Page 91 of An Unending Claim

The demon stood and shot me a disgruntled glare. “You had to make him bleed? Such a fucking mess.”

“They were his silver bullets,” I explained, not the least repentant. “Otherwise, he’d already be healing.”

Azreal grunted a response, still not happy, but clearly done with the conversation. He hefted Xavier onto his shoulder and walked toward the front door.

“I’ll call you with a date and time,” I reminded him and he lifted a hand in acknowledgement before walking out and shutting the door behind him.

I met Léo’s determined gaze and muttered, “Let’s go.”

It took us twenty minutes to reach the address Xavier had given us and when we arrived, there was already a fight happening. Sabrina, Jase, and Ephraim were taking on five other wolves, and while I had no doubt they would win, Léo and I jumped into the fray. When every one of the wolves guarding the small hunting shack lay scattered on the ground with fatal wounds, I shifted to my human form and walked to the front door of the cabin. There was an electronic keypad beside the door and I quickly popped it open and disabled it.Pathetic.

Slowly, in case someone was inside with Peyton, I pushed open the door, but then it was yanked farther into the room, pitching me forward and causing me to stumble inside or land flat on my face.

Before I could catch my balance, something crashed into me, knocking me sideways and ramming me into a wall. My cheek stung when a set of claws took a swipe at my face before the weight was suddenly gone. I spun around just in time to see a gorgeous, black spotted jaguar leap at the door.

“Peyton!”

At the sound of my voice, Peyton’s panther stopped short and flipped around. Her golden eyes were wild and hazy and she stared through me without a spark of recognition. She’d gone feral. But she’d still halted when I called out to her because her reactions to me were instinctive. She didn’t come closer and I didn’t want to spook her, so I stayed in my spot and tried to connect to her mind.

Peyton wasn’t hovering near the surface as she normally would be and it took me a few minutes to find her. She’d retreated so far into her panther that her presence was easy to overlook unless finding her was your goal.

“Hello, sweet girl,” I crooned. The familiar voice and phrase caused a tiny bit of the wildness to dissipate, so I kept going. “You’ve been so brave protecting our girl. Will you let me see her? Can I please talk to Peyton, sweet girl?”

Her panther watched me warily, and though she didn’t back up when I took a step toward her, neither did she make a move to draw out her human half.

I inched my way toward her and as I kept my eyes locked with hers, I realized the hazy quality hadn’t lessened. When I’d mentally connected to her, I’d been searching for Peyton, but now, I took a minute to analyze the panther’s emotions. A font of pain burst inside me, spreading to every part of my body, some of it a dull ache and other parts a sharp throbbing.

Fucking hell.They were running on adrenaline alone, and as soon the high dissipated, my girl and her panther would be in bad shape.

I scanned her body, zeroing in on the wounds that coordinated with the pain I sensed in them. I didn’t see any that were still bleeding, but it was the internal injuries I sensed that scared the shit out of me.

When my mind stopped to analyze the pain in her mid-section, I was nearly bowled over by the devastation pulsing from Peyton’s cat. Had she lost…? I shook my head and moved on to the rest of her body. I couldn’t think about that just yet, or I wouldn’t have the strength to take care of my mate.

Moving a few steps closer, I was within arm’s reach of the sleek, black panther and I held out my hand, waiting for her to make the next move. She sniffed my hand a couple of times, then nuzzled her nose in my palm.

“There she is,” I murmured softly. “You love her as much as I do, don’t you, sweet girl?” As if her panther understood me, she lowered her head and nuzzled my hand again. “Let me take care of you both. But to do that, I need Peyton.”

The beautiful feline stared into my eyes and I let my wolf surface enough for them to connect. A minute later, my wolf stepped back and the gold in the panther’s eyes swirled. I expected to see green bleed into it, but it didn’t, and her body didn’t begin the change. She met my gaze and I saw as much as felt the sadness in her. She was aching for her human half, wanting to help her, but it seemed like Peyton had no interest in coming back.

I didn’t want to think about what would have sent my strong, confident, unshakeable mate into hibernation. But I also needed to know if I was going to figure out how to bring her back to me.

Her panther seemed to understand because she lay down on her side and gazed at me expectantly. I knelt by her stomach and a lump formed in my throat while the air caught in my lungs. Gently, I put my hands on her stomach. Peyton had a stronger connection to our child since she was inside her, so I had no idea if this would work. But I couldn’t think of another way, other than to leave and find a doctor.

Closing my eyes, I tried to connect with Peyton, but she wasn’t helping, and I had trouble grasping at the right thread. Then my arm began to tingle, and I looked at the birthmark shaped like a wolf’s head on my arm, just above my elbow. The sensation receded and I frowned, wondering what the hell was going on. I returned to focusing on Peyton, and after a minute, the mark felt warm. The closer I came to Peyton, the stronger the sensation. After a bit of searching, I finally picked up her emotional trail and followed it straight back to her.

Damn, she was exhausted. She needed strength to rise to the surface, to shift back into human form. My arm pulsed and I glanced at the mark, doing a double-take when I saw it shimmering with color. Power pulsed from it and somehow, I knew it was connecting me with Peyton in a way we hadn’t done before. I pushed my strength through our bond while I waded through her emotions to find the string in the web that went between my mate and my daughter.

When Peyton began to respond to the power I was sending to her, I wanted to sigh in relief. Except I was still on edge and terrified of what I would find… if I would find anything between her and our baby at all. My wolf wasn’t happy about being on the sidelines and his Alpha vibes pulsed within us both. Finally, when I’d about given up hope, I felt the bond between mother and daughter.

Our daughter was alive, at least. A tear slid down my cheek and the breath rushed out of me in a harsh exhale. I’d never, in two millennia, ever cried. But at the thought of losing my mate or my child, I’d been overwhelmed with despair. The relief at knowing they were both alive was so great that it brought tears to my eyes.

“Come on, baby,” I murmured, hoping she could get a sense of my words. “Come back. It’s safe, I promise.”

I felt a slight movement in my mind and Peyton’s panther curled into a ball. All of a sudden, her fur receded, her muscles and bones tore and cracked, realigned, and ended with my mate lying in the same position on the ground. The mark of a paw on her shoulder looked similar to mine, with shimmering colors, but it was faded. Then I glanced at mine and saw it was fading as well.

Interesting.

I’d never heard anything like this about our birthmarks, but Peyton and I had never been typical. Whatever it was, I was grateful because that link had helped me transfer some of my strength to Peyton, though I had no clue why or how. Then again, magic, supernaturals, power—none of it was truly explainable.

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