Page 362 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

The immense satisfaction I felt at hearing that Bryn had gotten her lick in dissipated. “Where is she?”

Troy laughed. “My men are preparing her for the ritual. I told them to do whatever they needed to get her to cooperate. If she was a good little girl, she’s cooperating, but we both know how Bryn is. I’m sure they’re making her suffer.”

As he finished speaking, memories flashed in my mind’s eye—Bryn hanging nearly naked from the wall in Troy’s cabin; Bryn covered in blood after she won the title of alpha from him, the purple-black bruises that mottled her skin even days after she’d escaped his torture. The possibility that mypregnantmate was being hurt somewhere in these caves had me trembling with rage.

“Night,” Dom’s voice sounded in my head. He was the only one I could speak privately to, even in our wolf forms. “Don’t let him push you over the edge.That’s what he wants.”

Dom was right, of course. Troy could be surprisingly crafty, but it was obvious that he was trying to throw me off, that he wanted me to lose control. Knowing that didn’t help. Iwantedto let loose, wanted to cede control to my wolf and fuck the consequences. The opportunity to paint the walls with Troy’sblood was more important than the risk of him getting away with all he’d done.

“Night,” Dom’s voice was firm.“Don’t.”

Fuck me, but I was close to letting loose. So desperate to make Troy pay that I wanted to hurt Dom just to get him out of my way. But a moment of clarity sliced through those violent thoughts. This must be what the ferals felt every day, so eager to do Troy’s bidding that their methods hardly mattered. I wasn’t under Troy’s control like they were, yet he had the ability to make me want to lose all sense. Troy had always known exactly which button to push to make a wolf go feral just to kill him. And in that moment, I’d never felt worse for the poor kids under his control.

I shoved back my rage. “Tell us where Bryn is, and maybe I’ll give you a head start before hunting you down, Troy.”

He laughed hard. “What an arrogant prick you are! You know, Night, you have this nasty habit of making threats even when you’re in no position to do that.”

“Troy, the sun is setting, and Bryn is nowhere around. All I have to do is kill you, and this thing will be over.You’ll miss your window for your stupid ritual, and the ferals will be free. You’re the one at a disadvantage here.”

But he didn’t seem bothered by my words, which only put me more on edge. “It’s nearly nighttime,” he said. “And I’ve given my men the order to start draining Bryn’s blood the minute the sun sets. Her blood will still be fresh enough to use in the ritual, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

My growl escaped me before I could even think of holding it back. “Let’s end this here, Troy.One on one. Let’s not drag this out any more than?—”

He hopped to his feet. “You’ll have to catch up to me if you want a fight, brother.” And before any of us could do anything, he took off in the opposite direction.

“Troy!” I roared.

As one, my men and I sprinted after him.

128

BRYN

Iburst through the opening of the cavern, panting and shedding silent tears. Trish was dead. I could hardly believe that it had happened, that I had been the only one to witness it. Never in my life would I have believed that one of my old bullies would give her life for mine, and yet Trish had.

“Hey!”

I turned toward the voice. Cat, Dawn, and a few others were rushing my way. Cat was waving at me. I ran to meet them. But behind me, there was a growl. I turned as the wolf lunged at me. It had to be Emery.

I dropped to my knees, and he tumbled over me. He growled, trying to force me to go back into the cave. When he saw I wasn’t cooperating, his growl grew louder, and he rushed me. Seconds before he reached me, Kai burst through the leaves and grabbed Emery by the scruff of the neck. With a quick twist of his arm, Emery fell limp. Kai dropped the body.

“Thank you,” I breathed. “It’s such a relief to see you all.”

“It’s a relief for us, too,” Cat replied. “I was worried you’d be a goner already.”

“Things got a little too close to that, unfortunately. How did you know where to find me?”

She pointed to Dawn. “This is the cave Dawn pointed out on the map earlier. When we were having trouble tracking you, she thought this would be a good place to try checking.”

“Thank you, Dawn.” I wrapped my arms around her. “You’ve done amazingly.”

When I pulled back, I was glad to see her smiling. I’d never seen her smile before, and it was such a pretty, friendly expression.

“I need to get to Night,” I said. “Where is he?”

“He was at the compound when we left to find you,” Cat replied. “Wait a second…shouldn’t there be two of you?”

“Tavi escaped. I’m sure she’s made it back to your territory by now.” I looked up at the sky. It was nearing dusk. If Tavi had gotten back to them, they’d be on their way. But if walking through those tunnels with Trish had shown me anything, it was that there were so many possible spots for a battle to occur.