Page 206 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

When we burst through the tunnel, my men and I following closely behind Troy, I wasn’t expecting to find myself in a ravine. But the locale of the showdown didn’t matter to me. All I cared about was sinking my teeth into Troy’s throat and squeezing until he stopped breathing.

Moments after we entered the ravine, we encountered waves of young wolves, ferals eager to tear us apart.

Thanks to the Garou Pack’s ingenuity, our claws and fur were dipped in a paralytic that would subdue the ferals seconds after entering their bodies.

It wouldn’t hurt them. The trick was to scratch them without seriously injuring them or getting our fur into their mouths.

It went against our very nature to purposefully let an enemy get close to us like that, but it was made even more fucking difficult by the fact that Troy kept flitting around the battlefield like a deranged mouse.

The ferals and his men surrounded him, keeping him from the fray while he danced around us, his laughter echoing in our heads. It was pissing me the hell off.

“Take as many as you down as quickly as possible!” I commanded my men. “The more we take out, the easier it’ll be to get Troy on his own.”

There were determined cries around me. For a little while, they drowned out Troy’s manic giggling.

But things weren’t happening fast enough.

My only task was to corner Troy and kill him, but even I was struggling.

My men were doing their best, and they were going strong, but the pressures of the battle would start getting to them. And me.

“There’s so fucking many of them!” Leo shouted, shaking off a feral that had tried to bite the back of his shoulder.

“And they just keep coming,” Dom replied grimly. “We need a break, or they’ll overrun us.”

That was such a sobering reminder. But I had to keep going—we all had to keep going. The fate of so many lives hung in the balance.

And then, a voice sounded above us, pulsating through the gorge.

“Brandon Moore! Jakob Box! George Corle! Spencer Morely!”

I looked up. Bryn stood on top of the cliff overlooking the gorge. She, Kai, and Dawn were all there, looking down at us. Bryn had her hands cupped around her mouth and was screaming as loud as she could.

Bryn. Mate. My wolf and I were so relieved to see her that I almost stumbled as I maneuvered around the field. But what the hell was she saying?

“Ethan Reese! Liam Tucker! Dorian Henkle!”

Were those…names?

“I recognize some of these,” Dom said. “They’re the names of the missing kids.”

“What’s that supposed to do?” Leo demanded.

At first, nothing happened. But then, one by one, ferals stopped running and turned to look up at Bryn.

“I think I understand,” Oakley said. “She’s calling their names to distract them. If we’re fast enough, we can get to them before they snap out of it.”

“No, that’s not it,” Lance said. I spotted him across the battlefield.

He wasn’t paying attention to the battle raging around him—he was too busy staring up at his sister with almost as much awe as the ferals.

“These kids probably haven’t heard their names in ten years, but that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten them.

She’s reminding them of who they were before they turned. ”

My pride for Bryn swelled, my love for her sending tears to my eyes. Not only was she safe and sound, but she was singlehandedly turning the tides of this battle, and she hadn’t shed any blood to do it—the way only she, a descendant of pack mothers, could do.

“I’m glad someone understands what’s going on,” Cat’s voice surprised us all. “Need help?”

Leo sounded amused when he spoke. “I was wondering where you were.”

“We need to keep the wolves protecting Troy busy,” I said. “If I get a clear path to him, I can put the fucker down.”

“I can absolutely help with that,” Cat said.

“Cat, come with me and Lance,” Dom said. “Let’s do this.”

The three of them took point, and I came in behind them. I shoved one wolf out of my way. My shoulder protested, but I quickly pushed the pain away. If my stitches had reopened, I’d handle it once Troy was dead.

Lance, Dom, and Cat rushed the barrier of wolves around Troy.

“Oran Castle! Isaiah Hera! Trevor Coolie!”

One of the names must have belonged to a wolf protecting Troy because he suddenly broke formation. Cat, Dom, and Lance took advantage of the gap and widened it by taking out the wolves closest to the feral. I leapt over the pile of them and made a beeline for Troy.

He was obviously freaking out. He wasn’t giggling anymore, but as I got closer, I heard his inhuman screeching voice.

“Someone—fucking anyone—stop her!”

“Too late,” I replied, and then I was on him.

We rolled into the stream. Troy yelped in surprise as he writhed violently beneath me, more like a dying fish than a wolf, but his flailing helped his snapping jaws get around my shoulder.

Pain pierced through me, but instead of paralyzing me, it ignited fresh rage inside me and my wolf.

I didn’t say anything, didn’t wait to hear his last words—I just opened my jaws as wide as they would go and clamped them around his neck.

He cried out, but it was cut short when I jerked my head back, ripping his throat wide open. Viscera and blood spurted from the wound and pooled into the stream.

And then, Troy lay still beneath me.

Like a faucet being abruptly shut off, the ferals that hadn’t been paralyzed stopped fighting. The wolves who had defected tried to run away, but my men easily dispatched them.

It was a time to cheer and celebrate, but I couldn’t wait to see my mate.

I sprinted for the cliff wall, which had just enough nooks and crannies for me to leap and scramble up to the top.

I shook out my fur, and then I was all over Bryn, my wolf partially taking over to press his nose in her face and lick her face.

She yowled with laughter, her arms closing around my neck. I let my wolf have his fun for a bit before taking over and shifting into my human form.

“You’re incredible,” I told her.

She grabbed my face between her hands. “Speak for yourself, champion.”

She kissed me, and I pulled her close against me. Hers was the sweetest taste, and now I could enjoy her without Troy lurking in the darkness.

Finally, finally, this sick part of our history was over. Now, we could live.