Free A Wolf's Pride by Jennifer T. Alli Page A

and the
stupid car won’t work.” He reached across her and unbuckled her
seatbelt before pulling her from the comfort of the car.
    “ Are you just
going to leave that here?” she demanded, eying the expensive car as
he pulled her further and further away from it.
    “ It’s broken,
we have no need for it if it’s not going to work.”
    “ It isn’t
broken you idiot! It’s run out of gas. How stupid can you
get?”
    “ Chloe, don’t
insult me,” he growled and she immediately shrunk away from him,
remembering the tremendous strength that was hidden in his arms. “I
don’t want you to be afraid of me either,” he crooned, gently
rubbing her cheek.
    She didn’t
lean into his touch but she didn’t pull away either and Ryan
supposed that he would have to be content with that. More would
come later.
    Entwining their
fingers, Ryan led her along the road, remembering the nearest city
wasn’t very far away and hoping that his mate wouldn’t be too
exhausted by the journey. They walked in silence for a few minutes
before Chloe gathered the courage to speak. It’s probably in my best interests to make sure that he likes
me, she decided. If he likes me, then he’s less likely to hurt me.
    “ I can’t
believe that you didn’t realise that the car was out of gas,” she
grumbled.
    “ What was
that?”
    Her voice now
clearer, she repeated what she had just said. “I said, I can’t
believe that you didn’t realise the car was out of gas. It was the
most obvious thing to look for.”
    “ It didn’t seem
that obvious to me.”
    “ I don’t
understand. You can drive just fine so you clearly took lessons and
that means someone must have explained that without gas, cars don’t
work.”
    “ I learned to
drive in a different time Chloe, when cars were new and haven’t had
to make much use of the skill in recent years. I’ve brushed up on
how the things work, but if I’m honest, which I’ll always be with
you, I don’t like them, so I don’t use them.”
    “ When cars were
new?” she questioned confused. “Just how old are you?”
    “ Two hundred
and four.”
    “ You’re
kidding,” she laughed nervously. “Right?”
    “ No, us
werewolves have amazing longevity, if nothing tries to kill us, we
can live forever.”
    “ Wow, you’re so
old you should be living in a museum.”
    He laughed,
“I don’t think that I would like to live in one of those. I much
prefer the wild outdoors. Cities make me feel trapped, like I’m in
a cage.”
    “ Is that just
you or do all werewolves feel like that?”
    “ Most that I’ve
spoken to don’t like cities either. They’re too noisy and it feels
as though you’re living on top of one another.”
    “ So I’m
guessing that you guys don’t live together, more the lone wolf
thing right?”
    “ Wrong. We live
in clans and everyone within them is very close to each other but
not so close that we feel suffocated by the presence of others. The
clans themselves are fairly spaced out so that we have even more
space.”
    “ I thought you
didn’t like cars, how do you get from a to b?”
    “ It’s much
faster for us to simply run.”
    “ Why don’t you
just run now? Why even bother with cars if you don’t like
them?”
    “ You aren’t a
wolf Chloe, you couldn’t run like me and there isn’t enough trust
between us for me to leave you and come back and collect you later.
Even if there were, I’d be reluctant to leave you. The world isn’t
a safe place and I can’t have anything happen to you.”
    Darkness was
beginning to fall and she had to strain her eyes to see exactly
where they were going. Ryan had silently directed them away from
the well-established path the road had provided and the terrain
beneath her feet was becoming increasingly treacherous. Her eyes
downcast to survey the rocky ground, she started another round of
questions. “Why? Why are you so insistent that nothing happens to
me? You don’t know me.”
    “ You’re my
mate,” he