Page 61 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

Iwas in my wolf form with Dom at my side, vibrating with rage in my mother’s cabin. With the stench of Redwolf and blood permeating our noses, we were itching to hunt him down.

All over the compound, I heard the howling of my wolves.

They knew their Alpha was enraged, and they were eager to get to me and find out why.

I could hear the sound of their paws scraping through dirt and leaves as they drew closer.

Soon, I’d have the resources I needed to make sure I put Troy and every wolf who’d helped him in the ground.

Dom and I rushed out to meet my wolves, but a tiny groan from the entry of the cabin stole all of my momentum. I shifted back to my human form and about-faced, rushing back to the spot where I’d left Mom’s body.

I’d placed her hands over her stomach, but when I arrived, I found she had moved. Her hands were on the ground, her claws partially extended, her nails digging small scratches in the wood.

“Mom?” I dropped to my knees beside her. “Mom!”

She didn’t respond.

With a trembling hand, I touched her throat. At first I felt no pulse, but when I applied a bit more pressure I could feel it beating—only barely.

Relief slammed into me so hard that my own heartbeat stuttered. Beside me, Dom dropped a pair of pants for me. He was still in his wolf form, but must have anticipated my need.

“She’s alive?” Dom asked.

I nodded, pulling on the pants. “She’s got a pulse, but it’s weak.”

“I’ll get the doctor.”

“Wait.” He stopped immediately. “Tell Doc to come to my cabin. It’s not safe here. And let the others know to stand by.”

Dom nodded, but hesitated before he left. “Her wound. It smells sort of strange, doesn’t it?”

It did. In addition to the stench of blood, there was a sickly-sweet, almost licorice smell to it. I thought I knew the cause of it already, but I wasn’t ready to confirm my fears.

“Tell Doc that she was bit by an Alpha,” I said. “And tell him to fucking book it.”

Dom shuddered, his skin rippling under his fur in horror. Within seconds, he was out the door, his wolf kicking up dust and dirt in his wake.

Gingerly, so gingerly, I scooped Mom into my arms and ran to my cabin.

I was sticky with her blood—it was smeared over my chest and arms—and my nose was filled with it.

My mom was such a strong, incredible woman, it ripped at my soul to see her like this.

My wolf whined and howled, torn in two. He wanted to make sure our mother received the assistance she needed, but at the same time, our mate was gone.

I gritted my teeth. I felt like I was being ripped in half.

At my cabin, I placed Mom in the same room where I’d kept Bryn. It looked the same as the day she’d left to live with Mom. Clean, beige linen and a faded blue quilt lay folded at the foot of the bed. It was sparse, simple, and so very, very unlike Mom’s bright, colorful cabin.

The moment her head hit the pillow, I left her just long enough to throw on a shirt and grab a clean linen sheet.

There was a gaping, gory hole at the spot where her shoulder and neck met.

Since she was alive, the wound should have started healing, but it hadn’t.

The skin around the wound was puckered and covered with thin, black veins.

Those veins prevented the muscle and sinew from knitting back together.

I knew the cause of those black lines from the bitter, saccharine stench of it.

This was an Alpha wound. Those veins would send Troy’s will for her to die through her body like a virus, one that she would have to fight off even after the wound healed.

The wound would scar, and the black veins would remain like a brand. If she healed. If she survived.

I was vibrating with rage as I tore the linen into strips.

I pressed the cloth to the wound and applied pressure to slow the blood flow.

When I thought about Redwolf, I thought about vengeance and death.

I wished I had the monster in front of me now.

I longed to taste Troy’s blood on my tongue.

I would kill him even if it took my dying breath.

After what felt like hours, Dom and the doctor arrived. I turned as they stepped into the room. Dr. Damon Stan was in his mid-fifties, with short, wheat-blond hair that was graying at his temples. He was small for a wolf, but clearly that hadn’t stopped him from pursuing his hard choice in career.

Doc cursed under his breath when he saw Mom, scoping the Alpha wound immediately. He didn’t waste time in greeting me, immediately starting to treat his patient. He knew that formalities meant nothing to me as my mom lay dying on the bed in front of us.

I backed away as he worked, pressing my spine to the wall.

My blood coursed boiling hot through my veins, and my hands clenched into fists.

My wolf’s growling became more insistent and he began banging around inside me, scratching for control.

It was annoying and distracting, but I wouldn’t ask him to stop.

My muscles were so tense that veins stood out visibly on my arms and my legs.

It felt wrong for me to just stand there, doing nothing as Doc saved her life.

“Come on, Violet,” he mumbled under his breath, pouring some fluid onto a strip of cloth. “This isn’t your time to die.” He touched her forehead, her hair.

She groaned, her fingers twitching at his voice and touch.

He took a deep breath and pressed the cloth to her neck. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She arched off the bed, gasping with pain.

It was too much for me to watch, to hear.

I stormed out of the room, ripping the doorknob free from the door as I did.

My heart pounded hard in my chest, my fangs slowly elongating.

I was going out, I was going to find my mate, and I was going to murder Redwolf.

But a hand gripped my shoulder, bringing me up short. I snatched myself away from the hand, tearing my shirt in the process, whirling around to find my beta standing there. Dom’s face was pale and pinched tight, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. His eyes were full of concern.

“Night, you can’t leave.”

“What do you mean?” Speaking through sharpened fangs, my voice was a barely discernable growl. “My sister is out there. My mate is out there.” Tavi and I weren’t blood, but that didn’t matter. She was pack, and she was family. “Who knows what Troy and his lackeys are doing to them?”

Dom raked a hand through his gold hair. “Do you think I don’t know that?” he demanded. “I’m trying not to fucking torture myself by thinking about that right now.”

He and I stood in the foyer of my cabin. I was feet away from the door, feet away from feeling the moon-chilled air across my face as I hunted Redwolf down. But my beta was stopping me.

I understood that he was hurting, too, but there was blood that needed to be spilled. “I have to go,” I said, turning back to the door.

I was within feet of the door, but this time, Dom put himself in my way, blocking the door with his body.

“Move!” I snarled.

“No.” Dom’s eyes glowed amber. “You need to stop and focus. We have no idea where the fuck they are, and we have no way to find them. We need to be here for Violet right now.”

My wolf snapped and snarled inside me. He was halfway to taking control of me already.

Outside the cabin, I sensed the presence of my strongest wolves pacing around, waiting for my orders, standing by just as I wanted them to.

Their agitation fed mine. “Do not speak to me about my mother, Dom,” I snapped.

“You can stay. I’ll take a team and track them myself! ”

“Fuck you, Night!” His fangs were sharpening, too.

His voice was growling almost as much as mine.

“You think you can reliably track anything in this state? And even if you were able to, do you think you would be of any use to them? Fucking think, Night! You’re not the only one who cares about them! ”

I took a step toward my beta. “Don’t make me hurt you, Dom.”

He didn’t back down. “Going in half-cocked will put the girls at greater risk, Night, and I’m not prepared to fuck around with their safety.

I want to get out there just as fucking badly as you, but the only way you’re getting through this door is if you use your Alpha voice on me. Are you that far gone, Night?”

I was tempted to do it, to make Dom bend to my power, but I’d sworn to him that I would never do that. To me, it defeated the purpose of having a beta if I could just exert my will over him whenever I wanted. It was the path of a tyrant, not a leader.

No, I wasn’t that far gone.

With a loud snarl, I punched a hole through the wall next to the door.

When I pulled my hand back, there was blood and sawdust on my knuckles, but the wounds were already healing.

I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.

I tried to soothe my wolf and my heartbeat.

Dom was right; as desperately as I wanted to go out and do something, I didn’t want to put Tavi and Bryn’s safety at further risk.

After a few tense moments, Dom stepped away from the door and put his hand on my shoulder, where the shirt was torn.

The scene struck me as familiar. In the days following the raid that had taken the lives of Dom’s parents, almost twelve years ago now, Dom had often wandered off alone.

He hadn’t wanted to speak to anyone or eat or drink anything.

I had found him standing against a tree in the forest by himself with tears streaking down his face.

Back then, Dom had been scrawny, almost gangly, and he was quick to argue and deflect rather than talk about his emotions. That was something I understood.