Page 123 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

Ireturned to the King compound after being away for three days.

I arrived long after the sun had set, fully expecting to find Bryn fast asleep.

I entered the cabin quietly, hoping not to wake her.

I had spent most of my time in Warg territory dispatching the hunting party and handling my pack’s complaints and concerns.

I was exhausted, and I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed with my mate.

I crept up the steps and pushed open the door, but I didn’t find Bryn asleep under the covers.

Instead, I found her sitting on the bed with reams of paper around her.

She looked up as I closed the door behind me.

Her smile was so warm and soft, my chest ached.

I had been so busy handling alpha business at my pack’s compound that I didn’t realize how desperately I’d missed her.

“I heard you come in,” she said. “What took you so long to get up here?”

I chuckled. “I was trying to be quiet.”

“Oh, really?” She laughed.

“Yes, really. If I’d known you were awake, I’d have raced up here instead.”

“Mmm. How sweet of you.” She lowered the paperwork and started to gather the papers into piles. “Sorry about all of this.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know I’d be back tonight. What are you working on?”

“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes as she placed the papers on the floor beside the bed. “The Redwolfs did not keep things organized. Tavi and I have spent the last three days trying to get things into some semblance of order, and it’s only now that I could start really looking into the accounts.”

“Sounds like you haven’t had an easy time.” Now that the bed was clear, I crawled in. Bryn’s sweet floral scent surrounded me, making my wolf and I feel at ease, even as another part of me started to get excited.

“No, I haven’t.” She kissed me, and she tasted like peppermint tea, the remnants of which were cooling on her nightstand.

“Are you okay? You seem tired and a little pale.” Her weary appearance was more apparent now that I could study her up close. Dark circles ringed her eyes. It looked like she hadn’t slept since I left.

“I’m fine. It’s just been a long day.”

“Well, I’m here now, and I’ll help you with anything you need.”

She grinned at me. “I know. I’m happy you’re back.” She rested her head on my shoulder. “We have a lot to talk about, Night.”

“Yeah, we do.” I touched her chin and kissed her again, but this time, I took my time tasting her, relishing the softness of her lips on mine.

I kissed her a third time, even more slowly, and let my tongue slip out to meet hers.

When I pulled back, her face was bright red, and those blue-gray eyes were hazy with lust. Mm. Good.

“Let’s save the talking for later,” I murmured, pulling off my clothes.

Her grin showed her agreement, and she removed the pastel-blue nightgown.

Her warm skin smoothed over mine as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

She was still under the covers, but I felt every curve of her as I covered her body with mine.

Kissing her deeply, I took my time to explore every corner of her mouth.

I dragged my tongue lower, to her neck, then to her breasts. Bryn groaned low in her throat as I took one nipple into my mouth. Her hands found my hair, tugging gently on it as I fondled and sucked her skin.

“Night,” she murmured, squirming below me. The sheet began to slip down, allowing me more access to her. “I missed you.”

Her nipple fell from my mouth with a slight pop. She shivered, grinning up at me. “I missed you, too,” I said, pressing against her. Her heat seeped through the thin cover as I rubbed myself against her. She cooed, tugging harder at the strands.

“You’re teasing me,” she whined.

“Me? Tease you?” I nuzzled her and licked the spot where I’d claimed her. She jerked like electricity had just sparked across her skin. “Mm,” I growled, looking up at her flushed face, her mouth slightly open as she panted. “Maybe I am teasing a little bit.”

“No more.” She stroked her hands lower over my neck, moving beneath me and kicking off the cover so we could be skin-to-skin at last. “I want you.”

I chuckled and caught her lips again. Her legs opened, and I sank deeply between them. I reached down to take her leg, lifting her knee higher as I filled her.

“Ah.” She broke the kiss to sink her head into the pillows. “Ah—Night!”

“That’s right, baby,” I whispered in her ear. “Say my name.”

“Night,” she murmured, turning her head and running her tongue along my jaw.

Bryn’s muscles tightened around me, eliciting a groan from me. She gave a breathless giggle and did it again, holding it longer. I exhaled sharply.

“Dammit, Bryn, I’m trying to go slow.”

She continued to give me that devious grin and tightened around me again. “Maybe I don’t want you to go slow…”

I thrust once inside her until I was buried to the hilt, swallowing her cry with my mouth. My hands dipped low to grip her ass and lift her for even better access.

She tugged at my hair, and I growled into her mouth, pressing her into the mattress. Bryn broke our kiss with a moan, her thighs tightening against my body. The wood of the bedframe cracked beneath us.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she panted with each thrust. “Night!”

I dragged my mouth down to where her neck met her shoulder, sinking my teeth into her soft flesh.

The salt and sweetness of her blood dripped into my mouth and pooled on my tongue like magma.

She clawed at my back, raking her nails down my skin.

Her next moan was more of a howl as her wolf moved closer to the surface.

We both drew blood, and the slight pain only heightened the pleasure.

Bryn threw her head back and screamed as her orgasm quaked through her. She came in ecstasy, juices flowing from her and across the bed. I clenched my teeth as my own climax hit me.

After, we lay tangled in each other, her head nestled against my chest and my arms wrapped around her.

“I’m glad we didn’t break the bed,” she said.

I gave a tired chuckle and kissed her forehead. “This time,” I said. “But who knows what will happen next time?”

She giggled and ran her fingers up and down my chest. “So, how were things when you went home? Is the pack doing well?”

“Yeah, the Wargs are doing great. And there hasn’t been any increased feral activity at the borders.”

“That’s good to hear. What about the council? Dom mentioned that you met with them.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I hated the idea of ruining the moment by describing how bloodthirsty the council was, but I couldn’t keep everything about that meeting a secret from her.

“I’m not looking forward to sharing my news,” I admitted. "Why don’t you go first? I got the impression that you had good news.”

I read some worry in her eyes, but she shrugged and propped herself on her elbow. “Sure, okay. I think having the Wargs do work around the compound has done a lot of good. The council seems to be warming up to us.”

My eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”

“Tavi and I met with them yesterday. They said that in the interest of the pack, they wouldn’t oppose the next alpha.”

“No kidding? That is good news. Did they say why?”

“I think their exact words were: ‘We are interested in beginning the next phase of our pack’s future as seamlessly as possible.’ They brought us in to discuss how a merger between the Wargs and Kings would look.”

“That’s fantastic news.” In my wildest dreams, I had never thought the Kings would take the initiative with the merger.

I guessed we truly had made an impression on them…

which made my council’s desire for conflict all the more confusing.

Doing things peacefully was working. Why fuck all that up by shedding unnecessary blood?

“I think so, too.” She stopped petting me, her hand stilling on my chest above my heartbeat. “Now it’s your turn. And don’t try to hold anything back to keep me from worrying. You know I’ll worry either way.”

“Alright, alright." I sighed and placed my hand over hers on my chest. “I didn’t have the greatest meeting with my council.”

She nodded. “I figured. What’s going on?”

“They don’t want a peaceful merger; they want things to be as brutal as possible.”

There it was—the tightness around her mouth, the furrowed eyebrows…I hated telling her things that made her worry. “Wait, what do you mean?” she asked.

I sighed, then explained the way the meeting had gone. It still made my blood boil that they were so determined to make the takeover of the Kings as bloody as possible. Bryn’s expression went from concern to shock. She was seething by the time I finished.

“I never thought they would want to do that to the innocent wolves in my pack,” she said. “It’s disgusting.”

“I hate it, too, love.” I kissed her brow, hoping to smooth it out. “I promise you I won’t let that happen. I just need to come up with a way to bring the council over to our side as effectively as we’ve done here.” Before they did something we’d all regret.

“Well, you don’t have to feel alone in that. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“I know. You’re always so willing to fight on my side.

” I couldn’t help but smile as I pushed her hair behind her ear.

“You’ve already done good work here. It’ll make the merger so much easier now that the council won’t oppose it.

I’m sure that once the dust settles, our packs will be in a good place.

Once the repairs are done, things will be even easier. ”

She nodded and let me coax her back down to the mattress. She rested her head on my shoulder. “During our meeting with the council, they mentioned that they were worried about Warg enemies becoming theirs, but I hadn’t considered that issue.”

I scoffed. “It’s funny they asked about that when Kings have always been our biggest enemies. I’m sure the Kings have more issues with nearby packs than we do, considering how arrogant Troy and Gregor were.”

She nodded. “That’s basically what Tavi and I told them.”

My hand was on her hip, and I caressed her skin in lazy circles.

“It’s not your fault you didn’t think about those finer details.

Mergers between packs as large as ours are rare.

Most mergers happen with smaller, newer packs, but the Wargs and Kings have hundreds of years of history on this land.

There’s no need for one large pack to absorb another when things are peaceful, but our situation is different.

Things have never been peaceful between our packs. ”

I felt her sigh, and my hand stilled.

“When we do finally merge them, I guess we’ll have to be ready for conflicts,” she said. “I’m not looking forward to that. It’s impossible to let our guard down as it is.”

“I know, baby.” I wished I could deal with everything on my own and keep her far away from any danger or anything that would make her cry. But I couldn’t have things my way. Bryn was the alpha of the Kings, and she couldn’t just turn a blind eye to what happened in her pack.

“A merger between our packs won’t happen all at once,” I assured her.

“It’ll be slow, so both packs can have some time to get used to each other.

There will still be conflict and pushback, but it’ll be like…

an arranged marriage. It’s not love at first sight, but over time, you get used to the person next to you and eventually grow to care for them. ”

She laughed. “Are you using arranged marriages as an example because you know I’ve read about them?”

“I might have skimmed the backs of the books you’ve read,” I admitted with a grin. “I’d love to hear you tell me about your favorites.”

“You could just read them yourself.”

“Nah. They’re not really my thing.”

She grinned and snuggled next to me. “Thanks for talking to me about this. I know things will get harder before they get better, but I’m glad you’ll be by my side to see them through.”

“Same here.” I looked down at her when she yawned. She wasn’t usually this tired when we had these longer conversations. “I know I’ve asked you already, but are you sure you’re okay? You seem even more exhausted than I am.” And I was the one who’d made the trek from the Wargs to the Kings.

“Oh, yeah. I, um, had to pull a couple of late nights to try to keep up with the workload. That, and I might have talked with some of my bullies earlier today. It took a lot out of me.”

“You did?” I touched her cheek, my eyebrows knitting together in concern.

“Basically, they apologized for the way they treated me in the past.”

“They’re asking for forgiveness?” I scoffed. “If you wanted to banish them, I’d stand behind you.”

I meant it—mostly—as a joke, but her little frown told me I hadn’t stuck the landing. “Night, I feel really conflicted about this.”

“I’m sorry, love.” I brushed a gentle kiss over her lips. “You know you have zero obligation to accept their apology, right? They were terrible to you.”

“I know, but I don’t think I would embody the alpha I want to be if I turned them away.”

“Well, you don’t have to decide anything right now. You have more than enough on your mind as it is.” I kissed her cheek. “Give it some time, and when you feel ready, you can do whatever you think is best.”

“Isn’t it bad to make them wait? Wouldn’t I show them I’m a stronger leader if I give them a quick response?”

I shook my head. “Not every decision you make as an alpha needs to be the day of. Some things need more time to simmer. With experience, it gets easier to tell when you need a quick, decisive response and when you need to pull back.”

“Oh.” She let my words sink in, and her frown lifted into one of her sweet smiles. “Thank you, Night. I think that was exactly what I needed to hear.”

“I’m glad I could help.” I kissed her again and nuzzled her neck. “Let’s get some sleep.”

I decided to leave our conversation there, even though something told me there was more to her tiredness than work and an encounter with her old bullies.

I couldn’t put my finger on why, especially when her explanation made perfect sense.

But she was tired, I was tired, and it was best for both of us to get some rest rather than try to get to the bottom of everything now.

I settled in more comfortably at her side and closed my eyes. In minutes, I was asleep.