War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 2 - Chloe

The news spread fast in the pack.

When Chloe got home from school, she ran to Luna Aki and Alpha Noodin's house to find out if it was true.

Luna Aki gave her a sad smile. "Yes, dear. He called us late last night to give us the news. They won't be back until next week, I'm afraid. It's hard for a young female to leave her friends and family and travel a long way to live with her mate in a foreign place. You'll have to wait until they come back to see them."

Pain twisted in her chest. She never told anyone that she had a crush on her best friend, but it looked like everyone already knew.

Luna Aki wrapped her arms around her and tried to soothe her as tears began to build in her eyes. She blinked them back, refusing to let them fall. Refusing to admit how much this hurt when she should be happy for him.

"You'll find your mate too someday. Have faith in the Moon G0ddess. He's out there somewhere waiting to meet you."

To anyone else, that might have eased a young female's heart, but that only further heightened her pain. Her mate wouldn't be Animkii, her best friend. Things would be different now. How different, she couldn't be sure yet. Only time would tell.

She ran home and slammed herself in her room and cried into her pillow. She could hear her little sister, Camilla, crying downstairs and her mother trying to soothe her—Chloe must have startled the pup but she didn't care. Her life was over! Her world was ending! Things would never be the same again!

All her pain poured out from her chest and into her pillow and it didn't make anything better.

She didn't know how much time passed before her mother gently knocked on the door before cracking it open. "Chloe?"

"Go away!"

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

"I said, go away!"

Her mother came in anyway with her two-year-old sister on her hip. She set the pup down on Chloe's bed before sitting down next to her and rubbing her back. "He found his mate, didn't he?"

Ugh! Even her own mother knew!

Sniffling, she turned her back to her mother and curled up into a ball. Her mother rubbed her back and Chloe began to cry softly. Camilla even tried to comfort her by patting her thigh and saying, "No cry, Ko-ee, no cry."

Her mother stayed with her and didn't say another word again until she left to put her sister down for a nap before starting dinner.

Once the meat was in the oven, her mother returned to try and talk with her but Chloe didn't want to talk. Her mother didn't press and just stayed with her again for a few more minutes before going back downstairs to continue making dinner.

Chloe stayed in her room for the rest of the evening. She didn't go down for dinner and even when her mother brought dinner up to her, she didn't eat any of it.

She never imagined heartbreak hurting so much. It wasn't just her dreams coming to an end, but everything she'd known. He wouldn't be the same when he came back. He wouldn't have time for her. Maybe they could hang out for a few hours on weekends, but that would be it. He'd have his own family now and be alpha of their pack. Who was she? The daughter of the pack's current Head Warrior, yes, but just a pup.

He'd never look at her the same way again. And that scared her.

***

He didn't come back next week.

An early snowstorm blew in, throwing snow and ice upon the land. The temperature dropped, turning the rain into freezing rain before it turned to ice pellets and then a few inches of snow. Everyone was advised to stay off the roads until further notice. The storm stretched over hundreds of miles. The drive would have been too treacherous for Animkii to make.