Page 273 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

She shivered, then nodded almost imperceptibly.

“There’s so much going on right now. All you can do is take things one day at a time,” I told her. “That’s all anyone can ask of you. It’s okay not to have an answer for this.”

She nodded, took a deep breath, and then nodded again. “Okay.” She sighed. “Okay.” She blew her nose again, then wiped her face. “Thanks, Bryn.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” I smiled. “This is the least I can do for you.”

She returned my smile, then pulled me in for another hug. I didn’t know what the future held for Dom and Tavi, but something told me I should follow my own advice and not worry too much about it. Things would work out the way they were meant to, and as long as they were happy, I would be, too.

But now I was even more desperate to find Troy, Samson, and Harlon. I wanted them to pay dearly for what they’d done. I wanted to make sure they spent every day of their lives cursing the day they touched my best friend.

102

NIGHT

The morning of the alpha challenge, I was pumped and ready to take on the day. Bryn, however, was a nervous wreck. She’d already thrown up twice, and her hands trembled. Worry for me was written all over her face. Even when I held her and kissed her and assured her everything would be fine, it was impossible for her to relax.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said when I asked her a third time whether she wanted me to make her some peppermint tea. “I know that this will pass once all this is over. When you’re in the ring, don’t even think about me. Just focus on winning and making it out in one piece.”

I kissed her temple. “I could never stop worrying about you, love.” I kissed her forehead. “Just like you can’t help tearing yourself up about me.” I kissed her lips. “I know you’ll be like this until it’s over, but I promise I’ll be okay. I promise.”

It pained me to see her so upset, but nothing I could say would make it easier on her. My actions would be much better at convincing her she had nothing to worry about. The onlything I could do was go and prove to her that her worries were unnecessary. After today, I would make this broken pack a safe place for Bryn and our baby.

I kissed her again. “Hey, do you mind cutting my hair before we go out?” I ran a hand through it. It was still a bit damp from the shower I’d taken the night before. “It hasn’t been this long in years.”

As I’d hoped, that distracted her a bit. “That’s funny.”

“What is?”

“The idea of you taking a shower hours before you’ll inevitably get dirtier than I’ve ever seen you.”

I smirked. “To be honest, Bryn, the shower was for your benefit more than mine. It’s not a bad tactic to not bathe for days or weeks before a battle. That way, you distract or even confuse your opponent with your smell.”

She made a horrified expression.

I laughed. “I don’t need to rely on those sorts of techniques, but I figured you’d want me as clean as possible while we shared a bed.”

“You figured right.” She smacked me on her way to her vanity and patted the stool. “Sit, sit.”

I took the seat and combed my hair back before she grabbed her scissors. My wolf purred, and I blinked slowly from the soothing feeling. This was the first time she played with my hair like this, and it was so relaxing I could almost fall asleep.

But all too soon, it was over.

“What do you think?” she asked. “I know you like the sides shaved, but I don’t have clippers.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, mussing it a bit. She was right that it wasn’t quite my preferred style, but it was far from bad. In fact, it looked great. For my purposes, which was to keep my hair out of my eyes, she’d gone above and beyond. Now I’d not only claim the alpha spot in front of every King who’d ever doubted us, but I’d also look good doing it.

In the mirror, I saw her chewing her lip as if waiting for me to say it was the worst hairstyle ever. I pulled her into my lap and kissed her. “I love it. Thank you.”

She let out a breath of relief. “I’m glad. I’ve never cut a man’s hair before.”

“That’s good to hear. Because from this point on, I’m the only man who gets to feel your fingers running through it.”

She giggled. “What about Dom?”

“Fuck, no,” I said, nuzzling her ear.

She giggled harder. “But he’s my own flesh and blood.”