Page 266 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

“I can handle it,” I said immediately.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s not about whether you can handle it; it’s whether you’ll make it through in one piece. Knowing how vicious Kings can be, I’m concerned they’ll put you first.”

But Bryn shook her head. “That’s not how it works. They would have to nominate Night, and they won’t do that. Xavier is their nominee.”

“Oh.” Well, that changed things. “I think that setup works in our favor. It sounds like I should nominate myself last and let the Kings kill each other.” That would take care of either Lance or Xavier, and I would just have to fight the winner.

But Dom still looked doubtful. “I don’t think that’s the best play here. If you wait until the end, it’ll be obvious what you’re doing.Logically, your plan works fine, but you’ll come off as a coward if you’re waiting for your opponent to tire out.”

I sighed. He had a point, but considering how often the Kings had cheated us, it was hard not to want to do it, anyway.

“You could try to go sometime in the middle,” Bryn suggested.

“That’s an idea.” Tavi seemed calmer now. “Who knows? There might only be a handful of wolves who nominate themselves.”

Bryn nodded. “And if that’s the case, you might only fight five wolves. It shouldn’t be hard for you to win, Night.”

I grinned at my mate. Her confidence in me was a massive ego boost, and I was tempted to pull her away for some fun…but now wasn’t the time.

“Don’t look at me like that, Night Shepherd,” she said, a pink tinge creeping into her cheeks. “I’m still worried about you. I’ll have to watch every second of these fights, and I want you to be careful.”

I couldn’t resist pulling her against me and kissing her cheek. “I will be, love. I promise.”

“Don’t worry, Bryn,” Dom added. “He’s got too much riding on this challenge to do badly, and this time around, he won’t have to worry about Troy hamstringing him with hostages.”

It was true. I was five days away from everything I’d spent my life working toward. Soon, we could start building our ideal pack and bring peace. I could deal with the extraneous things, like the Wargs’ council and Troy, once I had everything in my hands. I was too close to let things slip through my fingers again.

99

BRYN

After hugging Dom and kissing Night goodbye, I took the drawings to the elders’ cabin. It was much shorter to walk in a straight line through the forest than follow the compound’s curving path. In about half a mile, the trees would give way to the elders’ cabin, and I decided it was worth being out of public sight for a few minutes if it reduced my travel time.

It was shaping up to be a bizarre day, but at least I felt more certain about everything. Night seemed confident that the challenge would work out. I needed to have faith that he knew what he was doing, but I’d never be able to let go of my worry for him.

Was this what it had been like for Night to watch me go through the ritual? If so, I could empathize a lot more with his position.

I let out a sigh. The tote bag hardly weighed anything but seemed to gain ten pounds with each step I took. When I thought about the drawings, I felt less sure they were legible. A lot was riding on my ability to draw them accurately. If things turned out well, I would know even more about what happened to my mother. Ihoped with everything in me that I’d done a good enough job, but I felt so uncertain.

“Wait up, Interim Alpha.”

I stopped walking, turning towards the voice. Lance was leaning against the tree closest to me.

I hopped away from him, immediately on guard. He’d just been at the training grounds, yet he’d somehow managed to catch up to me without me hearing. That should have been impossible.

Lance had never threatened me or said anything that seemed concerning on the surface, but he could be a spy, and Night viewed him as competition. All that told me he was powerful and dangerous.

“You sure it’s okay for you to wander off by yourself?” he asked. “Wouldn’t you be better off with an escort?”

I stared at him. The way he said “escort” made me suspicious. Did he know something about my meeting with the council?

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, thankful that my voice sounded every bit as powerful as I wanted it to. A wolf ought to present a strong stance in the face of potential opposition, and I didn’t know what this guy wanted from me. “This is my pack. I can walk wherever I want, whether I’m alone or not.”

“Ideally, that would be true, but someone in your condition should be guarded at all times, don’t you think?”

“My ‘condition?’”

“You know what I’m talking about.” He glanced at my stomach and back up at me. “You could say I’ve got a sixth sense whenit comes to things like this. Not that I needed that extra sense; anyone keeping an eye on you would have figured it out.”