Page 285 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

“What?” All I saw in the mirror was my damp hair and towel-covered body.

He laughed and gently removed the towel. My eyes widened at the round slope of my belly. Almost five months had passed since Night became alpha, and so much of my time had been filled with organizing meetings to get Kings and Wargs used to each other and getting accustomed to my role as den mother. I hadn’t even realized I was showing.

“Oh my goodness,” I breathed as I ran my hands over the bump. “Feels like this just sprang up on me.”

“Gods, you look so beautiful,” Night said. He placed his hands over mine and lowered his lips to my neck.

I leaned back against him. My morning sickness had finally gone away a couple of weeks ago, but my belly certainly hadn’t been this big then.

“Come back to bed,” he murmured. His growling voice stirred butterflies in my stomach.

I grinned at him in the mirror. “Don’t we have work to do?” I teased.

“It can wait another hour.”

We went to bed together. The mattress was still so warm, and Night curled himself around me, his chest pressed flat to my back.

“I was thinking that I could make a crib for our baby. Or have someone from the pack design a really nice one with carvings or something.”

I giggled. “Sounds like you’re going to have a hard time not spoiling our little one.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No.” His hand was resting on my baby bump, and I brought it up to my mouth and kissed his palm. “I think it might be too early to think about cribs and bottles. We still have three months.”

“More like two and a half,” he said. “Time’s passing quickly, love.”

According to Dr. Stan, our soft due date was in late January. We were about halfway through November, so Night’s estimation was more accurate.

“We haven’t even moved into our new cabin yet,” I said. “If we got stuff for the baby now, it would just collect dust in one of the rooms here.” What I didn’t voice was that it would also bother me to have our baby’s things inside this awful place.

The nearer my due date got, the more dissatisfied I was to be in the alpha cabin. Nothing about this place was baby-friendly. Itwas big, and every inch of it held reminders of Gregor and Troy. It simply wasn’t home. When our baby was born, I didn’t want them in this cabin at all. Perhaps it was a silly thing to be hung up about, but I couldn’t help it. The memories here were too awful.

“I get you,” he said. “But we really don’t have a lot of time before January.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it,” I said, then decided to change the subject. “How are things going with the Wargs Council?”

He let out a long sigh and rolled onto his back. Whatever he was about to say weighed on him.

“From what Dom has told me, most Wargs are with us, but there are some who aren’t happy with the merge. The meetings you’ve been setting up to get the Wargs and Kings used to each other are definitely helping, but there are Kings who think Wargs are too loud, and there are Wargs who are frustrated with how slowly some Kings are letting go of their sexist, outdated views.”

“I already knew about those things,” I said. “Why do you seem so disturbed by these minor disagreements? Are pack relations worse than I’m thinking, or is something else bothering you?”

“Yeah.” He sighed again, so I rolled onto my side and laid my head on his chest. He shivered a little when my cold hair touched his chest, but he put a hand on my head to keep me in place. “Dom also mentioned that some members of the Wargs Council have been meeting with Lance in private.”

I gasped. “No way.” I didn’t trust Lance, but he’d been so quiet lately that I never would have guessed he had any interest in the Wargs Council. “Do you think they might try to convince him to challenge you as alpha?”

“That’s what I’m afraid they’re doing, but I don’t know. Bottom line? He’s a threat to us. He’s a highly respected member of the Kings Pack, and it’s possible that he’s power-hungry enough to want to take over both packs.”

I felt the frustration thrumming through his body, and it put me on edge. “We can’t afford a war when we’re so close to peace.”

“Don’t worry.” He stroked my hair. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll handle the Wargs Council long before it gets to that point.”

“I’ll help,” I said.

“You know I appreciate everything you’ve done, but you should be careful.”

I lifted my head and looked into his pine-green eyes. “Aren’t I always?” I asked with a mischievous smile.