Page 119 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

Finally, there was Ellen Grousby. She served in the infirmary in addition to being on the council. She and Dr. Stan were second cousins, and they had learned about medicine around the same time.

The five of them had such rich, honorable backgrounds serving the Wargs.

Though I was their alpha, it was hard not to feel a little starstruck around them.

Normally, I’d ask to hear a story or seek advice from them.

Given the circumstances of this meeting, however, sharing a beer and a steak with them was out of the question.

The tension in that room was even more intense than the tension outside.

I felt a twinge of regret for not having Dom along with me.

At least then, I wouldn’t have to stand before these titans while delivering my progress report.

“Thank you for meeting with me,” I said.

“It’s good to see you alive and well, Alpha Night,” Ellen said. “We heard about your awful injury, as well as young Evan’s betrayal.”

I nodded in acknowledgment of her well wishes. “It’ll take more than that to keep me down, Ellen. As for the betrayal…it was an unfortunate blow, but nothing we couldn’t overcome.”

“Very true.” She nodded. “We’re glad you’ve recovered and seemed to have worked the pack into a fervor to repair the compound.”

“I’m only doing what I should’ve done a while ago.” I had to be humble, but to be honest? I was living off the high of getting so many pack members happily buzzing with activity.

“Alright, now that the formalities are out of the way…” Wayne and the others took their seats while I continued to stand. “Let’s talk.”

I took a short, quiet breath, then launched into the story about the ferals’ attack, Evan’s betrayal, and Troy’s escape. Dom had likely already mentioned some of this to them, so I stuck to the facts and answered whatever questions they had.

When I finished, Graham leaned back in his seat. “We’ve heard whispers about the feral attack. We’ve already started to gather wolves to shore up our borders.”

“I heard as much from Dom,” I said.

“Then he’s also told you that he briefed us about Troy.” Wayne’s dark eyes narrowed. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the Kings would be so shoddy about their prisons, but this is very, very far from good news.”

As a pup, I would have shuddered under Wayne’s harsh glare, but as an adult, I could meet his gaze without flinching.

I understood his anger—after all, I was still pissed Troy’s escape had happened under my watch.

I wished just as much as Wayne did that I could find Troy and put an end to him with my own hands.

“We need to send out our own wolves to hunt him down. It’s the only way to ensure we stop him before he does anything worse,” Jasmine said.

I nodded. “That has already been handled. Bryn sent wolves to search for him.”

At the mention of Bryn’s name, the council members shared a look that made my hackles bristle. It wasn’t outwardly disrespectful, but it was far too close to that for comfort.

“We expected as much,” Jasmine said. “She couldn’t exactly do nothing after Troy’s escape. But from what we’ve heard of your Bryn, she seems a soft-hearted sort.”

“Did she send out a party to arrest him or kill him?” Wayne asked.

“Arrest him,” I answered.

At Wayne’s sigh, annoyance flared in my chest, and my wolf began to growl.

Wayne’s children and I had grown up together.

Frankie was his youngest, and she was two years younger than me.

Wayne’s position on the council and my closeness in age to his kids made him think he could speak to me like he spoke to them.

I leveled my gaze at him. As alpha, I was irked by Wayne’s attitude toward Bryn.

But because he was on the council, he had more leeway than others in the pack.

His authority wasn’t something I could easily usurp, but I didn’t want to do that, anyway.

After all, he was an asset on the council as he had the most experience and was among the oldest pack members.

Given all the struggles that we Wargs had endured through the years, it took a tough-as-nails person to have survived as long as he had.

“My mate,” I said, reminding Wayne and the others whom they were talking about, “is not the kind of alpha who believes in unnecessary violence. The Kings are her pack to rule, and it is my opinion that we should respect her decision.” Even if I didn’t agree with Bryn’s decision, I intended to support her no matter what.

Unfortunately, the council didn’t seem moved by my words.

“That may be true in an ideal world,” Jasmine said. “But you are the alpha of the Wargs. Your duty is, first and foremost, to your people. You need to make sure Troy is dead and buried.”

I met Jasmine’s gaze, annoyance flaring up again. I stepped forward and pressed my palms to the table as I met each of their gazes. “With all due respect, Jasmine, I’m aware of what my duties are. I hate Troy just as much as any of you. I’d love to have him dead at my feet, but—”

“Excellent,” she interjected, a small smile touching her lips. It wasn’t a friendly expression but one with bloodthirsty intent. “As alpha, you understand the threat Redwolf poses to us. You’ll see no problem with sending our own hunting party and nourishing our lands with his blood.”

I raised a brow. “And all five of you have come to this same conclusion?”

There were nods around the table. I frowned.

I wanted to send a hunting party out badly enough to argue with my mate about it, but the fact that the council wanted me to send one made me feel…

torn. I didn’t want to go against my mate and undermine her status.

If the Wargs’ hunting party found Troy first, it would show the Kings that Bryn wasn’t a strong leader because her search party had failed.

But if I didn’t show a strong hand here, or if I opposed the council’s rule outright, there were other risks to consider.

Someone could go over my head and send out their own hunting party, thus weakening my alpha status.

I would have to challenge the guilty party and kill them in front of my pack to regain the pack’s respect.

The absolute last thing I wanted to do was kill one of my own wolves, especially when Troy was on the loose and doing fate only knew what.

My hands were tied, and the easiest path forward was to go along with their desires and send out a hunting party.

Bryn’s team has a head start, I reminded myself.

My men are on that team as well, and there’s a good chance they’ll find him first.

Guilt coiled tight in my stomach. Bryn would eventually find out about the hunting party, so I’d need to make things right with her when I returned.

“Alright,” I said, stepping back from the table. “I’ll send one out after our meeting.”

“Great.” Wayne smiled. “What else do you have to report, Alpha?”

“My men have been helping rebuild the Kings’ buildings after the feral attack, and we’re establishing more of a presence there,” I said. “Our goal to eventually merge the packs gets closer and closer with each cabin we repair. I genuinely feel that we’re on the right track.”

I’d hoped the good news would break some of the lingering tension in the room. But if anything, it only thickened.

“Right. The merger.” Wayne’s smile disappeared. “I never much liked the idea.”

His response blindsided me, and I couldn’t catch myself before raising my eyebrows toward my hairline. I knew the older generation of Wargs hated the idea of getting close to the Kings, but the council had never said they disapproved. They’d even encouraged me when we talked about it in the past.

“I know there are decades of bad blood between our packs, but the alpha challenge will put an end to that,” I said. “That challenge is happening in a couple of weeks. When I win, they’ll have no choice but to merge with us.”

“Alpha Night.” Ida was a woman of few words, so I was surprised when she started speaking. “Take a minute to consider something. Don’t you think it’d be better if we had control over both territories without compromising at all?”

My wolf started to growl low again, but this time, it was a warning to me.

I didn’t like the sound of this, either.

“When I win the challenge,” I began, not wanting to preface this statement with “if” the way I had with Bryn and Dom, “I will become alpha of both packs. The packs will merge either way. I don’t see the point of your question. ”

She shook her head. “No, Alpha, once you win the ceremony, you will be alpha of fresh territory. That territory—that land—will become the Wargs’, and the Kings will be no more. We will scrub their existence from the face of the earth.”

My hackles rose. “And what exactly does that mean for the Kings, Ida?”

The five of them exchanged another glance, then Wayne met my gaze. He looked at me with some sympathy, like he was about to deliver disappointing news to a pup.

“Well, they won’t be welcome unless they assimilate completely,” he said. “They’ll have to abandon their pride as Kings and take on new identities as Wargs. If they don’t want to do that, they can leave or be killed. Likely, it will be the latter.”

“But your experience with the Kings is now decades-old,” I protested.

“I have seen this pack with fresh eyes, and after spending time with them, they’ve shown me that they are capable of accepting change.

Of course, there will be Kings who hate the merger and abandon the larger pack, but there’s real potential for them to—”

Jasmine let out a harsh laugh. “Potential, Night? Potential for what? For the Kings to accept living with a pack they have always viewed as lesser? Not a chance.”