Page 168 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

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Iwoke from a fuzzy, restful sleep to Night kissing my throat, his teeth scraping gently over my skin. Moaning, I pushed back against his chest for more kisses, and he obliged, moving his mouth down until his tongue touched the claiming mark at my shoulder.

I rubbed my ass back and forth over his hardness, and his lustful growl vibrated against my skin. He snaked an arm around me to squeeze my breasts, my hips, my thighs. As his teeth dimpled the skin on my shoulder, I pressed more firmly against him.

“Night, please,” I whimpered, trembling.

“Mmm,” he replied as he slipped a hand between my thighs to lift my leg just enough for him to slip his cock between them. His chest was hot against my back, and I loved the feel of his muscles tensing and relaxing with every movement.

“Yes,” I moaned. His length was flush with my pussy.

I was already so wet for him that when I closed my thighs around him, that spot was more than slick enough for him to thrust in.

My muscles tightened around his girth, and the increased friction made him press his forehead to the nape of my neck, groaning.

“Bryn,” he whispered, pressing kisses to the back of my neck.

“Night, give me more,” I begged.

“More?” I felt him smile against my skin. “This isn’t enough?”

“I-I…no, it’s so good…I just—”

One of his hands went to my breast, teasing my nipple between his fingers. “Just what?”

I bit my lip. It was impossible for me to respond properly to his questions, and he knew that.

Night kept the wonderful pace consistent, which only further scrambled my thoughts.

Teasing me was mean…but I couldn’t even be mad at him.

I was riding a wave of pleasure, ever-increasing in intensity, and it felt like I might never reach its peak.

But as much as the torture made me gasp and plead, it was also very, very sweet.

It was the kind of push and pull that I’d dreamed about long ago, before Night and I ever met.

It was what I touched myself to when he wasn’t in bed with me.

The wave that had built and built inside me crashed down. I came hard, liquid pooling between my thighs and drenching his cock. His breath rasped against my ear as sticky, hot wetness coated his length. He gripped my thigh again, angling his body to thrust deeper inside me.

“Night!” I gasped.

He licked my claiming mark, then bit me again, the initial pain replaced with overwhelming pleasure as he filled me completely.

Limp and trembling from my previous orgasm, all I could was cry out as he thrust into me.

The sounds of skin smacking against skin, of breathless moans and hungry groans flooded into the room.

He lapped at my hot blood, each stroke of his tongue inundating me with stinging, electric pleasure.

He raised my leg higher and increased his pace.

I curled my fingers into the sheets as his cock hit that coveted spot deep inside me.

It was enough to drive me wild, enough to turn my moans into growls.

My teeth lengthened as I dug my sharp nails into the sheets.

I howled as another orgasm tore through me.

Night came seconds later, grunting against my skin as he emptied himself into me. The force of it had him shaking against my back. He slowly lowered my leg, then held me as tightly as he could. He was breathing hard, and I felt the thunderous pounding of his heartbeat at my back.

“Good girl,” he panted. “Good girl.”

I gave a breathless giggle and wiggled against him. We basked in the afterglow of our lovemaking. I wanted to close my eyes and return to warm, fuzzy unconsciousness, but we couldn’t spend the entire day in bed. We had things we needed to do.

Though I didn’t want to leave the warm circle of his arms, I got up. Night had already dozed off, but he stirred when I bent to kiss him. I thought about waking him up fully, but after the gift he’d given me that morning, I decided to let him sleep while I showered.

My shoulder, still stinging sweetly under the hot water, was already healing again. I’d need to pay him back for that later and renew my own claiming mark.

When I finished washing, I left the shower and wrapped a towel around my body. As I returned to our bedroom, I was surprised to find Night sitting at the foot of the bed, running his hand through his thick hair.

As I walked to him, he looked at me with a very satisfied grin on his face. “Hey, beautiful,” he said. “Have you seen yourself lately?”

“What do you mean?”

He got up, still naked, and took my hand. He pulled me in front of the tall mirror. It was new, something I’d bought at the marketplace a few days ago. I’d hardly looked into it except to give myself a cursory once-over.

“What?” All I saw in the mirror was my damp hair and towel-covered body.

He laughed and gently removed the towel.

My eyes widened at the round slope of my belly.

Almost five months had passed since Night became alpha, and so much of my time had been filled with organizing meetings to get Kings and Wargs used to each other and getting accustomed to my role as den mother. I hadn’t even realized I was showing.

“Oh my goodness,” I breathed as I ran my hands over the bump. “Feels like this just sprang up on me.”

“Gods, you look so beautiful,” Night said. He placed his hands over mine and lowered his lips to my neck.

I leaned back against him. My morning sickness had finally gone away a couple of weeks ago, but my belly certainly hadn’t been this big then.

“Come back to bed,” he murmured. His growling voice stirred butterflies in my stomach.

I grinned at him in the mirror. “Don’t we have work to do?” I teased.

“It can wait another hour.”

We went to bed together. The mattress was still so warm, and Night curled himself around me, his chest pressed flat to my back.

“I was thinking that I could make a crib for our baby. Or have someone from the pack design a really nice one with carvings or something.”

I giggled. “Sounds like you’re going to have a hard time not spoiling our little one.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No.” His hand was resting on my baby bump, and I brought it up to my mouth and kissed his palm. “I think it might be too early to think about cribs and bottles. We still have three months.”

“More like two and a half,” he said. “Time’s passing quickly, love.”

According to Dr. Stan, our soft due date was in late January. We were about halfway through November, so Night’s estimation was more accurate.

“We haven’t even moved into our new cabin yet,” I said. “If we got stuff for the baby now, it would just collect dust in one of the rooms here.” What I didn’t voice was that it would also bother me to have our baby’s things inside this awful place.

The nearer my due date got, the more dissatisfied I was to be in the alpha cabin.

Nothing about this place was baby-friendly.

It was big, and every inch of it held reminders of Gregor and Troy.

It simply wasn’t home. When our baby was born, I didn’t want them in this cabin at all.

Perhaps it was a silly thing to be hung up about, but I couldn’t help it. The memories here were too awful.

“I get you,” he said. “But we really don’t have a lot of time before January.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it,” I said, then decided to change the subject. “How are things going with the Wargs Council?”

He let out a long sigh and rolled onto his back. Whatever he was about to say weighed on him.

“From what Dom has told me, most Wargs are with us, but there are some who aren’t happy with the merge.

The meetings you’ve been setting up to get the Wargs and Kings used to each other are definitely helping, but there are Kings who think Wargs are too loud, and there are Wargs who are frustrated with how slowly some Kings are letting go of their sexist, outdated views. ”

“I already knew about those things,” I said. “Why do you seem so disturbed by these minor disagreements? Are pack relations worse than I’m thinking, or is something else bothering you?”

“Yeah.” He sighed again, so I rolled onto my side and laid my head on his chest. He shivered a little when my cold hair touched his chest, but he put a hand on my head to keep me in place. “Dom also mentioned that some members of the Wargs Council have been meeting with Lance in private.”

I gasped. “No way.” I didn’t trust Lance, but he’d been so quiet lately that I never would have guessed he had any interest in the Wargs Council. “Do you think they might try to convince him to challenge you as alpha?”

“That’s what I’m afraid they’re doing, but I don’t know. Bottom line? He’s a threat to us. He’s a highly respected member of the Kings Pack, and it’s possible that he’s power-hungry enough to want to take over both packs.”

I felt the frustration thrumming through his body, and it put me on edge. “We can’t afford a war when we’re so close to peace.”

“Don’t worry.” He stroked my hair. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll handle the Wargs Council long before it gets to that point.”

“I’ll help,” I said.

“You know I appreciate everything you’ve done, but you should be careful.”

I lifted my head and looked into his pine-green eyes. “Aren’t I always?” I asked with a mischievous smile.

It warmed me to see him smile. “I don’t know. I have to stay on my toes around you, love.” He let his hand fall to my cheek. “I do have a favor to ask you.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Could you speak to the women from both packs? I want to make sure they and their children feel safe here.”

“Of course. I’m meeting with a group of women today to prepare the garden for winter.”

“This was good timing, then.” He turned his head and kissed me gently. “I look forward to hearing your report, love.” He kissed me again, long and lingering.