Page 2 of His Claim
“Come on!” I bellowed, dragging a chair into my grip and shoving it into the jaws of the next wolf. Its teeth splintered the wooden chair leg, snapping through it like kindling, but the opening gave me time to grab and swing the iron poker from the hearth. The metal rod cracked across its skull with a sickening crunch.
Another one lunged through the window, glass and wood exploding into the room as its claws tore into my shoulder.
I roared, not in fear, but fury. Grabbing the wolf’s fur, I slammed its head into the edge of the stone hearth repeatedly until bone cracked, until its body went limp.
I kicked the corpse aside, chest heaving, the room around me spinning in smoke, blood, and firelight. My arm throbbed at my side, blood pouring down it hot and sticky, but I could still hear Elena’s fleeing footsteps in my mind, still feel her lips pressed against mine.
As the remaining wolves circled me, snarling, their eyes gleaming with the hunger of predators who thought they’dalready won, I planted my feet on the blood-soaked floor of my home and raised the poker again.
“Not tonight,” I growled. All I could think of was Elena running through the night, frightened and desperate, the fabric of my shirt catching the wind. If they wanted her, they’d have to go through me.
The first wolf lunged, and I met it halfway. My fist slammed into its jaw with a crunch, the poker in my other hand driving deep into its gut. It howled, thrashing, but I wrenched the bar upward, ripping it free in a spray of blood.
Two more hit me together, one high, one low. The weight of them drove me back, slamming me into the hearth so hard my lungs emptied in a single burst. Claws tore at my chest, teeth snapping for my throat, but I jammed the poker sideways into the first one’s mouth, holding it back by inches while its fetid breath poured over my face. The other clawed my legs, dragging me down.
I roared, kicked the lower wolf in the snout, then slammed my forehead into the first one’s muzzle. Bone cracking, it reeled back, and I jammed the jagged end of the poker through its throat. Hot blood gushed down my arm as it staggered, gurgled, and collapsed in a twitching heap.
The one at my legs lunged again. I seized its ears, twisted with everything I had, and drove my knee into the side of its head until it went limp.
That left one.
The last wolf stalked through the broken door, eyes glowing gold in the firelight, claws clicking against the wood as it sized me up.My chest heaved, every muscle burning, my arms shaking from blood loss and exhaustion, but I refused to drop the poker.
It leapt.
I rolled beneath it, grabbed a shard of glass from the shattered window, and jammed it up into its belly as it flew over me. It howled, spun on me, jaws wide. I surged to my feet and met it head-on, driving the poker down into its skull with every ounce of strength I had left.
The beast convulsed once, twice, and then went still, its weight dragging the poker from my grip as it slumped to the floor.
Silence.
The cabin burned around me, the smell of smoke thick in my nose. My breath came ragged, my body a mass of blood and claw marks, but I didn’t stop to count my wounds.
“Elena.”
I tugged the poker free and staggered to the back door, the cold night air slamming into me like a brick wall. The forest loomed dark and endless, branches whipping in the wind, and somewhere out there, she was running. Running because I told her to. Running because she trusted me to protect her.
I tightened my grip on the blood-slick poker, the muscles in my arms screaming, my chest heaving with every breath.
“I’m coming for you,” I swore into the night.
I ran after her.
Branches whipped at my face as I tore through the trees, my lungs on fire, my boots pounding the frozen ground. The nighthowled with more than wind—snarls, claws raking bark, wolves cutting through the forest like shadows given teeth.
“Elena!” My voice shredded my throat, shaking with panic. “Keep running! I’m coming!”
I followed the path she would have taken, up toward the ridge, my heart hammering in my ears, the scent of her perfume still faint on the cold air.
Then the smell changed.
Blood.
Iron and salt, sharp and heavy.
“No…” My chest caved in as I stumbled into a clearing.
She was there, crumpled at the base of a tree, my shirt torn, the snow beneath her painted red. Her eyes stared up at the stars, wide and glassy, her lips parted as if she’d tried to call my name. Her hand still reached outward, fingers curled in desperation, but there was no breath left in her chest.
