Page 19 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

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Iknew that this stranger had asked who I was, but given my current situation and the fact that this man had clearly broken in, I figured I was owed an answer first. As he considered how to answer, I tried to figure out what to do next.

I had never seen this man on the compound before, but those eyes were the same emerald green of the man who haunted my dreams. More than that, I knew exactly who he was from the photo that hung in the schoolhouse.

There was no mistaking that hard jawline, those sharp cheekbones, or that thick hair as dark as the midnight sky, even in the dimness of the moonlight shining in through the window.

He didn’t look exactly like the photo. His shoulders had become much broader, his hair had been buzzed down on the sides while the top was left long, and he was much taller than I had imagined—he had at least a foot on me.

But of course, there were the tattoos that peeked under the collar of his black, long-sleeved shirt.

I had a better view of them than offered by the blurry picture in school; they appeared to be tribal tattoos intersecting with each other at his neck and shoulder and spreading down his right arm.

He was Night Shepherd, Alpha of the Wargs pack.

What the hell is he doing here? My mind raced to come up with some sort of explanation. It couldn’t have anything to do with me—no one knew I was there. And more than that, why was he looking at me like he knew me?

I opened my mouth to ask him these questions, but my voice died in my throat when he stepped closer to me.

He was only a few inches away, and I could smell the scent of him.

It was like pine and crushed wildflowers.

He evoked memories of the forest in summertime—warmth and freshness and life.

I wanted to lean closer to him, to get a better sniff, but my brain revolted against that impulse.

This guy is from the Wargs! What the hell am I thinking?

I pulled at my restraints, my eyes widening as he leaned a few inches closer. Those eyes—how was it possible that they could be so green, so vibrant, and so full of danger? How could someone so gorgeous carry such a wild, terrifying energy about him?

“Who are you?” I demanded again, surprised when my voice didn’t waver.

He tilted his head at my question, the way an animal would when listening to a new sound. He grunted in reply and moved even closer. The ropes strained as I recoiled. Practically naked, I was in such a compromised position—at the mercy of yet another Alpha male.

“No, who are you?” Night’s voice was gruff and yet so smooth—the timbre of thunder. “And what are you doing here?”

I swallowed hard, but I didn’t look away; I couldn’t even if I wanted to—the jewel green of his eyes wouldn’t let mine go. “Because of Troy,” I replied. “He put me here.”

“That much is obvious,” he said. “His scent is all over this place. I’m asking why?”

I clenched my hands against a deep shudder. “He said he—” I stopped as tears spilled onto my cheeks. My hands clenched tighter, so tight I felt my nails digging into my palms. “He said he plans to rape me and keep me as his slave.”

Memories of Troy and that awful smirk flashed through my mind, and my blood rushed hard and fast in my veins.

I hated him, hated that he’d put me in this position.

He didn’t view me as a person, just as an object that he could use for his own pleasure, and it was infuriating that I was so powerless to stop him.

Night’s nostrils flared, and a deep growl emanated from his chest. He flashed his canines, slightly sharper than the average wolf’s in human form, and I felt something spark deep within me.

That spark spread across my skin, making me feel warm and tingly all over.

I’d felt this way before, but only in the warm darkness of the dreams I’d had of the stranger with the green eyes.

Were those dreams about him? Night Shepherd?

No. No. I couldn’t get distracted. Now wasn’t the time for me to be thinking about the tension in his jaw, or the way his dark hair had fallen over his forehead, or those vibrantly green eyes…

Stop it! I gave myself a mental shake. Troy could be coming back at any moment! This guy is probably dangerous, but if it’s either staying here or asking him to help me, I think my choice is obvious.

The challenge ceremony would begin just before the moon reached the center of the sky.

The idea was that starting it at that moment would allow the new Alpha to fight his way into the new day and claim his position of power.

I knew Troy had left to prepare for the ceremony, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t come back.

The last thing I ought to be doing was thinking about a stranger as anything other than a jumping-off point. Escape was all that mattered.

“Listen, that doesn’t matter now,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”

His lips slowly covered his teeth, and one of his eyebrows rose as if to say, we?

Panic began to prickle up and down my spine. There was a possibility that this guy would abandon me here. The thought reawakened the hopelessness I had felt when I was alone in the room with Troy.

“Please,” I whispered. “I need your help. At least—at least let me out of these restraints. I-I’m sure I can handle things on my own from there.”

But I wasn’t sure of that at all. My legs had started to go numb before Night showed up, and now I could hardly feel them.

My arms weren’t much better; I could move them and clench my hands, but even my upper body had started to lose feeling from lack of blood flow.

However, Night didn’t need to know that right now.

I could figure it out once I wasn’t in restraints any longer.

Night’s gaze shifted to the door. No, no, no, no!

“Please,” I said again, more forcefully.

Tears stung in my eyes, but I was beyond caring about the warmth slipping down my cheeks and dripping from my chin.

“You—you can’t leave me here like this. I don’t want to be here when Troy gets back because if I am, he’ll stop at nothing to kill me. He’ll even go through you.”

Again, Night raised an eyebrow. Skepticism.

I realized then that the reason Night was here was most likely to take advantage of the challenge ceremony.

Whether he planned to challenge Troy or steal something from him while he was away was unclear, but I knew he thought he could take Troy down.

With those muscles and that height, well, maybe he could. But I doubted Troy would fight fairly.

“Alright, alright, don’t cry,” Night said. “I’ll get you out.”

Relief crashed over me, a balm to the itch of anxiety that coursed through my body. Night stepped close to me and reached for the restraints. Our chests were almost touching, and I could feel the heat of his body radiating from him.

“I’m Night, by the way,” he said. “Night Shepherd.”

I nodded. “I figured as much.”

His gaze flashed to mine briefly before returning to the restraints. “How did you figure out who I was?”

“We, um…we learned about you in school, of course.”

“Right, of course—a human learning about me—in a school taught by wolves.” His large hands worked at the knot around my wrist. “Just hold still while I get you out.”

I was surprised when a chuckle escaped my lips and was even more surprised when I joked, “Not like I’m going anywhere right now.”

Night’s lip twitched. It wasn’t quite a smirk, but it was very close. I knew that being tied up for so long must have done something to my head because I felt some amount of pride that I’d made the Alpha of the Wargs almost smirk.

He tried to loosen the knots around my wrists but finding he couldn’t, claws extended from his nails in a partial shift.

I had seen wolves shift plenty of times before, but they always glared at me when they noticed me nearby.

When I asked Mom about it, she said that it was because wolves always got paranoid about shifting around a human, given the way humans tended to treat them.

But Night didn’t hesitate to shift in front of me. Later, I’d wonder if it was because the situation didn’t call for that sort of paranoia or if he genuinely didn’t care.

He sliced through each of the ropes, and I dropped to the ground.

I gasped at the pain that shot through my body from my knees and shoulder.

I tried to push myself up to my feet, but my legs buckled.

My worst fears were realized; after hours of being suspended, I could no longer support my own weight.

Night’s hand shifted back into a human one as he reached out to me. “Easy, easy.”

At his touch, another spark ignited within me. I jerked out of his grasp and stumbled back against the wall, losing my balance and sliding to the floor.

He released a tight, frustrated breath. “Just stop moving for a minute, and you’ll—” Then he stopped speaking, and his body went stiff.

I wasn’t sure why until I heard the creaking hinges of the front door.

My entire body shuddered, goosebumps itching across my skin.

Oh no, oh no, he’s back! My thoughts crashed into each other, no longer words, just images of Troy bursting into the room and catching Night and me—free but weakened—together.

I tried again to get to my feet. I managed to stand but had to press my hand to the wall to support myself. There was no way I could run in this state. I was as good as dead, and I knew it.

Night, his eyes glowing an intense green, glanced from me to the door and back again.

He knew just as well as I did that Troy had to be on his way up here—with his enhanced senses, he probably knew exactly where Troy was in relation to us—but he didn’t seem afraid or even nervous.

His widened pupils, twitching fingers, and slightly elevated breathing all indicated to me that he was practically salivating at the prospect of Troy finding us.