Page 252 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

She was breathing hard as she stared at him, her hand still on his chest. After a few seconds, she stopped pushing him and nodded. “I know you will. We can’t run from our destiny.” She tried to smile, but the pain and the weight of her sorrow wouldn’t let her. “I love you so much, Lucian.”

“I love you, too, Blo?—”

Guards burst from between the trees before he could finish speaking. Lucian released a roar, his hands turning to claws as he turned to face them head-on. He killed them quickly and without mercy. Dark blood splattered over the ground, through the air, across the trunks of the trees. He was a machine, cleaving through his adversaries before they even got close to my mother. A wolf bit into his shoulder, but my father didn’t even grunt. He stabbed his claws through the wolf’s underbelly, and its bowels sloshed to the ground.

My mother watched it all through vision that was slowly fading. She stared at her mate’s back, calm stealing over her as she accepted that she was close to the end. She wasn’t injured from anything external, but something inside had torn.

Once Lucian got rid of that first wave of wolves, he turned back to her. As their eyes met, my hold on my mom’s mind began to slip away.

I scrambled to regain control, thinking I was losing focus again, but I realized at that devastating moment that she was dying. My father seemed to realize it at the same time.

“No.” His voice cracked, tears spilling over his cheeks. He crouched in front of her. “What can I do?” he asked. “How do I save you?”

She gave a weak shake of her head and placed her hand over her stomach.Save the baby, she willed him to understand.

He sobbed once as he looked at her stomach, and then mustered up enough resolve to nod. He took her hand in his and tried to coax her through my birth. She was fading fast, but she held on long enough to make sure I was born. As she pushed, she simultaneously pushed me from her mind. I was no longerseeing through her eyes but hovering above the scene, looking down at them.

I tried to angle myself to see her face, but I couldn’t get a clear view. The last thing I saw was myself as a newborn in my father’s arms. Newborn-me opened her mouth, let out a cry, and then everything went black.

94

NIGHT

Ipaced around the elders’ backyard. My stress was at an all-time high. I couldn’t even imagine what Bryn was seeing or what she was going through. For all I knew, she could be living through torture. It had only been an hour since her eyes started glowing white, but that time had passed so slowly. I willed myself to be patient, but how could I when my soulmate was enduring this by herself?

Mom watched me calmly. She and the other elders were grouped near the back door of the cabin. Elder Queene had brought water and snacks while we waited for Bryn to come back, but I had no appetite. Pacing was the only thing I could think of to pass the time.

“Night, she’s going to be fine,” Mom said. “We just need to wait a little longer.”

My wolf whined, and I bit down on the inside of my lip. “I don’t like this, Mom.”

“I know, Night.”

“I just can’t calm down. I feel like it was a mistake to let her do this.”

“It must be terrifying to know she’s gone somewhere you can’t follow, but sweetheart, this is what Bryn wanted. You know that this was Bryn’s choice to make, not yours. She needed to do this to understand who she is.”

“I know that,” I snapped. “Bryn told me herself so many damn times.” My tone was much sharper than I’d meant it to be. I stopped pacing and pinched the bridge of my nose. I was antsy and irritable, but letting my emotions get the better of me wouldn’t help Bryn. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t snap at you like that. I’m just on edge.”

“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” She smiled sympathetically. “Why don’t you try thinking about something else? Maybe some paperwork you can go through? Or more training you can do?”

I shook my head. It was a good suggestion, but neither of those options worked for me because they involved me leaving Bryn. I wasn’t about to let her out of my sight for a second. I ran my hands through my hair and tried to think of something else I could do to stop obsessing so much over Bryn’s well-being.

And then a thought occurred to me. I hadn’t talked to the Kings’ elders about the children who’d disappeared. Now was the perfect opportunity to ask them what they remembered. It wasn’t the happiest of topics to bring up, but the questions I had about the disappearances were relevant enough to hold my interest.

I took a few calming breaths, then walked over to them. They were talking to Elder Woods about something. Whatever it washad their full attention, but when they noticed me nearing them, they stopped talking. I might have found that suspicious under different circumstances, but I didn’t care.

“I have a few questions for you three,” I said.

“Yes?” Elder Queene asked.

“Do you remember the string of disappearances that happened a decade ago? The children who vanished without a trace?”

The three elders stared at me for so long, I wondered if they’d somehow forgotten about the children.

Elder Forsythe sighed. “My goodness,” he said slowly. “I haven’t thought about that dark time in ages.” The other two elders nodded solemnly.

I gave them a few seconds to cast their minds back to that time before asking, “Were there any suspects you know of? Any leads?”