Page 138 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

I’d been cooped up in the alpha cabin for three days straight, and I had to get out of there.

Night said he was against it, but I promised all I would do was check on the progress of our rebuilding projects.

The fresh air would be good for me, and it would show the Kings that I was still around and taking care of them.

Plus, I hadn’t been sick that morning, and I even felt well enough to eat a small omelet with my usual toast and tea.

I wanted to take full advantage of my strength while I had it.

Tavi asked if I wanted her to come along, but I told her to stay behind so she could continue searching for that account information. She agreed, and I stepped out on my own.

The sun was shining that morning, which I hoped was a sign that I’d made the right decision.

I went to the commons to buy something for Night and Tavi.

Alphas were given a generous monthly stipend, and when I received mine, I hadn’t known what to do with it.

Mom suggested I save it or spend it on something that would make me feel good.

I didn’t know what to get for myself, but I wanted Tavi and Night to know how much I appreciated their hard work while confined to my bed.

I looked around for a moment, taking my time to find the best gifts. Eventually, I decided on a stall that sold braided leather bracelets. No one was manning the store when I arrived, so I browsed the goods on display.

There were a lot of beautiful bracelets for sale, some with metal clasps or trinkets attached to them, others with simple three-strand braids, and some with much more complex weaves.

I was tempted by more than one style, but when I considered Tavi and Night’s personalities, I knew they would prefer simpler styles.

“See something you like, Alpha?” The deep voice made me look up.

It was as if Lance had just appeared next to me. I stepped to the side and eyed him. He wore the kind of smile a person reserved for someone they hadn’t seen in a long time. I wasn’t sure what that smile meant, but I didn’t return it.

The first time I ever saw Lance, he was hanging out with Troy, his pale eyes staring dispassionately forward.

I’d never known him to smile or laugh or have a kind word for anyone.

Why was he here if he was so close to Troy?

Was he keeping tabs on us? After what happened with Evan, we couldn’t be too careful.

“Yes, actually.” I pointed to a chestnut-brown bracelet and a cranberry-red one. Both bracelets had brass clasps to keep them securely closed around the wrist.

Lance started to respond, but the shopkeeper returned at that very moment.

“You have a good eye, Alpha. I’ll give you a good price for the pair of them.”

“How much?”

“Forty-five dollars.”

I reached for my purse. My mother would be disappointed that I wasn’t haggling over the price, but I wasn’t in the mood for it. Besides, Lance was standing right next to me, and I didn’t want to try talking down the price with him watching me so closely.

I went to give the money to the merchant when Lance’s hand covered mine.

“Hold on there, Alpha,” he said. “I happen to understand the work that goes into bracelets like these. He’s taking advantage of you by asking for anything more than thirty.”

Both the merchant and I looked at Lance in surprise. The transaction was almost complete. Why was he stepping in for me?

“I can assure you,” the merchant began slowly, “that my daughter put everything into making these bracelets. How can you put such a low price on her hard work?”

Lance smirked, amusement twinkling in his eye. “Oh, really? Then why was Charline selling them to her friends for fifteen dollars each? Wouldn’t she know the value of her own work?”

“Charline—what?” The mention of his daughter’s name seemed to throw the merchant off. But he recovered quickly. “Well, regardless, what passes between friends is different from what happens in real commerce. I’m sure Alpha Hunter and I can settle for paying forty dollars for the bracelets.”

“Mmm.” Lance pretended to consider the offer. “No. I still think thirty is more than enough for two.”

“Thirty-five.”

“Nope. Thirty, or we walk.”

I didn’t remember agreeing to walk away from the sale. I really wanted those bracelets, but honestly, this negotiation was a little entertaining. What would the merchant do next?

He gritted his teeth, his face reddening the longer this went on. I hadn’t noticed until that moment, but a small crowd had formed behind us. I should have expected as much—Lance was handsome and a rare sight around the compound. That mystery kept people curious about him.

“Fine,” the merchant said. “Thirty it is.”

“Excellent! I knew we could come to a reasonable agreement.”

I handed over the haggled-down amount, and the merchant gave me the bracelets in a paper bag, which I slipped into my purse.

“That was…kind of you.” I didn’t even try to mask my confusion. One of Troy’s people helping someone out? That didn’t sound right—unless he had some kind of vendetta against that merchant.

Or maybe he had a greater plan in mind.

“Hardly,” he scoffed. “I’m just having some fun. Maybe next time, you’ll do the bargaining yourself.”

“Um, yeah, maybe.”

He raised his hand by way of goodbye. “I’ll be seeing you, Alpha.”

“Sure. Bye.”

He went in the opposite direction to the alpha cabin.

That had been a bizarre interaction, to say the least. He didn’t make me feel unsafe, but he seemed to be testing me or trying to figure me out.

I also had the strangest feeling that he and I were supposed to meet when we did.

I wondered if the spirits were trying to give me a warning about him.

“Hey, Bryn!”

I whipped around, but it was only Jasper. “Oh, Jasper.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “I wasn’t expecting to see you around the compound.”

“My bad. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said with a sweet, apologetic smile. “I thought you heard me calling.”

“I probably should have, but I guess I was zoned out.” I relaxed. “It’s been about a week since I’ve seen you. What’ve you been up to?”

“I wish I could say I’ve been having a good time, but that hasn’t been the case.

” He gave me a sad smile. “I’ve been hunting down Troy, and I needed to give Alpha Night an update.

” He obviously had some bad news. “I’m glad I bumped into you, Bryn.

You’ll probably want to hear my update. Want to walk with me? ”

“Oh, sure.” We fell into a comfortable rhythm as we walked. All that was missing was Tavi. A pang of guilt hit me in the chest. Maybe I should’ve asked her to come with me after all. She might not mind seeing Jasper after all this time.

I frowned. Something he’d said stood out to me. “Hey, Jasper?”

“What’s up?”

“When you say ‘hunting down Troy,’ you mean you’re part of the search party, right? You’re hunting him down…to arrest him, right?”

He laughed like I’d made a joke. “Oh, we’re searching for him, alright. But no, not to bring him in. Our orders are to kill on sight. The only thing we need to bring in is proof of our kill.”

His answer rattled around in my head until it finally clicked into place. My confusion turned to fury hot enough to boil a kettle.

“A hunting party, you say,” I repeated, my voice low. “How interesting.”

Night had broken his promise to me. I stopped walking, and Jasper continued for a few steps before stopping and turning to me. When he saw the expression on my face, his smile fell.

“Jasper, when did Night give the order for this hunting party?”

“The day he got back to the compound. I think that was about eight days ago or so?”

That was the day he met with the Wargs’ council. I’d thought he’d told me everything, but he must have “forgotten” to mention this part of it. How convenient.

“How interesting that he didn’t tell me about this.”

His eyes became as wide as dinner plates. “Bryn, I’m sorry. I thought you knew—”

“Well, I didn’t.” I shouldn’t have snapped at him.

It wasn’t his fault that Night had kept me in the dark, but I was pissed off, dammit, and I needed to speak to my mate now.

“Follow me, Jasper,” I said, storming towards the construction site.

Night had mentioned he would be assisting Dom with repairs.

We found Night and Dom standing together and laughing about something, but when they saw us approaching, they stopped.

“Bryn, what’s—”

“When the hell were you going to tell me you sent a hunting party after Troy?”

Night blinked, looking like a startled buck. “What?”

“Night, I want to know right now why you’d send a hunting party after Troy when I told you I didn’t want him killed.” I looked at him expectantly, my rage wafting off me in waves.

Night didn’t answer right away. He looked from me to Jasper, who held his hands up in surrender and took a step back.

“I saw Bryn when I arrived,” he explained quickly. “I didn’t know you were keeping it a secret, Alpha. If I had, I wouldn’t have told her.”

I stepped in front of Jasper. If I were calm, I would have found it funny and maybe a little nostalgic that I was getting between the two men again, just like I had when Night and I denied our feelings for each other. But I wasn’t calm; I was ready to rip someone’s head off his shoulders.

“Don’t you dare blame him, Night Shepherd,” I snapped. “You are the one keeping secrets from me. Why didn’t you tell me that you did this? No, forget that—why did you send a hunting party at all?”

He sent one more glare at Jasper, then put his hand on my shoulder. I allowed him to steer me away from Dom and Jasper to a more private spot, but I jerked free the minute we had gone far enough.

“Stop stalling and tell me,” I demanded.

He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, he looked a little apologetic, but not in a way that said he knew he’d fucked up. He just looked like he was sorry he’d been caught.