Page 99 of His Claim
“Down!” Silas barked.
We dove behind a burned-out truck just as a grenade hit another car beside us. The blast lifted it off the ground and sent debris raining down. I felt the heat against my skin even as I rose again. There was no time to breathe. The next wave was already coming.
The city wolves came for us, fully armored, their eyes cold and empty. Behind them, human soldiers moved in step, their faces pale and emotionless. Rage burned through me to see humans fighting for the ones who had enslaved them and were raping their women.
Rowan was the first to meet them, hurling himself into the line like a bomb on four legs. He slammed one of the armored wolves into a wall so hard the concrete cracked, then tore into another before the first body hit the ground.
Silas was like an avalanche—unstoppable, lethal, methodical. Every time a blade found him, he gave it back twice over.
And still, the soldiers kept coming.
The narrow streets were slick with blood. I slammed into another soldier, feeling ribs crack beneath my grip. He fell, and another took his place.
Soren moved beside me, rifle blazing, eyes fierce. “We can’t hold them!” she yelled, slamming a fresh clip into her weapon. “They’ve got reinforcements moving in from the south!”
“Then we move faster!” I shouted.
Above us, one of the old towers groaned under the weight of the bombardment. The upper floors crumbled, spilling steel and glass into the street below. The blast wave knocked me to my knees. My ears rang, but I forced myself up, blinking dust from my eyes until I could see more clearly.
Kendra was dragging one of the wounded Resistance fighters back behind cover, and Lia was firing over her shoulder to keep the path clear. Soren’s people moved in tight formations, covering them, but it was utter chaos.
“Move!” I roared. “Get them out of the open!”
Silas and Rowan lunged past me, the two of them slamming into a soldier who’d broken through the line.
The fight was turning into a slaughter, the streets choked with corpses and ruin. If we weren’t careful, we were going to die here.
By the time we pushed three blocks past the fallen gate, the streets had turned into a death trap. The city center rose ahead like a fortress, half-hidden by smoke and flame. The air burned my lungs. Every surface stank of oil and scorched flesh and metal. Sparks leapt from power lines overhead, cutting through the haze in staccato bursts.
“Keep the line moving!” Soren shouted, her clear voice cutting through the madness.
Her soldiers darted between collapsed storefronts and the bodies of the Council’s guard, firing in short, controlled bursts. Above us, drones buzzed low, their rotors whining as they spat a few bullets into the streets. Silas and his wolves tore one down in midair, but the next one dropped a firebomb that set the corner of the block ablaze. The flames clawed up the sides of the buildings, sending thick black smoke rolling over us.
Then the turrets came alive.
They burst from concealed hatches in the pavement—black steel with red optics pulsing. Gunfire shredded the air. Wolves and humans dove for cover as chunks of concrete rained down.
I ducked behind an overturned truck, bullets sparking off steel. Kendra and Lia were crouched there, helping a woundedResistance fighter. The woman’s leg was mangled, blood pooling fast.
“Med team!” Kendra screamed.
“Medics are gone!” Lia snapped. Her hands were shaking a bit as she wrapped a torn strip of cloth around the woman’s wound. “They didn’t make it through.”
The fighter’s eyes were glassy, her breath shallow. “Just—just leave me,” she whispered.
Kendra’s face twisted, a sound somewhere between a sob and a snarl ripping from her throat. “Not a chance.”
Another explosion hit nearby, the shockwave knocking us all sideways. I tasted blood. I rose, wiping grit from my eyes.
“We can’t stay here!” I shouted. “Get ready to follow our commands.”
I vaulted the truck, rifle raised. The world shrank to nothing more than motion and noise—the kick of recoil against my shoulder, the clang of bullets against metal, the howl of wolves too close to death. I fired at the turrets until one exploded, showering the street with sparks.
“Pull them back!” I shouted, turning back toward Soren.
“Negative!” Soren’s voice snarled back, full of fury. “We hold the line or everyone dies!”
In the chaos, I watched as a group of drones approached us in formation. They swooped low, spraying a fine mist into the air. I felt it hit my skin like acid, hot and sharp.
