War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 3 - Animkii (Part 2)

Her eyes widened in the mirror before she whirled around to face him. "You what?"

Guilt twisted within him and the hurt that marred her face. "I was in love with someone else."

Darkening eyes scrutinized him. "Past-tense? Did you kick her to the curb or did she kick you?"

He clenched his teeth together and inhaled and exhaled through his nose before loosening his jaw. "No. She's younger than me and probably never even looked at me in that way. It was never physical in the first place—"

"But it was emotional," she said, analyzing him with a burning rage, "wasn't it?"

He struggled to swallow the lump in his throat. "For me, yes. I don't know about her. We didn't talk about it because of the age gap."

"That's even worse. Emotional cheating is what breaks up relationships," she spat. "How old is she even?"

He hung his head, knowing that it was wrong for him to love anyone who wasn't his mate but also loving someone as young as her... "Thirteen..."

Her nose wrinkled. "That's fucking gross!"

He growled low in warning. "It was never physical," he gritted out. "I never even touched her. We're best friends. I loved her for who she is. For her personality. For the way her face lit up the room. For the way she made me feel when I was with her."

He clamped his mouth shut, realizing that he said too much when her face twisted in horror and pain. She gasped, her lungs struggling to expand and fill with air as her eyes darted around the confined space.

"Madison..." He reached out to her but she twisted herself out of his grasp and darted away, disappearing behind lockers and benches. He heard the door leading to the hallway swing open and slam behind her.

Fuck!

He called out to her again before chasing after her, only to stop at the top of the staircase in the hallway. She was already down at the bottom and running out of the building.

Shit!

Why did he tell her that? Why? How thoughtless, careless, and cruel did he have to be?

Guilt raked over him as he brushed his hand over his head with his long black hair pulled back into a traditional tight braid.

Because the truth is better out in the open than twisted and coiled in a web of lies.

He wished his words didn't hurt her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt his mate but she deserved to know the truth up-front. To know what she was getting into with him. He'd have to make it up to her, to prove that he was a worthy mate, and prove that he wouldn't feel the same way about Chloe.

For the sake of his mate, his future... Things between them had to come to an end.

Chloe wasn't his. She never had been.

He had to let her go. Set her free of whatever existed between them so he didn't bring more pain upon her and her future. She was young. She still had time to deal with it.

Madison was his mate, his future. He had to set things right with her. He wasn't being fair to her and hadn't been for years before he even found her.

Jogging down the stairs, he continued to scold himself, telling himself that he never should have let his feelings get this far. There had never been a clear indication that he and Chloe could be mates. How could he have let himself grow so attached and devoted to someone so young who couldn't be his?  How could he betray not only his mate but his best friend too?

Fool! Such a fool!

A pair of crows took flight from a nearby tree when he burst through the doors of the main house and looked across the snowy landscape for his mate. He couldn't see her anywhere. Looking around at the ground, he couldn't make out her footprints between the myriad of prints in the snow. The snow had stopped falling and there were unclear tracks, but her scent still lingered on the frozen surface.

Stripping down, he piled his clothes in the snow next to the door and shifted. White fur burst forth through his skin, his bones and ligaments shifted, muscles loosened and stretched before tightening into place. His jaw snapped off its hinges and lengthened with his nose into a pointed snout as sharp teeth descended from his gums. An exhale of breath turned into a low snarl as his body completed its transformation before pressing his nose to the ground and sniffing for his mate.

Finding her trail, he leaped forward, hot in pursuit.

The forest hugged close to the main pack house and he found her clothes lying in a heap behind a tree.

Covering them in his scent, he sprinted forward, pushing himself harder and faster in hopes of catching up to her.

The icy-cold wind whispered through his fur as he ran at full-speed. Charging forth with more speed than he'd ever pushed himself to go.

He saw her ahead. A brown wolf sprinting through the trees, but she was not as fast as him. She looked over her shoulder, snarled, and picked up her pace, but he was already closing in.

Jumping on her, he pinned her down to the ground and she fought hard to push him off, but he was stronger and bigger than her. After a minute of struggling, she finally submitted.

Shifting back into his human form, he ordered her to shift as well. They needed to talk and they couldn't as wolves.

His breath puffed out before him in billowing white clouds, and even after she had shifted back into her human form, he refused to move despite the biting cold snow and wind against their bare flesh.

"Stop this! What do you want me to do? I came all this way for you. To find you. You are my future, not her!"

Releasing her, he climbed off and straightened to his full height, baring himself to her despite the shivers that coursed through them both.

Biting her lip and breaking it open again, her nostrils flaring, she pushed herself up from the ground and clenched her fists at her side.

"Prove it."

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Dedicated to HeartStone Packmate: Lilithepsycho - Join us on Facebook!

Copyright Jo Lee Hunt ( Joflower ) 2020