I Claim Your Love novel Chapter 14

The old woman was short with a fair complexion. Her wrinkles and grey hair clearly showed that the woman had crossed her peak long ago. But still one could see the spirit and enthusiasm in her as it was a special day. Among the many grandchildren she had, she admired Callan the most and he was with her today. Not only was he kind and loving but also he would regularly visit the old couple every chance he got.

The old Ashton was not still; she baked and had conversation with her grandchild simultaneously. But what stood out most was the happiness and content which she was experiencing in her otherwise mundane life.

She served him a full meal of beef, pork and her famous muffins. Callan was surprised at how the old lady could still manage to perform her duties in the kitchen. He savored every bite of the meat with hunger, eagerness to consume it all. He moaned and rolled his eyes every now and then indicating how delicious the meal really was.

After the meal, both of them went straight to the garden where the old lady was eager to show the man her new plantations and the blossoming flowers when Callan suddenly asked.. "Why don't you come with us grandma? I miss you so much! I feel really bad when you can't visit me on my birthdays."

"I wish it was that easy my child. When your grandfather passed on the mantle to your father he really was not relieved from his duties." The old lady replied.

"How can that be possible?" Callan was puzzled as to what the old lady was referring to.

"The King invites people around the world who have relinquished their positions to their successors. Every couple of the esteemed high ranks has got to stay in his lands."

Callan sighed and said "I know about this grandma but father told me that it was your choice if you really want to go or not then why do you wish to stay here?"

The old lady chuckled "Believe me my child if it was really a choice we would have never chosen to be in this place. The King does not 'enforce' anyone to be a part of their land. Not directly though."

She snorted with her head hung low as if she remembered something unpleasant. "He wants the high ranks to join him so that he would always have an upper hand on their respective packs. The elders of the pack are a treasured lot due to their knowledge and experience and without them most of the packs would collapse."

She plucked some flowers and deposited them in her basket. She stepped ahead of a beautiful violet rose and closed her eyes smelling the divine essence of the flower. "When it came to the blue moon pack, Ragnar's father and Umberto's father, the then Alpha and beta were martyrs for their land as they died saving all of the pack. Both Ragnar and Umberto had to take the responsibility of being an Alpha and Beta at a very tender age. Thankfully he did not change the positions of the other ranks for quite a time until which he mastered himself on all accounts through administration and warfare."

She looked at her grandchild and smiled weakly. "The King was getting impatient because there were no representations from the blue moon pack as Ragnar refused to appoint new people as the successors of the respective jobs. The King deemed it as defiance to his laws and started creating problems for Ragnar. He forced other packs to revoke their treaties. The blue moon pack was disbanded from attending the royal palace. Means of livelihood and trade were disrupted systematically while the King refused any help to the pack in case of adversity."

She moved one step further and caressed the cheeks of Callan with admiration and love. She lowered her gaze, turned her back to pick out some more fresh flowers. "Ragnar was brave enough to overcome all the difficulties without any outside assistance. He successfully created a strong army and with the help of his shedim spirit he never lost any battle. He created job opportunities for his men in the pack itself. The pack was self sufficient and prosperous all on its own. It was strong enough to face any army; even the King's!"

Callan huffed and asked "Then why are you still here?"

The old lady sighed, she paused for a bit and then said "Zelda was pregnant for the very first time. Everyone was excited for the arrival of the baby; the future Alpha; the heir to Ragnar's throne." She closed her eyes and a tiny drop escaped her eye.

"What happened?" Callan asked worriedly at the disheartened look of his grandmother. She slowly opened her eyes and gathered her strength with a deep breath.

"Zelda's pregnancy news spread like wildfire everywhere and with that followed a systematic attack routine of the ferals and some rival packs alternately. It was like everyone of them wanted to eliminate Ragnar's child. And that is what happened eventually!"

Callan stopped in his tracks when he heard the sentence. "W-What do you mean?"

"In one such battle... Zelda lost her first child."

Callan gasped in shock and pictured a distraught and shattered Luna Zelda. This meant that Einar was not the first child of the Alpha couple.

"The entire pack was devastated, especially Ragnar. That was the beginning of the series of misfortunes the pack had to endure."

"You mean there were more people who died! Who?"

The old lady weakly nodded "The loss of the child brought bad luck to the pack. There were no new mate pairs as not a single pack allowed their members to associate with us. The hunting grounds became limited due to encroachers as also the water source was almost depleting. In this great apathy it was poor Zelda who had suffered the most. After her first child she lost three more children..!"

Callan could not believe his ears. His eyes were wide while his mouth remained hung open in shock. There was only sympathy and compassion within him for the Luna. Unknown to him the weather around the place suddenly become cloudy with light showers pouring on the land.

"We elders took a tough decision and decided to accept the offer of the King to reside in his land to save the pack of some misery and bad omen. Ragnar and Zelda revolted against our decision. They urged us to stay and be united in those adverse times but we had made our minds. It took weeks to make them see reason but they finally understood our plight and let us go."

The accounts of the King from his grandmother and the people around were quite ironic. While every other person praised the emperor the Ashtons were not impressed by him it seemed. "You always say that the King is not to be trusted. In fact you have always warned us to be careful for our every visit. Is it something to do with what you are telling me?"

"Stanislas is a great liar. He wants to create fear among his peers and all the packs around the world. Every elder knows that this man wants to rule the world and would not shy from going to any lengths to achieve his dream. He has created hatred among people about a particular community and united the rest of the people. Now he is misguiding them into believing his every lie."

She put her basket on the ground and sat on the ground with her knees folded "For long we suspected that the King had something to do with the attacks on our pack. In fact there were a few evidences that Stanislas was behind this conspiracy but the other packs refused to believe us. The ones who did were scared for their own lives. Hence we could do nothing to confront him."

"I never knew that Alpha Ragnar had to suffer through all of this. It must have been terrible for him." Callan sat beside his grandmother a bit sad thinking about the ordeals alpha Ragnar had to go through as the leader of the pack. "I still don't understand. Why does he have you here still? I mean the pack does not possess any danger to him anymore. Then why?"

"You could say that the elders are a provision or a protection against the threats from their respective packs. As long as we stay in this land no respective pack will dare to attack the King."

She sighed and realized that it had been too long since her mate had left for the market. She connected him through her mind link and requested him to be home as soon as possible.

****

It was difficult to chase Callan as he was not a wolf and for some reasons he did not have any scent on him but this did not deterred Einar from finding his way. He chased the smell of the horse which Callan was riding on his way here. He was led to a small cottage wherein he again got the whiff of the faint but exhilarating smell of his mate. He was happy that he finally found his beloved but his nostrils also detected presence of another being very close to Callan.

It is definitely a female Einar thought but who could she possibly be? He frowned at the thought of someone being this close to Callan It doesn't matter.. As long as she is after my mate she deserves to be killed!

He was about to crash the entrance when he was dashed by an elderly man with all the strength he could muster. This movement caused Einar to step back a little. He saw an elderly man standing in front of him staring in his eyes.

"I will ask you just once... STAY BACK." The old man warned Einar.

Both the men were standing face to face but one could see that Einar could easily overpower the old man in every aspect. Still the elderly was not moving and adamant in his stand while his wolf was forcing him to submit in front of a greater force.

Einar's wolf saw this as a challenge and he growled. His sound creeped fear into the spine of the old man and he realized that the man in front should not be messed with.

But it was too late..

Einar grabbed the old man by his collar and thrashed him towards the nearest wall. His hands curled around the old mans weak jugular.

Callan's grandma sensed her mates pain and she boomingly moaned attracting Callan's attention. He was near her the very next instant. Her stature was collapsing before she weakly pointed her index finger towards the door. Callan panicked and was worried for his grandmother. He followed her direction and opened the door.

The sight he saw made his eyes wide with disbelief.

"STOP IT! You are killing him! Just stop it...!" Callan pressed one of his hands on the chest of Einar and the other one on the arms of his grandfather trying to separate the old man from the future alpha.

The very touch of Callan brought flutters to Einar and he was out of the murderous glare immediately. He blinked his eyes rapidly to gain composure while he rubbed his locket to calm his beasts.

Callan's grandfather sank to the ground and kept his breathing heavy. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open but thankfully the old man survived the assault as his veins were still pumping blood.

The once worried features of Callan were now turned into a red hot furious face. He stood up and turned to look at the culprit. The wind was now blazing in haphazard direction like a storm was near.

And indeed it was.

"Are. You. Out. Of. Your. Mind." With every word uttered Callan smacked Einar's chest hard which pushed him back. Callan could not believe how Einar would possibly do what he did. How could he attack a man of this age? There was no compassion within him.