War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 10 - Animkii

Animkii didn't like the idea of Madison being out on her own. True, she was much stronger than she was when he first found her but there were still murmurs among a handful of males looking to overthrow him and his father. They were looking for the optimum opportunity, and going after his mate was one option he didn't want available to them.

Working with Cameron, the Head Warrior and Chloe's father, he tried to focus on his training despite knowing that Madison was out there somewhere. He had one of his patrol wolves leave his post along the western border to follow her as she neared his position until a backup warrior could step up and take over guard-duty.

He understood where she was coming from: her independence had always been one of the issues they bickered with months ago. However, he thought she understood the current state of affairs with the pack and going out on her own was a risk to her own wellbeing as well.

His focus with his training was broken as he tried to tap into her mind intermittently when he had a chance to breathe. A hard blow to his chest had the wind knocked out of him as he flew back against the wall. His chest ached with a burning sensation as he struggled to get air into his lungs.

"Time-out!" Cameron barked, cutting in between Animkii and the warrior he was sparring with.

The warrior backed off as Cameron came to Animkii's side to check on him.

"Damn, he got me good," Animkii wheezed through the biting ache in his chest.

"That happens when you're not focused. What's going on in here?" Cameron knocked lightly on Animkii's head.

Brushing Cameron's fist away, Animkii shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. "Madison... Being stubborn again."

"Take a few minutes to catch your breath and work things out with her, and then get back on the floor," his instructor told him. Straightening back up, he turned back to the other warriors in training and barked at two other wolves sparring at the next station—his beta and best friend, Ethan, with another wolf.

Brushing the loose strands of hair from his face, he focused on his breathing despite the pain in his chest. Reaching out through the mind-link, he tried to reconnect with Madison, but her barrier was up.

It took five minutes for him to recover enough to get back on his feet, but his mind was still unable to tap into hers. Why was she shutting him out?

He nodded to the warrior he was sparring with before, chatting with another wolf waiting on the sidelines. His partner pushed off from the wall and they got into position on the mats when Animkii's father's voice cut through his mind.

[Bryan lost Madison's trail.]

Animkii's blood ran cold and he signaled his partner to wait a minute as he turned his attention to his father. [What do you mean?]

[Bryan was following her as you requested but then her scent just... ended.]

"Shit!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to him as his shout echoed off the walls. Ethan and Cameron started to approach as Animkii tried to gather his thoughts.

"What's going on?" Cameron asked in a low voice to make it more difficult for the straining ears in the room to hear.

[What do we do?] Animkii asked his father, unable to even make a decision through the mounting fear that now gripped him. Clutching his head in his hands, every muscle in his body urged him to run out of the building.

[Find her. We have to move fast. I've already sent out our trackers and am about to give Cameron and the warriors an order.]

As soon as his father was done speaking, he caught Cameron's eyes as they glazed over in communication with his father. A second later, Cameron's focus returned and he whistled to gather everyone's attention. He turned to Animkii and nodded his head, granting his leave.

Bolting from the room, he heard the start of Cameron's orders to the warriors in training as he dashed down the staircase and out of the pack house with Ethan close on his heels.

He shifted without removing his clothing, allowing them to rip apart as he sprinted across the valley to his and Madison's cabin to pick up her scent.

[What's going on?] Ethan demanded as he struggled to keep pace at Animkii's side.

[I don't know... something's happened to Madison... she's... missing...]

He whimpered as he reached their cabin and pressed his nose to the ground. Finding her scent, he followed it into the woods, noticing other paw prints in soft patches in the earth as he went. Her scent was almost covered up by the sheer number of wolves out hunting her down.

By the time he reached the end of her trail, a dozen wolves were scattered about, spreading farther and farther away as they sought to pick up her trail again.

Scanning the forest floor, he felt small, smaller than he'd ever felt as the trees stretched higher and higher, towering over him. He couldn't get enough air in his lungs. His chest constricted around itself as he panted and wheezed after running ten miles or more at top speed. It took a minute for Ethan to catch up to him as his father stepped up to him.

[What happened?] Animkii demanded in the pack-link, his eyes trained on his father.

[We don't know yet,] his father answered. [We're still trying to find a trace of her to figure that out but even Bryan doesn't know. He was too far back to see what had happened.]

Looking around at the wolves sniffing every inch of the forest, he found Bryan's brown and white wolf and rushed at him. Bryan heard him coming and prepared himself for the attack, but only enough to meet Animkii head-on. Snarling, Animkii snapped his jaws and circled around him, trying to get at his throat and take him down to the ground but the older male deflected his attempts with snaps of his own powerful jaws.

[You were supposed to protect her!]

[I tried! Something caught her before I could get close enough to guard her!]

Animkii's father interceded, grabbing Animkii by the throat and pinning him down to the ground. His teeth threatened to puncture through his flesh and forced him to still. [Enough! We have to focus on finding her.] Releasing him, his father lifted his head high. [Everyone spread out. Move! Move!]

Pain engulfed Animkii's chest as reality struck him in the face.

What if something happened to Madison? What if they couldn't find her?

What would he do without her?

Anguish wrapped around him and he could barely breathe. [Papaw... What do I do?]

His father whined at Animkii's pain and nudged him with his nose. [Don't despair. We don't have time for that now. We have to hurry and find her while we still can.]

He knew his father was right and he tried to shake the fear and pain from his mind but his body wouldn't respond.

He should be able to communicate with her. Why couldn't he reach her?

Who did this? Who came for his mate? Where was his trail? He had to have a trail!

There was a creek nearby. The only clue they found was half of a footprint of a boot in the shallows and no scent attached anywhere.

Circling around the place where her scent disappeared, he found a heavily perfumed doll that fit into the palm of his hand with a hint of Madison's scent on it.

The last trace of her.

----

Dedicated to HeartStone Packmate: SheilaRN - Join us on Facebook!

Copyright Jo Lee Hunt ( Joflower ) 2020