War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 28 - Chloe (Part 1)

"Do you think he likes her?"

"Who?"

Kayla's body was twisted as she looked behind them and jutted her chin over her shoulder.

Sitting between her two friends, Kayla and Anwaatin, Chloe was waiting on the grassy knoll the pack houses were built on, where the land sloped down a few yards on the western side, to watch the warriors train. Summer vacation had just started after her junior year of high school and Chloe had begun watching the training sessions and taking notes in a notebook. The warriors trained at the bottom on the hill and she could watch them comfortably above without interrupting, along with Alpha Noodin and some elders overseeing the training.

The warriors were still gathering, waiting for everyone to assemble while Chloe's father whispered with Alpha Noodin off to the side.

She'd been studying their offensive techniques, having mastered all of the defensive techniques her father had trained her in over the last few years and was planning to ask him to start training her in offense. She hadn't felt challenged in the last six months, after learning all there was and repeatedly applying it with every offensive technique her father launched her way when they trained at dawn. She was swift and fast, but at the same time, learned to read her father and she began to predict his every move before he made it. She needed a new challenge, and as much as her parents bickered softly about her training sessions, she knew it was time to start offense, whether her mother liked it or not.

It was a mother's job to worry, she understood that. But next spring, Chloe wouldn't be a pup anymore and she didn't feel like a pup as it stood.

Craning her neck to look behind them, Chloe saw the future alpha speaking with one of the young females who escaped from the Donatta Pack last year a few yards from the dormitory. She had one pup on her hip—maybe eighteen months old—and another standing close to her side, about four-years-old. She looked to be a couple of years older than Animkii with pretty blond hair and sunkissed skin. Chloe had seen her around a few times—usually with Animkii.

The sight of them together left a bitter taste in her mouth and she forced herself to look away.

"Nope, not a chance," Anwaatin spoke up.

"You sure? The only time I ever see her is when she's with him—and they're both smiling."

"She's interested—for sure—but Anim is looking for his second-chance mate—and she's not it." The definitiveness of Anwaatin's voice made Chloe smirk as the younger female turned away from the pair dozens of yards away.

"Do you think he'll find her?"

The twelve-year-old shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows. My parents like Alana though. They're supportive of the possibility of him choosing her if he doesn't find his second-chance mate. Right now, they're just friends. She's still coping with the loss of her mate and not ready to make any moves on my brother... yet."

Kayla raised an eyebrow at Anwaatin. "Do you think she will someday?"

Anwaatin shrugged. "Hard to say. I don't know her that well. My focus is on helping the pups while Anim is helping the females."

"How's that going?"

Anwaatin swallowed, looking down as her hands in her lap. "I try to put myself in the pups' shoes... it's so hard. I can't imagine losing my papaw. I don't want to remember..."

She trailed off, the silence hanging between them. Chloe reflected on how hard that time had been on Anwaatin's family, and she tried to imagine how she would react if her father had been in Alpha Noodin's place. Goddess, it hurt so much to think about losing him. Those poor pups and females...