War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 30 - Chloe (Part 1)

With her father now training Animkii three evenings a week, an hour after dinner, she noticed him coming home later and later, looking more and more ragged as the months wore on. He was usually healed up by the morning for her training sessions with him, but her hackles were beginning to rise in November. His bruises and gashes were becoming more numerous and serious, requiring more time to heal.

This was Animkii's doing. Even though Animkii had warned her beforehand, she couldn't stop the rage from building up within her as each training session her father had with Animkii left him more battered and bruised than the next.

By mid-November, after her father stumbled home one night in the worst shape she'd seen him since he was knocked down from his position as Head Warrior, she had decided that enough was enough.

When she got home from school the next day, she stomped from the bus to the pack house with the training facility and marched inside. She picked up his scent on the staircase and followed it up to the combat training room on the second floor.

Stepping inside, the stink of sweat slammed her in the face and she coughed a few times before her senses could adjust. Rubbing the tears from her eyes, she looked around at the wolves involved in various activities—a few were engaged in one-on-one sparring, a few kicked and punched thick bags dangling in front of them, amongst other activities.

There was a training session going on at the far end similar to the training sessions she hosted on the weekends since school started up. They would have to stop soon with the coming snow. Most of her students agreed that they would wait for spring to come before starting back up again. With half of them being under the age of fifteen, she understood that they wanted to spend their free time playing in the snow. Plus, their parents would be less likely to let them sneak out without a reasonable explanation. It was harder to train in the snow and biting cold too. Their winter clothes constricted their movements and many of them had rips and tears in the seams as a result.

Still, Chloe continued her training with her father, thankful that he agreed months ago to start training her offensively as well.

Animkii was easy to find in the large room. He had been kicking one of the punching bags and stopped as soon as she entered. He said something to Ethan standing next to him as he grabbed his towel from a railing along the wall that Mik leaned against and mopped the sweat from his brow. Mik stared at her until Animkii leaned over and whispered something to him, diverting Mik's attention for a few seconds before he gave Animkii a small nod of his head and stepped up to Ethan to monitor his training and posture.

Scowling, she tromped toward him, his back to her, pretending she wasn't there—or ignoring her altogether.

"Hey," she called as she stopped a couple of yards away from him. She waited for him to turn and face her before she continued. "You need to lay off on my dad. He's not your personal punching bag, okay? That's what this piece of equipment is for." She gestured to Ethan staring at her from around the hanging bag. She glared at him and he snapped his attention back to his training.

The corners of his lips twitched, as if he was trying not to smirk. "I assure you, he'll be fine. Your father and I have a deal. Besides, I already warned you about our arrangement, didn't I?"

Her fingers curled into fists at her side as her jaw clenched. "And didn't I tell you not to fuck with my dad? He's training you, you're not supposed to beat the living shit out of him."

"I don't swing that way." He glanced over at Mik but Mik didn't react.

She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You know what I mean. He's training you. He shouldn't be coming home looking like he got hit by a transport truck."