Page 82 of Savage Claim

I couldn’t afford to lose focus.

My hand arched back, talons ready to jab into his throat when the russet wolf beneath me squirmed and whimpered.

He whimpered?

The strange mix of confusion, shock, and fear in the wolf’s eyes had me faltering. And that one slip cost me.

Barric rolled, flipping me off. My right temple slammed into the ground so hard stars burst in my vision.

Son of a bitch!

While I tried to shake the hit off, the cracks and pops of bone reverberated in the room, and I blinked the haziness from my vision as Barric transformed into his human shape.

Why would he change? He had the advantage in his wolf form.

I pushed to my feet, stumbling as I stood. Blood ran down my cheek and dripped to the ground. Barric’s spine cracked, and the hair slowly thinned from his body to reveal flesh. It wasn’t a smooth transition like Fane’s. Then again, no one could change like the demon shifter.

Focus, Tate.

But by the time the room stopped spinning, Barric had fully transformed. He grabbed my throat and slammed me against a wall, rattling the pictures on the left. Instead of going for the kill, the head alpha gripped my jaw with his other hand, forcing my face toward his. My claws raked against his chest, but he didn’t notice the gouges.

“Look at me!” he yelled, breathing erratically as he shoved my hair back and tilted my chin from side to side. He studied me and then the picture to my right.

All of the blood drained from his cheeks, and he released me like I’d burned him, stumbling away. “Why didn’t I see it before?” He gripped the sides of his head, his naked form violently shaking. “Why didn’t I realize…?”

I peeled myself off the wall, my boots crunching on shards of wood and glass. “What are you talking about?”

Barric lifted a trembling hand to his mouth, his attention flickering between me and the photo of his dead mate, the one he murdered. “The right age. So close, right under my nose. You remind me of her.”

“Who?”

He continued mumbling as if I wasn’t in the room. “She tricked me. The whole damn time. She’d planned this for much longer than I could have imagined.” His massive hands curled into large fists by his sides, the skin at his knuckles bleaching white and threatening to split. “I never had a son. I had a daughter.”

A daughter? He couldn’t possibly think?—

“Tamara knew she was pregnant with a human girl, but she told me it was a boy.” He examined the room, clearly decorated for a boy. “She knew I’d search for him and never find him because he doesn’t exist.” His head twisted in my direction. “You do.”

I staggered back and grabbed the baby crib to catch my balance, a cloud of dust flying up from the blue bedding. My stomach lurched as the realization finally made it into my conscious thoughts, and I fought to keep from puking.

Barric Hartwell was my father.

He and his gang of purists were the reason I was hidden with magic and tossed into the world alone. Tamara, my mother, knew he’d kill me because he couldn’t stand the thought of a human tainting his bloodline.

Oh my god. I watched him kill my mother.

My gaze met his as fine tremors spilled through my muscles, and sweat beaded my clammy flesh. As the shock slowly receded, fury permeated every cell in my body until the edges of my vision blurred crimson. “You were right to fear your child returning to murder you.” My teeth snapped together as bloodlust settled on my tongue. “I will rip your throat out for killing her.”

“You’re strong, and because of me—even though you were bitten—alpha power flows in your veins.”

That was what he’d felt when my shifter finally emerged, and it broke the enchantment that had kept me hidden all these years, revealing the truth.

“But I’ve been at this game a long time, little girl.” His voice roughened as his irises transformed into pools of liquid gold. “You can’t win against me in a fight. I’ll succeed, even with that demon amulet inside of you.”

The air exploded from my lungs. Barric knew about the amulet?

“And once you’re gone, I’ll take care of that half-breed mutt.” His mouth curved into a wicked grin, widening the scar on his cheek. “Fane Maverick shouldn’t exist either. He thinks he can overpower me, but we’ll see how well he does with my claws dipped in Demise. I’ll shove them into his chest and rip his heart out.”

Mine.

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