I Claim Your Love novel Chapter 17

When Garrick opened his eyes the first thing he saw were the animal toys carved out of pure Mahogany woods hanging from the roof sparsely and dancing along the wind. He looked sideways and was surprised to see an open window which threw light all over the room. His body ached all over and betrayed him when he tried to sit up. His treacherous mind was making his movements numb. With much courage and determination he gathered his strength and landed his feet on the ground. Soon his veins throbbed with a dull pain and he moaned.

"You need to rest."

Garrick's pain was subdued when a beautiful girl sat besides him with a bowl in her hands.

"The effects of the medication will go away soon and you would be able to walk in no time."

All Garrick could do was to stare at the girl trying to understand the situation and what she was saying. He remembered that he was in a market; he felt sick and his wolf wanted out. Then nothing.

Thinking about his wolf he realized that he could not feel the animal within him.

He ran his hands through his chest and squeezed his eyes. "I cant feel anything. I cant feel my wolf!" He whispered in horror.

The lady kept the bowl on a nearby table "Your wolf is weak. For now." Garrick raised his brows but sighed with relief that his wolf was still alive. "Don't worry. By evening everything will be back to normal; but till then you need to rest."

"Thank god you are awake mutt. I thought we have to arrange a funeral for you." Callan shoved Archer for his hurtful comment.

"How are you feeling?" Callan asked worriedly.

Garrick avoided Callan and looked sideways "Better. Lets do our job and leave this place as soon as possible."

Fayette did not liked the tone in which Garrick was talking to Callan but she kept it to herself. She sighed and stood up to face him. "You wont be able to walk for a few more hours. You have to take rest."

Garrick scrunched his nose but reluctantly agreed knowing that there was no way out of this misery. "If you say so; but the moment I am able to stand we leave this place at once." he pointed to Callan.

With that Garrick closed his eyes and let sleep takeover.

Callan was seemingly worried for his companion as he thought it was his responsibility to keep him safe. Callan was aware of how the human world works but he never had the time to explain any of it to Garrick. And how could he? Garrick always kept to himself and was distant whenever Callan approached him.

Callan decided to reach the mountains without Garrick as the latter was of no help while the medication would take time to wear off. He along with Archer left the human village and marched to their next destination.

After long tiring hours of tedious journey Callan reached the chief of bears and respectfully invited them over to the pack for the coronation ceremony.

On their way back, both men halted near the foot of the mountain and relaxed under the shadow of a huge tree. They decided to take a quick nap before heading for Fayette's place.

About an hour or so, Callan woke up hearing sound of some rustling of bushes which were later followed by loud growls. He tilted his head left and saw that Archer was still in his dreamland with his mouth open and loud snoring. Against his better judgement he decided to look over what was transpiring behind the bushes.

He travelled along the path of the audible noise which was growing stronger with every closing distance. His eyes widened when he saw what was happening in front of him.

Five large wolves had surrounded a comparatively petite wolf and seemed ready to pounce on it at any moment. One of the hind leg of the wolf was badly hurt and he was limping. The wolf was barely managing to stand on all its fours. Then he saw the eyes of the other wolves.

They were ferals!

Callan blew his darts to the direction of the wolves and gaining advantage of the distraction he was on the petite wolfs side the next instant. The darts however did not do much damage as Callan expected, instead it made them even more angry. They marched ahead with clear sights of thier victims. A human and one injured wolf.

One of them blindsided the limping wolf and attacked its injured leg one more time, sinking its teeth deep into the mass of the wolf. The wolf cried with all its might and fell to the ground. Callan tried to help save him but he was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the ferals. One of the wolves crossed his paws across Callan's body and tore his shoulder. The ferals then growled and gathered around the man ready to devour its flesh. They were determined to approach the victim with bloody red eyes, ready to kill him.

They were stopped in their tracks when an earth shattering growl reached their ears catching their attention. It was a signal for danger, for what was next to come. As if the growl was not enough, the earth vibrated with incoming footsteps of an unknown creature. The ferals gathered on one side and faced the direction from where the possible danger was supposed to come.

They were ready to attack the creature but all air left their lungs when they saw a massive black bear thumping its paw, growling and then thumping its paw to the ground again.

The ferals realised that the party was over for them. Fear evident in their once red eyes, two of them even tried to leave the scene but were halted when Callan boomeranged his metal ropes across the legs of the ferals. Seeing the injury of Callan the big bad bear became angry even more.

He marched ahead and with one swift movement of his paws, he smashed the head of one of the ferals to the ground. The other wolves tried to attack the bear, bite him, scratch him, do anything in their power to subdue the beast but they failed every time they attacked. Not only was Archer swift in his movements but his skin had thick layers which made it difficult for the wolves to tear it with their bare teeth.

All it took was one fatal blow from the bear and the wolves were left unconscious one by one on the ground.1

Archer then transformed in his human and approached his injured friend.

"You know I was handling the situation quite well." Callan joked.

"I can definitely see that." Archer scoffed while looking around the lying human bodies which once were the deadly creatures. "I was having these wonderful dream about catching some large fish in the lake and we both were enjoying the meal to our fullest. I woke up to tell you I was hungry but of course you were absent from the said spot. Care to explain why?" Archer raised a brow.

"I was just helping this wolf in need."

"Which wolf?" Archer questioned looking around.