War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 6 - Animkii (Part 1)

Through the crowds of sweating, drinking, and dancing wolves, her scent struck him from several yards away.

Turning away from the washrooms, Animkii looked at the front door. His eyes widened when he saw Chloe peeking in and looking around. Her green eyes met his a moment after he spotted her and strode toward her. Her face brightened before falling when she saw how pissed he was to find her here.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

She winced. He never used this tone with her. She better get used to it if she doesn't listen to her parents.

"I-I wanted to see you and your mate. We never got the chance to talk and hang out like I asked Luna for..."

A growl crept up his throat, making her curl into herself. "Now is not the time, Chloe," he said as lowly as he could but still loud enough for her to hear. The music was loud but not deafening. He leaned in close so others wouldn't hear him. "You shouldn't be here. It's dark and it's late. You could get hurt!"

He could tell that his tone was hurting her. Fear and nervousness leaked from her pores but she raised her chin up defiantly. "I just wanted to spend some time with you and get to know your mate but you all keep pushing me away. It's not fair. I'm not a pup anymore so stop treating me like one."

"You are still a pup, Chloe. You have a lot to learn and wandering around alone in the dark when you're not trained to protect yourself will get you killed. Do you think I or your parents want that?"

Tingles on the back of his neck alerted him that she had spotted him leaning over Chloe where she couldn't get a good view of his face as he scolded her.

Fuck. This wasn't good.

Pulling away from Chloe, he turned to Madison as she marched toward them, fuming with her fists clenched at her sides.

"What's going on? Why is she here? She's a pup."

"That's what I was telling her."

"I'm not a pup!" Chloe insisted.

Turning back to her, salt struck his nose as her eyes began to pool with tears.

Dammit! Why did she have to come here? Why couldn't she have stayed home like she was supposed to?

Growling, he grabbed her arm. "I'm taking you home."

She tried to jerk her arm away but wasn't strong enough. "I can take myself home!"

He grunted as he pulled her toward the door. "No, it's dark out and I'm not taking the risk of you getting hurt."

While Chloe protested, tears falling down her cheeks now, he glanced behind him to see Madison silently seething. "I'll be back soon," he told her.

"Fuck you." The calmness in her voice barely masked the frothing rage boiling under the surface.

Growling, he pulled the door open and shoved Chloe outside. Thankfully, she was dressed for the weather but he wasn't. Didn't matter. He was in hot water now and he felt his own body temperature starting to steam.

"Stop it!" Chloe cried. "Why are you being so mean? I just wanted to spend time with you and Madison."

"Shut up!" he snapped at her, spinning around. His breath billowed in front of him as the lights from the Hall behind her illuminated the crown of her head, leaving her face in shadows. "Why did you come here? It's after midnight and I know your parents wouldn't let you out so late on your own so you had to have snuck out. What do you think think you're doing? Why couldn't you wait until I had some free time to visit with you, huh?"

"I've been waiting since you came back to talk to you—even on the phone it would have been enough—but—"

"Because I'm busy!" he snarled. "Don't you get it? I'm not a pup anymore! I can't play around and do whatever I want, whenever I want anymore. I have a responsibility to the pack, and now my mate. If you had just given me more time to get settled and into a routine, I would have called you!"

His heart ached. He'd never yelled at her before and it pained him to do it.

Tears started streaming down her face. "I'm sorry! I-I-I just... I m-m-missed y-you and..."

His anger simmered down and guilt twisted within him. "Dammit," he uttered, pulling her into his arms and pressing his nose to her hair as she cried into his chest.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I'll be g-good. I w-won't sneak out again, o-okay?" she stuttered between her sobs, clinging to him and it broke his heart.

He was such an asshole...

"I'm sorry too, Chloe," he murmured. "You're right. I should have called you when I came back. I'm sorry I didn't and I'm sorry I yelled. But I need to get you home now, okay?"

Sniffling, she whimpered and nodded her head but he held her until she had settled down.

Looking up, he saw Madison glaring at him from the door of the Hall. Mentally cursing at himself, he pulled away from Chloe and urged her to walk beside him. He gripped her wrist and once they were a hundred yards away from the Hall and winding through the darkness of the path in the forest illuminated by the moon, he slipped his hand down to hold hers the way he used to.

She hung her head, watching her feet as she walked through the darkness to her house. Neither one of them spoke for a long time and when her house came into view, she grimaced when she saw the light on in the living room.

"Did you really think you'd be able to slip out unnoticed?" he asked.

"I had hoped so..." she murmured.

He shook his head, smirking. "They have heightened hearing capabilities, remember? It's harder than you think to sneak out."

"Ugh, don't remind me." She shuddered. "There are things they do that I don't want to hear. They can't get to the basement fast enough sometimes."

He shouldn't laugh, but he couldn't help it. "I know. My parents are the same and they're almost fifty. It's gross."

Every basement was equipped with a sound-proofed room for rowdy mates to have intimate relations without waking their pups, but sometimes moments struck before they could make it—and it happened far more frequently than Animkii wanted to hear.

He couldn't wait to get his own place.

When they were about a hundred feet away from her house, her father opened the front door and she stopped dead in her tracks. Staring at him as her hand slipped free from his.

She whimpered, not looking at him and asked in a small voice, "Um... Can we still be friends? Now that you found your mate, I mean..."

He crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to conserve body heat as shivers coursed through him.

Holding her breath, she looked up hesitantly to meet his eyes when he didn't respond. Fresh tears brimmed and threatened to spill over as her heart pounded in her chest.

His heart ached once more. He didn't want to do this. Didn't want to hurt her. But he didn't want to lie to her either. "I don't know."

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