Page 183 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

“Punishing your daughter like this is backwards,” I said. “She has a fighting spirit and a tactical mind. You need her fighting alongside you, not punishing her.”

“That is unheard of. We do not devalue our women by forcing them to fight. A woman’s place is in the home, with her children. My daughter has never understood that. She is under lock and key until she learns her place.”

Because women were seen as such a commodity in this pack, he could do what he wanted with his daughter since she was his “property.” I had no say in this, but I was approaching my limit with this alpha.

I couldn’t back down on every opportunity to call him on his bullshit. It just wasn’t in my nature.

“If you’re too stubborn to see how your own traditions have held you back, then maybe she belongs somewhere she can make a real difference.”

He scoffed. “You want me to give you my daughter?”

My skin crawled. “No. She should be able to make the decision herself.”

But Oakley had reached his limit. “No, if it’s what you wish, I’ll let you take my daughter off our hands for a few weeks. I’m sure once she sees how little you value the women of your pack, she’ll want to come back on her own.”

My upper lip curled, and my wolf growled. It took everything in me to hold myself back. Dom put his hand on my shoulder.

“Night.” His tone was even, but it held a warning. “You sure you want to make this an incident?”

I ignored his silent question and shrugged off his touch, my attention still on Oakley. “You go too far.”

He was an alpha through and through and didn’t back down from my glare. “So do you, Night.”

I would have said more, a hell of a lot more, but a commotion in the distance drew our attention.

We all rushed to the area where the wounded had gathered.

Women were sprinting from the forest. All of them were pale, and the fear spread from them to the other wounded.

There was so much anxiety in the air, even my wolf was affected by it, running around inside me and eager to escape.

I looked for Bryn, needing the sight of her to still my rushing blood, but I didn’t see her, only Tavi and Frankie, who seemed equally confused. This only heightened my worry.

“Everyone!” Oakley used his alpha voice to be heard over the screaming. “Calm yourselves. Now.”

And then there was silence, which didn’t help with my worry.

“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Where is Bryn?”

The women shifted from foot to foot, looked at each other, then at Oakley. Every second they waited for permission was another second I didn’t know where my mate was.

Oakley pointed to one of the women. “Speak,” he commanded.

“Th-there was a feral,” she trembled as she spoke. I couldn’t tell if her nervousness came from their run-in with the feral or the fact that every eye was on her. “It came while we were picking echinacea. We all ran back the minute we saw it.”

I felt Oakley’s eyes on me, as if he was saying, “See?” I ignored it.

“Where is Bryn?” I asked again.

“I…” She looked around, and my worry only increased. “She told us to run and get help, but I—oh no.” She covered her mouth with her hands, more tears pouring down her cheeks. “I think she must’ve stayed behind!”

My worry mounted until Lance suddenly burst from between the trees. In his arms, bloody, unconscious, was Bryn. Everything around me disappeared, no longer as important as the safety of my mate.

Before I knew I was moving, I met Lance at the tree line.

Immediately, I took her into my arms, my wolf howling with rage and worry.

But I felt her heartbeat, heard her breathing.

She’s not dead. I repeated those three words in my head, and with each repetition, my desperation and panic receded, though I wouldn’t be okay until she recovered.

My gaze found Oakley’s, who had lost his smugness. Now, he just looked confused. “Take us to the infirmary. Now!”

I rushed my mate to the infirmary. I hardly noticed that we were moving, that’s how focused I was on listening to every breath Bryn breathed, every beat of her heart. I could even hear our pup’s heartbeat. It had started to keep pace with Bryn’s, as if our pup was worried about her mother.

In the infirmary, I laid her on the bed and stuck close to her. “She fought the feral,” Lance explained. He was sweating and staring at Bryn with wide, worried eyes. Her blood was on his shirt. It was on mine, too. “She killed it, but it injured her like this.”

My beautiful, brave mate. I touched her soft cheek, splattered with red. She’d protected the women while they escaped, but look at what had happened to her.

Seconds later, the Camas doctor arrived. When he laid eyes on her, determination gave way to uncertainty in an instant.

“Oh. I wasn’t aware that she was…with child.”

“What does that matter?” I growled. “Help her. Now.”

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t handle pregnant women. That is for the midwives to take care of.”

I started to approach him, but Dom had already gripped the front of his shirt and lifted him off his feet. I hadn’t noticed that he and Tavi had come with us.

“She was hurt in a fight,” he said through clenched teeth. “Not because of her pregnancy. You know how to deal with those sorts of wounds. Don’t you?” It was as if he was speaking the words in my head. Of course Dom was protective. His sister was wounded.

“Y-y-yes, of c-course.” The color drained from the man’s face. He looked like he was about to pass out himself. “B-but our traditions—”

Dom shook him. “Screw your traditions. Stop arguing with me about this and heal her.” He threw him toward the bed, and he stumbled, catching himself on a desk laden with medical tools and herbs—things he could use to help her.

The doctor stared at these tinctures like it was the first time he’d seen them, as if healing a pregnant woman required care he couldn’t begin to understand, much less treat.

Bryn groaned. The growling must have stirred her awake. She looked around with bleary, cerulean eyes until she found me. Relief exploded inside me.

“My love,” she whispered and touched my face.

Tavi rushed out, calling for a midwife. In seconds, she returned with a woman in tow.

Dom, Lance, and I looked at this woman with an almost violent desperation.

She started to tremble and took a step back.

I would never hurt her, but my patience had run thin.

She must have seen my wolf in her eyes, but I couldn’t keep that in check; he was too close to the surface as it was.

Tavi, stronger than all of us, stepped up. She touched the woman’s shoulder. “They won’t hurt you,” she said gently but firmly. “I promise. But my friend needs your help right now. Please.”

The woman hesitated, but when Tavi nodded, she nodded. “She probably needs a blood transfusion,” she said. “Familial blood would work best.”

“I’m her brother,” Dom said. “Take all the blood you need from—”

“No.” Lance stopped him. “I know you and Bryn share a father, but that won’t be good enough. She needs the blood of a pack mother.”

The mention of a pack mother made the doctor and the midwife gasp.

Dom glared at him. “Do you see any pack mothers around, Lance? Bryn needs family.”

“Yes, I know.”

Lance hesitated for a few seconds. I steeled myself for what he was about to say.

“I have to be the one to give Bryn blood,” he said, swallowing so hard that I saw his Adam’s apple bob. “Because Blossom was my mother, too.”

Tavi and Dom were stunned into silence. Bryn drew in a sharp breath, and I looked at her. I read the confusion in her frown, followed swiftly by betrayal. But before she could speak, her eyes rolled back, and she was unconscious once more.