A Wolf's Pride (24 page)

Ryan stopped,
leading her into a nursery that was painted an invitingly warm
yellow with stuffed animals littering the room. In the far corner
of the room, two cribs were pushed up against the wall and as Ryan
walked forward, curiosity once again filled Chloe and she leaned
forward to see what exactly Ryan was doing. He leaned forward over
the crib, reaching down to lift a small child from its confines. As
he lifted the baby to his chest, an expression of what could only
be described as pride came over his features and Chloe’s heart
sank. She had only ever seen such an expression when her father
looked at her or her brothers and seeing it on Ryan’s face, it
dawned on her who the child was.

I should have
known better,
she mentally scolded
herself.
Just because he says I’m his
mate, whatever that means, it doesn’t mean that he’s not involved
with someone else. Men cheat all the time, especially on me. Does
that child’s mother even known Ryan is planning to abandon her for
me? Is she even still around? Is he even intending to break it off
with her? What if he thinks he can have us both? The arrogant
ass!

Ryan walked
forward, still smiling, seemingly unaware of the disappointment
Chloe felt. “Chloe, I want you to meet Sophia.” He moved closer,
encouraging her to hold the little girl within her arms before
moving away to the second crib and lifting a second child out. “And
this is Vivian.”

“
They’re
beautiful, you must be very proud,” she said, her teeth clenched
tightly together. “Where’s their mother?”

“
I’m right
here,” a soft voice called from behind her.

Chloe’s heart
sped up once more and she barely resisted the urge to curse.
Turning around to face the newcomer, her heart sank further once
she looked at the woman, quickly taking in her petite frame, neatly
cut crimson hair and piercing grey eyes.

“
You must be
Chloe,” the woman smiled. Chloe nodded in agreement. “I’m Elaine.
I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

Why?
I’m stealing the father of your children away
from you.
Chloe’s mind demanded
rebelliously though outwardly she remained silent.

“
I apologise
for the way that you were brought here. Ryan has always been one to
act before he properly thinks things through. Although, from what I
hear, he did have some justification for his behaviour.”

“
If you say
so,” Chloe mumbled under her breath.

Elaine
stepped forward, her arms reaching for Sophia. The child’s arms
reached for her eagerly and Chloe let her go, suddenly feeling like
an interloper in this family meeting.

Sophia’s
small hands reached for the red strands of Elaine’s hair and as the
baby pulled, Elaine grimaced. “This one is going to be a trouble
maker just like you were Ryan. When you were a baby you always
pulled my hair, Sebastian on the other hand did no such thing and
just look how the pair of you have matured. I’m in trouble with
her. Why is it that I seem cursed to give birth to one good and one
bad twin?”

Placing
Vivian back in the crib, Ryan moved to his mother’s side and lifted
Sophia from her arms. “Do you hear that sis? We’re apparently the
evil twins,” Ryan laughed, moving back to the cribs and placing
Sophia back inside. “This is what I get for listening to you
mother… grief. You said you wanted to meet my mate and so you bad
mouth me in front of her?” he joked.

“
Mother?” Chloe
spluttered finally.

“
I
unfortunately must own up to bringing that demon spawn into the
world. I did try to make him into a better person, unfortunately he
has a stubborn streak ten thousand miles long.”

“
You wound me
mother,” he groaned dramatically, clutching his hand over his
heart.

“
If only,”
Elaine scoffed. “I had to give up when the grey hairs began
appearing. I wasn’t going to let you age me prematurely.” Elaine
turned away from her son and began scanning her surroundings as
though in search of something.

“
Father told me
to send his apologies mother,” Ryan began, easily interpreting his
mother’s movements. “One of us had to stay behind. As you seemed so
determined to meet my mate, he told me to go.” He stepped behind
Chloe, pulling her body flush against his. “We can always leave if
you want.”

“
Don’t be
silly. Come with me Chloe.” She smiled as she reached for Chloe’s
hand and pulled her away from Ryan into one of several chairs that
the nursery contained.

His mother?
His mother? Oh my god, he brought me here to meet his family! This
is madness. Why didn’t he tell me? I thought those were his
daughters not his sisters….
Her mind ranted
before a more pressing concern pushed itself to the front of her
mind.
I’m going to make a fool of myself.
I’ve never met anyone’s parents before. Besides Gary, I’ve never
been in a relationship long enough to need to meet them and even
Gary didn’t want me to meet them. He’s made such a big mistake
bringing me here.
She turned to him, her
eyes silently pleading for support. His smile was reassuring and he
moved forward, placing a comforting hand on her
shoulder.

“
So Chloe,”
Elaine began. “How are you finding life with Ryan?”

Is this a
trick question?
“It’s getting better,” she
hedged.

Elaine
laughed loudly, the sound stunning Chloe. “Come now Chloe, I’m his
mother, there’s no need to try and mask his faults. I know them
all. I guess he can’t help it, it’s just the way he matured I
guess.”

“
Matured?”
Chloe repeated, confused as to why Elaine was talking about her son
as though he were some sort of cheese.

“
Silly me, you
have no idea what I’m talking about do you?” Chloe shook her head,
no. “It’s what we refer to as growth, development, getting your
wolf under control. It varies from person to person but think of
maturity as a spectrum with two opposing ends. There are those,
like my other son Sebastian, who absolutely refuse to listen to
their wolves and so spend their maturity finding ways to silence or
lock away that voice. And then there are those like Ryan,” she
groaned loudly.

“
What about
Ryan?” Chloe pressed, genuinely interested.

“
Ryan is the
opposite to Sebastian. He listens without fail to the demands of
his wolf, that’s why he’s so impulsive. He doesn’t think things
through properly because his wolf doesn’t think things through at
all.”

“
Hang on,”
Chloe interrupted, turning to face Ryan. “You told me that people
couldn’t be turned into werewolves because they didn’t have the
time to learn to control their inner wolves, it sounds to me as
though you have no more control than the wild wolves you were
talking about. Did you lie to me?”

“
Never Chloe,”
he reaffirmed. “I would never lie to you. I do have a degree of
control. My wolf isn’t interested in the day-to-day things of life
so his voice is silent most of the time. It’s only big things that
it tries to get involved in.”

“
Like taking a
mate?”

“
Exactly,” he
beamed, pride etched on his features.

“
I don’t envy
you the task of trying to tame my son Chloe. Wolves that mature
like he has done are notoriously difficult to manage. I spent
decades trying and got nowhere.”

“
I wouldn’t
worry about that mother. Chloe is my mate, I can think of no
greater pleasure than for her to try to tame me,” he purred, the
seductive tone of his voice bringing a flush to Chloe’s
cheeks.

The corners
of Elaine’s mouth lifted in a calculated smile. “Well I find that a
quick and sharp smack to the side of his head works wonders.”
Chloe’s jaw dropped in surprise at her statement. Elaine shrugged
her shoulders. “I’m serious Chloe.”

“
Mother,” Ryan
growled disapprovingly.

“
I know this
may be difficult for you to understand but everything he does is
truly for your benefit.” Ryan smiled, nodding his head in approval
at his mother’s change in perspective. “But still, because of the
way he’s matured, his methods leave a little something to be
desired. If asking him nicely seems to be getting you nowhere then
I suggest you use my method. A small slap to his head does wonders
to get his attention and in some cases it can even make him see
reason.”

The serious
tone Elaine was using to discuss such an unexpected method of
dealing with Ryan made Chloe chuckle. Though she tried to resist
it, the sound escalated until it was full blown laughter, bubbling
out from her throat. Her body began to shake with it and tears
rolled down her cheeks.
This is his
mother? No wonder he turned out the way he has, they’re all
strange.
“You’re funny,” she managed to say
through her almost hysterical laughter.

The phone in
his pocket began to ring and Ryan stepped away from Chloe, grateful
for the interruption. “Yes?” he answered.

“
Lord Ryan,
this is Anthony from the royal estate.”

“
Is something
wrong?”

“
No, nothing is
wrong. You told us to inform you when Lady Chloe’s things
arrived.”

“
So they’re all
there now?”

“
Yes.”

Ryan’s eyes
wandered back to where his mother and Chloe were now both laughing
and he sighed in relief, thankful for the exit strategy that had
just been given to him. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. Don’t
touch anything.”

“
Of course Lord
Ryan.”

Ending the
call, he placed the phone back in his pocket. “Chloe love, it’s
time for us to leave.”

“
What?” Elaine
exclaimed. “She just got here.”

“
I know mother
but her things have just made it to the estate, I want to give her
time to unpack.”

“
Can’t you just
let someone else do it? You haven’t been here long enough for Chloe
and I to get to know each other.”

Ryan’s eyes
flashed amber at the suggestion. “No one touches Chloe’s things,”
he growled in response. The mere idea that others would touch his
mate’s private things, contaminate her scent with their own, was
enough to make him see red with rage.

“
It’s alright
Elaine,” Chloe mediated. “I prefer to unpack myself. If someone
else did it they wouldn’t know what was important and accidents
happen.”

“
We’ll come
again another time,” Ryan murmured, his voice
apologetic.

“
You had better
do,” she snapped though the large smile on her face ruined any
illusions of anger. “Fine, go.” She stood and walked over to Ryan,
embracing him in a warm hug. Pulling away from him, she proceeded
to give Chloe the same treatment, wrapping her arms around her
frame for a few moments before pulling away.

As soon as
Chloe was free, Ryan took hold of her hand and began leading her
away from the room. Elaine’s voice followed them down the hall as
she shouted, “Ryan Orville Sutherland, I mean it if you don’t come
back here within the week with that adorable mate of yours, I’ll
hunt you down.”

“
Orville?”

Ryan
shrugged, “Blame my father, he didn’t stop her. And if you think
that’s bad you should hear what Sebastian's is. Come on, I want
your things unpacked quickly.” He lifted her into his arms once
again and took off running.

Chapter Twenty
One

The trip back
to the estate had been quick. Ryan had learnt his lesson on the out
going journey, throwing Chloe away from his body hadn’t made him
desire her any less, if anything it had had the opposite effect.
The brief absences that he had given her body away from his had
only made him more conscious of her when he went to catch her.
Realising that he was going to have to endure her proximity he had
changed his tactics, running as fast as he could to make it back to
the estate as soon as possible. Now, as they strolled the busy
halls on their way back to the rooms, he was finally given the
chance to get his body back under control. His mate might believe
that she had physical imperfections but his body did
not.

“
So does it
work?” Chloe asked as she avoided yet another person that was
rushing along the length of the corridor.

His mate’s
voice snapped him out of the haze of lust his mind had been
dwelling in. “Does what work?”

“
Does a slap to
the back of your head really work in getting you to
behave?”

“
My mother
likes to think that it does,” he shrugged.

“
So I’m going
to take that as a no then. Damn,” she cursed. “I thought I’d just
acquired a weapon to keep you in line.”

He stopped,
grabbing her wrist and pulling her flush against his body.
Consequences be damned,
he decided. “You,” he purred. “Are the only weapon that could
be used to keep me in line. You have to know there’s nothing I
wouldn’t do for you.” His head descended and he pressed a quick but
intense kiss against her lips, pulling back before his self control
deteriorated completely. “Come on, let’s go and unpack your
things.”