Page 345 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

“That wasn’t my plan at all. Or, it wasn’t before you said that.”

I chuckled. It made me giddy to hear them argue like siblings. Compared to Dom, Lance was much stiffer around Bryn, but he was obviously getting used to his role. He was treating Bryn the way I did Tavi, so the scene felt very familiar.

We continued our trek. When we arrived on Garou territory, the somber mood of the young wolf who met us at the entrance drained the happy mood right out of us. He had clothes ready for us, including a dress for Bryn.

“You’re earlier than we were expecting,” he said. He spoke calmly—in fact, everything about him seemed calm, if stiff. But his dark brown eyes carried that wide, faraway look reserved for those who were suffering very deeply.

We shifted to our human forms and accepted the clothes with thanks.

“Follow me,” he said. “It’s…it’s a real mess inside.”

That turned out to be an understatement. About a dozen bodies were strewn across the ground in both wolf and human forms. The Camas Pack had suffered heavy losses, but it was different walking through the Garou compound. Maybe it was because the area was much smaller, or that the bodies were mangled to the point of being unrecognizable. It didn’t matter. While Lance, Dom, and I were trained to keep our expressions neutral, I couldn’t blame Bryn or Tavi for covering their mouths and fighting back tears. The ground was stained with blood, and where there was blood, Troy’s stench wasn’t far away.

Some of the bodies were of feral wolves—it was obvious by their unruly, matted fur. Bryn shuddered at the sight and turned away. These kids weren’t our enemies, not really, and each loss was a loss for our pack.

“You must be Night.”

The voice belonged to a tall, wiry man with curly red-gold hair. Red scratches crisscrossed his neck and shoulders, and the expression on his face was hard, stiff, haunted. I suspected he was the alpha of the Garou. Meaning, his men were scattered on the ground.

“And you must be Leo,” I replied.

“I am.”

“I am so sorry that this happened.” I extended my hand to him. “If I had things my way, we’d be meeting for a happier reason. That said, I’m here to help with whatever you need of us.”

He let out a brief, pained sigh. “I appreciate you saying that.” He shook my hand once, his hand as dry and cold as winter frost.

The wolf who led us in spoke softly to Leo. “I’ll get Cat.”

Leo nodded. “So, I’m told you can help me understand why my pack was blindsided by an army?”

“I can tell you that the man behind all of this is named Troy Redwolf. He’s been terrorizing not just your pack but ours and others in the area.”

“Oh, good. A tyrant.” Leo’s mouth thinned to a straight line. His words were sarcastic, but his brown eyes were filled with dark rage. “Tell me everything.”

I explained Troy and how he was in control of the army. But as I started to explain his goals and how the ferals came into play, Leo raised his hands to stop me.

“No.” He shook his head vehemently. “You’re telling me that this guy is looking for a portal for eternal life? I can’t accept something so insane.”

“You don’t have to accept it,” I replied. “It’shisreasoning, not ours.”

“I don’t believe in that kind of magic.”

“Neither did we, but magic is what gave him his army. Those ferals are actually children kidnapped by him and his father. In trying to open the portal, he turned them into the wild wolves who attacked your people. They’re not in their right mind. They’re under Troy’s control.”

He was shaking his head again. “This is too much for me to take in.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. Troy is hunting down a fairytale, and he’s willing to hurt, kill, or maim anyone to do it.”

“No kidding. If he’s willing to do all of that to members of his own pack—tochildren—then I guess we got off easy, all things considered.”

“You could say that, but what you’ve dealt with is devastating. There are losses on all sides where Troy is concerned. The only person he’s looking out for is himself. We’ve been tracking him for months, but we haven’t been able to get ahead of him.”

Leo had paled the more I spoke, but he was no longer denying what I had to say. “But why is he going after new packs like mine? Is that part of his ritual? Or is the guy just out of his mind?”

“That would make sense, wouldn’t it?” Dom said. “But I doubt it. My only theory here is that he’s trying to establish dominance over the area, but if that was the case, I’d think there would be some kind of order to what he was doing. But his attacks are sporadic, chaotic, and clearly devastating.”

I nodded in agreement. “As far as we can tell, there’s no reason behind his attacks. We’re beginning to think that he’s just lost it completely.”