Page 41 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

Tavi burst into the kitchen while I was washing dishes. “Bryn,” she called. “I’ve got great news!”

“Quiet down, young lady,” Mabel called from the other room. “Some of us are trying to focus.”

“Oops—sorry!” Tavi jogged up to me and took my soapy hands in hers. “You won’t believe what I just convinced Night to do for you.”

I tried to take in her words, but they didn’t make sense to me.

During breakfast service, I’d heard that Night and Dom had arrived too late to save one of the wolves that were attacked last night.

I couldn’t imagine that Night was taking the loss very well.

The last time we’d spoken had been a fight.

How could Tavi have convinced him to do anything for me?

“What is it?” I asked, hesitation evident in my tone.

“He says you’re not confined to Violet’s cabin anymore!” she shrieked, jumping up and down. “You can’t leave the grounds, but you can do what you want now!”

I felt like I’d just had a shock. “He said that?”

“Yes!” Tavi pulled me in for a tight hug, still laughing.

I hugged her back. I could hardly believe the day I was having.

Pax had come in to tell me that he had finally shifted, and he wanted me to go and watch him.

I’d had to tell him no because I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere but the dining hall and home.

Now I couldn’t wait to tell him that had changed.

I thought back to when I had found the young boy crying in the corner at the back of the kitchen after dinner.

He had been hesitant at first to tell me what had him so broken up, but with a bit of bread, some strawberry jam, and a glass of warm milk, I convinced him to share what weighed so heavily on his shoulders.

Most wolves shift before their sixth birthday, but his birthday was right around the corner, and he still hadn’t managed to do it. He’d run away from his cabin when one of his siblings had teased him about it.

My heart had broken for those teary, doe-brown eyes and the clenching of his little fists around his glass of milk.

I sat next to him and wrapped an arm around him.

While I had no experience being a wolf, I knew plenty about feeling left behind by my peers, so I could relate to Pax’s troubles in that way.

“You need to be brave, little guy,” I’d told him. “Don’t you know that the best things take time?”

He’d shaken his head, wiping at his tears with the sleeves of his shirt.

I’d ruffled his golden blond hair and given him a smile. “I’m sure you’ll shift any day now. I can feel it in my bones.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Pax! You just have to wait a little while longer.”

I was relieved that my words seemed to help, and he had finally been ready to return home. That night, he’d given me a big hug.

“Is it okay if I call you my friend?” he’d asked.

My heart had just about burst at the sweet, soft question. I’d agreed right away and sent him home with a strip of bacon that was left over from dinner service.

For the past two days, he’d come in to see me with a glum look on his face. When he told me that it still hadn’t happened yet, we shared a tight hug, and I sent him back home with another extra piece of bacon and a message not to give up hope.

With Tavi’s news that Night had eased my restrictions even further, my heart swelled with joy.

Pax, with pride glowing in his eyes, had been so excited to tell me, of all people, the good news.

But he had been so crestfallen when I told him that I wouldn’t be able to watch him shift.

Now that I was free, things could be different.

Despite everything that had led me to the Wargs pack, I was charmed by the people and the strong sense of community that they shared. With each day that went by, I felt more and more comfortable with these wolves, and I felt more like I belonged.

“So, where do you want to go first?” Tavi asked. “There are tons of places you haven’t had the chance to see!”

I was so overjoyed I found it difficult to speak. “I—oh wow…” I pressed a hand to my forehead. “I need to finish cleaning here, and then I can—”

“Don’t you worry about that, Bryn,” Mabel said, wiping her hands on a towel. “You go on and have some fun with your friends.”

I turned to the older woman, my eyes widening. “But Mabel, there’s still so much to do, and I don’t want to leave you hanging.”

“Nonsense. The rest of us will get by just fine. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

Frankie and the others working in the kitchen responded with a chorus of assurances.

Mabel put the towel over her shoulder and set her hands on her hips. “You go on now. Don’t make me shoo you out of the mess hall.”

My smile threatened to split my face right down the middle. I hugged Mabel tightly and thanked everyone else who was working before allowing Tavi to drag me out of the mess hall.

“Tavi, I think I know where I want to go first,” I said. “I have to let Pax know that I can watch him shift.”

“Wow. I can’t believe the first thing you want to do with your freedom is talk to your new best friend.” Tavi crossed her arms and pretended to look hurt. “How could you?”

“Oh no,” I laughed. “How can I ever make it up to you?”

Tavi’s grin broke through her faux frown. “By letting me give you a tour of our village.”

“Hmm…Well, you drive a hard bargain, but I think I can agree to those terms.”

Tavi laughed. “Let’s give little Pax the good news, and then I’ll show you all of my favorite spots.”

“Deal.”

We caught Pax as he slowly trudged home. As I had expected, his sadness disappeared the moment he learned that I would be able to watch him, and he jumped into my arms. I lifted the boy easily and gave him a kiss on the top of his head as he hugged me around my neck.

“I’m excited too, little guy,” I whispered to him. “You’re going to do amazingly.”

After we saw Pax off, Jasper jogged up to us, a grin on his face. “I thought I saw you walking around,” he said, his gaze on me. “You making a jailbreak?”

“Ha! Hardly,” I replied.

“Night’s let Bryn off her leash,” Tavi said. She looked from Jasper to Bryn, a knowing smirk on her face. “Now we’re going on a tour. You’re welcome to tag along if you’re not busy.”

“I’m not on duty for a few more hours. I think I can spare some time for you two…as long as I can escort the lovely Bryn around the compound.” He offered his elbow.

I giggled, accepting his offer. He fell into step with us as Tavi began her tour, walking on the other side of me so that I was sandwiched between the two wolves.

I smiled to myself, amazed at how quickly my life had changed.

I loved that I had made friends here. It made me feel like I actually fit in—even though I knew that as a human, I never really could.

Tavi was a gift from heaven with her kindness, and Jasper—well, he was kind and funny, and I liked his company, but I knew I didn’t want our relationship to go any further than friends.

We walked through the villages, Tavi pointing out community buildings like the food storage cabin and the small market that was kept stocked with goods from Colville.

The Wargs compound was a vibrant, beautiful place.

The wood cabins were built strong and painted in a variety of colors.

It seemed so cozy, so friendly, and so welcoming.

“How often do you all go into the city?” I asked

“It depends,” Jasper said. “Whenever we have time or if we badly need something that only the humans can provide. Colville takes a while to get to, so we rarely have wolves to spare for the trip. I think we go once every couple of months.”

That was another difference between the Kings and the Wargs.

The Kings had plenty of cities nearby that they frequented as often as they liked.

Only male wolves were allowed to go, and from what I’d heard, the usual purpose of the trip was to fool around with human women, not bring back supplies.

The Kings had so much excess material and clothes from the humans that the most fortunate families in the pack had to have small storage sheds just to have some place to store it all.

Mom and I, of course, rarely benefitted from those sorts of goods.

“Oh! There’s the schoolhouse,” Tavi said, pointing to a quaint brick building.

“There’s a stubborn section of the roof that always leaks when it rains.

Someone always repairs it, but it doesn’t help.

” She turned to grin at Jasper. “I remember once that I poured the bucket that we used to collect rainwater on Jasp as a prank.”

“Some prank,” Jasper scoffed. “I was so wet, I kept slipping in the grass on the way home.”

“Yeah, but that’s how we became friends, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “I guess.”

Tavi and I giggled.

“Oh, over there is the Elders’ home.”

Tavi pointed to a cabin whose door was painted white.

It was larger than the other cabins, but not by much.

It seemed that, like the Kings' pack Elders, the Wargs Elders lived communally in one cabin.

When I was younger, it used to confuse me that they would want to live apart from their families, but Mom explained that the Elders were “elder” for a reason—their families were full-grown adults with little ones of their own.

If they wanted to see their grandchildren, they could leave their home to do so at any time, but tradition dictated that the Elders lived together.

“I don’t think you’ve met them yet. They tend to keep to themselves unless they have something important to say.”

“And over there’s the fighting ring and training grounds,” Jasper said, pointing. Next to the Elders’ cabin was a clearing where the ground had been packed tight and smooth.

“Is that where Night trains the squads?” I asked.

“Yep, Dom too,” Tavi said.

I stared at the grounds and imagined Night there, with his shirt off, his body hard and glistening with sweat as he beat his opponents to the ground. I closed my eyes and shivered.