A Wolf's Pride
Authors: Jennifer T. Alli
Tags: #paranormal romance, #werewolf, #werewolf romance
A Wolf’s
Pride
Jennifer T.
Alli
Copyright 2010
by Jennifer T. Alli
Smashwords
Edition
Table of Contents
It had been
several months since his brother had found and claimed his mate and
Ryan found that he was suffering as a result of the aftermath. His
mother had given birth to twin girls not too long ago, naming them
Vivian and Sophia, and while she adored his little sisters as much
as he did, after their birth she had turned her attention to her
last single son. Her incessant demands for him to claim a mate were
heaped upon the demands of his wolf, giving him continental sized
headaches. He wanted a mate just as much as his mother and his wolf
did. More so even, the combined mating scents of his brother and
his cousin were driving him insane. It was more than any wolf could
be asked to withstand. And that was the reason why he was here,
within the halls of another clan, dressed in his best yet again as
he continued his search for a mate. He tugged on his suit’s tie
feeling uncomfortable in the formal attire but he wanted to appear
his best, to show his mate that he could provide and protect
her.
“
Lord
Ryan?”
He turned to
look into the bright green eyes of the Lord of the South Eastern
clan. The man was tall, as was typical for their people with a
large frame that projected an image contrary to his gentle nature.
“Yes,” he replied.
“
The females of
our clan are ready, are you prepared to receive them?”
His spine
stiffened in anticipation, hope rising within him. He had been
through this procedure many times in the last few months and though
he had yet to find his mate he was still optimistic. “Yes, show
them in.”
The large
double doors opened and women of all shapes and sizes were shown
in. When he had first started his search he had thought that only a
few women would respond to his summons but he had been proved wrong
time and time again since that first day, apparently his title
worked in his best interests during times like these. He forced a
smile to his face, if his mate was among these women he wanted her
to have a good first impression of him, they were important. The
females lined up before the small stage he was standing on,
surprisingly coordinated for having only just met. Once they had
finished moving, Ryan began his quest.
He walked down
the stone steps that separated them and approached the first woman
in the line. She was pretty, he supposed, with thick auburn hair
and shimmering grey eyes but he could tell instantly that she
wasn’t the one. Nevertheless for the sake of appearances he moved
very close to her and inhaled deeply. Her scent did nothing for him
as he had expected and he shook his head and walked down the line.
He continued this procedure, moving in close to a woman, breathing
deeply and shaking his head as he discovered another failure, until
he reached the end of the line. Again his mate was nowhere to be
found.
This is getting ridiculous,
he growled.
You’re telling
me.
His wolf inserted, thoroughly
disappointed that once again they would be returning home empty
handed.
I want our mate Ryan, you should
be doing more to find her.
I’m doing all
I can.
Pulling himself from his mental
musings, he turned to once again regard the leader of this
particular clan. “Thank you for your time and assistance, but it
appears that my mate isn’t here. I’ll simply have to continue my
search.” The man moved as though to speak but Ryan turned on his
heel and began to walk towards the entrance; he was not in the mood
to deal with people right now.
As he walked
down the halls, making his way to the exit, he began to disassemble
his formal attire, pulling off his tie and undoing the buttons on
his shirt.
Another day, another failure.
I’ve checked all the clans again this month and once again nothing.
How long will I have to wait?
It had become
part of his routine to check each and every clan each and every
month. He was convinced that his mate was alive, he could feel it
in his bones, and the knowledge that she existed was also probably
what was driving his wolf to such extremes in behaviour. He had
therefore theorised that she had probably not reached maturity,
which was why he had not found her yet, and if he made regular
trips to the clans he would come across her eventually.
I want our
mate!
His wolf screamed.
I want our mate. I want our mate. I want our
mate.
Since his wolf had begun making these
demands he had learnt how to tune its voice out so that it was
simply background music to his thoughts. The ringing of his phone
provided a welcome reprieve from his practically rabid wolf and he
answered quickly, barely suppressing a groan when he realised who
was on the phone.
“
Well Ryan?”
his mother inquired, her voice hopeful. “Any luck this
time?”
“
No, she wasn’t
here either.”
Elaine
sighed, disappointed. “Well there are other clans for you to look
at this month, hopefully she’ll be in one of those.”
“
I sincerely
hope so,” he groaned, his wolf’s demands escalating in volume. “How
are Vivian and Sophia?”
“
Fine, growing
like weeds, I think they’ll be able to transform any day now.” The
sound of a baby’s cries floated to his ears through the phone. “And
apparently they’re hungry. I have to go love. I’ll speak to you
when you get home and then we can makes plans for which clans you
can go to next. Maybe instead of just asking the women to present
themselves we should ask the Lords to give us directions to where
they live. If Sebastian had gone about things with Erica like you
are, he might never have found her. Times are changing and we have
to change with them. See you soon love.” His mother hung up and he
groaned, her plans had already begun, apparently he was not needed
to make them.
The phone
within his hand rang again and he snapped it open, expecting a
follow up call from his mother. “Yes?”
“
Ryan, it’s
Sebastian.” Ryan groaned in relief at hearing his brother’s voice
rather than his mother’s. “Look, I know that you’re looking for
your mate right now, how did that go by the way?”
“
Another
failure,” he answered simply.
“
Oh, well don’t
worry, you’ll find her soon enough. Anyway, I need you to go to San
Francisco.”
“
Why?”
“
There’s a
meeting for one of our businesses there, I’ve already prepared all
the paper work and information, all you need to do is be there to
represent us and get us the best deal.”
“
I can do that,
it’s what I’m good at.”
And hopefully it
will get me away from mother’s matchmaking.
“When do you need me to go?”
“
You’re
expected on Monday.”
“
Thanks
Sebastian, you’ve saved me.”
“
From
what?”
“
Your mother is
making plans.”
Sebastian
groaned. “You know that now you won’t be here she’s going to turn
her attentions on to me.”
Finally
arriving at the double doors that led out of the clan, Ryan threw
them open and strode into the warm sunlight. “I don’t know what
you’re complaining about, it isn’t as though you have anything to
worry about, you have a mate.”
“
Yes, and she,
mother and Alex are ganging up on us. I blame Tobias. He’s so
protective of Alex that she can only get away when she’s with them
and then they rant and rave over our protective ways.”
“
It’s not as
though you can say anything Sebastian, you’re just as bad with
Erica, I never imagined that you would become this paranoid when
you found your mate. And Alex? She’s pregnant with the heir to the
throne; it’s understandable that Tobias would be worried. Have you
seen her lately? She looks like she’s either going to topple over
or give birth early and the doctors said that’s a possibility.
She’s so small and triplets? Nope, I’m siding with Tobias on this
one. Get used to being ganged up on in my absence,” he laughed.
“Right, well I’m coming back now. I’ll get the info from you and
then be on my way.”
“
You’ll get
there early.” Sebastian remarked calmly.
“
I know but it
means I escape your mother’s schemes. See you soon.” He ended the
call, pocketed the phone and was off eager to be free of the
stresses that failing to find his mate were heaping upon
him.
*****
As was
tradition, Chloe crept into her father’s house on Sunday morning
and headed straight for the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her
large but culinary incompetent family. The tradition had first
started ten years ago, she had been thirteen and her mother had
died in a car crash. She had left behind four children and a
grieving husband. Her father had thrown himself wholeheartedly into
work and his private hobby, hunting and had roped her three older
brothers into joining him. They had expressly forbidden her from
joining them claiming that it was too dangerous for her to come
along. So to maintain close ties with her family she had decided to
implement this tradition. Every Sunday without fail she made her
family a large breakfast and they all sat down to enjoy it,
ensuring that they were never in the dark too long about what was
going on in each others lives. She had managed to keep the
tradition going all through her time at university and even though
she had officially moved away from home six months ago, she was
determined to uphold her record. Having lived most of her life as
the sole female amidst a hoard of men, they had initially asked her
to cook food for them on a daily basis. While her mother may have
believed in cooking healthy food daily for her family, Chloe
couldn’t bring herself to do it. If they were so lazy that they
couldn’t be bothered to cook for themselves then they should either
starve or hire a chef.