Page 205 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

Iburst through the opening of the cavern, panting and shedding silent tears. Trish was dead. I could hardly believe that it had happened, that I had been the only one to witness it. Never in my life would I have believed that one of my old bullies would give her life for mine, and yet Trish had.

“Hey!”

I turned toward the voice. Cat, Dawn, and a few others were rushing my way. Cat was waving at me. I ran to meet them. But behind me, there was a growl. I turned as the wolf lunged at me. It had to be Emery.

I dropped to my knees, and he tumbled over me.

He growled, trying to force me to go back into the cave.

When he saw I wasn’t cooperating, his growl grew louder, and he rushed me.

Seconds before he reached me, Kai burst through the leaves and grabbed Emery by the scruff of the neck.

With a quick twist of his arm, Emery fell limp. Kai dropped the body.

“Thank you,” I breathed. “It’s such a relief to see you all.”

“It’s a relief for us, too,” Cat replied. “I was worried you’d be a goner already.”

“Things got a little too close to that, unfortunately. How did you know where to find me?”

She pointed to Dawn. “This is the cave Dawn pointed out on the map earlier. When we were having trouble tracking you, she thought this would be a good place to try checking.”

“Thank you, Dawn.” I wrapped my arms around her. “You’ve done amazingly.”

When I pulled back, I was glad to see her smiling. I’d never seen her smile before, and it was such a pretty, friendly expression.

“I need to get to Night,” I said. “Where is he?”

“He was at the compound when we left to find you,” Cat replied. “Wait a second…shouldn’t there be two of you?”

“Tavi escaped. I’m sure she’s made it back to your territory by now.

” I looked up at the sky. It was nearing dusk.

If Tavi had gotten back to them, they’d be on their way.

But if walking through those tunnels with Trish had shown me anything, it was that there were so many possible spots for a battle to occur.

But when I remembered my dream, I realized I knew exactly where the battle would take place. If only I knew where the gorge was.

“Dawn, Cat,” I looked from one to the other. “Do you know these caves well?”

“I do,” Cat said.

Dawn nodded.

“Is there a path that leads to the base of a gorge?”

Again, Dawn nodded as Cat said, “Yeah, there should be. If Dawn knows about it, too, then between the two of us, I’m sure we can lead you there.”

“Hold on, hold on.” Kai separated from the other fighters to approach us. “Shouldn’t we be taking you back to get some medical attention, Bryn?”

“I’m okay, Kai. I’m not bleeding or anything.”

He frowned. “Well, it won’t be long before they start to look for this wolf. Why in the world would you want to go back into these caves?”

“I don’t know if I have the time to explain, but I’m positive that Troy will lead Night and the others there.

” I paused. My mother had shown me the gorge from the top of a cliff.

Why would she show me from that point of view?

Was it just to give me an overview of the battle, or was there a reason I needed to be above it?

“Is there a way to get to the top of the cliff overlooking the gorge?”

Cat shook her head.

“Actually,” Dawn said gently, “I think there is.”

“You’re positive?” I asked.

“Yes. My family used to pick the chives that grow there.”

“I need you to take me there right now.”

“Bryn.” Kai shook his head. “Alpha Night would kill me if he knew I wasn’t taking you to safety.”

My temper surged. “Night won’t be alive to get mad at either of us if we don’t get to where I need to go.”

“Can’t you just tell us where we need to go?”

“No. I need to be there.”

He heaved a sigh, then grumbled something about how pregnant women shouldn’t be on their feet so much as I was.

He was right, of course. If Damon, Mom, or Violet saw me right now, they’d throw a fit to end all fits.

But I could handle it. Sure, my back ached and my thighs pulsed from all the activity, but I pushed through the discomfort.

My body hadn’t given up on me yet, and I couldn’t risk losing Night.

I mentally promised each of them that I would not only rest after this but wouldn’t leave my bed until after the baby was born. I looked at Dawn, who was trying—and failing—not to look scandalized by the way I spoke to Kai.

I patted the burly, frustrated man on the arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll have you and the other fighters around to keep me safe. Dawn, if you’re ready, lead the way.”

“Okay.” She glanced at Kai again, then took the lead. Cat was close behind her, and Kai nodded at his men to follow. He and I were at the rear, and I was sure it was so he could keep an eye on me.

Being in the caves again wasn’t a wonderful experience. Nothing good happened in them. Without Trish or Tavi, we had no idea of the guards’ routines, but when we encountered them, Kai and his men made quick work of them. The third time we had to deal with a group of Troy’s men, a few escaped.

Kai cursed under his breath. In all likelihood, they’d go tell Troy that I was escaping, but I was banking on the hope that there would be too much for Troy to focus on for him to properly delegate.

The man might have gotten the better of us a couple of times, but he wasn’t good at thinking on his feet.

Every time his plans had gone wrong had proven that.

We trudged on at a steady pace. The flat ground allowed me to keep up with the others, but after a while, the terrain turned into an incline.

It was harder and harder for me to make the trek up, and the others were getting farther ahead of me.

But I couldn’t afford to take a break. The sky was darkening by the minute.

“Bryn, I could carry you for this portion,” Kai said.

After a moment of hesitation, I realized that was the best course of action. “Okay.”

He scooped me into his arms. He was an older wolf, but he had no trouble carrying my heavily pregnant body up the incline and catching up with the others.

It was a bit strange to be carried like this by someone other than Night.

In my mate’s arms, I felt like a princess. In Kai’s, I felt more like a child.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“Don’t mention it—and I mean that. I don’t even want to think what your mate will say if he found out about this.”

I laughed. That bit of levity was more than welcome at this tense time.

Finally, finally, we reached the summit, and the tunnel opened at the top of the cliff. Kai set me down, and I carefully walked to the edge.

The déjà vu overwhelmed me as I stared down into the gorge. It was filled with the fading orange light of the sun. Seconds later, hundreds of wolves poured into the gorge from the many tunnel openings that led there. The fight had begun.

I spotted Night immediately, his dark fur streaking back and forth through the battle with the deadly grace of a predator.

“You were right,” Kai said, awed.

At my side, Cat was scanning the wolves, her eyes jumping from spot to spot until she saw Leo’s orange fur fighting in the stream. “I need to get down there. I can’t leave Leo to fight on his own.”

I wanted to hold her back, but she was his beta. Of course she needed to be there. “Go. It’s okay.”

She nodded her thanks to me, then made her way down.

“What’s your plan, Bryn?” Kai asked. “What do you need us to do?”

“Send some of your men after Cat, let the rest stay here. Other than that…” The sentence stopped there.

I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

Night and the others were definitely trying to avoid killing the ferals, only subduing them if possible.

That was significantly more difficult, not just because of how wild the ferals were but because Troy’s men added to the chaos.

They were directly impeding the efforts of our fighters.

The only way to get the ferals to stop attacking was to kill Troy, but they were protecting him. It was only a matter of time before the feral from my vision delivered the blow to Night that would take him down.

What could I do? There had to be something I could do to turn the tide of the battle.

Otherwise, my mother wouldn’t have shown me this.

I tried to replay it in my mind, searching her words for some kind of clue.

She’d mentioned the word “missing,” which made me want to start looking into the missing children again.

“Bryn?” Kai prompted.

I turned a sharp glare on him. “This would be a lot easier to think through if you didn’t keep saying my name, Kai—” I stopped as an idea formed abruptly. Wait, could the solution be that simple?

There was only one thing I could think to do, one thing I believed would distract the ferals long enough to subdue them. I had to give them back the thing they were missing, the thing Gregor and Troy had taken from them. The thing that would remind them of their humanity.