Page 151 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“Well, I still feel thanks is due to you.” He glanced at the working men and back to me. “To everyone.”
“I appreciate it just the same.” The second youngest peered up at me from around her mother’s skirt. “Did Troy give you a reason for destroying your cabin?”
“No. He was after our neighbors for reasons he refused to tell us.” The man frowned, remembering. “The fire spread from their home to ours when the wind turned, and we had to grab what valuables we could to get out of there.”
“I’m sorry.” It angered me that Troy would be so careless. Especially when there was a family with young ones just next door. “I’m glad that we can get you into your new home quickly.”
“Me too.” He smiled. “Like I said, thank you.”
As I returned to the group. Dom walked up to me. I greeted him with a nod.
“What did they want?” he asked, glancing at the family.
“They were checking in on the progress,” I said. “They’re the family that’s moving in.”
“I see. This was a good start,” he said, crossing his arms, “but we’ll need to do more if we want to endear ourselves to the pack.”
I nodded. “I know. But there are going to be a lot of opportunities for that. More construction projects, for one.”
He gave a dramatic sigh at the thought of more manual labor. “On a brighter note, did you get a chance to talk to Bryn about the Alpha situation?”
I nodded. I explained the process of selecting the next Alpha to him and that Bryn would still serve on the Kings’ council as Den Mother. I left out the fight we’d had and my worry about Bryn,because if I was right that Dom was concerned about Tavi, I didn’t want to bring up my love life.
“Bryn is obviously going to nominate me, and a month from now, I’ll have to fight to show that I’m worthy of it.”
“That’s more straightforward than I was expecting,” he said. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re already getting a head start on improving relations between the packs.”
I nodded. That sharpness was one of the many reasons I had wanted Dom to be my beta. “Bryn is trying to win over the women, and I’m trying to focus on these sorts of projects.”
“It feels good to make some progress, huh? Almost feels like victory is closer than it’s ever been.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” I felt good about the progress we’d made today, and I was glad that I’d managed to distract myself from my worries about Bryn and the Alpha ceremony. But something still felt off to me.
Dom sensed my tension. “What’s up, Night?”
“I don’t know. Just a feeling.” I tried to shake it off. It was possible that what I was feeling was leftover jitters for the Alpha ceremony on Bryn’s behalf. Or, it could have been the fact that I’d lived through too many disappointments and false starts as an Alpha and as a member of the Wargs pack to trust when things were going too smoothly.
“The sooner we get this Alpha ceremony over with, the better,” I said. “Then Bryn will be confirmed and we’ll be able to have our binding ceremony.”
“Agreed,” he replied. “And we’ll have the official backing from the Kings’ Alpha for these repairs.”
That was true, too. In truth, I knew my worries were probably for nothing, and I knew that as long as I was there, nothing would go wrong. But I wanted to see Bryn again. When I thought of her, my wolf got excited and anxious. He wanted to protect her from…well, everything. Being away from her on such an important day was more than enough stress for us, and the sooner I could set eyes on her, the better.
60
BRYN
Mom, Violet, and I had completed most of the preparations for the Alpha ceremony by the time noon rolled around, so I had some time to mentally prepare for my meeting with the council and Elders. The Kings’ council was made up of the highest-ranking families of the pack, which meant that all of them had a vested interest in staying on top of the food chain. I knew already that none of them would care very much about what a former human had to say about the pack that they had spent a significant portion of their lives forming. Still, the meeting was necessary because I would soon be their Alpha.
At the meeting, Night and I were going to broach the subject of having the Wargs take control of the reconstruction and land redevelopment projects going on around the compound. I knew it wouldn’t go over well, but it was something that the Kings needed. They were so unprepared for tackling such a huge project, and they would benefit from the Wargs’ knowledge and experience. It would also be a great opportunity for us to gauge the temperature of the room on the subject of the packs merging down the line.
Tavi offered to be there, too, knowing that she would soon be my beta, but our talk had clearly taken a lot out of her. I told her to spend the day resting so she could be prepared for the official announcement by tonight. She, however, protested that idea.
“I should be there, even if I say nothing,” she said. “I want to show everyone in the room that I’ve got your back.”
And so, we would present a united front—Tavi, Night, Violet, and myself. The usual meeting building had been destroyed in one of Troy’s tirades, so I decided to hold the meeting in the Alpha’s cabin because it was the only private location on the Kings’ compound that had plenty of room for everyone.
Tavi helped me set up the meeting room before everyone arrived. It was about the size of a large bedroom, with a long oval-shaped mahogany table standing on top of a red Persian rug. The square window opened to the forest, and we drew the curtains shut.
