A Wolf's Pride

by Jennifer T. Alli

  Her eyes had widened as soon as she had seen the sheer number of boxes that covered the floor of the entry room and when she craned her neck, she realised that there were more in the bedroom as well. There’s too much stuff here. Where did they get all of this from? “Ok Ryan, we’ll talk later,” she mumbled absentmindedly, walking into the room.

  Chloe’s hands reached for the box nearest to her, opening it, scanning its contents before moving on and repeating the procedure. By her fourth box it became abundantly clear why there were so many boxes. Not only had the contents of her apartment been emptied, it appeared as if the wolves had cleared out her family home of all her possessions as well. She turned to Ryan with a smile on her face. “You guys are very thorough.”

  “We try,” he grinned, though the smile wasn’t genuine and unbeknownst to Chloe his hands were curled tightly into fists, sharp nails shredding the skin of his palms.

  Outwardly he was smiling, inwardly he was seething and his anger grew with each box that Chloe opened. She couldn’t smell it but he could and with each new item she uncovered, with every box opened, the scent of aged wolf blood saturated the air. There was so much of it filling the room that when he glanced in the boxes he was surprised at the absence of a dead werewolf body. He coughed and sneezed, trying to rid his sensitive nostrils of the stench of decay. It was so easy to forget, when surrounded by Chloe’s purity and innocence, of what her family actually was but there was no escaping it now. The crimes of her family, the hunters, were there in plain sight. Breathing deep, he tried to stop his stomach rolling but it was to no avail. The blood was everywhere. His fellow clansmen had died. Murdered, his mind corrected and he was expected to surround himself with the knowledge on a daily basis?

  “Ryan,” Chloe grinned as she rushed towards him. “I can’t thank you enough. There are things here that I didn’t expect to see again. I only heard you tell Sebastian to clear out my apartment. I didn’t expect to see things from my family’s home here. Oh my gosh,” she cried, rushing over to an open box. “Mum’s jewellery box, the necklace dad got me for my sixteenth birthday. You even brought the silly photomontage that my brother’s made for me. I left all of these things back at my dad’s because I thought they might get lost in the move. I can’t believe you got them all here and in one piece as well. Some of this stuff is really old, it’s been passed down through both sides of my family for years. You guys aren’t just thorough, you’re careful as well. Thank you Ryan,” she gushed.

  Or disgusted and unwilling to touch it, his mind retorted though he smiled as he spoke, “You said it yourself, we’re thorough. The people Sebastian and I sent probably scented you and looked for other things that had your scent strongly embedded on them. It’s what I would do.” Although I’m not sure how they stomached scenting Chloe through all this blood. If it were me I might have destroyed everything in a fit of rage. I’m not sure I could have made myself touch this stuff on another’s behalf.

  “I love this picture,” she beamed moving swiftly away from him and lifting a picture frame from one of the many boxes that littered the floor. “Look,” she instructed lifting it upwards so he could see. “It’s one of the few pictures that have us all in it including mum.”

  The scent of blood on the frame was especially strong, the scent assaulting his nose as though the wolf had just been killed. His eyes narrowed in on the small object, quickly filling with amber when he saw the minute flecks that spattered the wooden frame. The miniscule droplets were so small that they would have been invisible to the normal human eye, explaining why Chloe was embracing the frame rather than recoiling in revulsion. His feral gaze narrowed further as he briefly scanned the numerous boxes that covered the floor. There’s probably blood all over her things. There isn’t enough of it to make her suspicious though. Bastards, he cursed. Touching her things with their blood stained hands? What the fuck was wrong with them? He took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself. Hold it together Ryan, his mind counselled. Just hold it together a little longer.

  The tenuous control he had over his anger snapped as soon as he took in the contents of the photograph. Two adults and four smiling children looked back at him, but even though the picture was small, the distance between him and it relatively large, he could still make out the tattoo embossed onto the skin of her mother and father. For the wolf? Wild amber eyes wandered to the tallest child in the picture and there on his skin was the tattoo, the mark that branded him as Ryan’s enemy. The other two male children were staring up at him with adoration in their eyes. Their parents have probably been contaminating their minds since they were babies. Those kids grew up and killed my people. They’re probably off doing it again right now!

  Get rid of it! His wolf snarled loudly. Don’t let their bad influence contaminate our mate or our home. Get rid of it NOW!

  “Enough!” he growled, stunning Chloe with the loudness and sharpness of his demand. “I can’t take this any more. You can’t have these things. You can’t.”

  “Ryan, what are you talking about?”

  Ignoring her he lifted the closest box and moved toward the door, dropping the box to fling the door open. His hand stretched out and when he pulled it back, a young man was being held by his collar as he was dragged into the room.

  “Lord Ryan,” he croaked.

  “Get some men,” Ryan snarled, his hot breath feathering over his captive’s face. “Tell them to come collect all that I stack outside of this door and then I want them burned. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes Lord.”

  “Here, take this box first and deal with it.” The box quickly exchanged hands and the unsuspecting man left the room.

  “Ryan, what do you think you’re doing?” Chloe shrieked, rushing towards him and grabbing his arm to keep him in place.

  “These things,” he hissed, “can’t stay here. The smell is driving me crazy.” And if it’s driving me crazy, I hate to think what it’s doing to those outside. While Chloe’s protection and safety was his number one priority, it wasn’t the concern of anyone else. The smell alone of fallen clansmen was enough to inspire violence in others. There were already people within the clans that wanted to harm Chloe, bringing evidence of her link to the hunters was simply asking for trouble. Shrugging out of her grip, Ryan moved on, opening another box and inhaling briefly. His nose wrinkled in disgust immediately so he lifted it and placed it outside the room in the hallway.

  “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.