Page 4 of Claimed by the Pack

She smiled. “And...that could be just your angle...getting me to feel comfortable with you and let down my guard.”

I laughed. “I guess you could be right, but you're not. I just want to get to know you, Cheyenne. I want to spend some real time with you.”

“Then maybe,” she said, still not looking like she believed me, “Maybe we could go on a date or something.” I resisted the sigh I felt inside. Dates are fine and once she's my mate I'll take her on as many dates as she wants to go on. But, no matter how pissed Chelsea and the alphas are going to be with me...I had to have her sooner, rather than later.

“Okay,” I said, pretending to be placated with that. “We'll go on a date.” I wasn't lying exactly, we would, eventually go on many dates. “At least let me buy you a fresh drink,” I said, looking at her almost empty glass. She'd never let me buy her a drink before, but I hoped she was finally comfortable enough with me that she would tonight. She looked at the glass like she was contemplating it and then at last she said,

“Okay, sure. I'd like another. I'm driving tonight though, so that'll be my last for the night.”

“Perfect,” I told her. “I'll be right back.” I made my way through the crowd and to the bar. I asked the bartender for a beer and a Cosmopolitan when I felt someone standing way too close. I turned, almost ready to fight, and came face to face with Chase. “Damn it, Chase. Don't sneak up like that.”

“Feeling guilty about something?”

“I don't feel guilty a bit. She wants me too.”

“Don't do this, Ridge.” Poor Chase worried all the time, about everything. I don't know if he had always been that way, or if his time alone on that island, always looking over his shoulder had done it. Sometimes I thought he could use a good dose of something just to calm him down.

“It'll be fine,” I said, picking up both drinks. I had the pill in my right hand and as I pulled the glass off the bar, I squeezed it, forcing the drug out through the tiny little hole I'd made with a safety pin. It wasn't anything that would hurt her. It would simply make her sleep until I could get her into the woods, and she and I could spend enough time alone for her to realize I was her mate and agree to becoming one of us. I was confident that she would and Chase was worrying for nothing. “Go enjoy yourself,” I told him.

“And when I get back to the compound what should I tell the alphas about where you are?”

“If they ask, and it's unlikely that they will, just tell them I met a girl. It's not a lie.”

“Ridge...”

“Beat it, Chase. I mean it. Don't screw this up for me.” I left him standing there and headed back over toward my beautiful mate, drinks in hand...ready to begin our life together.

* * *

Cheyenne

I couldn't believethat he finally asked me out...well, sort of.

He said we could go on a date, but he didn't say when or where. Maybe he was still just messing with me, still trying to get me to agree to leave with him, thinking he was going to get an easy piece of ass. I can't deny that those feelings were raging inside of me. I wanted him...who wouldn't.

He's hot, he's funny, he says all the right things.

But, I wasn't willing to sacrifice all I had gained in the past year, and by that I mean the confidence that the last boyfriend I had took away. He stripped it day by day...slowly chipping off a piece every day until I was left believing I was everything he said I was, and what he said I wasn't.

He told me I was fat, unattractive, not smart...all the things that Ridge was telling me just the opposite about.

But, the old boyfriend had said all the right things in the beginning too, and he wasn't half as got as Ridge. Where the old boyfriend could have had half the women in this room, Ridge could have all of them if he wanted, and then some.

“Here we go.”Ridge sat the drink down in front of me. I automatically looked into it. I'm not sure what I thought I'd be able to see...pills floating in it or something crazy obvious. I smiled at Ridge and said,

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he said, sitting back down on the stool next to me and picking up his beer. He held it up and said, “To us spending much more time together...soon.” I assumed he was talking about the “date,” but thought that was a vague way of putting it. My suspicious mind was working overtime. I picked up my glass and said,

“To getting to know each other.” He smiled and gave me a little nod before tapping his mug to my glass and taking a long drink of his beer. I did the same with my drink, noting that it tasted exactly the same as the last one, and I was entirely silly for worrying.

“So, how did you get into the security business?” I asked him.

“Well, I've always thought about becoming a police officer...but, I'll be honest with you, I'm not the most patient man in the world. The police academy is nine months long and I didn't want to wait nine months. I needed a job, but I like immediate gratification.”

“So you got a security job?”

“Yes, but not just any security job. The Pack is run by a group of men who are ex-military special forces. They were willing to train me, and in the year that I've been with them, I've probably learned twice or even three times as much as I would have in the police academy.”

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