Claiming His Love {manxman}

CHL: Chapter Twenty Eight

Nikolai Lyev Baranov

I could feel a warm hand rubbing my cheek as my eyes blearily opened, blinking to the bright light.

I could feel soft cloth beneath my body, plush and wrapped around me in a safe cocoon as if it was afraid that I would leave. How did I make it here? If I recalled, I was on the floor in front of the main door, the hardwood floor putting creases in my back. "Wakey wakey," A voice called out with a chuckle as its hand continued to rub my face.

When I came to, I could see a familiar face in front of mine. "I-Imani?" I whispered, face sore from crying but it felt like my face had been cleaned off and free of the stain of tears. "What are you doing here?" I could see that I was in my room, under my blankets. My bloody clothes were long gone, replaced by a big shirt that didn't belong to me and a pair of shorts. "How did I get here?" I muttered, putting a hand up to run through my hair.

I turned my gaze over to her as she smiled with a knowing look in her eyes. There was a soft grin on her face as she beamed at me. What did she have to be happy for? I let out a sigh, suppressing the urge to puke all over the floor. God, why did it feel like this? "How are you feeling, Niko?" She asked, blatantly ignoring my two questions. 

'Nikoooooo!' A cheerful voice called out from within me and my eyes widened with the quickness, body shooting up off of the bed. "Huh?" I winced as my head rolled back and forth, a wave of dizziness washing over me. "Who was that?" I furrowed my brow as Imani chuckled, getting up off of her knees. 'I know you didn't forget about me.' It felt as if this voice was coming from my mind but it couldn't have been true—he succumbed to isolation once again.

I gritted my teeth.

My mind was playing tricks on me.

"Jesus fuck, I don't deserve this," I whimpered as I brought a hand up to my face, willing myself to cry again like I did last night. My heart wouldn't stop throbbing. "What are you talking about?" I felt hands pulling my face away. "Don't you feel that vibrating inside of you?" Imani pointed to my chest and indeed, I felt a thrumming sensation calming me despite my inner turmoil. "Don't you feel like your heart is no longer hurting? Doesn't it feel exhilarating?" Imani's eyes were lidded over with some unknown emotion and I couldn't tell what she was getting at. "Leave me alone," I pushed her hand away, pondering why my body felt so light, why there was a humming stemming through my veins. 

"I'm just imagining things." I furrowed my brow as I stood up, unsure of what to do with myself. My wolf was gone, my mate was gone. "Did everyone make it back to the palace okay?" I asked in a small voice and Imani sighed, sitting on my bed. "We lost about 143 men, Nikolai, but everyone else was okay. The pack doctors are tending to their injuries now." Trace had been one of those 132 men, and it pained my soul to think about him. "That's nice," I muttered hollowly. "That's just great."

I couldn't bring myself to be genuinely happy even if I tried.

'Stop being so sad. Everything is okay!' I felt a nudge from inside of me and an annoyed voice howling at me and I clenched my fist, hating how I kept conjuring up memories to cope with my loss. Everything was ruined. "God, I'm so hungry." I whined as my stomach growled. "I want some cupcakes!" I pouted, feeling antsy all of a sudden. "Aurora brought some for you," Imani motioned to the box on the nightstand and I could my stomach readying itself for the delicious morsels.

"But first, I need you to go get dressed. There are important things we have to tend to first," Imani muttered apologetically and I glared, wanting to know why she stopped me from enjoying my sweet breakfast. I didn't know if she knew or if she could smell any difference within me, but she was going to be the sole reason why I was going to die of starvation. "Does it have to do with figuring out how we are going to strengthen pack barriers and bury the fallen?" I stated and Imani shrugged.