Title: Claim Day
Chapter 40: A Shift
04/18/2025 — Warda
I stood outside the fabrication lab, checking my watch for the hundredth time. Just past Midnight. Four more fucking hours of this shit. The hallway was dead silent except for the hum of machinery behind the door. My back ached from standing, and my mind kept drifting to Edward.
Would’ve been nice to spend tonight with him instead of this mind-numbing guard duty. He’d be taking over at four, which meant we’d just pass each other like ships in the night. Fucking waste. I knew exactly what he’d want, what we both wanted. Could almost feel my hands on him, rough and demanding the way he liked it. The way I’d push him against the wall, not bothering with words. We didn’t need ’em. But instead, here I was, staring at a fucking door until dawn while Duncan tinkered with whatever the hell he was building in there.
Speaking of the devil, the door beeped and slid open. Duncan emerged, looking tired but satisfied, wiping his hands on a rag. He swiped his security card to lock up—I instinctively touched the identical card clipped to my belt—and nodded at me.
“Making progress in there?” I asked, just to break the silence.
Duncan’s face brightened. “The first three transmitters are functional. Not pretty, but they work.” He smiled, the kind that reached his eyes. For all his paranoia and twitchiness, Duncan was alright. “Should have enough for the initial testing by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Edward will be glad to hear it,” I said.
“You two holding up okay?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice.
I shrugged. “As well as anyone. Better than most.”
“Get some rest when your shift ends,” he said, patting my shoulder as he walked past. “And tell Edward I’ll be back at eight sharp.”
Then he was gone, and I was alone again with my thoughts of Edward. Four fucking hours.
The sound of female voices pulled me from my daydreaming. I straightened, instantly alert. Why the hell would anyone be in this section at this hour? The voices grew louder: multiple women, laughing and talking. Definitely not something you’d expect near the restricted labs at midnight.
I turned toward the sound, hand instinctively moving closer to my holstered weapon.
Around the corner came three women, Dr. Smith’s claimed ones. Petra Silvra led the pack, her severe bob slightly disheveled. Behind her, Kaori Dressen and Lenore Renton followed, all three swaying slightly as they walked. They were giggling like teenagers, bumping into each other, clearly intoxicated.
“Ladies,” I said, stepping forward to block their path. “This area is restricted.”
They stopped, looking surprised to see me. Petra’s eyes widened slightly.
“Oh! Officer Collins,” she said, her words slightly slurred. “We didn’t expect anyone to be here.”
Lenore giggled, leaning heavily on Kaori. “We’re lost,” she announced, then hiccupped. “Celebrating with Dr. Smith. The first versions of the programs are done!”
Something felt off about their behavior. The way they moved, maybe. Or how their eyes seemed sharper than their slurred speech suggested. But I couldn’t pin it down.
“This section is off-limits,” I said firmly.
“We’re so sorry,” Kaori said, bowing slightly in that formal way she had. “We must have taken a wrong turn. Dr. Smith opened some special bottles he’d been saving. We’re just trying to find our way back to our quarters.”
I relaxed slightly, almost amused. “Where’d you even find alcohol around here?”
“Bernard has his ways,” Petra said with a wink.
I stepped aside. “Get out of here, ladies. Find your beds before you wake up the whole facility.”
“Goodnight, Officer Collins,” Lenore said sweetly as they began to move past me.
I watched them, wondering if Edward would like a bottle of whatever they’d been drinking. Could make for a nice surprise next time we had a moment alone. Wait… Where was Smith? Strange he wasn’t with his women after their celebration. As far I as I knew they all slept together.
Before I could complete the thought, Lenore turned around, aiming something at me. The flash of metal was the last thing I saw before a piercing pain lanced through my chest. My body convulsed, limbs jerking uncontrollably as I collapsed to the ground.
They’d tasered me. I’d been fucking tasered. The realization made me furious, even as my body spasmed on the floor.
Dr. Bernard Smith stepped around the corner with a messenger bag over his shoulder, smiling that smug fucking smile of his. I lunged, but all three women were on me now, forcing me to the ground. I fought hard but three against one were bad odds, even for me, and when the old fucker Smith joined in, pressing a knee into my back, the struggle was over.
“EDWARD!” I tried to scream, but Petra slapped a hand over my mouth while the others pinned my arms. I bit her as hard as I could but she didn’t flinch as blood filled my mouth.
Smith stood up casually, my gun in hand. “Well done, ladies,” he said, examining my weapon with interest. “Very efficient. We’ll have to thank the Sheriff for trading us one of his toys.”
They bound my wrists with zip ties and shoved a cloth into my mouth, securing it with tape. I thrashed against them, rage building as I realized how completely I’d been played.
Smith crouched beside me, turning my gun over in his hands. “Nothing personal, Officer Collins,” he said conversationally. “Just business. You’ll feel right as rain in a moment.”
I glared at him, fury burning through me. Not for myself—I could handle whatever this prick had planned—but for Edward. If Smith was making this move, it meant something bigger was happening. Something that would hurt Edward.
Lenore snatched my keycard from my belt, dangling it in front of my face with a smirk. “Thanks for the access, Officer Tough Girl. Bet Edward never taught you to watch your pockets better, huh?”
Smith chuckled, taking the card from her fingers. “That’s because Edward trains his women for brute force, not finesse.” He swiped the card through the reader, the door sliding open with a soft hiss. “Move fast, ladies. I wouldn’t want one of Edward’s men noticing us on their security feed. Though they’re usually busy looking outside the facility, not inside.”
The women slipped inside while Smith settled on the floor beside me, pulling a sleek laptop from the messenger bag slung across his shoulder. His fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced precision, his eyes never leaving the screen. I twisted against my restraints, the zip ties cutting into my wrists.
“Struggle all you want,” Smith muttered, not bothering to look at me. “Those are military-grade.”
The women emerged from the lab minutes later, Petra carrying the three transmitters Duncan had mentioned, while Kaori lugged a heavy canvas bag that likely contained the unfinished units. My stomach dropped. Whatever they were planning, they were taking everything.
Lenore handed Smith one of the small devices, about the size of a deck of cards with a short antenna and a USB cable dangling from one end. He plugged it into his laptop, his face illuminated by the screen’s glow.
“Upload complete,” he announced after a moment, a smile spreading across his face. “Ladies, I believe we’re ready for our first field test.”
The women exchanged excited glances, gathering around him to look at the screen.
“Step back,” Smith warned, suddenly serious. “The range is supposed to be only a meter or so, but let’s not take chances. I only need one test subject.” He glanced down at me with a smirk.
Cold dread washed over me. I hadn’t been briefed on the latest developments, but I was smart enough to figure out what they were up to. The realization hit me like a punch to the gut: they were going to mess with my head, try to make me turn against Edward.
I thrashed harder, the thought of betraying him worse than any physical pain they could inflict. I’d rather die than be used against him. The zip ties cut deeper, blood slicking my wrists as I fought.
Smith’s women backed away, watching with clinical interest as he positioned the small device near my head.
“Don’t worry, Officer Collins,” Smith said, his voice sickly sweet. “In a moment, you’ll feel much better. You’ll serve me.” He leaned closer, his breath hot against my ear. “You won’t have to fight against your own nature, working to return to a state you find disgusting.”
I lunged forward, nearly headbutting him, my restraints stretching to their limit. For a second, I thought they might snap—
Smith pressed a button on the device. A soft beeping sound filled my ears.
The world shattered.
One moment I was glaring at Smith, the next, everything fractured into a kaleidoscope of razor-sharp fragments. Colors that shouldn’t exist exploded behind my eyes. Edward’s face splintered across my vision, multiplying, dividing, melting away.
Dead. He was dead.
I knew it wasn’t true, couldn’t be true, but the certainty crashed through me like a physical force. My master was gone. The knowledge burned through me, rewiring everything I thought I knew. I could feel the absence of him like a gaping wound where my purpose had been.
My loyalty floated away like smoke, disconnected from any target. I needed to serve, the imperative hammered through me with each heartbeat, but serve who? The question spiraled outward, expanding into an infinite void. Any HIM. All men. One man. The RIGHT man. My existence contracted to a single point of desperate need: to be claimed, to be owned, to be USED.
The concept of “Edward” dissolved into meaningless sounds. In its place: a blinding understanding that I was a tool, a weapon, a vessel, waiting for the hand that would wield me. Any hand. The right hand. HIS hand.
My consciousness fractured further. I was simultaneously empty and overflowing, desperate and content, lost and found. Colors tasted like submission. Sounds felt like service. The boundaries between sensations collapsed completely.
Time stretched like taffy, each second an eternity of reconfiguration. My identity, whatever that had been, disintegrated and reformed around a new central truth: I existed to be claimed. By anyone. By everyone. By HIM.
The room spun in impossible geometries. Smith’s face multiplied across my vision. Not Smith, just MAN, just CLAIMER, just MASTER-TO-BE. The women around him pulsed with jealousy-colored light. They had masters. I needed a master. Any master. The right master.
Edward was dead. Edward was never real. Edward was a concept I’d invented. Edward was—
The world snapped back into focus.
I blinked, the world coming back into sharp focus. The haze in my mind cleared like fog burning off in morning sun. I was… myself again. Not Edward’s. Not anyone’s. Just Warda Collins, the woman I’d been before all this claiming bullshit started, before I’d asked Edward to claim me for protection, before everything went to hell.
Reality crashed back hard. I was zip-tied on the floor of a hallway. Smith and his women had stolen the VLF transmitters. They’d used one on me. I yanked against the restraints again, feeling fresh blood slick my wrists as the plastic cut deeper. Fuck. FUCK.
Smith was watching me with the smug satisfaction of a man who’d just hit the jackpot on a risky bet. His eyes gleamed behind his glasses, scientific curiosity mixed with raw power. He crouched down, his knees popping slightly, and grabbed my bloody wrists.
“No,” I gasped through the gag, turning my head away. “Don’t—” The cloth muffled my words, but the panic was clear. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see his face when he said it.
“Look at me, Officer Collins,” he commanded. When I didn’t, he grabbed my chin, forcing my face toward his. “You’re mine now.”
The world spun for a second, just a second, and then everything clicked into place with perfect, crystalline clarity. Of course I was his. How could I have ever been anyone else’s? My body relaxed instantly, the tension flowing out of me as my new purpose filled the void.
Smith’s fingers worked at the tape around my mouth, peeling it away and removing the cloth. I worked my jaw, feeling the ache from being gagged.
“Well,” I said, looking up at him with a smirk, “that’s one hell of a recruitment technique. Sorry about falling for the drunk act. Hope I’ll do a better job for you than I did for Edward.”
The name felt strange on my tongue. Edward. Just a word now. Just a man. It was almost funny how completely he’d vanished from the center of my thoughts. Minutes ago, I would have died for him without hesitation. Now? I’d put a bullet between his eyes if Smith asked me to, and I’d sleep like a baby afterward. The thought should have horrified me, but instead I felt only amusement.
I looked at Smith, really looked at him, and felt the gravitational pull of his presence. This was my center now. This was who I’d die for. This was who I’d kill for. The certainty of it was as natural as breathing.
“Untie her,” Smith told the women, and they immediately moved to comply, Petra cutting through the zip ties with a small knife.
I stood up, rubbing my wrists absently, barely noticing the blood or the pain. What mattered was what came next. What mattered was how I could be useful.
“So,” I said, rolling my shoulders to work out the stiffness, “I’m guessing you didn’t go through all this trouble to claim me for nothing. What do you need me to do?”
Smith’s lips curved into that self-satisfied smile again. “We’re going to need your help, Officer Collins,” he said, handing me my gun back. “We have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it.”