A Wolf's Pride (45 page)

“
We’re not
walking down and we’re not taking Shadow either.” To emphasise his
point, he hit Shadow’s hind legs sending the horse into a swift
trot down the path.

“
Well how are
we going to swim then? The water’s at the bottom.”

“
We’re going to
jump from here. It’s exhilarating. Trust me you’ll love
it.”

“
Oh no, no, no,
no. I’m not jumping from here. There are probably huge rocks down
there. Are you trying to kill me?”

“
After all I’ve
done to keep you safe why would I do a thing like that?
Look.”

He pointed to
the bank where a large pile of rocks of varying shapes and sizes
were stacked on the ground. “I came here earlier and took out all
the rocks and stones. I even got rid of the pebbles. There’s
nothing that can hurt you down there. Trust me. Please,” he argued,
holding out his hand to her.

It was the
please that persuaded her. Ryan wasn’t a rude person but the word
‘please’ rarely left his lips unless it was for something
important. She placed her hand in his and let him lead her into the
water. The current was strong around her ankles but her grip on
Ryan’s hand was stronger, the pressure increasing the closer they
got to the edge. He smiled, his joy infectious, making her smile
too before they leapt from the edge together. The water rushing
around her ears was loud but the sensation of being swept along
with the current was exactly as Ryan described.
Exhilarating.

Though their
fall had been exciting she knew that it wasn’t because of the jump
that her heart was beating at least twice as fast as normal when
they landed. No, her erratic heartbeat was completely Ryan’s fault.
With his arms wrapped around her, pressing their bare skin closer
than it had ever been before, his strong legs keeping them afloat
in the water, emotion welled up within her. In his arms she felt
safe, protected, cared for. Loved. Despite the complications the
last word could cause, her heart calmed as she thought it and it
was with calm acceptance that she realised the word no longer
scared her, so long as it was used in reference to Ryan. Her
werewolf abductor. Her staunchest ally and protector. In short…her
mate.

She lifted her
hands to the nape of his neck, allowing her fingers to wander
through the wet strands of his hair before pulling his head down
for a kiss. Ryan froze at the unexpected kiss before his lips
smiled against her own as he deepened the kiss. It was the first
time Chloe had ever kissed him of her own initiative, the day
deserved to be celebrated.
Yup, this was
definitely one of my more brilliant ideas,
he decided before his thoughts grew dim, fading into nothing.
There was only Chloe and that was how things ought to
be.

Chapter Thirty
Eight

This was a bad
idea. A very bad idea.
The thought ran
around in circles in Chloe’s mind cementing her belief that when it
came to Ryan she was capable of making very stupid decisions.
Standing in the middle of a circular room full of mirrors with a
dress being tailor made to fit her body she very much regretted
agreeing to Ryan’s request. It had been a bad idea when he had
asked her to do it, it was still a bad idea when she had walked
into the room and it was a terrible idea now that she could see
herself from every imaginable angle. With the sheer number of
mirrors that surrounded her, every flaw on her body was exposed to
public scrutiny. Her stomach turned at the idea of wearing the
dress in public and she turned to Ryan hoping for help. She should
have known better than to expect help from him in this matter. He
was smiling widely, his amber eyes hungry as they stared at her,
looking at her like she was the best item on the menu.

Ryan seemed
to be blind to her physical flaws but she could see them, as could
the tailor, her assistants and everyone else should she walk out of
the room in the dress. She could practically hear them tutting as
their beautiful creation had to be pulled and loosened to fit her
larger frame. The sleeveless emerald green dress was beautiful, but
on her the problems were endless. The material was tight, clinging
to her skin in unwanted places, revealing a body that was less than
perfect. It was cut too low, exposing far too much of her cleavage
and Ryan had apparently taken to having long slits in her dresses
if the thigh high cuts on both sides of her legs were anything to
go by. There was no way to wear the dress in public without
humiliating herself. Her decision practically made
itself.

“
I’m not
wearing this Ryan,” she told him, her tone adamant.

“
Why
not?”

She rolled
her eyes before turning to face him. “Look at me.”

His eyes
perused her frame slowly, darkening with every second that passed
as he looked at her hungrily. He imagined his hands gliding up her
legs, touching skin that was easily accessible due to the large
slits on either side. He imagined cupping the round globes of her
ass as he pulled her against his length and sliding straight into
her gloriously wet heat. “You look beautiful,” he said.
And too sexy for words.

Groaning, she
threw her hands up in exasperation, spinning away from him to once
again look at her less than perfect reflection. She should have
known better than to ask him, there was clearly something wrong
with his eyesight. “I’m not wearing this out in public.”

“
Why not?” he
repeated, no less confused than the first time he had
asked.

Her eyes fell
on the slim tailor and her equally slender assistants before she
glanced back at the image shown in the mirrors. “Because it makes
me look fat.”

A low rumbling
growl began in Ryan’s throat at the claim.
How can she say something like that?
Can’t she see just how perfect she is?

Ryan,
the wolf began.
No one
insults our mate, not even her. I think she needs to be taught a
lesson, shown the error of her ways.

The wolf’s
words were insidious, clouding his judgment, his ability to reason.
Chloe was his mate. His utterly perfect mate, no one should be able
to speak ill of her, let alone get away with it. The instinct was
on his wolf’s side, demanding that he protect her from such words
and the two combined were wearing away at his control, his
self-restraint. He managed to contain himself but just barely. His
body was already changing. His muscles were tense and ready to
spring to her defence. The teeth in his mouth had a new sharpness
to them and his hands had curled into the chair’s armrests to
prevent claws erupting from them. Despite all of this, his eyes
were still brown. He was still in control.

“
You aren’t
fat!” he snarled angrily. He was no expert on women’s sizes but he
hazarded a guess upon looking at her frame. “You’re what, a size
ten and you’ve worn a dress like this one before, why are you so
reluctant to do it again?”

“
I’m a size
fourteen actually,” she corrected. “And I wore that dress for you!”
she snapped in response. “Only for you. I can handle exposing
myself to you because you like how I look. Besides, it’s not like
you gave me a choice when I wore that dress. You took away all my
other clothes, the only way I was going to leave that room without
that dress would have been to walk about naked.”

I love how you
look,
he mentally corrected almost purring
in delight as his anger ebbed for a moment.

“
You’re having
these dresses made so that I can wear them in public. Other people
will see me like this and while you like how I look, no one else
will. Especially when I’m surrounded by people like you and them.”
She waved a hand to encompass the people within the
room.

“
Wolves you
mean?”

“
Yes! No!” she
groaned loudly in frustration. “Beautiful, slim, perfect people. In
comparison to that not only do I look fat, I look ugly as
well.”

Amber flooded
his eyes as he sprung to his feet, his control a thing of the past.
She had gone too far and he’d had enough. He strode over to her,
gripping her arm and pulling her from the small elevated platform
that she had been standing on. It was time to show his mate just
how wrong she was. The tailor wisely took a step back. Ryan flashed
Chloe a feral grin before pulling her from the room.

“
Ryan, what are
you doing?” she spluttered as he pulled her along the
halls.

“
Teaching you a
lesson.”

“
And what would
that be? How to be dragged about in a half finished
dress?”

“
No. I want to
show you just how wrong you are.”

The door to
their rooms loomed closer and Ryan’s pace quickened, the instinct
driving him onwards. He yanked the door open, slamming it behind
them as soon as they were safely sequestered inside. He moved
quickly, pushing her hard against the closed door before claiming
her lips in a bruising kiss. Her words of protest quickly turned
into moans of pleasure as heat speared her despite the barely
contained violence of the kiss. There was a sharpness to his teeth
that had been absent in all their previous encounters and she
gasped in pain as he nipped at her lips, demanding entrance to her
mouth. His tongue was quick to sooth the ache and he pulled her
plump lower lip into his mouth, running the tip of his warm tongue
over the accidental injury. The sweet taste of his mate’s blood
goaded him into further action and he pulled her body close. His
grip was tight, almost bruising as though he feared someone would
snatch her away.

When he
eventually pulled away, Chloe was panting wildly, struggling to
catch her breath. Her cheeks were beautifully flushed and his scent
was all over her. The knowledge that the potency of his scent would
soon fade from her skin as his would from hers angered him even
more.

“
You’re perfect
Chloe. There isn’t another woman out there whose body meets my
needs as much as yours does. Let me show you.”

He stepped
back, releasing her from his grip. He looked at her possessively
before reaching for the low cut neckline of her dress. A single
hard pull and the dress was torn from her body. Chloe didn’t even
have time to be shocked at the sudden movement as in the next
second her body was flying through the air. It was strange but
there was no urge to scream, not even a moment of panic. When Ryan
threw her, as he was prone to doing, he always caught her. No harm
came to her when she was around him, even when his eyes were
amber.
Especially when his eyes were
amber,
she corrected. As predicted, Ryan
caught her before she collided with anything and lowered her to the
centre of the mattress.

Ryan prowled
around the edge of the bed, his eyes occasionally glancing in her
direction before muttering to himself as though fighting an
internal battle. A few moments passed before he stopped pacing, his
internal battle apparently over. Her mouth dried and heat pulsed
through her as he stripped himself of his clothes just as
efficiently as he had her. Clothed he was handsome; naked he was
magnificent. Every glorious inch of his body was exposed for her
perusal and she drank him in with eager eyes. Hard muscle covered
his entire body, starting from his broad shoulders and ending at
his well developed calves. Her eyes fell to his erection, which
jutted towards her from between his legs, hanging thick and long.
Her heart sped up until it was beating frantically within his
chest.
He’ll never be able to wear those
clothes again,
she mused but that thought,
along with any others she was capable of having died quickly when
he strode over to the edge of the bed. Kneeling at the end, near
her feet, he looked at her assessingly, a feral grin appearing on
his face.

“
You’re
beautiful Chloe. Do you believe me?” She turned her face away from
the perfection of his body unable to answer his question. “Fine,
let me show you.”

A sharp
stinging sensation running along the outside of her legs forced her
to look at him again. His claws were out, gently running along her
skin as they made their way up her legs. The lacy underwear she
preferred to wear beneath her clothes was shredded in an instant
though she remained unharmed. His claws disappeared quickly and his
hot hands caressed her legs, running down the outside once more
before spreading her legs upon reaching her ankles. Her breath
hitched as his tongue proceeded to carve a trail up the inside of
her thighs, his warm breath ghosting over her exposed core as he
moved across to the other leg. His fangs scraped lightly against
her skin and her body tensed, almost as though she expected him to
bite her. Memories of the last time he’d bitten her flooded her
mind and as she recalled the pleasure that his bite entailed, her
legs began to shift restlessly. He nipped the top of her thigh
gently, silently commanding her to be still. The small bite should
have been painful but it wasn’t. Instead she felt herself growing
wetter, her body preparing for his as her inner muscles clenched
sporadically, eager to have something to hold. He reached her
ankles and lifted his head, smiling widely.

“
Did I ever
tell you that you smell like strawberries?”