War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 40 - Chloe

Chloe shook her hands, as if somehow shaking them would shake off the anxiety gripping her guts and twisting them into knots. She had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and was waiting with her parents and a bunch of other wolves and their parents. The front property of the pack house was crammed full of wolves waiting for the bus to pull up and take them to the city four hours away, where they would check into their designated hotel rooms and get ready for the big event that started at five o'clock.

There wasn't enough room for entire families to see everyone off for their first Mating Ball (along with those who had attended previous years and were hopeful that this would be their year), so Chloe had to say goodbye to her siblings at home.

Her mother was wringing her hands while her father held her dress in a garment bag, standing tall with his shoulders back, spine straight, and head held high. It struck her how hard this must be on both of them.

As the bus pulled up, she gave them each a hug and kissed their cheeks. "I love you."

"We love you too," they said before her father handed her dress over.

Salt prickled the air and the back of her eyes as she took her dress from his hands and strode up to the growing line for the bus with her head held high.

Saying goodbye to their families, dozens of wolves joined the line. Their garment bags were piled into the storage compartment under the bus between the front and back wheels. They had been instructed to travel as light as possible because storage was limited and they would have to put their luggage in the storage compartments overhead on the bus or be held on their laps.

Chloe managed to get the second-to-last window seat. She saw a bunch of familiar faces, some she could place names to and others she couldn't.

Once everyone had gotten on the bus, Animkii and his beta, Ethan, were the last to get on. They counted heads before turning to the driver, telling them they were ready, and sat down behind him.

One of Chloe's classmates sat beside her and excitedly chatted her up. Chloe tried to engage in conversation with her but soon grew bored and let the chatterbox drone on and on before she ran out of things to say and pulled out a magazine from her backpack.

Relieved by the silence, Chloe turned and looked out the window, watching the countryside fly by as clouds drifted in and blotted out the sun.

She thought about her mate, who he was and what he was like. Would he reject her and walk away like in her dream? Or was she simply apprehensive of something like that happening and her subconscious conjured up the dream because of it? Whatever the reason, she didn't know what to think or what to expect and she tried not to dwell on the negativity that twisted her stomach into knots. What were the chances her mate would reject her? What were the odds of that even happening? She didn't know of any wolves who didn't make their relationship work, no matter how hard it had been. Sam and Mik were a testament of that and they were stronger than ever now.

They stopped halfway for a bathroom break and to stretch their legs before continuing onward. The landscape grew rockier and the road rougher as they wound around various lakes and forests.

Chloe began to wonder if they would ever reach a city that could flourish in such rocky terrain but as they neared their destination, the landscape changed and they dipped lower into a fertile valley that lined a large lake. The city was a fraction of the size of the metropolis next to their territory but it was still decent with some tall buildings in the downtown core, where they were destined to spend the night.

Once they arrived in front of the tallest hotel in the city, Ethan gathered everyone around for instructions while Animkii went inside to handle their reservations. Ethan explained that their pack would share two floors. One floor was for females, four to a room, and the other floor was for males, four to a room. They were discouraged from mating in their rooms, since space was limited because their pack was so large, and focus on developing a relationship with their mates and discussing who was moving to which pack before initiating the mating process.