Page 210 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
I chuckled. “Mom, come on.”
She pinched my cheek, then gently patted the same spot. “Honey, this is incredible. Why is Bryn not here with you to announce this?”
“She’s exhausted. We had a little celebration with Tavi and Dom last night. She was still asleep when I left this morning.”
My mother nodded and returned to her seat. I did the same as I snagged a few pieces of bacon.
“It sounds like you all had a great time last night.”
“We did, yeah.” We’d laughed a lot, and danced and talked about the future with my family, and…if I had space on my face to smile wider, I would’ve. “With all the shit that’s been going on lately, I don’t think I realized how much I missed relaxing with them.”
“Oh, Night, I’m so glad you all had a good time.” She reached across the table to touch my hand. “How far along is she?”
“We’re thinking only a few weeks, but I want Dr. Stan to take a look at her. Dom told me he hasn’t left for home yet.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s still here,” she said. “I’m planning on seeing him tomorrow. I’ll ask him to pay you two a visit.”
I frowned and lifted the cup to take a drink. “Is it because of your alpha wound?”
“Oh, no, honey. He and I have been arranging a date.”
I choked on my tea. She watched me recover from my coughing fit with obvious amusement.
“D-date?” I managed to get out.
My mother had the audacity to chuckle. “That’s right.”
I sighed and drank the tea, wishing again that I had something much stronger. “Between you and Tavi, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the year.”
“How was Tavi last night?”
“She was good, sociable even. Dom walked her home.”
“Ah. Good for her. Good for them.” She leaned back in her seat. “She has been hurt so deeply, and it puts me at ease to know she’s starting to come out of herself a bit more.”
“You and me both, Mom.”
Tavi’s shyness and introversion…it was hard to see. She had been quiet and withdrawn after the Kings killed her family, but as she grew up, she was such a vibrant, outgoing personality. I missed the person my sister used to be, the Tavi who could smile and talk for hours about nothing. But dammit, that didn’t mean that I loved her any less.
To see her like this now…if it tookmeback to those hard days, I couldn’t fucking imagine what it must be like for her. Rage burned in my chest thinking of Troy and the sons of bitches who had hurt her.
I felt bad about not telling Bryn I’d sent a hunting party after Troy, and I hated that the council had forced me to send one. But when I thought about the possibility of my wolves finding him, catching him unawares, and ending that fucker’s life right thenand there, I couldn’t help but feel deep satisfaction that he could no longer hurt my family.
“Night?”
Mom’s voice yanked me out of that dark place. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked when you were planning on revealing the news.”
“I told Dom earlier that I don’t plan to tell our council about Bryn’s pregnancy yet. We’re happy about the baby, but the timing isn’t exactly ideal. There are still so many unknowns, still so much to get done.”
“I imagine we’re the only ones who know about it?”
“That’s right. Bryn’s mother and Doc will know, but other than the seven of us, we’re keeping it quiet.”
“At least until the alpha challenge is over,” she agreed. “The Kings’ council won’t be too happy to know their temporaryfemalealpha is pregnant. They’ll throw that in her face.”
“One hundred percent.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not worried that they’ll retaliate against her personally, but they might try to replace her with someone else. If that happens, it could undo all the progress we’ve made with the Kings.”
