I Claim Your Love novel Chapter 39

The aroma of lilacs tantalized Einar's senses. His chest expanded as he slowly opened his eyes in a daze. He could feel the throbbing veins on his forehead while his body ached from head to toe. A moment of weakness caused his vision to be blurred as in the next instant he shed the sleep from his brain and willed his body to wake up. He pressed one hand on his forehead as his head exploded by the dull pain. He groaned and slowly sat up with his arched back rising from the bed.

Einar was muddled by a vigorous embrace as a soft voice spoke in his ears "I was so worried for you!"

Einar narrowed his gaze and intently looked all around. He was surprised to see that a number of people had joined him in his room. He looked at all the worried and relieved faces. Though at this moment he was puzzled about the situation, he gave them an assuring smile. He then got hold of Rosaline's arm and leaned her back.

Rosaline had been a crying mess. Her puffed eyes could not control her sad emotions as water flew continuously from them. Einar stared at the Luna in confusion while Rosaline lowered her gaze to hide her feelings. Einar sighed and held Rosaline's chin with his fingers to make her look up "Why are you crying?"

Rosaline pursed her lips as she could not utter any more words. Einar than looked around to station his gaze at his best friend who was standing not far away from the bed. Garrick weakly smiled at him and gestured through his eyes to address the people around. Einar briefly nodded before clearing his throat "I am really humbled by your concern but I believe I am fine now. Thank you all."

The members of the pack bowed one final time and made a beeline out of the room. Einar focused his attention to Rosaline "I think you should take some rest too. You look stressed."

"But you are..."

"I will be fine." Einar interjected "Besides Garrick will be there with me for now. You should go."

Rosaline nodded at once and gave Einar a quick hug before heading to the door.

Garrick closed the doors and quickly turned around to sit near the alpha. "Tell me what had happened?" he asked with curiosity.

"What do you mean?" The alpha looked surprised.

Garrick squeezed his brows in realization as he whispered to Einar "You don't remember anything.."

Einar in that moment closed his eyes as the muscles in his jaws were tightened. His knitted brows relaxed and tensed in a continuous manner as he spoke "I remember returning from the human village and then instructing Aldous and the other warriors. I also remember talking to you."

"After that.." Garrick asked with hopeful eyes.

"My head started spinning and I felt dizzy." Einar opened his eyes and pursed his lips "I tried to connect with someone but nobody answered and then.. I don't recall anything."

Garrick took a deep breath and looked to his left behind his shoulders. He was formulating a way to tell Einar what all had happened in his absence. On the other hand the alpha was being impatient. The pregnant pause was causing his veins to rush its flow. He was visibly scared of the unknown, about what possibly could have had happened "Your scaring me Garrick. Tell me!"

Garrick relaxed his composure and tickled his index finger to one of his brows "The pack was under attack as we presumed." he gulped and exhaled "However Lothar was clever enough to barge in from multiple fronts and cripple our army, our men. His original plan was to attack every village separately so that we could not get any time to save our people. He wanted to seize the alpha house in the meantime."

Einar was left completely astounded by the account from his friend. He had anticipated the attack and had made full proof arrangements accordingly. He knew that the alpha would not back down from his initial disposition and head for the attack as planned. He was constantly in touch with Bryce as he kept Einar informed about his alpha's every move.

"But we had ample of men stationed at the boundaries. How was he able to infiltrate?"

"He had an army of thousands ferals; may be more."

A thousand ferals!

Einar's thoughts were dysfunctional for a moment as he was trying to soak in the information. A tiny pack like that of the Idris with a meagre population and a weak alpha, had actually managed to gather an army of thousand ferals! It was amazing and yet at the same time it was alarming. This confirmed Einar's assumptions that Lothar was drawing some outside support. That he was being the puppet who was working on instructions from someone else.. A master mind.

"I cant believe this... !" Einar's eyes widened in shock but he retracted them quickly as he recalled that the battle was over and he was in his own place "Wait.. We won right.. How?"

"The shedim spirit unexpectedly showed itself on that night. When we were on the watch at the cliff it appeared out of nowhere and startled all of us. It killed the entire feral army of thousands at a time; all on its own..!"

The heart in Einar's rib cage fastened its pace. His eyelids were refusing to flip as the naked eye was staring into nothingness. His mouth was left ajar while his lips trembled, trying to touch each other but failed every time.

The demon had killed a thousand beings all at once. How was this even possible!

Even the most strongest of the wolves can't eliminate more than ten ferals at a time. Einar was flabbergasted and at the same time he was overwhelmed for now he knew that the spirit in him was not something to be messed around. He now knew why the people around the world were terrified of the demons dwelling inside the alphas of the blue moon pack.

Einar took his own time to come out of the shock. He calmed his shivering while he took heavy breaths to relax himself. He looked at a perplexed Garrick and intently asked "How long was I out?"

"Today is the fourth day.."

Einar nodded. The spark of confidence he showed outside was nothing compared to the fear that rooted itself within him at the moment "Our casualties?"

"No one is dead. Only injured."

Einar visibly relaxed for a moment before his heartbeat raced again. He remembered the unwilling penchant for a certain green eyed man. It unnerved Einar to even think of Callan in danger. He wanted to be sure about his safety "What about Callan?"

Garrick was taken by surprise with the sudden question. He looked intently at his friend and pursed his lips. He took a deep breath before lowering his head.

Einar was becoming more and more restless as the time passed by "Just be out with it Garrick!" There was a hint of desperation and fear in his eyes.

Garrick sighed "Nobody has seen him since the day of the attack."

****

It had been twelve days since the attack. Einar had been scrutinising the discrepancies in their defences. He considered the victory over the ferals a fluke. Had it not been his demon, the entire pack would have been perished. He held meetings with the concerned people and reprimanded them for their shortcomings. As also, he made Aldous in charge to recruit more people as warriors. Einar's instinct navigated his thoughts on a bigger conspiracy. He was framing his mindset for a larger attack and this time he wanted to be ready.

The other thing which bothered Einar greatly was the absence of his mate.

Callan had been missing from the pack for more than ten days now. He wasn't seen by any of the wolves in the past several days. The last he saw him was at the carnival in the human settlement. To avoid suspicion, Einar tried to examine the Ashtons and even the healer but none of them had any clue where the handsome man was. Einar tried to find out more about the man but remained clueless about his whereabouts. It was frustrating; it was heart breaking.

Einar was missing Callan.

There was an ache that came and left; always returning in the quiet moments. Einar would suddenly wake up from his sleep and shift in his wolf only to wander from forest to forest, from village to village in search of the alluring aroma of the significant someone. He would howl his agony of bereavement. It was hurting too much..

Meanwhile it was becoming difficult to explain the pack members about this unusual ardour of their alpha. Garrick tried his best to deviate the matter by saying that these were the after affects of the medicine. That their alpha was relieving his pain. However he knew that the pack members could not be fooled for long. He had to find another way soon or the façade would soon be broken..

****

The big rectangular table was filled with papers and inks. A large map of the pack village and the adjoining boundaries was laid in the middle of the wooden counter whereas the table was surrounded by men of importance. Einar keenly listened to the various thought patterns which were put forward by his men. The myriad conversation contained topics from internal security to food conservation for the pack.

When it was Marden's turn to speak, Einar clutched his chest as a twinge of pain throbbed his veins. The meeting came to a sudden halt as everyone focused their attention to the hurt alpha. The worried expressions of his companions compelled Einar to keep his pain aside and concentrate on the work in hand. He waved his hand indicating that he was fine and ordered the congregation to continue.

Einar was trying to focus but his newly generated pain was proving to be an inconvenience for him. Though he was physically present in the room, his mental state directed its trajectory to the numbing pain which was gradually increasing. His thought process was interrupted when Garrick tried to connect with him.

EINAR!

The alpha scrunched his nose in irritation Not so loud Garrick! I can hear you.

He is back!

Einar did not had to be quick witted to discern who Garrick was referring to. His breaths quickened and his heart drummed at a faster pace as the one he was longing for all these days was finally here. He could care less about the people standing in front of him. His lips trembled while he smiled in between long breaths. The fluttering of emotions and the glee in his eyes was all too much to handle. Without thinking any further he turned to his right and smashed the window to jump from a considerable height, leaving behind puzzled faces.