A Wolf's Pride (10 page)

“
Chloe, you’re
awake. That’s good.”

It was still
dark so she guessed she hadn’t been sleeping long and forced a
small smile to her lips. “Yeah.”

“
I should go
and get you something to eat, you haven’t eaten all day and I can
feel that you’re beginning to get hungry.”

In the short
time they had been together she was quickly learning that it was
wiser to simply agree with his plans. The alternative was an
argument that she couldn’t win as he could simply use his great
strength to overpower her into submission and so she nodded,
feeling increasingly resigned to her fate. A small supermarket was
easily visible amidst the bright lights of the city and Ryan strode
towards it before Chloe’s soft voice commanded his
attention.

“
We can’t go in
there like this Ryan,” she began. “It will only draw attention to
us.”

“
I don’t want
to leave you alone Chloe, you’ll try to run from me.”

“
I’ve twisted
my ankle Ryan, I can’t stand up let alone run away. Look there’s a
bench right outside of the store, just put me there and you’ll be
able to see me when you’re inside, please.”

“
You won’t try
to run?” he pressed, moving across the road to stand in front of
the bench.

“
I won’t try to
run.”

“
Promise me
Chloe.”

“
I told you,
I’m can’t go anywhere. Just give me a few minutes alone, in peace.
My head is starting to really hurt with all that’s happened in the
last 24 hours.”

“
Okay love,
I’ll leave you here.” He gently lowered her onto the hard material
and placed her suitcase by her side. “I’ll be watching out for you
from the window. Don’t let anything happen to you ok?” She nodded
before allowing her head to fall heavily into her waiting palms.
“I’ll get you something for that headache as well.” Ryan reassured,
taking a moment to place a fleeting kiss against the soft strands
of her hair.

Minutes
seemed to pass as Chloe’s exhausted mind tried to catch up with
itself, though in reality it had only been a few seconds. She had
never felt so conflicted in her life. Ryan had kidnapped her, that
was obvious, but he had done nothing to harm her and was instead
treating her like the most precious person alive. He was a
werewolf, a creature from myth, which meant that her family had
been right and all these years they had been hunting him and those
like him, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with that piece of
information. Twenty-four hours of safety and comfort versus her
entire lifetime and the belief system that her family had raised
her in were at war and she wasn’t sure which side she wanted to
win.

“
I just want to
go home,” she groaned, her voice low. “I just want to go home and
pretend that none of this ever happened.”

“
Excuse me
miss?” She lifted her head her eyes wandering over the uniform she
had been longing to see since this entire thing had begun. The
policeman continued talking, asking her questions that despite
being conflicted about the answers, she knew she would respond to.
“Are you alright?”

Her head
turned quickly to see that unsurprisingly Ryan was making his way
back to her. “No sir, I’m not. I just want to go home. Can you help
me?”

“
Are you
lost?”

“
No sir, I’ve
been kidnapped.”

Her words
jolted him into ready awareness. “By whom? Is the person still
around? Did they hurt you?”

“
He hasn’t hurt
me and he’s right here.” She pointed to Ryan who was now standing
at her side, a look of disappointed betrayal etched on his
face.

“
Sir, the lady
is accusing you of kidnapping, what do you have to say?”

He was silent
a moment, trying to process what had just happened. True to her
word, his mate had made no attempt to escape by moving but she had
involved the authorities, which could make things difficult. It was
on the tip of his mouth to lie, to tell the man in blue, that he
had done no such thing but then violet eyes were turned on him,
their vast depths swirling in confusion, her full mouth downturned
in sadness. She spoke and he knew he was in trouble.

“
Ryan, you
kidnapped me, didn’t you?”

While he was
willing to lie to the officer, the question had this time been
directed at him from his mate, his beautiful, fiery Chloe and the
instinct was rebelling against the idea of lying to her.
I’m in so much trouble.
He thought before responding to her question. “Firstly, here’s
something for you to eat. I don’t want you getting ill.” He handed
her a small bag and her mouth opened in shock. He was on the verge
of getting arrested and his first priority was her wellbeing? It
made no sense. “I told you that I would always be honest with you
so in answer to your question, yes, yes I kidnapped you Chloe. And
I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

The officer
moved towards him and he knew, knew that while his answer had
followed the dictates of the instinct that guided his kind, here in
the human world there were going to be repercussions.

Chapter
Nine

As soon as he
had been escorted into the detention cell at the nearest police
station, Ryan decided he didn’t like jail. It was as though they
had condensed and concentrated all the things he disliked about
cities and placed them into one small room with bars, a genuine
cage. It was his own personal hell and judging from the threatening
growls that were reverberating around his mind, his wolf didn’t
particularly like the change in location either. The only thing
that was soothing his tortured mind was the knowledge that Chloe
was nearby. She had clearly been taken to the same station as her
scent was nearby. He wasn’t alone in the cell, there were a few
other people within its confines but he didn’t pay them any
attention as he began pacing in front of the bars. He regarded the
steel for a moment, hatred blazing in his eyes. He knew with
absolute certainty that he could easily escape from his cage, it
would take a simple flexing of his muscles and he would be free. He
was also very aware that it was against their laws. If he were to
do such a thing it would bring unwanted attention to his people
that they didn’t need.

While the
hunters were few in number his people were well aware that humans
didn’t cope well with differences. Werewolves had been alive just
as long as humans had and had witnessed their history unfold with
their own eyes. Whenever they had come across something different
from them, the oddity had been greeted with suspicion, mistrust and
violence. Werewolves were strong, but they were also drastically
outnumbered. They couldn’t afford for the governments of the world
to begin looking for them, it was best that their existence
remained a thing of myth and legend. As long as that remained the
case, they would only have to deal with the fanatical hunters and
they were dealt with easy enough. So no, he couldn’t simply free
himself in the quickest, most expedient manner, he was going to
need help.

We don’t need
help Ryan,
his wolf snarled and he could
feel it pacing the confines of his mind much in the way he was
pacing the length of the room he was being contained within.
We’ve done nothing wrong, these humans are mad to
think otherwise. We were simply claiming our mate and protecting
her from unsavoury influences. You don’t agree with what they’re
saying do you?

Don’t be
stupid,
Ryan snapped in response.
Chloe is my mate and it’s not as though we could
have just left her there with that insane family and the woman
doesn’t even seem to have the most basic common sense when it comes
to her health and safety. She probably would have gotten herself
killed if I just left her there. She refuses to eat properly and
would have made herself sick if I didn’t intervene or someone with
bad intentions would have broken into her house and seriously hurt
her.

So what are
you planning to do? They won’t keep her here forever and we’re
stuck behind bars. If they try to take her away from here without
us then I’ll fight you for control.

I get it, I
get it. Just be quiet, I have a plan.

This had
better be a good plan, one that involves leaving this place and
wrapping our mate within our arms.

It’s better
than your idea of just breaking out of here. Don’t worry, if I
sense that they’re preparing to move Chloe, I’ll act.

Good, just as
long as you’re aware of the alternative.

His wild
pacing had attracted the attention of one of his fellow detainees
and the large man had approached him. The stranger was bald, his
wide body covered in thick muscles that rivalled his own in size
while the majority of his ruddy skin was covered in an assortment
of tattoos. He placed a heavy hand on Ryan’s shoulder stopping his
pacing. Ryan turned to look at the man, noting that his face had
several piercings before shrugging out of his grip.

“
What do you
want?” he growled, the low rumble of his voice carrying through the
confined space. Though he wasn’t as heavily build at the behemoth
of a man in front of him, Ryan was confident in his ability to take
him on. There was nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal
especially one that was protecting the thing closest to their
heart.

“
What is your
problem?” the stranger demanded.

“
My problem is
that I don’t like cages. Step away from me before I’m forced to
hurt you.”

“
Hurt me?” The
man laughed amused by the very thought before turning his attention
back to Ryan. The sight of feral amber eyes glowing in the dark
cell as they stared directly at him with the promise of violent
retribution in their depths forced him to take a step back, his
laughter dying.

Ryan allowed
the small change to take place. While the man was human, the police
were unlikely to believe the word of a criminal and if the scent
that floated from his skin was accurate, he was a drunk criminal as
well. Frightening this man didn’t pose a threat to his people and
it soothed his wolf, something that he was in dire need of. “Don’t
push me,” Ryan snarled. “I’m not in the mood for it.”

The stranger
was saved from Ryan’s wrath by a police officer calling his name
and beckoning him to the bars. “Which one of you is Ryan
Sutherland?”

He allowed
his eyes to flash amber a final time ensuring that the man
understood that he wasn’t an opponent that was to be taken lightly
before he approached the bars of his cell. “I’m Ryan Sutherland.
Are you letting me go?” He was well aware that the likelihood of
him simply being allowed to leave was practically non-existent. He
was well versed in human law and understood that the acquisition of
his mate and his attempts to return her to the safety of his clan
had violated several of the more important ones. No, if the humans
had their way he would be severely punished for something that he
couldn’t bring himself to see as a crime.

“
No. You get a
phone call and then we’ll see about questioning you. You apparently
confessed to some serious crimes.” The officer noted as he opened
the doors of the cell and allowed Ryan to step out.

“
I did. How’s
Chloe?”

“
Are you really
in a position to be asking that?”

“
I just need to
know is she’s alright. She fell and sprained her ankle. Have you
had a doctor come and look at her?”

“
Acting all
concerned isn’t going to help you. The phone is over there,” he
said, pointing to a phone hanging on a wall. “I’ll be right over
there.”

He nodded
before stepping towards the phone and dialling a familiar number,
it was time to call in his last unquestionable favour. The phone
rung for a few moments before Sebastian answered it. His brother
was laughing happily and as he could hear Erica's laughter in the
background it wasn’t hard to guess why.

“
Hello?”
Sebastian chuckled.

“
Sebastian,
it’s Ryan.”

“
Oh it’s you.
I’ve had some people run down to Chloe’s apartment, her things
should be here soon enough.”

“
That isn’t why
I called.”

The serious
tone of Ryan’s voice quieted Sebastian's laughter. “What is
it?”

“
I’m calling in
that second favour.”

“
What do you
need?”

“
I’ve been
arrested.”

“
Arrested!”
Sebastian bellowed, astounded that his brother had managed to
embroil himself in such a situation.

“
Yes, calm
down.” He turned to briefly regard the officer that was watching
him before allowing the change to wash over his vocal cords,
adapting them into something less than human. He didn’t want to be
overheard. The next time he spoke it was in low grunts and growls
that were unintelligible to human ears. “I need you to come and
break me out. Chloe is still here so if you’re quick, I can get out
and take her with me. Can you manage it?”

The line was
quiet for a while and then Sebastian spoke again. “Where are you
exactly?”