War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 32 - Chloe (Part 1)

What happened? What did it all mean? Did someone tell him about her vision of the key? Someone had to. There was no other explanation for it and now he was just screwing around with her. He put on some kind of fancy cologne to intrigue her senses and throw her off.

That had to be it.

Yet, when he left, she remained standing there, unable to move an inch. Her thoughts continued to swirl around in confusion as she attempted to put the puzzle pieces together until the door to the Hall opened.

She spun around, half expecting it to be Animkii, and released the air she'd been holding when she saw that it was her father.

"All set?" he asked before looking around and making a noise in his throat to refute his question.

"Uh," she looked around, seeing the floor half swept and the broom leaning against the wall, "no. I, um, got distracted."

Her father strode up to her with his head tilted. Concern etched into his forehead. "You okay, Chloe-bear? You look like you've seen a ghost."

She shook her head in an effort to shake off the disjointed and confusing thoughts and emotions that gripped her. "Um... yeah."

"Anything on your mind that you want to talk about?" her father asked as he walked toward the broom to continue sweeping where Animkii left off.

She watched him sweep, chewing on her bottom lip as her thoughts continued swirling around in their murky depths again. Should she tell him? Who else could she talk to? Her mother had been a human before she and her father sealed the matebond, so she didn't experience it the same way her father would have. She didn't feel comfortable talking about the effects of the matebond with anyone else, so if she didn't talk to her father, who could she talk to?

"Dad?"

"Yes, Princess?" He glanced up at her before looking down again, the broom sweeping dirt across the floor into a pile.

"Tell me again what was it like when you found Mom?"

She thought she saw his lips twitch upward, but his head was tilted downward, so she couldn't be sure as he continued to sweep.

"Well, considering I don't remember the first time, the second time was again at Aspen Beach." He circled around the dirt, forming a little round pile on the wooden floor. "I picked up her scent among the humans visiting that day and knew right away that my mate was present among the crowd. And when I found her, it struck me hard in the chest." He paused in his sweeping to lightly pound his fist against his heart. "But you know, I saw you with her and was crushed because I thought another male had already claimed her."

He looked up as she nodded her head. She'd heard this story many times before from her parents. It sounded too surreal to have happened. A fairytale with a happy ending after many struggles to get there.

"But then, she noticed me standing there in the crowds and a look of fear cross her face."

"She recognized you and ran away, but you didn't know that you'd met before," Chloe said, finishing his story.

"Right. I was distraught and knew I had to find her to figure out what happened. But I knew, as we all do when we first meet our mates. The scent is the first thing and it clicks everything into place."

"But what if you don't know?"

He regarded her for a moment as he considered her words before her necklace caught his attention. "When did you get that?"

She looked down at the ornate key. It was three or four inches long with an intricately woven heart-shaped bow, long narrow shaft, and two notches in the bit. She took the necklace off and held it out to him as he approached. "Right before you got back."