Page 28 of His Claim
Mariah
The knock wasn’t a knock so much as a body slam against the door.
I jolted awake, the room a blur of steel and soft shadows. Heat wrapped around me, Varek’s arm banded across my waist, his chest warm against my back. Then the pounding came again, even louder this time.
“Commander Varek! Open up!”
Varek was out of the bed in one fluid motion. A growl vibrated through the room, low and lethal, echoing in my bones. He didn’t bother with a shirt, just snatched his pants off the floor and dragged them on, his eyes already burning with fury as he stalked to the door.
Another voice, strained. “Sir—there’s been another incident.”
He threw the bolt and cracked the door, keeping his body between me and everyone else. I sat up, clutching the sheet to my chest, heart racing.
“What incident?” Varek’s voice was sharp, dangerous.
“Another female human,” the first voice said, breathless. “Same as last night’s corridor report about… your mate. She tore apart seven wolves before we brought her down.”
“Who’s in charge?” Varek asked, tone like ice.
A new voice answered, older, deeper, and casually calm in a way that meant trouble. “I am.”
The door swung wider, and an older wolf stepped into view. He wore a clean, dark coat with a brass insignia I didn’t recognize, hair tinged with gray, eyes like dull steel that had seen too much horror and liked most of it. A half-circle of armored soldiers filled the hall behind him. Two med techs stood near the back, white coats stark in the dim light.
The man’s gaze slid to me, lingered for a beat, then returned to Varek. “I need your cooperation, Commander.”
Varek didn’t blink. “For what, Colonel Maelor?” he said, like the words were an insult.
“We need to take your mate and figure out what happened to her. You know the Council’s directive. Containment. Analysis. Answers.” Maelor’s tone stayed even, almost respectful, but there was iron beneath it.
He meant business.
My skin went cold. I pulled the sheet tighter, fear crawling up my throat.
Varek shifted, just enough to plant himself wider in the doorway. “She doesn’t leave this room,” he said.
Maelor’s eyes narrowed. “We’re trying to be reasonable here, Commander. We can do blood tests right here. Then we bring her to the med wing. Quietly.”
“No,” Varek said.
The hallway felt charged with tension as breaths shortened, boots scraped against the floor, and the tiny sound of a safety clicking off seemed to echo over the bated breath of everyone present. The soldiers didn’t flinch when Varek’s growl rolled down the corridor. They’d been expecting him to fight.
“Sir,” one of the med techs ventured. “We only need a sample. Vitals. A basic panel. We can do it here. It won’t take more than twenty minutes.”
Varek’s jaw worked. He glanced back at me, heat and fury and something like an apology cutting across his face. He held my gaze with a question in his eyes.
I swallowed past the tightness in my throat, then nodded once. “Blood is fine,” I said, before my courage fled.
Maelor’s mouth ticked up like he’d won a round in the boxing ring. He raised a hand, and two techs stepped forward with their cases. Varek let them pass, but it was clear that he wasn’t happy about it.
They set up on the counter with quiet clinks and shuffles, laying out a length of flexible rubber tubing, several vials, a few needles, and an alcohol swab. One of them looked at my arm and swallowed so hard I heard it. I gripped the sheet around metighter, offered the inside of my elbow anyway, and didn’t look away.
“This might sting,” the tech warned, swabbing. The needle went in, but I barely felt it. The clear vial attached filled with my dark red blood. When it was full, she pulled the vial clear of the syringe and capped it off with trembling fingers.
“Another,” she murmured to her partner. “CBC, tox, hormonal?—”
“Be quick about it,” Varek said, his voice a blade through the thick silence.
The tech snapped a second vial into place and my blood splashed in quickly. I stared at the colonel over the tech’s shoulder.
