Page 176 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

Because she was in the final stages of pregnancy, Bryn was usually the one who had trouble getting to sleep, but tonight she was snoozing peacefully beside me while I lay awake. I watched a moth flutter around our window, hoping it might put me to sleep, but it just increased my anxiety.

Slowly, I sat up and slipped out of bed. It turned out I didn’t need to be so cautious—Bryn was dead to the world, thanks to yours truly. A late-night run might help me sleep as deeply as she was.

As I dressed, I reached out to Dom. “Hey. Up for a run?”

He responded in seconds. “Yeah, sounds nice.”

We decided to meet near the training grounds since it wasn’t far from the alpha cabin.

I got there before Dom, and when I saw him jogging toward me, I noticed something was different about him.

It wasn’t until he got closer that I caught Tavi’s scent on him.

That wasn’t new; these last couple of months, I’d noticed they were hanging out together more.

No, this was different. Intimate.

I made a face as he stopped in front of me.

“What?”

I continued to make the face, eyeing him up and down. “So, you were with my sister, huh?”

Immediately, I saw something on Dom’s face I’d never seen before. He was blushing.

“Oh, wow.” I stared at him. “You were.”

He looked away.

“Wow,” I said again. “Is this how you feel when you mess with me? Because if so, I get why you do it.”

“Shut up. I could bring up the fact that you were with my sister.”

“You could,” I said with a smirk. “But that’s not new.”

He closed his eyes like he was trying to count down from ten.

“I never this powerful, even now that I’m alpha to two packs,” I said, interrupting his efforts to keep his cool. “It feels great.”

“Night, I don’t care that I’m your beta. I’ll kill you if you keep this up.”

I laughed hard as he got increasingly flustered. “Bryn and I knew you two were dating. It’s not like you were good at hiding it.”

“All right, all right. I know I probably deserve this, but can’t we just start running?”

I decided to take it easy on him, even though I doubted he’d have been as lenient for me. We took the path around the perimeter of the Kings’ land. It was a little over two miles, but we’d do two or three passes of it.

“So, I really don’t want specifics,” I said, “but I take it this means that things are going well with Tavi?”

He sighed. “Yes…and no.”

“Wanna talk about that?”

“I guess.” He took a minute or two to get his thoughts in order.

“We never talk about what happened when Troy kidnapped her because I know that’s a tender subject.

I wouldn’t care if she never told me as long as she was happy, but sometimes when we’re together, I get the impression that she’s somewhere else.

Like she’s thinking of something very sad.

When I ask her about it, she clams up. She’s amazing and strong and smart and beautiful, but I’m worried there’ll always be part of her I can’t reach. ” His shoulders drooped.

“I get you.”

“Really?” His eyebrows raised. “With Bryn?”

“No, with Tavi. Like there’s a distance there that wasn’t there before.”

He nodded. “I tell her that whatever she needs, I’m there for her, but I’m not sure if she believes me.” He shook his head. “I just don’t want to hurt her. Ever.”

In some ways, this conversation reminded me of what Bryn and I had just argued about. What we’d argued about many times before. Openness. Honesty.

“You’re doing what you can, Dom,” I said. “Tavi knows you’re there for her. She knows you’ll be there to support her if she ever wants to talk about what she’s been through. For now, you haven’t hurt her, pushed her away, or forced her to do anything she wasn’t ready for. You’re doing fine.”

He mulled that over, and after a few minutes, he nodded. “That’s actually kind of nice to hear.”

“You’re not a bad guy, Dom.” We upped the pace of our run, both of us breathing harder. “You’re just trying your best, like the rest of us.”

“I wish my best made her more comfortable around me.”

“Maybe you should tell her some of this. Let her know you’ve been thinking about her.”

“That’s not a bad idea. We’ve talked about this before, but I don’t think I ever put it into words like I did just now.”

“Yeah, that might help. And it might encourage her to open up more. Who knows?” We continued running for a while, then I admitted, “Bryn and I were arguing earlier, but we made up.”

“I noticed.” He eyed me. “What was your argument about?”

“Communication. Again. I didn’t want to tell her how badly things went with Lance.” I filled him in on the argument I’d had with Bryn.

“Ah. I guess it was inevitable for the two of you to fight.”

I rolled my eyes. “The point is, we agreed we weren’t going to hide the truth from each other anymore. If Tavi is anything like me, opening up about something that gives you complicated feelings is almost impossible. Bryn and I had a fight, but you and Tavi don’t have to.”

“Huh. When did you become a relationship expert?”

I snorted. “Hardly. If anything, I’m just repeating what Bryn and I talked about. We both know I’m not the brains behind anything.”

He laughed. “Don’t sell yourself short, Night. You might have something useful to bring to the table.”

I knocked him with my shoulder, and he almost lost his balance. When he recovered, the way he looked at me told me he was going to try to trip me back. I took off at a sprint, determined not to give him the opportunity.

Afew miles later, Dom announced he was going to call it a night. I walked him to his cabin.

“Are you going to keep at it?” He, like me, was sweating through his shirt. He wasn’t tired; I think our conversation just made him miss Tavi.

“Yeah. Now that we started, my wolf is eager to keep going.” He was running around inside me. “I think I’ll shift and do another lap.”

“Okay. See you in the morning. And Night?”

I’d turned away from his cabin, but when he said my name, I looked back at him. He was smiling.

“Thanks. I think I needed this.”

I smiled back. “I think I did, too.”

I felt much lighter after talking to Dom, and the run had really helped tire me out. I was eager to get back to my mate. I jogged to get back to the trail. On the way, I passed the library. It was dark because it was closed, but I saw a candle flicker in one of the windows.

The sight brought me up short. It was probably just a wolf doing some late-night reading, but my gut told me I should investigate. I altered course and went to the library.

I pushed the door open. The librarians kept the hinges well-oiled because it didn’t make a sound as I slipped inside. Ahead, I saw the figure holding the candle disappear into the back room that held the ancient books, books that were kept behind a locked glass case.

So, this wasn’t just someone looking for a book to sleep with. This person had an agenda.

I crept farther into the library, following the path the candle had taken. The door was open just a crack, and inside, I saw the figure already had the case open and was holding one of the old books.

Surprised by the sight, I moved too quickly, and the wooden floor creaked beneath me.

The man looked up, but the candle cast a shadow over his face. Between the shadows and the book, I couldn’t see who it was. He about-faced and yanked open the window.

“Stop!” I called.

But he ignored me, diving through the window and into the night air. I cursed under my breath and sprinted after him, moving so quickly that the air I stirred extinguished the candle. When I was outside, I used my shifter eyes to see the figure running toward the forest. I went after him.

I tackled him as we reached the tree line. He grunted as we fell.

“Fucking get off me!” the man snapped, his voice familiar.

“Not until I see who you are!” I knelt on top of him and forced him onto his back. He was so focused on holding the book to his chest that he’d left his head unprotected. I ripped the hood off and froze. Lance.

He took advantage of my hesitation and kicked me off. I slammed back into a tree trunk, the force of it knocking leaves free from the branches. Lance leapt to his feet and ran.

“Son of a bitch.” I jumped up and rushed after him, grabbing the back of his hoodie. He tossed the book into a bush before turning and smashing his fist into my face. I growled, feeling my wolf just beneath the surface as I grabbed him again. He kneed me in the stomach, and pain bloomed through me.

I coughed once but kept him in my grip. I yanked him close, hooked my leg around his, and knocked him flat.

I grabbed the front of his hoodie and got him onto his feet.

He punched me again, but I was more ready for it.

Blood dripped from my nose as I hauled Lance to a tree and shoved him against the trunk.

He tried to run, but I hit him with the heel of my hand and pressed my arm to his neck to keep him there.

He grunted as he struggled against my arm. Though I had him trapped, he still had the strength to joke. “We should stop meeting like this.”

I ignored that. For all I knew, he was looking for some way to hurt Bryn. “Tell me what you’re doing with that book.”

He said nothing, instead making a point of watching the blood drip down my cheekbone. His punch had split the skin.

I shoved him more firmly against the tree and snarled in my alpha voice. “Tell me what you were doing! Now!”

He clenched his jaw, fighting to keep his mouth shut, but even this stubborn asshole couldn’t fight me now. “Dammit,” he said through clenched teeth. “That book is too dangerous to have out in the open like that.”

It took too much effort to keep up the alpha voice when he’d exhausted me in a fight, so I let it drop. “What do you know about it?”

“A hell of a lot more than you do.”

I slammed my free hand against the trunk next to his face. My swipe drew blood from his temple.

“I’m not fucking around, Lance.”

“No,” he grunted. “I guess you’re not.”