Page 75 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

NIGHT

After the examination, we resumed our run, and I felt a bit lighter on my feet than before. Dom, Evan, Doc, and the rest split from us while Jasper and I continued along the main path into Kings’ territory. We shifted and pulled on clothes before entering through the gate into the compound.

The Kings were already lined up to greet us with taunts and hisses. As tough of a time as they’d had with Troy as their leader, it was clear that they still hated us Wargs more.

“Stay close,” I thought to Jasper as we headed toward the arena with Kings wolves literally at our heels. “And don’t let them see you flinch.”

He nodded and pulled in a little closer to me.

He was a good soldier, following my orders exactly as I gave them.

Good, that was what I needed right now. While I was fighting Troy, Jasper would be the only way I would know whether Dom had gotten to Bryn and Tavi.

Essentially, Jasper was my lifeline, my only connection to what was going on outside of the ring.

“When you hear Dom’s whistle,” I said, “I want you to reach out to me with your mind.”

He glanced at me. “I could whistle, too—”

“No. I don’t want to risk tipping the Kings off to what we’re doing.”

“Got it. I won’t let you down, Alpha.”

So many of members of my pack had been telling me that today, and even though I didn’t expect to survive the fight, my heart was full.

This was something that Troy and other Alphas who ruled with fear could never understand.

I had complete faith in my team, and I knew that no matter what, they would do their best. These were wolves I would have loved to run into battle with another day, fighters I felt proud to have on my side, people I trusted.

The Kings pack battle arena was a larger circle than the arena in our compound.

The ground was patted smooth, and surrounded with flat rocks of similar, medium size.

I was shirtless, as was the custom, and across from me stood a shirtless Troy.

He bounced from foot to foot like a hyped-up boxer.

His hair was in a loose ponytail, and it swished from side to side with his movements like a metronome.

He sneered at me as he bounced around, a poor attempt at posturing that did little more than annoy me.

I purposefully turned my back to him and addressed Jasper, who looked even more disgusted about all of this than I was.

“You’re a good kid, Jasper,” I told him out loud.

His eyes widened. “Sir?”

I smiled. I couldn’t blame him for being surprised. “I’m sorry I was hard on you.”

“No, it was my fault for not seeing what was going on. I’m actually super embarrassed about—”

I shook my head, and he stopped talking. “None of that matters now. For what it’s worth, I don’t hold it against you.”

He looked at me for a moment, and then nodded. “Hang in there, Alpha.”

I nodded, but as I turned from him and looked at the ring, I thought, I’ll try. I would go out making sure that Bryn, Tavi, and my pack were safe from Troy. That was the very least I could do as the Wargs’ Alpha and as Bryn’s mate.

That said, I wouldn’t roll over and let Troy do what he wanted. I owed it to my pack and myself to give it my all once my girls were safe.

Around me, the entire Kings pack had gathered, just as Troy had wanted.

They sent me looks that alternated between curious glances and outright glares.

Most of them heckled me, but they wouldn’t physically attack me because it was against the rules.

But just in case someone forgot, I had wolves stationed near the arena and around the territory.

When midnight arrived, it was time for us to begin.

Both Troy and I stepped into the ring. The Elders were close to oversee the fight and ensure that nothing illegal happened.

They’d be watching for double-teaming, forfeiting without making the promise to later die or be banished, and outside weapons.

This needed to be as fair as possible, though I wanted to scoff at the idea.

If anything about this situation was fair, Troy wouldn’t have taken my mate from me.

We approached each other, fists raised. We would stay in our human forms for now, but as tradition dictated, the killing blow would be dealt in our wolf forms.

Troy, unsurprisingly, threw the first punches. I dodged and weaved between that first volley of jabs—but I didn’t have time to dodge his surprise left hook.

I blocked the blow with my forearm and felt the strength of the hit vibrate painfully through my bones.

I grunted, and Troy grinned, increasing the speed of his punches; he threw a couple of legitimate swings into the mix at unpredictable intervals.

I did my best to fend him off and keep my distance without making it look like I was trying to run away.

It was difficult to admit, but he’d truly come into his Alpha power—he was a better, stronger, and faster fighter than he’d been on the night I saved Bryn. All of this annoyed me more than worried me, which was good. Being annoyed would keep me on my toes; being worried would make me slip up.

Troy’s unpredictable onslaught of blows was disorienting, but not impossible to deal with.

I was losing power by the second, but that didn’t mean I was going to let Troy have an easy win.

Amidst the cheering of the Kings around us, Troy threw another hard punch.

I ducked under it, moving in close to Troy, then I dropped and swept his legs out from under him in one swift, hard movement.

Troy hit the ground with a grunt, and a surprised gasp rippled through the crowd. I wanted to kill Troy now. Every cord of muscle would happily cooperate with me to grab Troy and snap his neck. But I couldn’t yet. Instead, I took advantage of the moment of quiet to start speaking.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that, little brother,” I said, loud enough that the wolves in the back could hear me over the roar of the crowd. “You and I both know that this land is rightfully mine since I am Gregor’s firstborn.”

Another sharper round of shocked gasps spread through the crowd. Onlookers turned to each other to ask if it was true—if Gregor, before becoming their Alpha, could have sired a child. I glanced at Jasper, who shook his head. There was still no word from Dom.

Dammit, Dom! Hurry the hell up!

Troy shoved himself to his feet, roaring at the top of his lungs. “My father abandoned you and your whore of a mother. He disowned you two decades ago! You meant nothing to him!”

I smirked, relishing the rage that reddened Troy’s face. “If that’s true, then why are you so angry now, little pup?”

He roared again, launching at me. Each blow came even faster, even harder than before. No more teasing jabs—Troy was serious.

“When you’re lying dead at my feet, I’ll claim Bryn as my own,” he declared. At the mention of her name, more confused glances were shared through the crowd, but if Troy noticed, he didn’t care. “I’ll spend our first night telling her all about how I beat you.” He landed a punch to my side.

I staggered back, the blow reverberating through me, but I recovered before he could land another.

“Bryn will never be yours,” I growled. “You’re delusional if you think you’re going to survive this fight.”

He laughed, ducking under my roundhouse. “You’re too weak to kill me.”

“You’re too weak to fight fairly.” I caught his wrist and yanked him toward me.

As he teetered off balance, I lifted him over my head and threw him down, yards away.

With that distance between us, I made another announcement to the crowd.

“You had to kidnap my mate to even stand a chance against me. I wonder what Gregor would think of you if he saw how weak his supposed heir is.”

Apparently, that was the final straw for Troy.

Between one second and the next, he shifted into his wolf form, kicked off his pants, and sprinted toward me.

I had just enough time to shift before his teeth came for my throat.

The two of us rolled around in our wolf forms, growling and snapping and snarling at each other.

What remained of my pants flew from the pile of teeth and claws and the crowd continued to go wild, lost again in the violence of the fight.

I was putting up a good fight, but I knew I wouldn’t last much longer.

As the fight wore on, bloody and painful, claws and teeth digging and tearing and ripping through flesh and fur, I found myself needing to tap more and more into my reserves of strength.

That wasn’t good. I needed that strength to make sure I could finish off Troy when the moment finally arrived.

For now, I kicked as hard as I could, knocking Troy back toward the edge of the ring.

I stood at the ready while Troy coughed and choked on air after the kick.

I also tried to catch my breath. Blood poured from between my sharpened teeth and dripped onto the ground.

My body trembled as I stood there, waiting for Troy to recover.

I was buying myself some time, but it wasn’t worth much. Worry flashed through me like a lightning strike. What if my quickly failing strength was because something was wrong with Bryn?

I shoved the thought away. I couldn’t feel that fear right now. I needed to focus on the fight, because my mate, my pack, my sister—everything I cared about depended on how well I did in this fight.