Page 73 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

The last time I’d made the trek into the Kings’ lands, I’d had murder on my mind and little else. This time, as my wolves and I ran through the forest, murder was again my intent, but there were other things on my mind, too.

Bryn and Tavi were foremost in my thoughts.

Not for the first time, I recalled the last moments I’d been with Bryn.

I remembered every second of our conversation: the way her blouse had lifted in the breeze as I walked her to Mom’s cabin, the way her lips had lifted into a slight smirk when she’d assured me that I wouldn’t even miss her while she was gone, and of course, I recalled the sweetness of our last kiss.

Our last conversation had been a goodbye. She’d said that she wanted to spend time with Tavi and Mom, but it was clear to me that there was something specific she wanted to talk with them about. And whatever it was, it had put uncertainty in her large, blue-gray eyes.

Now as we zipped between trees and over boulders and through brush, I wondered what she had wanted to talk with them about.

Knowing Bryn, there were a myriad of things that could have been weighing down her thoughts.

We had been navigating the fact that we were mates, she was still learning how to get in touch with her wolf, and she’d just learned that she was a descendant of the pack mothers.

But it was also possible that what she wanted to talk about had nothing to do with those things.

Maybe she’d wanted to talk to them about us.

Though it wasn’t the first time I’d thought about our last conversation, I’d never considered that our relationship might be what Bryn had needed to talk about.

The reason she wanted space might have been more than just missing my mom and Tavi.

If there was uncertainty in her gaze, maybe she doubted something about our relationship.

It made my heart sick to think that I might be the cause of her insecurity.

I hadn’t thought to ask Mom about it, with her focused on her recovery and me focused on Bryn and Tavi. Now I might never know what it was that had made my mate so uncertain.

I would never forgive myself if it was my fault.

I’d let my doubts take precedence over my wolf and my instincts.

If I’d listened to what I really wanted, Troy’s plan would have fallen apart before it started.

Bryn would have been claimed, and we both would have entered this situation much stronger than Troy expected us to be.

And if I’d pushed harder to keep Bryn with me, would we have been able to avoid all of this?

Bryn wouldn’t have been alone, and Redwolf, seeing that Bryn wasn’t at my mother’s cabin, might not have attacked.

Or would that have just delayed the inevitable?

At one point or another, Bryn would have been left alone.

As much as I wanted to keep her at my side, I couldn’t have eyes on her all the time.

Troy could have taken her at any moment she was by herself.

At least right now she had Tavi with her.

My wolf huffed at me, and I knew what he was trying to tell me.

It was useless to dwell on what I could have done differently, or what I could have done to prevent this.

None of us were psychics, after all; there was no way we could have predicted when or how Troy would strike.

But I figured it was normal for a man heading toward his death to revisit his regrets.

I had assured my inner circle, Dom, and Mom that I had no intention of dying, that all of my overplanning was just preparation for the worst-case scenario.

At the time that I’d made those promises, I’d believed that there was a slim chance that I would survive the fight with Troy.

Today, I didn’t feel the same. Running was meant to clear my head and make me feel alive, but it was difficult to keep up with my wolves.

Even Dr. Stan, who was the least athletic of us, seemed to be having an easier time with these hours-long running sessions.

Evan was with us, too, heading the pack down a less-traveled path to the Kings’ compound.

It worried me, and my wolf, but my worries didn’t weigh me down.

I accepted that my survival was unlikely.

I was about to enter a test of endurance with a full-fledged Alpha who had the benefit of both fighting on his own turf and getting plenty of rest beforehand.

Troy was a sniveling coward, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t strong and well-trained.

I’d give him hell, I knew that much, but beyond that, I kept my hopes low. The last time I saw Bryn in person, she’d worn a soft smile on her face as we said goodbye. “I’ll see you soon, Night,” her sweet voice had promised.

I held onto that image of her as we neared the Kings’ compound.

I could find some sense of peace and purpose in the fact that I was dying for my family.

If nothing else, I hoped that I would die before Bryn, so that some strength would return to her in time for her rescue.

Dom would save her, I knew; it was just a matter of whether or not I’d last long enough to know that he’d done it.

Because I was struggling, Dom recommended we take a rest a few miles out from the Kings’ compound.

Pride wanted me to protest, but my body was grateful for the opportunity to recover.

There was a small pond near the place where we stopped.

A drink sounded wonderful, but I had to wait until my heart wasn’t beating at a thunderously hard pace.

Once it’d quieted, I moved to the pond and took a drink form it.

The water was cool and felt good sliding down my throat, and I dunked my head under the surface, letting it seep into my fur before pulling out and shaking myself off.

The water gave me a burst of serotonin that I hadn’t expected.

Beside me, Evan barked a laugh. “I wasn’t expecting a bath this late at night,” he said. “But I guess there’s no arguing with my Alpha.”

I laughed, too. “Alphas do know best.”

“I thought that phrase applied for mothers.”

I was glad that Evan was with us on the trip in; I felt more secure with my best friends near me.

A healthier me might have felt excited enough to try and push him into the pond, but the thought that I might hurt myself and not have enough time to heal kept me from following through on that particular impulse.

“You and Dom are going to split off from us in a couple more miles, right?” I asked him.

Evan had finally had a breakthrough in his investigation, and he’d found a potential location for where Troy was keeping Bryn and Tavi. He would lead Dom and the others into that area while Jasper and I entered the compound for the challenge.

“That’s right,” he said. “I’ll reach out to you when it’s time for us to break away.”

I nodded. “Sounds good.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dom approach the pond, take a few deep gulps of water, and wander off on his own to sit in the shade beneath a nearby tree.

Evan noticed it, too. “Looks like he’s giving you a really hard time about this.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I said. “He hates my plan, but he’s going to follow through on it. Dom’s too good of a beta not to.”

“I know he will, but it can’t be good for the rest of the team to see their future Alpha sulk like this. Maybe you ought to talk to him?”

It wasn’t a bad idea. I doubted morale would be affected by Dom’s behavior, but I knew it would be good to get his temperature before we all split up (potentially for the last time).

“I’ll do that,” I said, and walked over to Dom. “Hey,” I said. “I want to check in with you before we move in closer.”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Yeah, but whether or not I’m lying isn’t going to change your mind about the plan, and it isn’t going to give either of us an alternative to it either. I’m gonna have to be away from my Alpha while he fights for his life.”

I wished I knew the right words to say that would make this easier on him.

I’d forced him to accept my plan because there had been no other options, but that didn’t make it any fairer to him.

I wasn’t built for comforting other people—I was built for violence and for duty.

I felt powerless next to my beta was obviously in pain and struggling.

“If I were Bryn,” I said slowly, “I think I’d invite you over for chamomile and lavender tea and ask you to vent your frustrations to me.”

He looked at me, and his expression seemed to soften. “You’re probably right…What about Tavi?”

“You have to ask? Tavi would talk to you until you forgot about what was bothering you.”

He laughed, and I was glad that I’d brightened his mood for even a moment.

“She’d probably invite you to the next bonfire or try to sneak out with you for karaoke night in Colville.”

His laughter ended abruptly. “You knew about that?”

“Of course I did.” It had happened when we were younger, about a year after she’d lost her parents. “You thought you were slick, but I saw you two sneak into the forest when I went out on my run. I saw you come back, too, and you both smelled like the air freshener they use.”

His laughter was much more spirited then, and he fell onto his side in front of me. “Nothing gets past you, Night,” he said when he’d recovered. “But that’s why you’re a great Alpha.”

I sighed. “The Wargs will have better Alphas than me. We’re too resilient a pack not to.” I stood and returned to the group. “You’ll see to that.”

We stopped once more, once we were within a few miles of the Kings’ compound. The others would soon split away from us, but Doc insisted on the break. He was on the smaller side for a wolf, and the ends of his wheat-blond fur were silver-tipped, a paler color than even Dom’s.

“Alpha Night,” his voice slipped into my mind politely, unobtrusively, just as the doctor would enter a conversation with me.

“Did you need something, Doc?” I asked.