kill that bitch! I should have done it for
Tobias before, but he was lenient. I’m going to kill
her.”

“
Sebastian, do
something,” Chloe pleaded. “Ryan, please, we’ll talk about this
later. For now, just be quiet and let Sebastian help
you.”

Shifting his
hands until they were under his brother, Sebastian lifted his body,
pulling him forcefully from the wood. The large wound widened
further as the wood made its way from Ryan’s body but he barely
felt the pain. His mate was crying and he had a feeling that the
reason had something to do with him.

“
Don’t cry
Chloe, your tears are killing me.”

“
No, your
brother is doing a very good job of that all by himself. Have you
ever heard of something called a stretcher?” she snapped angrily.
“You’re just making things worse Sebastian. I thought you would go
and get a doctor, not try and pull him out yourself.”

“
He’s going to
be fine Chloe,” Sebastian reassured as he pulled Ryan’s body free
from the bloodied stump. Ryan howled, long and loud as blood began
to flow unhindered from the wound now that there was nothing in
place to stem the flow.

“
Chloe,” he
groaned, his grip on consciousness fading.

“
I’m right
here.”

“
Don’t leave
me.”

“
I won’t I
promise. I’m going to stay right here.”

“
Forever?”

“
For as long as
you need me.”

His hand
twitched, desperately trying to reach her face, understanding his
intention, Chloe gripped his limp hand and brought it to her face
smiling reassuringly at him. “Forever then.” He smiled, her face
the last one he saw before everything went black.

Chapter
Thirty

As Ryan’s
eyes slid shut, Chloe’s panic trebled. Was he dead? She was no
expert on wounds but his looked life threatening, he had lost a lot
of blood and his organs weren’t all inside his body. Just how much
could he withstand? He’d seemed confident of his continued survival
but how much of what he had said was the truth and how much was his
attempt to reassure her?

“
Is he alive?”
she whispered to Sebastian, her eyes never leaving Ryan’s still
body. Whatever happened she wasn’t going to leave his side, it was
the least she could do after he saved her life. If it weren’t for
him, it would have been her with a hole in her body if not
worse.

“
He’s fine
Chloe, he’ll be even better when he wakes up and finds out just how
worried you were about him. Erica is going to take you back. I’ll
get Ryan the help he needs and then I’ve got to track down
Lucinda.”

“
You’re not
going to stay with him?” She sounded appalled. Ryan needed his
family around him at the moment.

“
No. If I did
he’d be furious when he woke up. Lucinda might have had the chance
to escape and after what you just told him he’ll be out for blood.
If the situations were reversed, I would expect him to do the same
for me. No one hurts our mates and lives.” Sebastian's brown eyes
had turned the feral shade of amber that was a normal occurrence
for Ryan but she had never seen his calmer brother’s eyes change
colour. Even though they looked almost identical, the change looked
unnatural on Sebastian while on Ryan it looked perfectly
normal.

Shaking
herself, she dragged her mind away from Sebastian's appearance onto
more important matters. “Be careful with him.”

“
Of course.
Erica, sweetheart, be as quick as you can.”

“
I’ll be right
behind you.”

With the limp
body of his brother cradled against his chest, Sebastian sped off,
disappearing from sight in seconds.

“
Come on Chloe,
you said you wanted to be with him. Just hop up into my arms and
we’ll be off.”

Chloe’s eyes
were still trained on the speck in the distance that was Sebastian,
only vaguely aware of the blood that was covering her body. “He’s
going to be okay right?”

“
You’re really
worried aren’t you?”

“
Wouldn’t you
be? He looked like he was on the verge of death.”

“
Ryan’s a
fighter, he’ll pull through this. It takes more than a simple fall
to kill a wolf. Trust me our bodies can endure hell and still
survive and I’m talking from personal experience. Just look at me,
do I look like I was the victim of torture?”

“
You?”

“
Yes. I was
caught when I fled Sebastian and tortured for information. There
are no visible scars because we heal from all wounds that don’t
take our heads but the internal scars are there, they’ll always be
there. Ryan will heal, just like I did. He might even resent the
fact he won’t scar because there will be no external proof of what
he did. Scars would be like a badge of honour to him, proof that he
had saved his mate.”

“
I’m not
important enough for him to risk his life for.”

“
To him, you’re
the most important person in the world. You want to be by his side
don’t you?” Chloe nodded. “Then come on, let’s go.”

It was
strange, trusting that Erica's slender arms could carry her weight.
But trust her she did. The return trip took slightly longer than
the journey had done when Sebastian had carried her but it was
still a significant improvement on her own journey time. As soon as
they arrived back at the estate, Chloe leapt from Erica's arms, her
head turning frantically in an attempt to locate Ryan.

“
Where’s the
infirmary Erica? Where’s Ryan?”

“
He won’t be in
the infirmary,” Erica answered simply.

“
What! Then
where is he?”

“
He should be
back in your rooms, in your bed.”

“
Why would they
take him there? He needs a doctor; he needs medical attention.
What’s wrong with you people?” Her voice was desperate, hysterical
with worry. She ran down the halls, her focused mind easily leading
her to the rooms she shared with Ryan. Throwing the doors open wide
she walked into the bedroom, surprised to see how exactly they were
treating Ryan’s injuries. Instead of the surgery his life
threatening wounds needed, they were simply wrapping a large
bandage around the sight of his injury. Blood was already seeping
through the material, turning the white bandages red.
Are they trying to save his life or kill
him?
her mind demanded
furiously.