Page 155 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

Night and I left Dom to his thoughts. He needed to decompress, and now that I’d told him he was my brother, I realized I needed to process everything as well. I needed Night.

I tugged his arm, and he leaned down so I could whisper in his ear.

“Let’s go home.”

The moment he met my gaze, he instantly knew what I wanted from him, and he wasted no time in getting me home.

Once there, he pulled me against him so our chests were flush.

His hardness pressed into my lower stomach, and his deep, masculine scent assaulted my senses.

It reminded me of rainfall and freshly chopped cedar, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

As we walked upstairs, he trailed his fingers down the side of my body until he reached my ass. He smoothed his hand over my skin and lifted my leg to his hip.

Night kissed me as he entered me. I sighed, nuzzling his chest as he made slow, sleepy love to me. My eyes drifted closed as I traced the tattoos on his shoulder.

“You make me feel so good,” I whispered. “I can’t believe I get to wake up to this every morning.”

His answering chuckle rumbled through his chest. “Imagine how lucky I feel,” he said, turning and covering me partially with his body as he caught my mouth with his. His kisses were deep and tender, just like his even strokes.

I ran my hands down his back, his hard muscles shifting under my palms. I moved my leg a bit more, and he shifted, rolling fully on top of me.

I reveled in the weight of him pushing me into the mattress.

His thrusts grew less lazy and more intentional.

Each one brought me closer and closer to release, dispersing electric bliss from my core and throughout my body.

I gripped his waist, gasping with each deep stroke of his cock. My orgasm swept through me, and I shuddered at the delicious tingling. I licked the spot where his shoulder met his neck and nipped at his flesh. He groaned as he came, filling me with his hot seed.

After, Night and I lay next to each other, enjoying being in each other’s presence in the quiet of the bedroom.

I turned my head to look at him and found him looking back at me.

His eyes were a pair of bright chartreuse gems in the late-morning light, and he turned to me, brushing the back of his hand across my cheek.

My body was wonderfully spent, and if not for my racing thoughts, I would have fallen asleep again.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything I learned last night,” I said.

“Talk to me,” he said. “Tell me what you’re thinking.” Night was totally focused on me, on hearing what I had to say. His devotion to me made me want to giggle and blush and hide, but the heaviness on my mind kept me from giving in to those impulses.

“When I saw you in Blossom’s memories, she told you that you and I had a destiny to fulfill, but she didn’t give any details.”

“I…I remember her telling me that,” Night said.

It was fascinating to see how his eyes brightened when he recalled old memories.

“I never really understood it. Mom told me that when something is fated or destined to happen, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

All we can do is accept it and fight for our right to see it through.

But that doesn’t make it any less bizarre to know there’s a future for you that you can’t really control. ”

I nodded. He was just as uncomfortable with the unknown as I was. “I wonder what our destiny is and when it will happen. Violet said all of you are starting to remember more about my mother because we’re getting closer to achieving our destiny.”

He stroked my cheek again. “I don’t know, love, but whatever it is, we’ll face it together.”

Those words sent shivers through me, and I touched his chest, letting my hands splay across his heart. “In the memory, Blossom said you were my protector.”

“And she was right.” He gave me a sharp-toothed grin. “I’m willing to fight anyone and anything to protect you. If I had to go toe to toe with fate itself, I would.”

I snorted. “You talk a big game, Night, but you said that no one can go against fate.”

“I’m sure I’d find a way. And it wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”

We laughed, and I knew for sure that the ritual had brought us closer. Night and I were on the right path with our relationship; we had both taken huge steps to treat each other as equals. As soulmates.

“You make me feel so alive,” I said. “I want to know everything I can about you.”

“Yeah?” He sounded hesitant.

“What’s wrong, Night?”

“It’s just…I’m not proud of much of my past. We already disagree about how violent an alpha is meant to be, and I’m worried about what you’ll think of me when you find out what I’ve done to get to where I am.”

I shook my head. “I want to know everything,” I said again. “Good and bad. I can’t guarantee I won’t be upset about some of the things you tell me, but I won’t stop loving you, and I won’t abandon you. We can’t change the past. We can only move forward.”

“That’s true.” He relaxed again. “Okay. From now on, why don’t we tell each other one thing about ourselves that the other doesn’t know? We’ll do that every morning, and we’ll keep going until we run out of things to talk about.”

I gasped. “Oh, I love that idea! Do you mind going first?”

“Nope. I thought Dom would tell you this story last night, but I’m glad he didn’t.” He smiled. “When I was a kid, I was terrified of spiders.”

“Really? You?” I thought about the little boy from my mother’s memories, the one who was full of energy and didn’t yet know how to scowl. “Actually, you know what? I can see that.”

He snickered. “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, when Dom and I were four, we were playing hide-and-seek in one of the caves near Warg territory. I wedged into a tight spot inside the cave, but I hadn’t had my first shift and couldn’t see that the crevice was literally crawling with the little bastards.”

I suppressed a shudder at the idea of being surrounded by spiders. “Gross,” I said. “My soul would simply have left my body.”

“That’s how it felt for me. For years after that, I was terrified of spiders.

Just seeing one made me feel like death itself was breathing down my neck, tickling me like their little legs.

” He grimaced. “Dom, of course, liked being a dick about it. He used to catch them and leave them in my room, or put them on me when I wasn’t paying attention.

He used to say it was to help me get over my fear, but that was bullshit. ”

“That’s terrible!” I shouldn’t have laughed at young Night and his arachnophobia, but the way he told it, I couldn’t help the giggles.

It was no wonder that he and Dom were so close.

They’d grown up attached at the hip. “I’m sure you’re not still terrified of the creepy crawlies,” I said. “How did you get over your fear?”

“That’s the worst part. Dom’s torture did help me…kind of. I knew the only way to get him to stop was if I stopped reacting to it. At first, I pretended I wasn’t afraid of them anymore, but at some point, the fear actually disappeared. And then he found other ways to fuck with me.”

“I guess it all worked out for the better, then.” I rolled onto my back and looked up at the white ceiling.

“When I was growing up, my mom was my number-one fan. She was always supportive of me and told me I could do and be anything I wanted…but the one thing she couldn’t support was my dream of being a singer.

Apparently, whenever I opened my mouth to sing, I yowled like a cat being electrocuted—or so she said. ”

Night burst into one of those full-belly laughs I loved so much. I grinned, staring at him.

“So, no lullabies for the baby, then?”

“Oh no, there will be. You’ll need to be prepared for the sounds that come out of my mouth.”

“Sure, I’ll prepare for that…by getting earplugs for me. And tiny ones for the baby.”

I smacked his chest. “You better not!”

He laughed again and pulled me against him so he could nuzzle into my neck and kiss me there. “I’m so in love with you, Bryn,” he said. “Every day, I fall harder and harder for you.”

“I feel the same way.” I ran my fingers through his soft, thick hair. “But we can’t stay in bed all day…as tempting as that is.”

“Are you sure? Maybe we could take a sick day.” His sexy grin stirred desire in my core, and I was this close to saying yes.

“You know we can’t.” I kissed his forehead. “I’m feeling much stronger today than I usually feel. I need to take advantage of that and get some work done.”

Night gave a long mournful sigh. “I’ll check up on Dom and see if he needs my help training our wolves or with any construction projects. I also want to see if there’s been news about Troy.”

I grimaced. “It’s been too quiet lately. I hope they have an update.”

“Me too, baby.”

It took a little while, but Night and I finally pulled ourselves out of bed, freshened up, and got dressed. He kissed me goodbye and left. I decided to stay inside.

I grabbed some paper and a pencil and sat at the dinner table with a cup of tea.

The first order of business was sketching the symbols I’d seen.

I told the elders I’d do that last night, but the ritual had exhausted me.

Fortunately, I still remembered them clearly, which helped me hold the pencil with some confidence.

I used five sheets of paper, one for each wall that made up the room and the ceiling.

I drew the symbols as I’d seen them from Blossom’s position on the bed.

Because I knew nothing about these symbols or how they worked, I wasn’t sure if the positioning mattered.

I wanted to be as accurate as possible so that the elders could give me some real information.