A Wolf's Pride

by Jennifer T. Alli

  The car stopped and the five of them poured out of the car and walked to Rachel’s grave. A few minutes passed in silence, each of them reflecting on the tragic loss of the woman who had been so important in their lives, before Harry spoke.

  “I thought the same thing that had happened to her would happen to you,” he ground out, his voice unexpectedly low.

  “Mum died dad. In a car crash,” she responded gently.

  “I know that but we thought he’d kill you. I thought I’d have to bury my daughter, if I ever got your body back that is. We can’t afford to lose you too Chloe. You’re this family’s pillar of support. Without you we’d fall apart.”

  “That isn’t going to happen.” She knelt down and cleared the debris cluttering the smooth stone. “I know you want to protect me but that’s Ryan’s job. Please don’t worry about me. I’m fine, more than fine,” she corrected. “I’m in love.”

  “What!” The combined voices of her family echoed through the empty cemetery and she rolled her eyes before standing to face them, finally removing the scarf around her neck.

  “I didn’t stutter. I love him.”

  Christian’s eyes widened as he took in the deep bite marks on her neck. “No Chloe, no! He bit you.”

  Daniel gripped her arms rightly, his fingers biting into her skin, making her wince at the pain. “Why did you let him bite you? You’re going to turn into one of them.”

  “You think I’m going to turn into a werewolf?”

  “Of course you are,” Harry snapped. “You’re already half way to being a monster.”

  She laughed, confusing them. “I’m not going to turn into a werewolf. Most of the things you told me about werewolves are wrong dad. Werewolves are born not bitten. They don’t change into mindless monsters at the full moon either.”

  “How would you know?” Jonathan snapped. “We’ve been dealing with these creatures for years, less than a months worth of knowledge can’t even compare to that.”

  “A month of informed knowledge Jonathan. I’ve lived with them, spent the time to get to know them. I’ve seen them under the full moon and while Ryan might have been an idiot at the time, he wasn’t a monster. And Alex, his cousin’s mate, is human. She was bitten as well, months ago, but she’s still human. You’ve been wrong about them for years, they’re nothing like what you think.”

  “Their very existence is an abomination, a crime against humanity. Don’t you understand that?” Harry screamed while her brother shook her as if hoping to dislodge the new thoughts she had acquired.

  “Let go of me,” she whispered, her voice cold, seething. Daniel released her from his iron grip. “Ryan is different, yes, but he’s a good man and I love him. He’s not a monster and he’s not an abomination. I’ve seen him as a wolf, he’s beautiful.”

  “The only good wolf is a dead one,” Christian hissed, his normally jovial voice harsh.

  She gulped in apprehension, her eyes narrowing as an unwanted suspicion crept up on her. The very wolves she was now defending had been adamant that her family was the enemy and their own words were confirming that belief. “You haven’t killed them, have you?”

  “Of course we have.” Jonathan’s voice was filled with pride as though his actions were worthy of admiration, a great achievement of some sort.

  “I defended you,” she gasped horrified. “People accused you of being murderers, someone tried to kill me because of it but I defended you at every turn. Oh god, I can’t deal with this. I need to go home.” She stepped away from them in a daze, still reeling from the revelation that her family was exactly what Ryan thought them to be. She dialled the only number recorded in the mobile, Ryan’s rich voice calming her the instant he answered.

  “Ryan?”

  Her voice quivered and he instantly knew that her family meeting hadn’t gone exactly how she had hoped it would. “Angel, what’s wrong?”

  “Ryan, I want you to come and get me. I want to go home.”

  The sadness in her voice worried him, what could have happened in so short a time to make her normally cheerful demeanour turn sour? “I’m on my way right now. Wait for me. Love you angel, be careful until I get there okay?”

  “Of course Ryan. Hurry.”

  “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  “Okay,” she said, ending the call.

  “Was that him?” Harry demanded, invading her personal space as he stepped closer.

  “I don’t want to talk to you right now dad. I can’t deal with this. You don’t understand what I’ve been through, what I put my mate through defending you.”

  “Your mate?” he hissed.

  “Yes, my mate.”

  “What’s happened to you Chloe?” Daniel questioned, creeping up beside her.

  “Ryan happened to me and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “Angel?” At the sound of his voice, she turned to face him, smiling as soon as she saw him. “What happened?” he asked, closing the distance that separated them as he spoke.

  “You were right,” she sighed.

  “Is this him Chloe?” Christian asked, his eyes roaming over Ryan’s frame with disgust.

  “Yes, does he look like a monster to you?”

  Jonathan’s gaze locked with Ryan’s amber flecked one, narrowing in anger. “Yes he does.” He lifted his gun, took aim and fired.

  The shot caught Ryan off guard, his attention so focused on his mate that he hadn’t noticed the gun until the bullet pierced through his heart. His heartbeat stuttered, the normally steady beat, wild and uncontrolled. As the silver bullet ran through him, hurting him internally as it burned away at his flesh, the words he’d used to bind Chloe to him drifted through his mind. You’re mine until my heart stops beating. He turned to her, horrified.

  “Ryan?” Her voice trembled in shock. Her hands were clutching her chest, a bloody wound in the exact same place as his making her cry out in pain.

  He was already moving, pushing his own pain to the back of his mind he ran for her. If I can just get her away from here, we’ll have a chance. I can heal and when I do, so will she. I can’t let them kill me. She’ll go with me.

  Bullets were flying all around him as her father and brothers joined in the melee. He caught one in the leg, his sure step faltering. Another lodged in his chest, piercing through his lung and making him gasp for breath. I only need one lung to get to her. I’ve got to move quicker. His heart faltered as another bullet pierced the vital organ. His heartbeat stuttered further, fragments of silver from the many bullets that had pierced his body now being pumped through his blood stream weakening him further. He gritted his teeth against the pain, unwilling to allow his enemies to view his weakness but the silver in his veins had drained him of his strength and he fell to his knees. Pain racked him but his eyes were drawn irresistibly to Chloe’s violet gaze. She lay against the ground, her blood soaking the grass beneath her body. Her eyes were glazed over in pain as she coughed blood.

  “Chloe,” he drawled, crawling towards her. He had to reach her, help her somehow.

  “Keep your filthy hands to yourself mutt,” Harry snarled, kicking Ryan in the ribs before taking aim once again. The bullet sunk deep into his flesh. Chloe screamed, the tormented sound the last thing Ryan heard before he lost consciousness.

  Chapter Forty Five

  The sound of Chloe’s anguished screams tore through Ryan like a knife, hurting him more than his own pain though what she felt was only a shadow of his own, the source of her agony. He lay shackled to a large table, bound by silver at his wrists and ankles. Though it pained him, he struggled desperately against his constraints, wincing as he moved the silver blade lodged within his chest. He winced at the pain as his blood came into contact with more of the deadly metal and Chloe screamed in response. Growling, he stilled for a moment, cursing the instinct on which he was so reliant. He had bound Chloe’s life to his and each injury that threatened his life she felt, her body temporarily subject to exp
erience the wound as though it were her own. Her life, now intimately linked to the length and duration of his, was in danger because of her family’s actions.

  When he’d awoken alone in the dark room he was now bound in, escape had been paramount in his mind. Wolves didn’t do well in captivity. As he’d struggled for freedom, he quickly came to realise that Chloe’s family were cruel bastards. It didn’t matter that they weren’t in the room with him, they were still managing to hurt him despite his isolation. Along with the silver that tied him to the table, sharp blades were dotted over his body. The skin around the knives burned while the blood beneath boiled as soon as it came into contact with the metal.

  It was the blade embedded in his chest that was causing him the most difficulty and pain. The tip of the blade had barely pierced the vital organ but with each beat his heart took to keep him alive, it pushed him closer to his death. It was this blade that was putting Chloe’s life at risk and he cursed both it and her family for making his mate feel pain. He only hoped that their conspicuous absence meant they were taking care of her. While she couldn’t die directly from wounds that weren’t truly her own, her body was still human and there was only so much pain she could take before her heart gave out from the shock to her system.

  The door opened and Ryan’s body tensed in preparation for the inevitable confrontation with the room’s newest occupant. The smell was familiar, reminding him of his mate and he knew in that moment that despite all of Chloe’s attempts to ensure they didn’t come to blows, her mate and her father were about to have a very unpleasant altercation.

  Harry walked into Ryan’s line of sight, his face set in a mask of grim determination. “So you’re the one who stole my daughter.”

  “If you mean Chloe, then yes, I took her. She’s my mate, how could I do anything different?”

  “Did you bite her?”

  Ryan grinned remembering the night he’d claimed Chloe. “Yes I did.” He paused for effect. “Twice.”

  “My daughter is going to turn into one of you. I’ll be forced to hunt her.” Harry pushed the blade deeper into Ryan’s heart, growling angrily.

  Pain flooded him anew but Ryan gritted his teeth against it, allowing only a small grunt to slip past his lips. A second passed, his beating heart slowly killing him before Chloe’s desperate scream rent the air. Ryan roared in response, resuming his struggles to be free despite the pain he was inflicting upon himself.

  “What did you do to her? She’s bleeding, suffering from wounds that haven’t been done to her. Is this part of the transformation process? Can I stop it? Tell me!”

  “Chloe isn’t turning into a werewolf,” he snarled. “Do you think I would want this for her?” His eyes were flooded with amber as his wolf began struggling for control. His body shifted restlessly against the restraints, his back arching from the table as his wolf sought to reach Harry.

  If we can just get free, it hissed. I’ll tear his throat out with my teeth.

  “Ryan!”

  The sound of Chloe’s anguished call quickly calmed him, stilling his frantic attempt to be free. His actions were directly impacting his mate, he needed to remember that.

  “I’m glad that you’re willing to admit that you’re a monster, an abomination.”

  “I wasn’t talking about that! Look at me. I’m stronger than you, faster than you, practically immortal, but because of what I am I have a crucial weakness. Do you think that I’d want Chloe, my mate, to suffer the same fate as me? To be hunted simply because she’s alive? To be hunted when the people trying to catch her can hurt her with jewellery for crying out loud? No. She needs to stay human, taking the best of me without my weaknesses.”

  “Then what’s happening to her? You did something to her. Tell me what it is.” The blade inched closer to his heart. Ryan grunted, resisting the urge to struggle. Chloe’s life was depending on him. With his superior hearing he could hear her whimpering, her throat too raw to scream, her body too weak to even protest the abuse.

  The instinct was moving within him demanding that he do whatever was necessary to stop her pain. For her he was prepared to beg, to throw away his pride, his freedom. “Stop,” he moaned softly, “stop hurting me, you’re only hurting her.”

  “Why would I believe you? There isn’t anything a man wouldn’t say to escape pain.”

  “As you keep reminding me, I’m not completely a man. Pain is nothing to me. I’ve felt worse in my life, but this pain isn’t just affecting me, it’s hurting Chloe and I can’t let that continue. If you believe nothing else then believe this, I’ll never lie if Chloe will suffer because of it. I bound Chloe to me, tied her life to the duration of mine.”

  “Why would you do that?” Harry hissed angrily.

  “My kind live a very long time but in all our existence we only ever get one mate. I can’t afford to lose her to death or old age. This wasn’t meant to happen.”

  “You wolves really are stupid. Whatever you did to my daughter is slowly killing her, not saving her.”

  No, you’re killing her, his wolf snarled, though outwardly he remained silent.

  It shouldn’t have been like this. The instinct worked to protect his species, not hurt them and hurting his mate was the equivalent to hurting him. The pain Chloe felt should have been temporary, lasting only long enough to let her know her mate was in danger and help should be called. His life was after all now her life.

  “She doesn’t need to feel this,” he began. “Your problem is with me, not her. Don’t make her suffer any more than she already has. The shock could kill her, is that what you want? To be responsible for your daughter’s death?”

  “Whatever happens to Chloe is your fault. If you’d just stayed away from her then none of this would have happened. I should kill you.”

  “No!” he screamed barely resisting the urge to struggle. “If you kill me then she’ll die.”

  “How convenient. I can’t hurt you and I can’t kill you. Why am I so reluctant to believe you, I wonder…”

  “Will you keep hurting me even though you know it’s hurting Chloe?”

  “I told you, I don’t believe you.”

  Chloe can’t take any more pain. I have to protect her, shield her from this. I’ll only be here for another two days at max. I can bear with the pain for that long. I’m going to have to.

  After Erica's abduction by hunters, Sebastian, Ryan and Tobias had agreed between themselves that if any of them went missing for more than two days without a word, the others would track him or their mate. If Erica had been with the hunters for any longer, they might have killed her. Two days of being uncooperative might not be call for a wolf’s execution but the longer time went on, the more likely it was that the hunters would tire of their captive and dispose of them. Ryan shuddered to think of what would be done to him but he braced himself to bear with the pain. He was doing this protect his mate, the instinct would support him and lend him its strength.

  “Hurt me, just don’t hurt her.”

  “I knew you were lying,” Harry sneered. “Why should what I do to you hurt Chloe?”

  “What you’re doing is hurting her. I wasn’t lying when I said that I’d tied her life to mine.”

  “Stop being deliberately evasive mutt.” The knife in his chest pierced his heart further as Harry pushed against the ornate handle. Grunting against the pain, Ryan’s heart began to flutter wildly in his chest as panic set in. The new wound had reopened Chloe’s healing injury, gaining depth and penetration by cutting through vital arteries and veins. If this continued, she would die of blood loss before he could reach her. Her fragile human body wasn’t designed to withstand the pain that his was capable of dealing with. His pain shouldn’t have lasted this long, she wasn’t meant to have to endure for so long.

  His next words were rushed, the explanation flying from his lips. “Don’t hurt anything vital. I tied my life to hers and whatever threatens my life, she feels. So stop stabbing me in the fucking heart, you’re killi
ng her.”

  Harry’s expression turned thoughtful and he walked to the door. “Jonathan, Daniel, bring your sister in here.”

  It was a struggle to slow his heartbeat, the anticipation of seeing his mate quickening Ryan’s pulse, forcing his heart to pump blood around his body faster. The mouth watering scent of strawberries drifted to his nose though the almost overpowering smell of Chloe’s blood accompanying it made fangs explode in his mouth. He turned his head to look at her as she was wheeled in on a table similar to the one he was strapped against. Her skin was unusually pale, almost completely white from the blood loss she’d sustained. The only colour he could see on her body was the blood soaked red bandage wrapped against her chest.

  As he continued to stare at her, her eyes fluttered open the unusual violet even more stunning against her now alabaster skin. “Ryan,” she moaned weakly before her eyes drifted closed. His muscles were tense, his claws digging into the metal beneath his palms as he resisted the impulse to struggle and reach her side. Though it pained him, he stayed still awaiting Harry’s next move.

  “So if I stabbed you in the heart…” The blade pierced his heart a little more. He grunted, resisting the desire to scream while Chloe moaned weakly in response. “Chloe would feel it?”

  “Yes. You have eyes. You’ve seen the evidence for yourself. Please,” he begged, discarding his pride. “You’re meant to be her father. You’re meant to love her. She loves you for crying out loud! She loves all of you,” he snarled glancing at her three brothers who were all huddled around Chloe’s prone form. “Love her in return, stop hurting her.”

  “I’m trying to do that,” Harry snapped. “Now if I stabbed you in the leg for example…” His voice trailed off but his intent was clear and sharp as he embedded a blade deep into Ryan’s thigh. Though he’d vowed not to show any sign of weakness in himself, Ryan roared loudly in pain.