Page 40 of His Claim
Then she screamed, sinking her teeth into his shoulder.
He roared, the ferocity of the sound ripping through me. His body convulsed, half wolf, half man, claws ripping into the wall around her as blood streamed down his arm.
She tore free, and before he could recover, she slammed him to the floor. The tiles cracked under the impact.
She straddled him, her claws raised, and for the first time, I realized that Varek might die.
“Run!” he roared at me, spitting blood, his voice more wolf than man. His silver eyes flashed toward me, desperate. “Mariah,run!”
My body froze. My legs wouldn’t move.
He shifted fully then, fur exploding across his body, jaws snapping as he bucked her off with primal force. She hit the far wall, snarling, and he was on her again, wolf now. His teeth sank into her arm, blood spurting as he slammed her against the counters.
But she didn’t stop.
His bite didn’t work.
She met him claw for claw, bite for bite, their bodies slamming through equipment, sparks and glass and blood spraying across the room.
Varek fought like he had no choice, his claws ripping deeper, his fangs tearing flesh. Her shrieks became a chorus of rage and agony as blood painted the walls.
I pressed back into the corner, tears streaming, every nerve screaming at me to run, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Varek slammed the berserker into the wall so hard that the room shuddered. Sparks cascaded from a shattered light above, glass raining down in glittering shards. His wolf form snarled, massive and furious, claws sinking into her shoulders.
For a heartbeat, I thought he had her.
Then he shifted into his human form and in that blink of an eye, she slashed her nails across his chest.
Blood sprayed hot and dark, as he roared in pain and faltered in his hold on her.
Before he could recover, she lunged, and her teeth sank into his shoulder. The sound it made—the wet tear of flesh—turned my stomach. Varek collapsed to one knee, his wolf form faltering as agony twisted across his face.
The berserker raised her claws for the killing blow.
“No!” The scream ripped from my throat before I even knew what I was doing. My body moved, relying purely on instinct, hurling me across the room.
I had no claws. No fangs. Just skin and bone and terror. But still I ran at her.
Her head snapped toward me just as my feet left the floor, and for a split second I knew I was going to die.
The mark on my shoulder burned white-hot, a fire flooding every vein in my body. My bones snapped like lightning inside me, but there was no pain, only heat, only fury, only a wild exhilaration that made my scream twist into a howl.
My skin tore into fur, dark and bristling. My nails elongated into claws mid-flight, catching the light as they curved like knives. My teeth ached, then sharpened, my jaw stretching into a muzzle even as my vision tunneled into razor-sharp focus.
The world exploded into extreme sensory input.
Every drop of blood in the air was a thunderclap in my nose, iron-thick and burning. I could taste the fear-sweat on the techs’ corpses behind us. I could hear the berserker’s heartbeat, pounding like a drum, too fast, fueled by fury. The hum of the fluorescent lights overhead screeched like a blade across glass.
And fuck, it was terrifying. Terrifying and glorious.
I hit her midair, not as a girl but as a wolf, my body heavier, stronger, every muscle thrumming with power I didn’t know I was capable of. My jaws closed on her throat with a snap that vibrated through my skull. Hot blood gushed into my mouth, metallic and salty, spilling down my chest.
The berserker screamed, thrashing, her nails raking at my sides, but it was too late. I shook my head violently, teeth sawing through flesh and tendon, her lifeblood spraying in wide arcs across the lab.
She bucked, slammed me into the counter, but my jaws only sank deeper, my wolf’s growl vibrating so loud it drowned out everything else. Her body convulsed once. Twice.
Then she went limp.
