Chapter Six
Lachlan
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Chloe as she stood before me, her hands on her hips. It had only been three weeks since I last saw her, but she looked different.
Her hair was lighter, the dark gold streaked with brighter honey and caramel highlights, and her skin had a light tan all over. Probably from lying naked in the sun as she had been when I found her this afternoon.
It was as if I were seeing her with new eyes.
She moved, crossing her arms over her chest. “Answer me, Lachlan.”
“I told you. The Kirkpatricks came to see us last week and they asked about you. Calder and I are concerned.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“Brian asked about you. Where you were.”
She waited a beat. “And that’s it? Wow, you should have had him incarcerated.”
Frustration began to simmer within me. “It wasn’t what he said, Chloe,” I began. “It’s how they reacted. Especially Brayden. It wasn’t just mild curiosity. His body language wasn’t right and neither were his eyes.”
Chloe stared me down in silence for a moment, something I wasn’t accustomed to. In all my years as alpha of the MacIntire pack, very few of my subordinates would meet my gaze for such a long period. The wolf within me saw it as a challenge. Strangely, when Chloe did it, my wolf liked it. He wanted her to watch us.
“Okay, so Brayden’s behavior was strange. It’s not as if he knows where I am.” Her head tilted to the side. “Speaking of finding me, how did you?”
“We called your grandmother,” I admitted.
She grinned, her hazel eyes sparkling with mischief. “Oh, I bet that was fun. I’m kinda sorry I missed it.”
Fun wouldn’t be the word I would use. More like painful. It had taken Calder and I an hour to convince Sophia MacArthur that Chloe might be in danger. Even when we had, she still hesitated to share her granddaughter’s location. When our conversation was over, Calder had looked at me and said, “I’m so glad that she-wolf lives on the East Coast because I have to tell you, if she ever moved here and wanted the pack, I’d just let her have it.”
I couldn’t blame him for saying that. Chloe was tough, nearly unbeatable in a fight, but only because her grandmother taught her everything she knew. At two hundred and twenty years old, Sophia MacArthur was still strong and vibrant. And dangerous as hell. I’d heard stories about the way she took apart any opponent who was stupid enough to challenge her for the position of alpha for her pack. It rarely happened any more, but when she first took control, there had been quite a few wolves that thought that a female alpha would be easy to defeat. They’d learned their lesson swiftly and without mercy, recognizing their error in judgment just moments before they died.
Sophia MacArthur didn’t take prisoners. She kicked ass and took names.
Chloe spoke, jerking me out of my thoughts. “Well, as you can see, I’m perfectly fine,” she stated, unclasping her arms and spreading them wide. “No Kirkpatricks here. I’m safe and sound.”
“And how’s your investigation into your parents’ murder going?” I asked.
She growled beneath her breath. “I’m at a dead end. Everyone in the pack is avoiding me, including Darrell.”
“Maybe I can help,” I offered.
She scoffed. “Considering my cover story is that I had to leave the MacIntire pack because Calder and I had a falling out, I don’t think that will work. The last thing I need is to make them suspicious. Then I really would be in danger.”
“So, let’s adapt the cover story to accommodate my presence.”
“How?” she asked. Her expression was skeptical.
My palms grew hot and clammy. Calder and I had discussed the best way for me to stay close to her during her time with the MacArthur pack, and we had agreed upon a course of action. But now that I was facing her, about to utter the words, my head felt light and my stomach hollow.
“We’ll tell them I’m your mate and you left because I rejected you. But I’ve changed my mind and I came after you.”
I expected Chloe to laugh at me. Maybe even tell me to fuck off.
She did neither of those things. Instead her arms wrapped around her waist as if she needed to hold herself up and her face paled. “What?”
I shrugged. “It’s a cover story that allows me to remain close to you without drawing too much attention. Everyone here knows what happened to my…last mate, so no one would be surprised if I’m reluctant to take another. It also explains why you would leave a second pack in two years.”
Chloe merely stared at me, shaking her head slowly. She looked horrified. “No, Lachlan. I can’t do that.”
“You can and you will,” I commanded. “Your grandmother agreed it’s a sound plan. She didn’t like the idea of you being here alone to begin with and she said she would feel much better knowing I’m here to guard your back.”
She didn’t respond aloud, just kept shaking her head as though she couldn’t believe this was happening. I thought she would be annoyed by my proposal, but her reaction was completely unexpected.
“Chloe, what’s wrong?”
Before she could speak, I heard a truck pull up the driveway and I twisted toward the front door, a snarl reverberating from my chest into my throat as a door slammed and swift steps came up the front porch. When I yanked it open and stepped outside, I nearly ran into another male.
The wolf stood before me, his light brown hair neatly combed and his brown eyes narrowed. After a moment, I realized I was looking at Darrell, the current alpha of the MacArthur pack. Only he wasn’t truly an alpha. He might have been the oldest and strongest male of his pack, but he didn’t have the presence of a born alpha. I felt no urge to lower my gaze or a push of dominance from him.
He took a step back, hesitating for an instant before he stood his ground. “Darlin’, everything okay?”
I nearly sneered. As if he could protect her. She was more dominant than he was and we all knew it.
“Everything’s fine, Uncle Darrell,” she said from behind me.
I straightened. It had been decades since I’d seen Darrell Whelby and I hadn’t recognized him.
“Darrell,” I greeted, nodding my head at him.
The fear in his eyes gradually vanished as he took in my appearance. His brows lifted when he finally recognized me. “Damn, Lachlan. I didn’t realize that was you. You look different.”
He stepped forward and held out his hand. I took it, shaking it firmly, and bit back a growl when his eyes met mine before skittering away.
“What brings you here?” he asked, releasing my hand.
“I came to see Chloe.”
This time, when his gaze rested on me, it didn’t move away. “The way I hear it, your pack was done with her.”
I shook my head. “It was a misunderstanding, Darrell. I’m afraid that it’s my fault Chloe left and I’m here to get her back.”
“Oh, really?” He sounded skeptical.
Chloe’s hand clamped on my bicep in a warning and I knew I only had seconds to act before she opened her mouth and screwed up the plan that Sophia, Calder, and I had developed.
Moving swiftly, I reached back and wrapped an arm around Chloe, tugging her into my side. “You see, when I realized that she was my mate, well, I didn’t have the best reaction.”
As I suspected, Darrell knew about what happened to Belinda and his face softened. “That seems understandable.”
Beside me, Chloe’s body was as tight as a bowstring and vibrated with her desire to deny everything I was saying. I squeezed her shoulders tightly and quickly continued.
“It took me a while to realize my mistake and I’m here to apologize.”
“Lachlan…” Her voice was low and carried a warning note.
Ignoring her and preparing to protect my balls in case Chloe decided to retaliate, I said, “As you can see, I have a lot of convincing to do before we return to my pack.”
Darrell’s eyes moved over both of us and just when I thought he was going to challenge my words, he smiled a little. “Well, son, you’re going to need all the help you can get. My niece is a handful.”
“One of the reasons I admire her so much,” I replied.
Chloe’s elbow jabbed me sharply in the gut, making me grunt in pain. “Now that the two of you are finished talking about me as though I’m not here, what brings you by, Darrell?”
His smile widened into a huge grin and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I came to invite you to a barbeque. The pack is having a big dinner tonight in town and I thought you might like to get out of this cabin for a while.”
“That sounds great,” Chloe agreed, nudging me again as she tried to step out of the circle of my arm.
For some reason I couldn’t fathom, I didn’t want her to. Instead, I jerked her closer to me. She growled softly and Darrell’s grin morphed into a laugh.
“Damn, this is gonna be fun,” he stated gleefully, rubbing his hands together. “We’re eatin’ at six, but come by early around five or so. We’ll have a beer and I’ll give you some tips for handling a MacArthur woman.”
Before Chloe could react, he turned on his heel and walked out of the cabin, shutting the door behind him.
As his footsteps faded from the porch, Chloe shoved me away and whirled to face me. The earlier pallor of her face was gone, replaced with a bright flush. Her fists were clenched by her side and anger rolled off her in waves.
She waited until Darrell started his truck and drove away before she spoke.
“What the fuck was that?” she growled, her voice barely a low rumble in her chest. Her eyes were changing and I knew she was holding on to her control by a thread.
Without thinking, I reached out and cupped her cheeks, leaning forward. “Please let me help you, Chloe,” I murmured. “Let me repay you for everything you’ve done for me.”