Page 202 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

My head was pounding from the moment I opened my eyes. The last thing I remembered was heading back through the caves. A wave of terror crashed over me. There must have been an attack. I must have been taken.

I rolled onto my back, wanting to touch my stomach, but my hands were bound tightly behind me.

I worried that the kidnapping might have killed my baby, but I felt an insistent movement in my stomach.

I almost cried with relief. My baby was safe and sound, and I felt strengthened and reassured by their presence.

Now I could focus on what I needed to do to get out of this fucked-up situation.

It was cold, damp, and dark. The ground beneath me felt like wet stone, rough against my skin. The air smelled like stagnant water. All at once, I was flooded with memories of the last time Troy had kidnapped me. Tavi had been with me then—

“Are you awake?” Was that Tavi’s voice? I rolled onto my side and saw her sitting against the wall. She was also tied up and beaten, just as she’d been back then, but she wasn’t unconscious. In fact, considering our situation, she looked pretty calm.

“Tavi, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” The cut on her head and her split lip and the blood splattered over her clothing and skin said otherwise, but her eyes blazed in triumph. “I’m better than okay. I killed them both.”

“Who?” I asked as I struggled into a sitting position, pressing my back against the craggy rock wall. My head still hurt, but it was already starting to pound less.

“Harlon and Samson. They’re dead.” She grinned at me. “I don’t have to live my life worrying about them anymore. I ended them with my own hands.”

Harlon and Samson were the men who assaulted Tavi. My pacifism only went so far, and Troy and those two goons were not included. “Tavi, that’s great,” I said, my chest swelling with pride. “You’re amazing.”

Tavi shot me a bloodthirsty grin. “I gave Troy’s men hell before they knocked me out, but we still need to get out of this place.”

“Did you see anything before they knocked you out? Any escape routes?”

She nodded. “I saw a few routes that should lead outside as they dragged us into the cavern. If we can get ourselves untied, it should be a cinch to escape.”

“Then maybe we can…” I turned my head, looking for openings in the cave, but there was only one. “Oh no.”

“That’s the thing,” she said. “They were smart about this; it’s so much easier to keep us in this grotto with only one way out.”

“Fuck. The last time, there were three openings, and neither of us could get through them.”

“There is another way. Possibly.”

“What?”

Tavi nodded upward, and I followed her gaze. At first, I saw nothing, but when I tilted my head, I spotted a hole behind a stalactite. It was hidden from the entrance by more stalactites, but a shard of sunlight peeked through.

“I won’t be able to get through there. It’s too small,” I said. “But you could.”

She nodded. “I can climb up there easily and wiggle through. I just need to get my hands free.”

“If you scoot my way, I could use my claws to free you.”

Her eyes widened, glittering with hope. “That’s a great idea!”

She shuffled toward me as quickly as she could with her legs bound.

I shifted closer to her. We positioned ourselves back to back, my hands at her bindings.

I had greater control over my wolf than in the past, and it was a breeze to sharpen my nails.

Getting through the thick rope was another thing, though.

I struggled to slice my nail into the same spot without seeing what I was doing, and the rope’s uneven surface made it easy to slip.

“I’m sorry,” I said as my nail scraped across Tavi’s wrist.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”

I kept working for what felt like forever, but the sunlight coming through the hole told me it was still daytime.

When I had the polyester fiber down to its last thread, we heard footsteps coming toward us.

We stopped, and Tavi scurried away from me to make it look like we hadn’t been doing anything.

Troy stepped into the room. He didn’t look anything like the clean-cut, handsome man he used to be.

His hair was now a long, unruly mess. His clothes were torn and covered in dirt.

His face was gaunt and wan. To me, it looked like all the evil he’d been responsible for was mirrored in his looks.

In another few years, maybe sooner, he'd be unrecognizable.

The wolves who had defected during his attack on the Kings were at his back. I wasn’t surprised to see Trish—former leader of the Terrible Ts—at his side, her chest pressed to his arm. She smirked at Tavi and me as she rubbed Troy’s chest. I glared back at her.

“Look what my men caught for me,” he said. “A couple of familiar faces.”

“Fuck off,” Tavi hissed.

Troy laughed at her and stepped farther into the cave. His men kept their eyes on Tavi. I was certain their scratched faces and ripped clothing were her doing.

Troy crouched in front of me. “And you, pregnant with that bastard’s spawn. You’ve fallen so far, Bryn.”

My lip curled back from my teeth in disgust. The fact that he was anywhere near my baby was an affront. “What do you want, Troy?”

“You. Well, more specifically, your blood.”

“So you can do another blood ritual?” I demanded. “So you can ruin the lives of more children?”

His smile faltered. “How do you know about that?”

“We’ve done our research. We know you and your father kidnapped those boys ten years ago, and we know most of your army is made up of those poor kids. You’re just as depraved as your father was.”

He frowned, but he wasn’t nearly as upset as I’d thought he’d be. “You figured all of that out, did you? Well, it doesn’t really matter. You’ll be dead in a few hours, anyway.”

I resisted the urge to look up toward the ceiling. I knew it was still daytime, but in a few hours, it’d be nightfall. That meant I had time before he killed me.

“If you know about the rituals, then you know about my father’s failed attempts to gain eternal life.” He shook his head. “It’s thanks to those rituals that I needed a new location; the other one was so tainted that I couldn’t think straight. I’m not planning to do that again.”

His words hit me like a slap. “Then what was all this for? All this terror you caused, all the lives you’ve taken? What the hell have you been doing?”

“I’ve been researching a new spell, and I’ve found a way to bring my father back.”

“What?”

He nodded as if what he’d said wasn’t the most insane thing that had ever left his lips.

“He was never meant to die. I need my father to help me run things. He and I will seize territory from every wolf in the area, and then we’ll move on to human cities.

We’ll expand our reach until this entire country is ours.

He had the plans, and I can make them a reality. ”

I shuddered at the thought. It wouldn’t happen that way. They’d tried to use blood for their purposes before, and all it had done was ruin those children and destroy Gregor and Troy. I wasn’t sure what the side effects would be if he went through with the ritual, but they couldn't be good.

“Children weren’t the way to go,” Troy said.

“They don’t have enough blood for what I need, and they’re not pure enough.

Children don’t have the connection to the land that’s necessary to make real magic happen.

This time, I’ll drain the life from the child of a pack mother, then drain the pack mother herself.

It’s perfect!” He wore a maniacal grin. “It’s flawless, isn’t it? ”

“It’s insane,” Tavi hissed.

He ignored her, his eyes on me, on my lips, on my body. I felt violated when he touched my face and pressed his thumb to my lips. Disgust roiled my body.

“If only you’d been the good little whore I’d asked you to be, I wouldn’t have to work so hard,” he said. “But don’t be sad. You and your baby will be happier in the next life. And when your mate comes to get you, I’ll make sure to send him after you.”

He rubbed his thumb over my lips, then forced it into my mouth.

The rage that had been building up inside me flared to life.

Every person he’d hurt, everyone my pack had lost, every child he’d tortured…

it all coiled together in one large, unbearable ball.

My teeth sharpened to points, and I bit down as hard as I could, slicing through the meat and between the joints of the digit.

He screamed, yanking his hand back, but his thumb remained between my teeth. I spat it out on the ground.

“Bitch!” He punched me in the face, hard enough that I nearly lost consciousness again. I fell onto my back, and Troy came at me, still screaming and cursing, raising what remained of his hand.

Time seemed to slow to a trickle. From the corner of my eye, I saw him inch toward me and heard the snap as the last thread of the rope gave way. If Tavi did anything else, it would ruin her chances of escape—

“You little rat!” Trish jumped in front of Troy. She crouched in front of me, gripping the front of my sweatshirt to yank me into a seated position. “You’re fucking lucky that this ritual has to be done tonight, or I’d kill you myself for what you’ve done.” And then she slapped me.

Was it just me, or was the slap not very powerful? It was nothing like the beatings she would give me before. Was she weak, or had I gotten stronger?

“Fuck it,” Troy groaned, blood still spurting from his thumb. He was still furious but no longer in a hurry to kill me. Trish’s words must’ve reminded him that his ritual was more important than losing a finger. “Emery, get my thumb,” he barked. “Trish, watch this bitch for me.”

“Of course, baby.” She kept her narrowed eyes on me, her hands still clenched on my dress as Troy stumbled out of the room. One of his men grabbed the thumb for him, and they all filed out after him.