Page 69 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

Hours later, I woke up in pain so complete that I couldn’t so much as breathe without sending pangs of agony pulsing through my bones. My clothes were plastered to my skin with a mixture of old sweat and sticky, drying blood.

I opened my eyes once, only to quickly squeeze them shut again. It was dark in the cave, but staring into that blackness made my head pound. I whimpered in the dark quiet and waited until the pounding ache was more manageable.

Eventually, I opened my eyes a second time, and I immediately caught sight of Tavi sitting against the wall across from me.

Excitement and relief at seeing my friend alive was quickly tempered by the fact that Tavi’s face was swollen, and her left eye was bruised black.

Her arms were covered in scratches and the imprints of fingers.

I could only guess at the full extent of Tavi’s injuries, hidden as they were beneath her clothes.

“T-Tavi,” I called.

My rough voice made her flinch, but she relaxed when she realized it was me.

“Oh, Bryn, you’re alive?” A tear slipped from her good eye before she turned and wiped it away with her shoulder.

“There was so much blood, I thought you were…I mean, I couldn’t be sure.

I called your name, but you didn’t react, and I thought Troy might’ve.

..” She let that sentence trail off, unable to complete the thought.

Her gaze was haunted and distant even in the darkness.

“I’m sorry I scared you, Tavi. And I’m sorry that Harlon and Samson hurt you.

” Now that I’d started apologizing again, the tears came back in full force.

“I’m sorry, Tavi. I’m so, so sorry. I never imagined that any of this would happen.

Troy told me that he’s doing all of this to hurt Night and me.

You never should have been involved in this at all. ”

If I hadn’t gone to Violet’s cabin to talk about my insecurities about Night, if I’d just stayed with Night and talked it out with him, would any of this have happened?

Would Troy have left Violet, Tavi, and Pax alone to deal with Night and me directly?

Maybe Night would have had enough time to claim me, and Troy’s hope of weakening him would have been crushed before he touched me. And Night would have had him handled.

“Bryn, don’t do this to yourself,” Tavi’s voice pulled me from those spiraling could-have-been’s. “I can see you trying to blame yourself, but you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“But—"

She shook her head. Her hair, once beautiful and flowing, had grown stiff with dust and blood. “It’s not your fault, Bryn. It’s not. You shouldn’t have even an ounce of guilt about what we’re going through.”

“I’m sorry.” I squeezed my eyes shut to stop the tears from flowing. The salt stung as they passed over the scratches on my face and soaked into my hair. Why did every part of me have to hurt so much?

Tavi took a few deep breaths and straightened her spine, though it looked like it hurt. It was as if she was gathering herself up, hardening again. “You have nothing to apologize for.” Her voice was stronger now. “How are you doing?”

“To be honest, I don’t know.” I sniffled.

“Everything hurts, b-but my neck is the worst of it.” The ache was terrible, though that side of my body had started to go numb.

The wrongness of it was the worst part. The other aches and scratches would heal with time, but this wound felt like it might never go away.

“Can I see?” Tavi asked. “If you can turn your head a bit…”

I turned my head to show her the wound.

“That motherfucker,” Tavi whispered. The quiet horror in her voice sent chills through me. “He gave you an Alpha wound.”

My eyes widened. “A what?”

“He basically branded you with his will. It’ll take forever for that to heal, and without treatment, it’ll get worse long before it gets better.”

“Great,” I muttered. “How long?”

“I’m not sure, I’ve only read about this in books.

If I had to guess, I think it’ll take days, maybe weeks.

” Tavi shook her head. “Damn, damn, damn. I should’ve been here with you.

I shouldn’t have—” She cut herself off with another sharp shake of her head.

“What could I have even done?” she asked herself in a bitter whisper.

Her lips, like mine, were dry and cracked, and when she scowled, it caused her bottom lip to split.

Fresh blood dripped down her chin. “We need to get the hell out of here. Waiting for someone to rescue us is out of the question now.”

“I know, but how? We’ve been trying to get out of these shackles for days.”

We stopped to think for a few minutes. I felt so weak, I knew I would never be able to break through the cuffs at this point.

And given the way Tavi looked, I doubted she would have much better luck.

We had been left to starve, without water or food, and with the beatings we’d suffered, we had only gotten weaker.

“If we can get Troy pissed off enough, he might unshackle one of us long enough to go on the offensive.”

“Do you really think that will work?”

“I don’t know, Bryn,” Tavi snapped. “At least it’s something, right?”

I fell silent. Tavi had never ever snapped or gotten frustrated with me before, but even that slight pushback had been enough to irk her.

Tavi winced. “Fuck, Bryn, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“No, it’s okay,” I told her.

“It’s not. I haven’t felt like myself since…” She shook her head again. “Never mind. I should have kept my head at the beginning. Maybe we wouldn’t have been separated.” She released a long sigh. “How’s your neck, Bryn? Does it burn?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Feels like someone’s hitting me in the neck with a blowtorch.”

“Wolves who have been claimed have a slightly easier time with Alpha bites. The wound doesn’t burn for them, but your soulmate was a fucking idiot and didn’t claim you in time.”

Tavi’s sudden mention of Night made my wolf bristle. I was tempted to defend my man, but the word Tavi used distracted me. “Soulmates?”

Tavi snorted, and for a precious moment, it was like she’d returned to her old self. “What? All those romance novels you read, and you’ve never heard the term?”

I chuckled but cut myself off with a wince. Laughing made my wounds even more painful. “No, I’ve heard it before. I just…do you think that’s what Night and I are?”

“It’s obvious. The way you two were around each other was so different from other mated wolves.

If I’m right, it means that the bond you have with Night is an even tighter and stronger connection than any other mate bond.

It’s something rare and precious, but if it’s not claimed, you’ll get increasingly weaker and weaker the longer you go without it. Until one of you eventually…”

“…Dies?” I finished with a shiver.

“Yes. Until that point, it’ll get so bad that you’ll hardly be able to move. That’s why we need to get out of this place asap.”

“Oh…”

That meant the window of my usefulness to Tavi was closing. I already felt so powerless, so defenseless, but with the Alpha wound on top of my unclaimed bond with Night, I would be more of a liability to Tavi than an asset. I could only imagine how awful it must be for Night...

With a sharp shudder, I realized that Night would eventually fight Troy, but if he was getting weaker each day, he might not survive the encounter. I couldn’t fathom losing him.

I had no idea why he hadn’t claimed me. There was a needling voice in the back of my mind telling me that it was because he didn’t love me the way that I loved him, and even my wolf still felt uncertain.

I knew that he cared about me, but I wasn’t very strong or brave like Tavi or Night.

Maybe there was some hidden code to soulmate bonds that even Tavi didn’t know?

Maybe I needed to prove myself to him to show him that I was worthy of the bite?

Or maybe there was a specific day that would work better for soulmate claimings?

If either was the case, then why hadn’t anyone told me?

I closed my eyes again and tried to breathe through the frustration that had begun to worm its way through my mind.

My wolf whined at me and paced. She was uneasy about the places my line of thinking was taking me.

I couldn’t be sure what exactly bothered her about it, but I knew she wanted me to stop.

And she was right. Wondering about all this was ultimately pointless.

Whether I needed to prove myself or Night had been waiting for a certain date, neither would help me or Tavi right now.

I needed to focus on the facts: I was in Troy’s clutches, I was badly wounded, and there was no easy way of escape.

I also knew that I loved Night. No amount of self-doubt or uncertainty could change that.

And I needed to believe in Night and in the certainty of the love we shared if I wanted to last another day.

I wasn’t so na?ve to think that I was going to walk away from this, especially with all of my injuries.

One of the few silver linings to this situation was that I would probably die before Troy got what he wanted from me.

But there was still hope for Tavi. I didn’t know what had happened to her in the days since we’d been apart, but it was clear that she still had the energy and will to fight.

I wasn’t planning on dying until I made sure she could get away safely.

“Where did Troy’s men take you, Tavi?” I asked.

Tavi hesitated, and then slid her gaze away. “I was moved to another space in the cave. I think I was pretty close to the entrance.”

“Do you know how many wolves were around?”

“Besides Troy and the other two wolves, I know of one other wolf.”

So that meant there were four wolves total that we had to contend with. All of them were healthy males, and one was an unhinged Alpha. That didn’t bode well for us.

“Could you see outside?”

“No, but I could smell the grass, and the Kootenai, and I could hear the birds.”

“Do you know how long we’ve been here?” I’d tried to gauge the time by the amount of light shining through the small hole in the roof of the cave, but after Troy’s beatings, I knew my timing was off because of how long I’d spent asleep and recovering.

“Four days,” Tavi said quietly. “Bryn, I don’t think we’ll be able to last another one.”

“Neither do I.” I forced myself to think. Tavi had suggested we make Troy mad enough to unshackle us. Maybe we could do something a bit different. “Tavi, let’s go back to your plan.”

“What? Oh! You think it could work?”

“I think trying to get Troy to beat us might send him over the edge. I really thought he was going to kill me this most recent time. Why don’t we scare him instead? You could pretend to have a seizure or something, and when he unchains you, you can run away.”

She frowned. “I don’t think it should be me. They told me that I didn’t matter as much to his plans. So, if either of us should run away, it should be you.”

“No, Tavi. There’s no telling when they’ll come back—it might be too late for me when they do.”

“Bryn, no, you can’t think like that—”

“Tavi, I have to!” Now I was the one snapping.

“I don’t like thinking about dying or leaving Night without a mate, but I have to be pragmatic,” I said, my voice cracking at the end.

“I have some strength now, but in a day or two, who can say? Even now, I don’t think I’d make it as far as you would.

I wish I didn’t have to put this on you, but I don’t think we have a choice. ”

She was quiet for a few moments, considering my words. Finally, she nodded. “Okay,” she muttered. “I hear you. I don’t like it, but I hear you.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.” I took a deep breath and gathered my emotions. We had something here. Maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn’t, but at least it was something to try. “Okay, I think we should have a sign or something before we start. Maybe I’ll blink three times.”

“That could work—”

Heavy, running footsteps entered the tunnel, the awful sound silencing our plans. Troy, Samson, Harlon, and a fourth man entered the tunnel. Samson and Harlon each had a syringe in their hand.

“Ladies,” Troy said, his voice a sick purr, “let’s all take a trip.”

We screamed as they approached with their needles, but of course, our efforts were in vain. Later, I would only be able to recall hard, rough hands grabbing me and the sting of the needle in the uninjured side of my neck, and nothing more.