Page 7 of His Claim
She lunged again, too fast. I ducked, caught her around the waist, and spun her, driving her back into the wall. Her head cracked against it, but she only screamed, thrashing and snarling.
She was strong—too strong for her size. I could only guess that she was drugged and whatever they’d pumped into her veins had burned out the human weakness and left only hunger and rage.
“Hold still!” I snarled, slamming my forearm against her collarbone to pin her. Her skin burned hot under my touch, sweat and blood mixing slick against my grip. She writhed, teeth gnashing, her lips peeling back to show the wolf-slayer’s talent she’d just worked on my guard soldiers.
Her nails dug into my arm, deep enough that blood welled. My vision sparked white at the pain, my wolf roaring under my skin, begging to rise. I could end this. Break her neck. Tear out her throat. One move and the fight could be over.
But I didn’t.
A part of me refused.
Even like this—blood-soaked, drugged into madness—she was mine. I knew it in my marrow, in the way the bond clawed at me, how every instinct screamed to claim instead of kill.
She snarled and bucked, bringing her knee up between my legs. My vision went black for a second, my knees buckling. I shoved her away, stumbled back, and gasped for air.
She hit me again before I could recover, tackling me to the floor. Her teeth scraped my neck, so close I felt the puncture before I wrenched her head aside. I wrapped my arms around her, rolling her and using my weight to pin her down against the tile.
“Stop!” I barked, my voice rough, raw alpha command bleeding into every syllable. “That’s an order!”
For half a heartbeat, she froze. Her chest heaved, eyes wild, her lips parted against my throat. Her breath scorched hot against my skin.
Then she screamed—a ragged, broken sound—and thrashed harder.
My muscles trembled from holding her down, blood dripping down my arm, my chest heaving. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could last without breaking her in half, or without her tearing my throat out.
Her scream rattled through the corridor, high and wild, echoing off the steel until it felt like the walls themselves vibrated. My arms shook from holding her down, muscles quivering, her body thrashing beneath me with a strength no human should be even remotely capable of.
She snapped her head up, teeth grazing my cheek so close I felt the whisper of her lips on my skin.
“Damn it—” I grunted, wrenching her arms above her head, pinning her wrists with one hand. My claws slid out, digging into the tile around her skull just to keep control.
She bucked her hips, nearly throwing me. I slammed my weight down, chest to chest, legs braced around hers. Every soldier’sinstinct screamed at me toend it, to just snap her neck, crush her ribs, and finish this before she tore me open.
But I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
Because there were stronger wolf instincts howling through me. My wolf knew that beneath the madness in her eyes, beneath the drug twisting through her veins,shewas somewhere in there.
And she wasmine.
She thrashed again, and I caught her jaw in my free hand, forcing her head to the side. Her teeth snapped, blood smeared across her lips, her throat bared inches from my mouth. My wolf roared, claws of instinct ripping through me.
“No,” I snarled.
Her eyes flashed, green and gold, feral and broken. She let out a guttural growl, her body arching, fighting like a wild animal.
I bent low, my lips brushing the heat of her skin, and before I could think, before I could stop myself, my teeth sank into the cusp of her neck and shoulder.
Her blood hit my tongue, vivid and electric, and the world detonated around me. My wolf howled through me, every nerve lit with fire, every muscle locked as the bond snapped into place.
She went rigid beneath me.
The fight bled out of her in a single shudder, her scream dying in her throat. Her eyes widened, then flickered, her breath stalling as her body trembled beneath mine. Her claws—no, her nails—dug once more into my hand pinning hers, then fell slack.
I held her there, my mouth pressed to her skin, the taste of her blood anchoring me to her, tying us together in ways I couldn’t untangle if I tried.
Mine.
