Page 194 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

Bryn and I left Dom, Lance, and Tavi to make their plans and headed home. As we closed the door behind us, we let out heavy sighs.

“I’m happy,” Bryn murmured. “But it was tough. I feel like I’ve been carrying the entire world on my shoulders since yesterday, and now I’ve finally let some of that burden go.”

“I hear you.” I pulled her close and then lifted her into my arms, carrying her like the queen she was. She was coming up on eight months already. It seemed these last few weeks of her pregnancy had passed so quickly. “My meeting with the council went really well.”

“Did you tell them off?” she asked, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

“I didn’t have to.” I carried her into the living room and sat on the couch with her in my lap. “The pack did that for me.”

“That’s awesome!” She nuzzled under my chin and slipped her hands down to my chest. “Tell me everything.”

“At first, they were very resistant to the third phase of the merger, but many of our pack members defended it. They reminded the council that any of them could be voted out if they didn’t get on board with things.”

She laughed. “That’s amazing. It’s probably better that our people put them in their place instead of you. It makes it clear that they’re not reflecting the desires of the pack.”

“Exactly.” I held her against me, and she hummed as she reached for a throw blanket draped over the arm of the couch.

She grabbed the book she was reading and settled comfortably in my lap.

I rubbed her stomach and buried my nose in her hair.

I couldn’t get enough of her, of her scent, her presence.

Bryn was everything I’d ever wanted. And the thought we’d soon have a pup running around and causing trouble, screaming and giggling through our home, made this moment of peace even sweeter.

It was a couple of hours into the afternoon when I started dozing off.

Bryn was still reading, still snuggled close to me.

All I wanted to do was enjoy her company and relax for the rest of the night.

But as the alpha, it was impossible to fully relax—a fact that was made clear when a knock sounded at our door.

“Hm?” Bryn looked up from her book as I sat straight. “Did someone knock?”

“Yeah, I’ll see who it is.”

She slid off my lap and pulled the throw around her shoulders, following me as I went to open the door. My eyebrows raised when I saw Vince standing there. I knew him to be a pretty easy-going sort of person, but his expression was somber.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your evening, Alpha, Bryn.” He nodded to her as she eased around my arm to see him. “It probably would have been better if your beta had been able to do this instead, but since he’s in town…” His joking tone didn’t match the urgency in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “What’s happened?”

“Troy’s ferals attacked our hunting party.”

The news came as a blow to the chest, stealing my breath.

“There were a few wolves out scouting from a small pack,” he said. “They were roughly a day’s travel from here.”

“Were there casualties?” Bryn asked.

“There were a few injured, but Frankie didn’t mention any deaths. The hunting team has things sorted right now, but she said they’re heading back to home base to regroup.”

I clenched my jaw. It irked me that Troy’s chaotic attacks were impossible to predict. And it pissed me off that they could catch even my hunting team unawares. I wanted to hear the report straight from my wolves’ mouths. We had to be missing something, some trick to figuring out what he’d do next.

I said, “I understand. We’ll be ready for them to return.”

“I assured them of that myself,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve already let the infirmary know about it. Frankie said they’d be back within thirty-six hours.”

“You did?” That was some initiative. Suddenly, I was reminded of how Vince had my back during the meeting, the toast he’d made for Bryn and me after I became alpha of the Kings, and all the other times he’d taken care to be a good soldier for our pack.

It seemed that ever since Bryn saved him, when she was lured away by the vision of the wolf months and months ago, Vince had gone the extra mile to do everything he could for the pack.

I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for your diligence and devotion to this pack, Vince. You’re an asset to the pack, and you’re an asset to me.”

His eyes widened, and his face started to turn tomato-red. “I-I was just trying to take one thing off your plate, Alpha. It’s my responsibility.”

“You’re right. Which is why I’ve got men like you on my team, but to ignore your accomplishments would be a huge disservice to what you do for us.” I clapped his shoulder. “I’ll say it again, Vince. Thank you.”

He pressed his lips together to keep from grinning too widely, but his red cheeks belied his happiness. “Thank you, Alpha. It’s an honor to be part of this pack, and to see what you’ve done with it. I’m just happy to see so many changes in my lifetime.”

I chuckled and let him go. “Keep me updated if you learn anything new. And have a good night.”

“I’ll try, Alpha. I’ll try.” He nodded at Bryn. “Goodnight, Bryn.”

“Goodnight.” She waved, and as he turned to walk away, I closed the door. “Wow,” she said with a light laugh. “If he were in his wolf form, I bet his tail would have been wagging.”

I snorted. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

She laughed a bit more, then sighed. “Thank goodness no one was badly hurt after Troy’s attack, but I hate that they were attacked at all.”

“I hate it, too.”

She moved closer to me and lay her cheek against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, stroking her back.

She and I had made huge strides for the betterment of our packs, but the threat of Troy hanging over our heads made it hard to really appreciate how far we’d come.

I’d have to go out there soon to deal with him and put an end to all of this.

That time would probably come the minute my hunting team returned, when I’d head out with them to track him down.

“There are too many unknowns,” Bryn said. “Too many loose ends. It feels like if even one more thing goes wrong, everything we’ve worked for will fall apart.”

“I know how you feel.” I ran my fingers through her hair. The strands passed like silk ribbons between my fingers. “We’ve worked so hard, and the thought of it all falling apart is too painful to consider.”

She looked up. “It almost sounds like you’re about to say ‘but.’”

I smiled. “But there’s nothing we can do at this very second. Nothing more that can be done tonight. It might feel like the calm before the storm, but so what? For tonight, let’s enjoy that calm as much as we can.”

She gazed up at me. When she didn’t say anything, I worried I might have hurt her feelings or come off as insensitive, but the smile she gave me banished those worries.

“You’re right. We do have tonight.” She reached up and twined her arms around my neck. As she did, her belly pressed against mine, and I felt our baby kick. Her eyes were the color of the Kootenai River at first light. “So tonight, you’ll make love to me.”

As the words left her mouth, my need for her flared to life.

We kissed slowly, hungrily as we walked up the stairs to our bedroom.

We lay down together side by side, hands stroking, lips fused together.

Bryn sucked my bottom lip into her mouth as my hand slid up her thigh under her dress.

She grazed my lip with her teeth, and I stroked her slit, my fingers becoming slick with her wetness.

She pulled away to moan, which let me take back control. I dragged my teeth along her chin and jaw and circled her clit with the pads of my two fingers. She started to open her legs, so I stopped rubbing to push them closed.

“Let me take my time with you,” I murmured against her throat. “I want to feel every tremble and hear each sigh.”

“Night,” she breathed. I could feel her heart quickening under my lips.

“I want to commit your ecstasy to memory.”

“Y-yes. I’ll try and hold still.”

I rewarded her by continuing my slow petting. I nudged her closer and closer to orgasm, alternating the speed and firmness of my fingers on her clit. Asking her to stay still through all of it was unfair. My Bryn was built to be wanton and loud—one of the many things I loved so much about her.

But I enjoyed watching her face flush apple-red.

I loved that she had to grip me just to keep from writhing.

And I relished the mewling noises she tried to suppress by keeping her lips clamped shut.

I ran my teeth across her throat, and her tremble turned into a shudder, her nails dimpling my skin.

I pressed just a bit more firmly, and then her body locked tight, her mouth opening to a wide “O.”

I’d brought her to the peak of her pleasure, and now it was time to watch her fall and dissolve into my arms. My girl did not disappoint.

The moment that pleasure crested over her, she let out a desperate, relieved sob.

It was so loud, it would have been heard in any room of the alpha cabin.

Wetness rushed from her, filling my hand.

“Amazing,” I whispered. “Do you want to take this to the tub?”

She nodded shakily.

Bryn had turned into a puddle on the bed, so I had no problem getting the tub ready and lighting her favorite candles. When everything was ready, I picked her up and carried her into the bathroom. I stepped into the tub and gently sank into it with her in my arms.

The baby added a few pounds to Bryn, but she had never, ever been heavy to me. That said, the difference between having her in the water on my lap versus sitting on the bed on my lap was stark. It was so easy to lift her and lower her onto my waiting cock.

“N-Night…” She moaned as she turned her head to look at me over her shoulder, gripping the sides of the tub, taking what I gave her like a good girl.

“That’s it, Bryn,” I breathed into her back. “Just relax into me.”

She leaned back, and her eyes slipped shut.

The new position gave me perfect access to her breasts, jiggling with each movement.

The water splashed gently around us, slight ripples traveling along the surface of the water.

The sound of the disturbed water added melody to the rhythm of our grunts and moans.

“I’m close,” she gasped.

“I know, love,” I murmured into her shoulder. “I am, too…”

“Ah—ah!” She gripped the sides of the tub, her toes curling upward. At the same time, I bent my knees and thrust upward. I bit into the back of her shoulder, thrusting into her until I was spent.

Afterward, we sat together in the still-warm water, relaxing into the quiet.