Page 101 of His Claim

I smashed another, and another, the chemical stench growing unbearable. The liquid hissed where it met the air, turning to vapor that rose in faint tendrils. It felt good to destroy it, to take back power from the people who had taken everything from us for decades.

When the last vial hit the floor, I stood in the middle of the wreckage, chest heaving, ears ringing.

That was when I heard the slow, deliberate clap of gloved hands.

I turned.

Council soldiers in black armor filled the doorway, their rifles trained on me. Behind them stood a tall figure in a long gray coat, silver insignia gleaming at his throat. His eyes were unsympathetic and cruel, the color of ash. I didn’t need to be toldwho he was. Every human who’d ever lived under the Council knew that face.

It was the Council Commander, Darius Voss.

“Impressive,” he said, his voice smooth and ice-cold.

I raised the rifle I’d stolen from the guard, but the nearest soldier slammed a baton into my ribs before I could fire it. Pain exploded through my side. I stumbled, gasping. Another struck me across the back of the head.

The world spun. I dropped to my knees.

The soldiers parted and the Council leader stepped closer, his boots echoing on the steel floor. He crouched in front of me, his gloved hand gripping my chin hard enough to hurt.

“You’ve caused quite the mess,” he said, studying me like a scientist examining a specimen. “But don’t worry. You’ll still serve a purpose before this is over.”

I tried to snarl, but my head was swimming, my body too battered to shift again.

He nodded to the soldiers. “Take her to the courtyard. I want her where everyone can see her.”

They yanked my hands in front of me and cold metal clamped around my wrists. The soldiers hauled me to my feet and dragged me from the lab, past the shattered glass and the blood, past the ruin Elsie had left behind.

My vision blurred, but I fought to keep my head up. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear the thunder of battle—gunfire, screams, and terrible explosions, one after the other.

They led me through the base and out into the open air, into the ruined streets where the world was engulfed in flames.

And when a Council soldier forced me to my knees and shoved a knife against my throat, pressing hard enough to draw blood, I borrowed inspiration from Elsie and smiled through the pain.

Because I wasn’t done fighting.

CHAPTER 27

Varek

The smoke was thicker here. It hung heavy between the buildings, turning the sun into a dim smear of orange. The streets were unrecognizable now, cracked pavement slick with blood and littered with broken glass and debris, the remains of barricades glowing like embers. Bodies lay in the gutters, wolves and humans both.

I pushed through it all, my comm hissing in my ear. Rowan’s voice bled through the static: “Varek, report! Where are you?”

“I’m in the northern quarter,” I said, breath ragged. “She’s here. I can smell her.”

Mariah’s scent was faint but unmistakable. Every instinct in me screamed to shift, to tear through whatever stood between us, but the chemical dampeners still burned under my skin, making it impossible. I was stuck halfway between man and beast, trembling with rage.

“Commander Varek!” one of Soren’s scouts shouted, pointing down the avenue.

I followed his gaze, and my stomach turned to ice.

At the end of the boulevard, through the drifting ash, a group of Council soldiers stood in formation on a platform. Behind them, floodlights cut through the haze, bathing the buildings around them in stark, blinding white.

And there, at the center of it all, they had her.

My Mariah.

My mate.