A Wolf's Pride

by Jennifer T. Alli

  “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.”

  The smell of food assaulted Chloe’s nose as soon as she walked into the room and her stomach contracted painfully in response. Letting her feet lead her, Chloe walked through the room until she found the table where the food was waiting. Her mouth almost watered at the sight of the heavenly prepared meal. After tasting the head chef’s cooking last night, she knew that the food was inevitably delicious but manners kept her standing.

  “Dig in Chloe,” Alex encouraged as she walked up behind her. “From personal experience I know that one of the best cures for a hangover is a good meal.”

  You don’t need to tell me twice. Sitting at the table, Chloe dug in, eager to appease the painful demands her stomach was making.

  Erica sat down to join her while Alex left the room, making her way into what Chloe vaguely remembered was the bedroom.

  “So Chloe,” Erica began. “How are things going on the Ryan front?”

  The delicious food suddenly tasted bitter on her tongue. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

  Strolling back into the room, Alex shook her head disapprovingly. “Come on Chloe, you can tell us. We bonded yesterday didn’t we?”

  “Yesterday was one thing, today is a totally different matter.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re on his side,” Chloe sighed, her tone indicating that the answer was obvious.

  “Why would we side with that idiot?” Erica demanded.

  Sitting down at the table, Alex threw her weight behind Erica's statement. “He’s hopeless, a lost cause.”

  “If that’s your attempt at distancing yourself from him then nice try but it won’t work on me. Ryan has already told me that only people who care about him call him an idiot. I doubt he would allow just anyone to go around insulting him.”

  Alex sighed. “Does this really have to be about sides?”

  “Can’t we be on both your sides? You seem like a lovely person from what I’ve seen so far and it isn’t your fault that you were dragged into our world, you deserve happiness as much as, if not more, than the next person.”

  “But Ryan, idiot that he may be,” Alex continued, staring intently at Chloe, “is important to a lot if us. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for him. I love him like a brother but I can see his faults and when it comes to romance he’s clueless.”

  “I have to agree with Alex. Ryan is a great guy, aside from Sebastian, there isn’t anyone else I would rather have in my corner. I’ve seen the lengths he goes to to lend a hand to people who ask for his help. He helped save me when I was captured, risked his own neck for a stranger just because his brother asked him to. Ryan is a good man.”

  A mischievous twinkle entered Alex’s eyes. “You shouldn’t let Sebastian hear you talking like that, his jealous streak would start to show.”

  My jealous streak is starting to show as well, Chloe thought although she instantly reprimanded herself for thinking along such dangerous lines. Even though she was aware that Erica's compliments were intended to make her think more positively about Ryan, jealously had crept its way into her gut and now it was festering. “Would you want him as a partner?”

  “Ryan as a mate?” Erica's voice was horrified.

  Chloe folded her arms across her chest, her point clearly made. “Exactly.”

  Seeing the situation rapidly deteriorate, Alex rushed to intervene. “What Erica means is that Ryan isn’t meant for her. He couldn’t make her happy and she couldn’t make him happy. You’ve seen Sebastian right?” Chloe nodded. “And from what you’ve seen, you probably think he’s the nicer twin right?” Chloe nodded again. “That’s what I thought when I first met them too. But, if Sebastian were my mate.” An angry growl slipped past Erica's lips, her canines lengthening. “It’s only a hypothetical Erica. Anyway, as I was saying, if Sebastian were my mate I would be miserable. No one but Tobias can make me happy and the same applies with you and Ryan. He would drive us crazy, but you could never be happier than you would be if you were to stay with him.”

  “You could have fooled me,” Chloe snorted. “He’s done nothing but drive me crazy since we first got here.”

  Erica groaned. “That’s because you’ve been fighting against him and he’s an idiot. He told me he was going to apologise, did he?”

  “He did come in this morning and explain to me why he’d burned my things but I’m going to tell you what I told him. A simple sorry isn’t going to bring my things back.”

  A light knock at the door prevented Erica from speaking as her attention was diverted to the woman standing in the doorway. Maria stood, as always, with her back erect, her posture perfect. Her long black hair cascaded down her back and as was befitting someone who knew as many secrets as she, her dark eyes, though seemingly open, were guarded.

  “Your majesty, Lady Erica, Lady Chloe, Lord Ryan is looking for his mate,” Maria smiled, her voice as always calm and serene.

  “Speak of the devil,” Erica chuckled, standing from her chair and walking to the doorway. “Is Sebastian wit
h him Maria?”

  “Yes, as is his majesty.”

  Alex nibbled nervously at her bottom lip, torn between staying and continuing the conversation and leaving to find out what her mate had seemed so determined to keep concealed. “Curiosity always manages to get the best of me,” she sighed. Standing from her chair, she smiled warmly at Chloe in apology for the interruption. “Come on Chloe, we’ll go and see what he wants.”

  “I don’t understand how you seem so settled in here,” she groaned, standing from the chair. “Is it just because you’re Queen and everyone does as you tell them to?”

  “No. Tobias is my strength. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without him. What you have to realise is that you have power in your relationship with Ryan. He will do almost anything to please you. Once you understand that, I think your relationship will progress just fine on its own.”

  “Are you coming?” Erica called loudly from the door leading into the corridor. “Chloe, I really think you should come and see this.”

  “I guess there’s nothing else he can really do to make the situation worse,” she conceded. Chloe dragged her feet, reluctantly moving towards the door. There was no doubt in her mind that whatever Erica wanted her to see was in someway linked to Ryan. Hope shone brightly from her sapphire eyes, quickly and easily giving her away. Despite knowing this, she moved into the hallway. She was outnumbered and if Erica and Alex wanted her to see something, she was going to see it one way or another.

  The hall was crowded once again, but instead of the wild and frenzied activity that had preceded the full moon, all movement was headed in one direction, a direction Chloe quickly recognised as leading towards the rooms she shared with Ryan. The people that were filling the corridor were all carrying different objects and as she looked at the object nearest to her, a sense of familiarity crept over her. It couldn’t be, she mused internally. Curiosity quickly got the better of her and she began walking quickly alongside those in the halls, her eyes scanning the things they held. Her heart began to race as each object again sparked the feeling of familiarity and belonging.

  “Chloe!” Ryan called from outside the door to their rooms. The habitual smile on his face widened at his first sighting of her and Chloe’s heart sped up further in anticipation.

  She quickly closed the distance between them. “Ryan, how?” she asked, tears beginning to well in her eyes. The objects that were flowing steadily into their rooms were the things she had thought were lost to her, destroyed in a fire that Ryan had created.

  “You wanted your things back, I got them back for you. I’m your mate, I want you to be happy.”

  “But how? You burned everything. Mum’s diary!” she gasped running from him to retrieve the object. Small and covered in green suede, the book was one of a number that her mother had kept over the duration of her tragically short life. This particular volume was special, it had been written during the early years of her parents’ relationship. Tales of their whirlwind romance had kept her entranced when her mother was alive and told her the stories vocally, now all she had was the book and her fading memories to rely upon. Thoughts of the book crumpling to ashes in the fire besieged her and she turned the page to remind herself that all was well. She had the book. It was safe.

  Her blood ran cold when she saw the first empty page. She flicked through the pages, her heart falling with each blank page that she saw. She lifted the book to her nose, breathing deeply but found that instead of the familiar fragrance of her mother’s favourite perfume there was a new book smell clinging to the pages. Eyes narrowed in suspicion, she turned her attention to the other objects that were flowing into the bedroom. While familiar, they lacked the history that her own things had. There were no scuffmarks, no stains, no signs at all that they had ever been used.

  “Ryan, what do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, turning to face him, her face flushed red in rising agitation.

  “I’m bringing your things back.”

  “These aren’t my things.”

  His brow furrowed in confusion. “I thought I got everything. Did I miss something?”

  “Ryan, my things are gone. They can’t come back and going out to buy new things won’t change that. There was history in these pages and now there’s nothing. My things had sentimental value to me, nothing can replace them and trying to do so is only making things worse, making me miss them more.” Tears were welling in her eyes again but for a completely different reason.

  The salty scent of her tears was making Ryan’s heart twist and contract in agony. His mate was hurting and so he was too. “What can I do Chloe? Tell me. Anything, I’ll do it. I’ve said how sorry I am, I’ve begged for forgiveness, I tried to undo my mistake. None of it has worked, just tell me what to do.”

  “That’s the thing, I don’t know. I just don’t know. Please Ryan, for now just leave me alone.”

  “Chloe,” he groaned reaching for her.

  She slipped away from him. “Get them to take these things away, they’re only reminding me of what I don’t have anymore. For now that’s the only thing you can do.”

  “If that’s what you want…”

  “It is.”

  “Then I’ll do it. I’ll leave you alone for a while but Chloe, I need you. I need to be with you.”

  His words were honest, his expression heartfelt and Chloe again cursed their circumstances. Why couldn’t we have met under normal conditions? To have a man like you feel how you do about me was my fondest dream but now everything is ruined. She turned from him and slipped into the open doorway watching as Ryan rushed to fulfil her request. “He really is an idiot,” she grumbled softly.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  The pounding in her head had finally stopped but now Chloe was fully aware of the decision she had to make. To forgive him or not. What he had done was by most standards unforgivable but the lengths he had gone to in order to apologise were extreme. It wasn’t his fault that he was an idiot when it came to romance and he was trying his hardest to earn her trust. According to his version of events he’d had to make a choice between her life and her things and as he had done since the first night they had met, he had chosen her life. I should be grateful to him. He saved my life.

  But what if he’s lying to you? An insidious voice in her mind inquired. Why would he want to be with you? He could have anyone he wants, he’s just toying with you. Men lie all the time. Don’t you remember Gary?

  Shut up! she snapped. Ryan is different. Ryan doesn’t lie.

  How would you know? You haven’t known him for nearly as long as you knew Gary and he managed to trick you too. And we can’t forget the fact that Ryan is a creature from myth. The stories dad told you were terrifying. How can you forget that?

  “Ryan isn’t a creature,” she groaned aloud, moving to the window to watch him. He was shirtless, sweating lightly as he took an axe to the trees that had sprung up over night. Though she had locked herself away in self imposed confinement, she had overheard a conversation between Ryan and Alex about the explosive growth of foliage.

  It was too close to the estate for it to stay as it was, according to Ryan it was a hazard. Alex had said she had nothing to do with the over night growth of the trees but was too exhausted to coax the many trees back into seeds; taking care of three newborns was beginning to take its toll. Ryan had offered to cut them down, saying he had a personal project that was going to need a lot of wood, wood they now had in abundance. Chloe had barely resisted the temptation to open the door and ask him what it was but she had reined in those impulses, keeping herself firmly behind the door. Alex had agreed but only on the condition that he start when she left, she had mentioned something about voices and screams but it hadn’t made any sense to Chloe’s ears.

  So here she was, watching the man who claimed to be her mate, cut and sweat, extremely aroused by the flexing of his muscles while chastising herself for having such thoughts.

  “Things were so much simpler before Ryan,”
she groaned.

  “Having a werewolf mate does tend to make life difficult for humans,” a gentle voice commented.

  The presence of someone else in her room made Chloe spin around, determined to find the source of the voice. She was meant to be alone. Ryan’s words of warning came rushing back to her and her heart pounded as she realised that her family pictures were once again on display. Had the newcomer come to hurt her? Her eyes locked with a brilliant pair of azure eyes, so clear that they reminded her of the sky. The woman’s blue eyes were framed by an angelic face and her long blonde hair cascaded like a waterfall down her back. Chloe was immediately conscious of her own dishevelled appearance. “Who are you?” she demanded hoping that her voice projected a sense of authority. “No one is meant to be in here.”

  “Well the door was open so I presumed I could come in.” The woman floated; there was no other way to describe the way she walked, to a chair. She sat down, making herself at home as she folded her hands primly over her long legs. “Come, sit down.”

  The request instantly angered Chloe. Who was this woman that she thought she could come into her personal space and start commanding her? “I asked you a question. Who are you?”

  “I’m Lady Lucinda of the north east clan. I’ve answered your question, will you sit now?”

  Cautiously, Chloe made her way to the seat opposite Lucinda's, her eyes watching the angelic looking woman warily. She still hadn’t explained why she was here. “What do you want?”

  “I’m curious. I don’t understand why our male nobility seem so intent on taking humans for mates.” Her ice blue eyes wandered over Chloe’s frame assessingly and Chloe knew instantly that she had failed whatever test Lucinda's eyes had just conducted. “There’s nothing special about you. I don’t see the attraction.”