Page 194 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“That’s right,” Tavi said. She smiled at Violet and Dr. Stan before she headed toward the staircase. “I’m going to lie down for a few hours. Bryn, I’ll look through paperwork with you later.”
“Sure. Thanks, Tavi.”
She went upstairs, and I looked from Violet to Dr. Stan and back again. It was so obvious that we’d walked in on them flirting with each other. I hadn’t known they were interested in each other, never mind that they were an item. I’d need to ask Violet more about how their relationship had gotten to this point, but I didn’t want to interrupt them with embarrassing questions now. Though, if the roles were reversed, Violet would be relentless with her uncomfortable questions.
“You look like you’re doing well, Violet,” I said. “You’ve come really far with your healing.”
She nodded, and her emerald eyes returned to Dr. Stan. “Thanks to Damon’s help, this awful alpha wound rarely bothers me anymore. He has the best salves for me.” She patted his leg.
I pursed my lips to keep from smirking. “I’m glad he’s been helping you so much. Having a doctor on call must be a huge relief.”
Dr. Damon’s face reddened. “A-anyway, did you need to talk to Violet? I don’t mean to keep her from you.”
“No, no, I just wanted to check in and say hello,” I said, still smirking. “I’ll catch up with you both some other time.” I winked at Violet, then headed back to the alpha cabin.
On the walk back, I noticed a small group of women talking and laughing near the tree line. Tanya and Tara were among them. They were two-thirds of the Terrible T’s, the women who had tormented me almost as horribly as Troy. Trisha was usually the ringleader, but I hadn’t seen her around the pack lately. I suspected I knew why. Given her obsession with Troy and her deep hatred of me, she’d probably either abandoned the pack or was in hiding.
The group looked up as I neared, and their conversation slowly faded. I kept my head high. This was my territory, after all, and I had nothing to fear. I knew they would never attempt to attack me while I walked by, especially not if I kept my guard up.
I walked past them with a nod of acknowledgment, the way I’d seen Night do when he interacted with others. I didn’t intend to speak to them but just go about my business and get home as quickly as I could?—
“Hey, Bryn—I mean, Alpha Hunter.”
I stopped. I knew it was Tara’s voice. There was a moment of the old fear, of wanting to run away and hide from whatever fresh hell they had to dish out, but I didn’t act on that old urge. Tara had corrected herself and called me Alpha Hunter. The least I could do was see what she wanted.
I turned and met her gaze. “Yes?”
Tara and Tanya shared a brief glance before peeling away from the group to close the space between us. Tara’s thick, curly, dark auburn hair was cut to her chin; it was the shortest I’d ever seen it. Alternatively, Tanya’s dirty-blond hair was the longest I’d seen; the straight locks hung down to her shoulders when before she’d usually kept it in a severe bob. They weren’t wearing the latest in human fashion, and if they wore makeup, it was a very modest amount.
When they were within a yard of me, I raised my hand. To my surprise, they stopped in their tracks.
“That’s close enough,” I said, lowering my arm. “What do you two want?”
“It—um, well…” Tara hesitated and glanced at Tanya.
“We have something we want to say to you,” Tanya finished.
I waited. The last time they’d spoken to me over two weeks ago, they had tried to turn the Kings against me after I’d become alpha. They accused me of being a witch and a fake wolf. But they didn’t look like they wanted to call me out or ruin my reputation. They looked almost…sheepish.
Tanya took a deep breath. “We wanted to apologize to you.”
I just stared at her, but when her words finally clicked, anger surged from deep inside me.
“Really,” I said dryly. “You want to apologize to me after all these years?” I crossed my arms, looking from Tanya to Tara. “What caused the change of heart? Is it because I’m coming into my own as an alpha?”
The Tanya and Tara I knew would have tried to hurt me for talking back, but neither of them even raised a hand against me.
“I…I guess it would be a lie to say that wasn’t part of it,” Tanya admitted. “But that isn’t the main reason we wanted to do this.”
“Then what?” I demanded.
They winced at the sharpness in my tone. A few moments of silence passed, and one of the women separated from the group to stand beside them. It was Claire, the young mother I’d spoken to the day before the elders swore me in as alpha. Mom and I had watched her children, along with many other children. It was a surprise to see her hanging out with Tara and Tanya when they’d never been close before.
She stood next to them and put her hand on Tara’s shoulder. “Just hear them out, Alpha. Please. They’ve wanted to approach you about this for a while now.”
I raised a brow. I liked Claire because she was always cordial with me, so I had greater faith in her intentions than in Tara’s and Tanya’s. Still, angry words formed at the tip of my tongue, burning to be unleashed on my former bullies. It was so, so tempting to say them and continue home, but I held back.
I didn’t want to encourage the kind of environment I’d grown up in, the one that played favorites and mistreated those with nopower. If I wanted to improve things for my pack as a whole, I needed to face my former tormentors without biting their heads off—no matter how badly I wanted to.
