Page 39 of His Claim
She crouched low, muscles bunching, blood dripping from her wrists where the straps had torn free. Her nails gouged lines in the tile as she stalked closer.
I lifted the tray. My arms shook so badly it rattled.
“Stay back,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Please.”
She tilted her head, mock curious, and lunged.
I screamed, swinging the tray. It clanged against her shoulder with a hollow smack that did nothing but piss her off. She backhanded it away like a toy, the metal skidding across the floor.
Her growl vibrated through my bones. She was between me and the door now. There was nowhere to run.
My back hit the counter. I slid sideways, searching for another weapon, but there was nothing but vials and papers. Nothing to fight with.
Tears burned my eyes. My chest spasmed, panic choking me.
Shift. Please, shift.
I tried again, clawing at the mark on my shoulder, begging whatever wolf was supposed to live inside me to come out. My nails scraped my skin raw. My vision tunneled, ears ringing, body shaking with the force of my desperation.
Nothing.
The berserker shrieked and surged forward, closing the last few feet between us.
Her hand clamped the counter, her body looming over me, her teeth flashing as her face twisted into a snarl.
I pressed myself back as far as I could go, nowhere left to retreat. My pulse roared in my ears. This was it. This was where I died, ripped apart by a girl who’d been made into a monster, the same way I had been until Varek saved me.
Her breath was hot on my face. Her hand lifted.
And the door exploded inward.
“Mariah!”
Varek hit the girl like a wrecking ball, his shoulder slamming her away from me with bone-shaking force. They crashed into the far wall, steel denting under the impact. He moved so fast I barely saw him—half man, half wolf, his claws raking across her arms as he snarled.
The berserker shrieked, twisting, slamming her elbow into his ribs hard enough to make him grunt. He staggered, but only for a heartbeat. Then he surged back, his body rippling as fur tore through skin, his face elongating into a muzzle before snapping back to human in the same breath.
He was shifting in flashes, back and forth, like the fight itself couldn’t decide what form it demanded of him.
“Stay behind me!” he barked, his voice half growl, half yell.
I stumbled to the corner, my body shaking, clutching at the counter for balance.
The berserker lunged. Varek met her head-on, claws against claws, the sound of flesh tearing and bone cracking echoing through the sterile room. She slammed him against the counter,glass shattering around them. He roared, raking his claws across her chest, sending her flying back into a bank of machines. Sparks spat from broken circuits, but she only shrieked louder, eyes blazing, blood spraying as she barreled forward again.
Two soldiers stormed in through the wrecked doorway, rifles raised. “Commander?—!”
“Hold fire!” Varek snarled, barely avoiding a swipe that would have opened his throat. He shoved her back, slamming his fist into her jaw with enough force to shatter a normal human. “She’s not—” he grunted as her nails raked his side, blood blooming across his skin, “—gone yet!”
The soldiers didn’t listen. They dove in with him, half shifted, claws and teeth flashing. One latched onto her arm, another her shoulder. She threw them off like ragdolls, one slamming into the wall so hard he left a dent, the other crumpling over a toppled metal cart.
Varek snarled, silver eyes blazing. “I saidhold!”
He caught her throat, shoving her back into the wall, pinning her there, the force required making him shake with the effort. His claws dug deep, but he didn’t finish her off. He was trying—still trying—to restrain, to contain, not to kill.
“Stop!” he roared at her, voice cracking like thunder. “Fight it!”
For a moment, her eyes flickered. The glow dimmed. Her lips trembled. She almost looked human again.
