Page 38 of His Claim
I didn’t understand. I should be able to shift now. I’d been bitten by a wolf shifter. That meant that I was one now too.
My legs pumped, my lungs burned, but my body was still human, weak, slow, breakable. I imagined claws, imagined fur and strength, but it wouldn’t come.
“Please,” I choked, half sob, half prayer. “Please, let me change?—”
Her howl split the air again, closer now. The lights flickered as if even the power grid knew what was coming for me.
I slammed into a corner, hands scraping the wall as I whipped myself down another corridor. A cabinet toppled behind me as I clipped it, vials shattering, a chemical stench flooding the air.
The berserker was faster.
I could hear her feet pounding the floor, could hear her ragged breathing, wet and animalistic, as she devoured the distance between us.
Terror shook every bone. My body wanted to freeze, to crumple, to give in.
No, I thought, biting down on the scream tearing through my throat.Not like this. Not as a captive. Not hunted like an animal.
I dug deep, clawing for something, anything. Rage, grief, fear. All of it boiled in my chest, sharp and hot, until I thought my ribs might split.
Shift!
I screamed with the effort, throat raw, my vision swimming. For a breath, I swore I felt it, my skin burning, my blood thickening, my muscles twitching like they wanted to snap. My nails pricked, lengthening just a fraction. My teeth ached like they wanted to sharpen.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
The change slipped away as quickly as it came, leaving me human, panting, half-broken and terrified.
And the girl was still coming.
I bolted through another door, a lab this time, gleaming white and full of tables and machines I didn’t understand. A tech turned toward me, eyes wide, and then the berserker girl was on him. His scream cut off in a gurgle as she slammed into him, his blood spraying across the glass cabinets behind him.
I stumbled backward, gagging, my back hitting another door. My palms were slick with sweat, my heart thundering so hard I could barely hear the carnage over it.
The berserker’s head snapped up, eyes glowing as she fixed on me again. Her lips peeled back, blood dripping from her chin.
I turned and ran.
My legs felt like lead, every step a battle, but sheer terror kept me moving. My lungs burned, my vision blurred with tears. The hallway stretched forever, white walls streaking past as the pounding of her pursuit swallowed me whole.
Shift, damn you, I begged my body.Don’t let me die human. Don’t let me die as helpless prey.
The corridor narrowed into a dead-end lab.
I didn’t realize until I burst inside, my chest heaving, my legs trembling. White counters, glass cabinets, a bank of blinking machines humming in the corner. No exit. No windows. Just one door.
The one I’d come through.
Behind me, nails scraped the tile. The sound was worse than the screams had been, purposeful, hungry, almost like she was savoring the hunt.
I whirled, pressing my back to the far counter. My palms slid across its cold surface as I searched desperately for a weapon. My fingers closed around a steel tray, light and useless. I clutched it anyway, my knuckles white.
The doorframe shook as the berserker slammed into it. Her scream ripped through the room, shaking the lights overhead until they flickered.
She slipped inside. Her gown was nothing but shreds now, her skin slick with sweat and blood. Hers, theirs, I didn’t know. Her eyes glowed with unnatural fire. Her teeth snapped as she spotted me.
And then she smiled.
My stomach dropped.
