Page 90 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

brYN

There was only one day left before the Alpha ceremony. I headed out on my own to walk toward the dining hall. I could have found my way with my eyes closed, I’d frequented the dining hall so many times throughout my life. But this was the first time since being back that I had gone out on my own.

Violet and the Elders had come over again to talk a bit more about the finer details of the ceremony, but after only a couple of hours, that meeting broke. Violet hated leaving her adoptive daughter for long, and she wanted to head back to the cabin where she and Tavi were staying.

I debated whether or not I ought to go outside once I was alone in the cabin, but ultimately I decided it would be best for me to get out there and interact with my pack.

I was a wolf now, and their Alpha, and like it or not, they couldn’t mistreat me the way they used to.

And if I was serious about being a good Alpha, I needed to do what I could to win them over.

I wasn’t na?ve—I knew they wouldn’t immediately accept me with open arms. But I had to try if I wanted to earn even a shred of their respect.

There was no way I would have anyone’s respect if I hid inside all day and night.

I also wanted the chance to look around and see what Troy’s leadership had done to the land and its people.

Before I stepped foot outside the cabin, I spent an hour or so considering every negative possibility and what I could do in response. Only when I was satisfied that I had a plan for everything from a rotten tomato being thrown at me to a sudden attack of alien invaders, I ventured outside.

“Hey, just the wolf I wanted to see.”

I almost jumped at the voice. I looked to my right and found Evan Brandy standing there.

“You wanted to speak to me?” I asked.

“Of course. You are the new Alpha, after all.”

Never in my life had I shared one conversation with him, so it was bizarre to have him seek me out.

I’d known who he was, I’d seen him plenty of times around the compound, but he was older than me, and from what I could tell, he had preferred to stick close to Troy’s inner circle.

As far as I could see, he wasn’t one of Troy’s closest friends by any means, but he was someone Troy had liked to keep around.

When Night had told me that Evan was spying for him, that close but not too close relationship made a lot more sense.

“Were you going on a walk?” he asked. “Mind if I go with you?”

“Sure. I think I’d like the company.” We started moving.

Evan was a handsome guy despite the scar that bisected his cheek. His chocolate-brown hair shone coppery under the sun, and he wore a friendly, white smile.

It was a sunny, gorgeous day highlighted by a clear, azure sky.

I walked through the compound, glancing here and there, observing various wolves as they spotted me.

Most of their stares held cold hatred. None of these people said anything to me, but they didn’t need to.

Their coldness did more than enough to make me feel unwanted and unwelcome.

I had grown up alongside these wolves, but I needed to prove myself to them.

Simply beating Troy in a fight wouldn’t make up for the years that they had known me as a punching bag at best, and prey at worst.

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way,” Evan said, dragging me from my thoughts, “but I never expected the two of us would ever walk next to each other like this.”

“Yeah. We lived in very different circles up until Troy’s challenge ceremony. It’s…pretty strange the way things have happened.”

“But it’s wonderful, too, right? I mean, finding out you’re a wolf and that you have a mate so soon after meeting each other must have given you some pretty severe whiplash.”

I laughed. “That’s one way to put it. I still kind of feel like I’m living in a dream.”

“I can imagine.” He smiled. “I’m sorry that the others have been giving you such a hard time.”

I shrugged. I knew he was talking about the way the Kings were watching us. “Honestly, I think it’d be weirder if they didn’t. At least I share a common enemy with them.”

“Ah. You mean Troy.”

I nodded. “Night told me while we were catching up that Troy went off the deep end while I was gone.” He had killed so many of his own people just to assert his power, and he’d damaged the community that had once existed between the Kings people.

I continued, “I’m sure just about every person here hates Troy to his guts, but that doesn’t mean they’ll blindly trust me just because I defeated him. ”

“That’s a pretty nuanced view of all this. I think if I were you, I’d just be angry.”

I glanced at him. His expression was still friendly, but I noticed something behind his eyes, a kind of sadness that spoke to my own.

“I am angry,” I replied gently. “But I don’t know how much I can blame them for what happened to me. If I were with the Wargs, I know I would have been accepted. Gregor and Troy were the reason everyone treated me so badly.”

“That doesn’t make what you had to deal with any less awful. I’m sorry I couldn’t have helped you.”

“Considering your position, I think it would have been a bad move.” I tried to smile, but it was hard to mean it.

Having a friend back then would have made a huge difference for me as a child.

But I wouldn’t tell him that. That was all in the past now.

“What was it like?” I asked. “Being in your position, I mean.”

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “It was really tough, honestly. I missed my friends back home. I didn’t hear from them as often as I would’ve liked.”

“You were just a teenager, weren’t you?”

He nodded. “The Wargs were the only family I had, but I had connections here. It wasn’t so bad.”

“I guess that’s something.” I smiled. “Well, thank you for what you’ve done and what you’ve sacrificed. I’m sure you know this, but it means a lot to both packs.”

He smiled. “I hope so. And thank you for keeping our Alpha in line. I’ve never seen him more open or more happy than when he’s with you.”

“It’s very sweet of you to say that.” We were nearing the dining hall, and I pointed to it. “I’m headed in there.”

“Ah, then I’ll leave you. I’m sure there’s someone who needs me elsewhere.”

Evan and I said our goodbyes and I headed to the dining hall. I knew the people inside would have questions about how a weak human had become a powerful wolf shifter. There would be skepticism and doubt.

I went into the dining room and almost bumped into a few pups as they ran by.

I’d watched most of these kids at some point while their parents were busy, so I knew many of them by name.

I bent to talk to them, but over their heads, I spotted three mothers coming closer.

Two of them had their lips quirked in disgust while the third lagged behind uncertainly.

I straightened to meet them, and the chatter in the dining hall fell to a hush. I felt the eyes of every wolf in the building on me, and I knew that what happened next would set the tone for every future interaction I had with the pack.

“Claire, Val, Inez,” I said, addressing them by their first names. “How have you three been?”

Whatever Val and Inez had been expecting from me, those words weren’t it. Surprise replaced the disgust on their lips, but they didn’t speak to me. Instead, they snatched up the hands of their pups like I was something dangerous and hurried away from me.

I refused to take their reactions personally. Honestly, that had gone much better than I’d expected. Silence was always better than hurling insults my way.

I turned to Claire, who watched me with curiosity in her gaze. She held her pup’s hand, but she wasn’t turning her son away from me like I was a leper. Instead, she tried to smile.

“I’ve got to say, Bryn, I’m surprised as hell that you turned out to be a shifter.”

I laughed, not because what she said was particularly funny but because I needed to release some tension. “I doubt you were as surprised as me,” I said. “I thought my whole life up to the moment I shifted had been a mistake.”

Her smile became more genuine. “I bet.”

I took a seat at one of the dining tables, and Claire sat across from me. “Henry’s gotten so big since I last saw him,” I said.

“I know.” She rubbed his back. “He really hit a growth spurt, but he still clings to me like he did when he was a toddler.”

I giggled. “How are your other children?”

She and I fell into the rhythm of our gentle chat. Around us, conversation resumed, but I knew that everyone was scrutinizing every move we made.

“So, what was it like to discover that you were a wolf?” she asked.

“It was like magic,” I said. “Every fairy tale I’ve ever read suddenly made sense.” I beamed at her. “It was a miracle.”

Afterward, I got up to leave. I wasn’t really hungry, and I had plenty of food in the fridge if I changed my mind later on.

For now, I was just happy with that interaction.

As I headed toward the door, I noticed that there weren’t as many people glaring at me with disdain.

Actually—and I hoped this wasn’t just my wishful thinking talking—their gazes seemed more curious and accepting.

It was such a small step in the grand scheme of things, but to me, it was a start, and that was all that mattered.

I walked through the pack community and thought about how insane everything had become.

So much had changed, but in many ways, things were still the same.

Same paths, same buildings, same cabins—but I no longer felt like I had to scurry from place to place just to avoid detection from either Troy or the Terrible T’s.