Page 179 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

Amonth had passed since I convinced Bryn it was best to keep the book and those passages a secret from the councils and elders.

I knew it bothered her, but we had enough to keep us occupied as we spent time on Wargs’ territory.

We had set up building crews and finalized the plans for the marketplace expansion.

And in even happier news, the baby had grown more active. They kicked and moved around more and more often as the weeks went by. Bryn was probably just as relieved as I was to focus on something positive, something that wasn’t Troy or blood rituals.

We’d just gotten back from Wargs’ territory the night before, and while Bryn made sure the Kings were ready for the winter, Dom, Tavi, Lance, and I were back in the office, going through more piles of paperwork.

It was a nice change of pace to visit home, but I was eager to get back to the problem of the children who had disappeared a decade ago.

Dom and Tavi had been working to find any evidence of where the children were taken or where their remains might be.

We were hoping to find evidence in these documents of secret, undeveloped land Gregor owned.

It was a long shot, but we had to keep looking.

Getting Lance to agree to team up had been like pulling teeth, but after I’d caught him in the library, he seemed to realize he couldn’t do this on his own. Supposedly, he still found the idea of looking through paperwork tedious and unnecessary, but he was here, helping.

Tavi laughed suddenly, pulling my attention from the stapled stack of business projections. She was sitting on the ground by Dom’s chair. Dom must have said or done something she found funny.

“Can you lovebirds flirt later?” I demanded. “We’re supposed to be working.”

“We are working,” Tavi replied. Damn, but it was hard to be annoyed at her.

She’d brightened even more over the last couple of weeks.

She’d even stopped wearing oversized, long-sleeved shirts.

Her outfits were a lot more modest than the crop tops she used to wear, but maybe that was just because we were in the middle of winter.

“Sure,” I replied.

I glanced at Lance. His expression was blank as he pretended to focus on his stack of papers, but his jaw was tense.

I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed by my sister and beta or just generally uncomfortable.

It still ate at me that I had to keep the truth about him from Bryn, but her due date was looming. I was counting down the days.

A few minutes of silence passed until Dom suddenly sprang to his feet. “Here it is!” he exclaimed. “Here it fucking is.”

“What?” My heart rate spiked. “Show me.”

He got up and approached my desk, with Tavi and Lance right behind him. He placed the paper in front of me, his head held high with pride. It wasn’t an official typed document, just a few coordinates scribbled on the back of a sheet torn from a legal pad. On the other side was a grocery list.

I looked up, my eyes wide, and zeroed in on the map of Idaho that was tacked to the wall across from me. Dom, having the same idea, went to the map and circled the corresponding locations with a red pen.

“I want a team out there right now,” I said.

“There might be nothing at any of these locations,” Lance pointed out. “For all we know, they might just be places where Gregor met up with his mistresses.”

I decided to ignore that last part, and not just because I didn’t want to hear about my sharing blood with a man who had not found faithfulness a tenet in relationships.

“We can’t afford to ignore it,” I said. “Not where these kids are concerned.”

Dom nodded. “I already have a team in mind. I’ll get them together and see how quickly we can get out to these locations.”

“Good. Take Tav with you.”

The excitement in the room was catching, and Tavi wasn’t immune to it. “Won’t you miss my charming presence?” she asked me with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. “No, and I won’t miss the nonstop giggling, either.” I nodded to the door. “Get to work.”

Dom winked at me and left hand-in-hand with Tavi. That left me and Lance. A few weeks ago, that would have bothered me, but after spending more time with him, he was just another wolf to me.

“I’m glad to have a few minutes of peace and quiet,” he said, returning to his chair. “But I’m not sure I like the idea of being here alone with you.”

“Uh huh.” The tension in his jaw and shoulders had relaxed. I was sure now that he was just uncomfortable being around Tavi and Dom’s closeness, not annoyed. “Did you make progress while I was gone?”

“I did, actually.”

“Really? Did you find that tax account number?” That number would let us know where Troy was spending money. If we knew that, it would lead us right to him.

“No, but I did confirm it was a dead end.” He crossed one leg over the other.

“I spent hours on the phone with human banks, and they all told me the same thing. Even if we had the account information, it would be impossible to access it without written permission from the account holder, meaning Troy or Gregor. It’s essentially untouchable even with our resources. ”

I sighed. That wasn’t encouraging, but after looking for that account for so many months, it was a relief to know we could put that search to rest.

“What else?”

“Well, I made headway. While you and Bryn were gone, people weren’t as careful.” He tapped his temple. “I’ve got a list of names up here. I can give them to you whenever you’re ready for ‘em.”

“Good.” I’d get that list to my men and make sure their movements were tracked. “What about these missing kids? Did Troy ever mention them to you?”

Lance shook his head. “He never mentioned them. It wasn’t until Gregor started getting sick that I even found out kids went missing ten years ago.

A little while after that, I learned he and Gregor were obsessed with that portal BS.

” His upper lip curled. “I started to wonder if those missing kids were related.”

I nodded. Lance was a smart guy, so of course he would’ve put two and two together. “That reminds me, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Yeah?”

“How did you gain Troy’s trust so quickly?”

“Oh.” He heaved a sigh. “I had to go through his ‘initiation.’” He put air quotes around the word. “His word, not mine. It was a series of tests to prove my loyalty.”

“What kind of tests?”

He didn’t say anything for a while. When he finally opened his mouth again, he said, “Tests no one should have to go through. Especially not a teenager.” He rubbed his shoulder and looked away. “I still get nightmares about them. Sometimes.”

His words dredged up a memory I’d tried hard to forget. It was of Evan in those last minutes.

“Where were you,” he’d demanded of me, “when the Kings tortured me to break me and force me to kill to prove my loyalty to them?” Thinking of his words then, the unhinged glint in his eyes, how hard he’d breathed as he pointed the gun at me.

With a rush of old guilt, I wondered if that torture he mentioned was anything like what Lance had gone through.

“I spoke to the kid who survived the kidnapping,” I said. “Samuel Granby.”

Lance’s eyes flicked to me. “I didn’t know there were any survivors.”

“A hunting party found him wandering the forest, half-dead and out of his mind.”

“Huh.” He frowned. “What did he have to say?”

“Nothing, really. He believed a shadowy figure with long talons attacked him. The poor kid hasn’t mentally recovered from whatever he actually saw.”

“Damn.”

“What blows my mind is that Gregor kept trying to open the portal with these kids even after he kept failing.”

Lance sighed. “Gregor was losing his grip on his reality by then. He firmly believed the portals were real. No logic would have broken through to him. Besides, his first real attempt had been stopped before he could see it through.”

“His first real attempt? Oh, you mean Blossom.”

He nodded. “He’d probably had his men kidnap her when she was close to giving birth to get her blood.”

This confused me at first. Mom had made it pretty clear to me that Gregor was thorough about keeping his research hidden or destroyed.

But then I remembered that he would have seen texts about needing the blood of a child or a pack mother.

It wasn’t hard to assume that he might have tried to use Blossom to increase the portal’s effectiveness.

It was also possible that Gregor didn’t care that Blossom was pregnant, that he intended to use her blood even if he ended up killing the baby. I shuddered. Trying to figure out his fucked-up logic made me sick.

“We need to keep Bryn safe,” Lance said suddenly. “No matter what.”

“Yes.”

“I appreciate you keeping my secret,” he said. “It’s helping me protect her.”

Something about that rubbed me the wrong way.

How had I gotten to this point? I was keeping so much from Bryn, from friends, family, and pack.

Was protecting Lance’s secret really the key to keeping Bryn safe?

Would I really be screwing with Fate’s plans if I told Bryn she had another brother?

She would be so happy to know she had family—even if that family was Lance.

Or was I just helping Lance hold onto a lie that he was used to keeping? A lie that might not serve him as much now that he and I had become a team.

Anger pushed my blood faster in my veins, and I stared at Lance. If he hadn’t demanded I keep this from Bryn, I wouldn’t have to carry this massive lie on my shoulders. As if he could read my mind, he started speaking.

“Keeping this between us is the only way,” he insisted.

It wasn’t the first time he’d said this, but this time, it was far less convincing.

He sneered at me. “When I first joined the Kings, keeping her in the dark about who I was, who we both were, was because Gregor and Troy would have killed her if they discovered the truth. Don’t forget that it was your father who kidnapped our mother and drove her to her death. ”

He'd gone too far. I got to my feet, my fists balled at my sides.

“Maybe you don’t know this,” I hissed, “but Blossom, your mother, was the one who told me I was Bryn’s protector. She never mentioned you.”

Lance got to his feet as well. “When she came to me and told me I had to protect Bryn, she didn’t mention you, either.”

A beat passed, and then another, and then Lance’s sneer turned into a regular smile. Seeing it, my anger vanished as quickly as it hit me.

I started laughing, and Lance joined in. The stiffness in my shoulders from carrying this burden lightened a bit.

“What the hell are we doing?” I asked. “Are we really fighting over who gets to protect Bryn more?”

“It’s because we’re both idiots.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Let’s just agree that we’ll both protect her to the best of our abilities. With our lives, if necessary.”

I nodded.

“Does this mean we’ll stop finding excuses to fight each other all the time? I don’t mind a good spar every now and then, but I don’t love getting into it with you.”

I was pleased to hear that he thought I was just as tough to fight as he was for me. Not that I planned on admitting that.

“I can agree to that…on one condition.”

He sighed. “There’s always a condition with you, isn’t there?”

That made me chuckle. “I’m not sure that keeping this secret from Bryn is best.”

He started to sigh and rebuff this, but I went on.

“No, Lance, listen. Bryn knew even less about her birth mother than you did. And because of that, she was willing to do anything to learn more about her parents. She even performed a ritual with the elders that allowed her to see through Blossom’s eyes.”

His mouth slowly closed.

“Bryn was ecstatic to find out that Dom is her brother, and she would be even more happy to know she has more family.”

He was listening, but he still seemed hesitant. He said something under his breath, something that sounded like, “Even if it’s me?”

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. Forget it.” He stared at the floor, then finally looked back at me. “I think you’re right. I’m not sure when I’ll tell her, but I promise it’ll be really soon.”

“Then it’s a deal.” I held my hand out. “Let’s shake on it.”

He looked from my face to my hand and back again. “Fine.” He stepped forward and clasped my hand with his. We shook once, twice, then let go. The agreement was official. I just hoped that Lance actually planned on following through.

Lance left for the night just before Bryn got home.

“Hey,” she said, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “Did you make progress today?”

I kissed her deeply, then said, “We found a few coordinates. They might give us some insight into what happened to those missing pups. Dom and Tavi are on it.”

Her steely blue eyes lit up. Looking into them, I realized they were a similar shade of blue as Lance’s. I should’ve figured out their connection a long time ago.

“That’s great news! I’ve been thinking a lot about those kids lately. I hope we find something soon.”

“You and me both, love.” We walked to the kitchen. There, we made dinner together and closed out the day in bed. As we moved under the covers, I held Bryn against me and kissed the side of her head. She grinned and pressed tight against me.

I brushed my hand down her body. “I want to make you feel good,” I whispered.

Giggling, she spread her legs. “As if I could say no.”

I chuckled and slipped my hand into her panties. She moaned as I teased her. “Sweet girl,” I said. “It doesn’t take long to get you in the mood, does it?”

She laughed again and nuzzled my shoulder. I teased and stroked her, dipping my fingers into her heat before using her wetness to circle her clit. All the while, she shivered and whimpered, her hands gripping the sheets.

“I love you, Night,” she murmured. We were pressed so close, I could hear the thunderous beating of her heart.

“I love you, too.” I kissed her temple. She was the most precious person in the world to me. It really ate at me that I was keeping Lance’s identity from her. I hardly knew what to do with myself except focus on my mate and make her feel as good as I could.