Page 22 of His Claim
Her eyes shimmered, she pressed her full lips together, and for once, she didn’t argue.
CHAPTER 5
Mariah
Steam curled around me, softening the harsh edges of the copper tub. I sank deeper into the water, letting the heat bite at my skin, willing it to scour away the stench of blood and sweat. For the first time in what felt like forever, I wasn’t shivering in the dark. I wasn’t pressed against cold concrete trembling in fear of being taken as a guard’s boots echoed down the hall.
I was alone. In an honest to goodness hot bath! With soap and shampoo and clean water! I was in heaven.
My fingers drifted up, brushing over the bite at my shoulder. The flesh was tender, swollen, but more than that, itburned. Like something alive thrummed under the wound, pulsing with every beat of my heart.
I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath.
I hated him for it. For claiming me, for biting me, for tying me to him in a way I couldn’t undo. I hated that he’d made the choice for me. That he’d taken what little control I had left.
But I also couldn’t ignore the truth.
His bite had dragged me out of the madness. Out of the drug-fueled rage that would have ended with me dead on the floor, another nameless body for the guards to haul away. His bite had cut through the haze, anchoring me in a way I didn’t understand.
I should have been terrified. I should have been furious.
Instead, I just felt… lost.
I thought about Kendra. About Lia. The way my heart had nearly stopped when Varek said their names, when he told me they were alive, safe, andhappy. They’d been marked too. They were wolf shifters now, with mates who loved them, who fought for them.
Now there was me.
I’d always imagined freedom as running far enough and fast enough that no one could catch me, but now there was no running. No escaping. I wasn’t human anymore and to top things off, I was bound to the silver-eyed commander in the next room.
My stomach twisted. What did that mean for me? For the girl who used to sneak into movie theaters with her best friends, who laughed at broken projectors and terrible flicks like it was the only magic left in the world? That girl felt like a ghost now, and I wasn’t sure I knew how to call her back.
A tear slid hotly down my cheek. I swiped it away angrily, curling tighter into the water.
Varek’s words echoed in my head:With you, maybe finally, we can make a difference.
I didn’t know if I believed him. I didn’t know if I could ever forgive him for what he’d done to me, but I couldn’t deny the way he looked at me, like I wasn’t just another female body in a cage.
Like I mattered.
The water lapped against my skin, warm and soothing. I let myself sink deeper, closing my eyes as the steam wrapped me up in a cloud of comfort and silence.
For the next several moments, I let myself feel everything: anger, fear, grief, and that small, dangerous spark of hope.
I dipped under the water, holding my breath until my lungs burned, until the heat pressed against me from all sides. When I surfaced, the grime slid from my hair in dark rivulets, streaking the water with the filth of blood and fear.
The bottles Varek had left sat on the rim of the tub. I picked one up, turning it in my hand. Shampoo. The label was faded, the cap cracked, but when I opened it and poured some into my palm, the scent rose up, soft and floral, almost achinglyhuman. Not chemical, not antiseptic. Just clean.
I worked it through my hair, closing my eyes as the suds foamed and the steam thickened. I rinsed it out and then followed with the conditioner, combing through the tangles with my fingers, each pass pulling away a little more of the weight of captivity I hadn’t even realized I carried.
Then I scrubbed every inch of my skin with the bar of soap, dragging it over my arms and legs, across my chest and belly, over my back and shoulders. The water turned cloudy from thedirt and blood, tinged pink and gray, as the last of it rinsed away. I stayed like that for a long while, my chin resting on my knees, the water lapping around me.
For the first time in I didn’t know how long… I felt like myself. Or maybe a new version of myself. One who wasn’t covered in someone else’s blood.
I closed my eyes and let the warmth seep into my bones, tried to pretend the mark on my shoulder wasn’t thrumming, tried to pretend the world outside that little room didn’t exist.
Eventually, the water cooled, and I couldn’t avoid it anymore. I sat up, wiping the steam from my face, pulled the plug, and reached for a pitcher on a small table next to the tub. I filled it with clean, warm water, stood up, and poured it over my head, rinsing my hair clean. I filled it two more times to make sure every bit of filth and blood and soap was gone from my body, then grabbed a folded towel from the shelf.
When I climbed out, clear water dripping in rivulets down my clean, softened skin, I caught sight of the hospital gown lying crumpled in the corner, torn, stained, and useless. A relic of the girl I’d been an hour ago.
