War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 3 - Animkii (Part 1)

Animkii stared out the window of his room at the guest house at the falling snow and swore under his breath.

Dammit! He knew they should have left when they were supposed to. Madison begged him to stay longer. He understood that she turned eighteen last month and wasn't ready to leave her family and friends behind but they had a long trip ahead of them and winter was coming quickly.

Now they had no choice but to stay even longer.

Heaving a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose. The storm gave him a headache—like it always did to those born of Alpha blood. Hopefully, Madison's parents had some herbs to help. There were several known herbs that traditional medicine had that treated headaches, but only one of them worked for their kind.

Taking another deep breath, he prepared himself to face another day. Madison had a stubbornness to her that would prove to be difficult for him to handle. If she had a headache too, he wondered what her temperament would be like this time.

Turning away from the window, he walked out of his room and into the main living space of the tiny cottage. Uncle Gekek had his own room of equal size with the bathroom between them. He was sitting at the bistro table in the kitchen with his forehead in his hand, hovering over a steaming mug. An identical one was sitting across from him with a small plate on top. Animkii sniffed the air. Seemed the Alpha and Luna were wise enough to supply them with the herbal tea already.

Taking a seat at the table, Animkii uncovered his tea and inhaled the steam of the earthy brew. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Guess we're not leaving today, huh?"

"No chance in hell."

Animkii's shoulders slumped. There was no use in complaining. What was one or two more days anyway? "I guess it is what it is. A couple more days won't hurt."

"Yup. There's only a little bit of snow out there now but it's supposed to climb up to six inches or so. Might take a while for them to dig out the backroads here. Who knows?"

Animkii nodded and sipped his tea.

When his uncle had finished his, he stood up and set to work on making them both breakfast. Animkii had almost finished his tea when his uncle set down two platefuls of eggs and fat sausages.

They ate in silence. His uncle had always been a bit of a quiet one but he was very keen on detail. No matter how much Animkii tried to conceal his feelings from him, Uncle Gekek had a way of uncovering the hidden truth.

"Don't be anxious. There's no rush to go back home."

Animkii looked away. "I know."

"She'll come. It's tradition that the Luna-to-be joins her mate's pack."

"I know." Animkii knew that if he showed any other emotion, he could possibly trick his uncle into thinking that was the issue on his mind, but there was a fifty-fifty chance that he wouldn't believe it.

"You found your mate, the one created for you. She may not be the one you envisioned seeing yourself with for the rest of your life, but she was made for you, to compliment you, and help you lead the pack."

"Except I wasn't born to lead the pack," Animkii responded, refusing to bring Chloe up in this discussion. "By default, I was molded for this position, but it wasn't supposed to be that way. Now, the fact that my mate isn't borne of Alpha blood is one thing, it's another to be a leader and provider for all. I've grown into it, but what if she hasn't?"