Page 98 of His Claim
The ground shuddered under my boots. A bloom of fire lit the horizon, rising from deep inside the city. The sound followed a heartbeat later—a deep, terrible roar that seemed to pull the air from our lungs.
The Watch had made their first move.
Every head turned toward the plume of smoke curling up from the Council district. Even from here, I could smell the burning building and the tang of chemicals in the wind.
Soren’s voice cut through the silence.
“That’s our signal. Move!”
The humans and the wolves surged forward like a tsunami, silent until the first shots rang out.
The guards at the gate never had a chance. Silas hit them first, his people shifting mid-stride, claws flashing in the floodlights. The outer defenses collapsed under the weight of pure fury. Humans followed close behind, rifles cracking, cutting down anything that moved. The air filled with smoke and shouting.
“Cover fire!” Rowan shouted, his wolves leaping to intercept the reinforcements scrambling down from the wall. I saw him shift midair, his black fur catching the dawn light before he landed in the middle of the enemy line. The rest of his pack hit right behind him, tearing through the ranks like lightning through dry wood.
Soren’s squads reached the gate controls, planting several explosives, and then fell back.
“Ready!” she called, once she and her people were a safe distance away.
“Detonate!” I yelled.
The blast tore the gate from its hinges. Steel screamed as it folded, collapsing inward in a shower of fire and debris. The city’s outer wall was open. The air singed red-hot. Above it all, the distant fire from the first explosion blazed higher and wider, a mushrooming column of black smoke rising against the pale morning sky as the fire spread rapidly.
Humans and wolves stormed side by side through it. Kendra and Lia followed close behind, the rest of the Resistance spilling in with them. Gunfire echoed off the metal and concrete.
Soren caught up to me as we pushed forward. “That first explosion came from the upper facility, close to where the labs are,” she shouted over the noise.
“I know,” I said, my throat tight.
“Varek—”
“I know!”
There was no time for more. The Council’s inner guard had rallied just inside the gate, heavy weapons cutting through the road ahead in a storm of bullets and smoke. Silas dove through it, ripping a gunner from his post, and tossing him aside like he weighed nothing. The rest of us followed, pressing into the defending fire until the line broke.
The city gates fell behind us, and the streets opened ahead, full of bodies and smoke and the ringing clang of freedom finally taking shape. For all its chaos, for all its blood, our assault was going exactly as planned.
Still, as I cut down another soldier and pressed forward, my gaze kept flicking to the northern skyline, where that column of smoke still poured into the sky.
Somewhere in that fire, Mariah was still fighting.
And if the gods had any mercy left in them, she was still alive.
The city was mayhem.
The gates had fallen, but the battle had only just begun. Smoke and ash hung in the air, turning dawn into a dim red haze. Thescent of blood and gunpowder hit like a physical thing, burning the back of my throat and coating my tongue in iron.
We poured into the streets in a surge of bodies and fury. Wolves shifted mid-charge, tearing through the ranks of Council soldiers, claws rending metal and flesh alike. Humans covered them from behind, rifles blazing in short, brutal bursts.
Rowan tore through the front line ahead of me, his wolf form a blur of black, bloody rage. Silas’s pack followed close behind, their growls reverberating off the steel and concrete, forming a rhythm to kill by. I moved beside Commander Soren and her soldiers, our boots crunching over broken glass and shell casings.
“We need to push toward the power station!” Soren shouted, cutting down a soldier before he could reach her.
“Keep the formation tight!” I called back. “If they take the streets between us, we’re finished!”
Kendra and Lia were behind us, helping to pick off stragglers and clear debris to create a path for the medics trailing behind. Their faces were streaked with grime, but they didn’t slow. Every bullet that whined past simply seemed to drive them faster.
The city itself fought back, deploying drones dropping explosives that rocked the ground beneath our feet.
