War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 33 - Animkii (Part 1)

Animkii stared up at the ceiling from his bed in the dormitory, his hands tucked behind his head. His thoughts and emotions swirled within him.

Chloe was his second-chance mate as he had hoped and dreamed since his father's challenge and Madison's death. The shift in her scent at her birthday party confirmed it and it had taken great restraint to hold himself back.

While maintaining a respectful distance from her at the party, he scoped out all the single young males that popped in to check her out as well. He spoke with as many as he could, to see how they were doing, but mainly to get a sense of whether or not any of them were her mate.

It seemed all the young single males in the pack had stopped by at some point just to get a sniff of her—and they all left dejected.

Good. He still stood a chance with her.

But that didn't mean that her mate wasn't still out there somewhere.

He could tell that she was scenting him out too. She seemed a little distracted when he was nearby cutting the cakes with his family while her eyes were darting around everyone in the crowd, trying to pinpoint the wolf that was attracting her attention. She couldn't tell who by the sheer number of wolves present where it was coming from even though Animkii was just a few feet away.

When he was in the kitchen helping to rinse off dishes and run them through the dishwasher while his parents were washing and drying some of the larger dishes guests had brought, Anwaatin came bouncing in with a scowl.

"What is it?" he asked her as she helped herself to a juice box from one of the coolers.

"Chloe's your SCM, right?" The abbreviation for 'second-chance mate' came into effect shortly after Anwaatin discovered him musing about the possibility of Chloe being his second-chance mate. She came up with it so she could talk about it with him as much as possible while keeping it somewhat secret.

He nodded, glancing over at his parents, who were now listening in and knew what was going on as well. They had quickly figured out the abbreviation without any explanation.

"Well, she's got competition now." Anwaatin rolled her eyes.

The corners of Animkii's lips tugged up. "Oh? And who might that be?"

"Her best friend, Kayla, has the hots for you. Has for some time. She might cause some trouble for Chloe when she finds out your intentions."

That wasn't something new. Animkii had been aware of many females in the pack vying for his interest. He was firm and treated them all the same regardless.

"Good to know. I'll modify my approach accordingly."

Anwaatin's face fell. "So, you're not going to tell her later?"

Animkii had been debating over and over all the different angles and ways to broach the truth with Chloe. No matter which way he tried to approach it, he couldn't be sure of the outcome.

By the end of the party, he determined to not push the truth onto Chloe yet. While her mate didn't seem to be within their pack, he was still out there. He promised Cameron that he would give Chloe space and time to find her mate and have the love she was destined to have, but with the shift in her scent confirming to him that there was some kind of undeniable bond between them, made it that much harder for him to maintain distance and to simply wish her a happy birthday when he put the necklace around her neck.

His scent and proximity startled her. It startled him too. The way her scent drew him in and his immediate instinct was to claim her. It wasn't difficult to shake-off that gut reaction, but it was present nonetheless.