Page 251 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“Better now that he’s with you.” He kissed her neck again. “It’s been a long day, but coming home to you makes it all worth it.” They shared a quiet moment while she finished her tea.
She turned in his arms to look up at him, and I knew I was looking at my father. If I could cry in this state, I would have. But I couldn’t make my mother cry in her memories.
My father was tall, muscular, and handsome in a casual, almost boyish way, with light brown hair and blue-gray eyes. There was somethingsofamiliar about him even though I’d never laid eyes on him before.
“Dominic and Night are out practicing their tracking again,” she said.
“I know.” He laughed. “I caught Dom hiding from Night in a juniper bush.”
“Wow.” She giggled. “I can just picture that. Those boys are so funny.”
My father pulled her as close as he could. Her stomach put some distance between them, but neither seemed to mind. They swayed gently together as if pushed by a light breeze. I could feel the strength of the love my mother had for my father. It was like a tightly corded rope. But underneath it was a distant sense of sadness that marred her happiness and love.
“It won’t be long now, Lucian,” she whispered, trying to push that sadness away. “Soon, she’ll be able to play with them, too.”
“I can’t wait,” he whispered back. “Dom’s already looking forward to being a big brother.”
Another bolt of shock coursed through me. Lucian Slate? But that meant…
The memory began to lose focus, and I almost lost hold of it. I tried to do the same thing as before, bringing calmness inside me and holding tight.Get a hold of yourself, Bryn,I snapped.Get. It. Together!After a few seconds, I let go of the shock, and the memory steadied.
Relieved, I tried to look again at my father, but my mother’s eyes were focused on the far corner of the kitchen.
I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. My father looks just like Dom!So, Dom and I were half-siblings.
I let that revelation wash over me as my parents continued to sway together in the kitchen. The more I sat with it, the more sense it made. I’d felt an instant connection to Dom from the moment we met.
I’d never imagined the two of us could be related. I’d have to tell him as soon as I returned to my own body. How would he take the news? Dom had definitely known my mother, but what if he didn’t know his father had gotten her pregnant?
With that question lingering in my mind, the memory shifted again. I wasn’t standing; I was flat on my back on a mattress. As far as I could see, the room had only one small bed, and the walls were covered in black, haphazardly painted symbols. I had no idea what the symbols were, but I felt my mother’s alarm like it was my own.
Unlike the other memories, this one had a staticky haze to it, as if something was interfering with the signal. The light in the room was too bright, and the bed under my back was too hard. I just felt…off. What the hell was happening here?
I couldn’t tell if my mother knew where we were. I tried to sit up, but my arms and legs were bound to the bedposts. I’d been in similar positions too many times, but I wouldn’t have thought my mom had ever experienced something like this. Panic washed over me, but the vision didn’t become distorted like the others. Maybe it was because she and I were experiencing the same emotion?
Suddenly, I heard footsteps running toward the door. Our eyes widened, staring at the door. Was her captor coming to finish the job? She clenched her hands into fists and flinched when the door was kicked open. She turned her face to the side, squeezing her eyes shut.
“I finally found you.”
That voice. Warmth cut through the fear, and she turned her head. My father was there, covered in blood and bruises, his shirt a stained, tattered mess, but he was there to rescue her. Relief hit my mother and me hard as he rushed to her side and sliced through the bindings with his claws.
“We need to get out of herenow,” he said, pulling her to her feet. “They’re sending more Kings after us.”
She took a step and winced as pain stabbed through her. “Luke, the baby—” She panted. “She’s coming!”
My father cursed. Below, we heard the door burst open and the sound of several men running inside. Lucian sprinted to the window and kicked it out. My mother turned away from the spray of shattered glass. He cleared the most jagged bits of glass from the window frame before turning to my mother again.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, pulling her into his arms before leaping through the window into the cool night air. He hit the ground and started sprinting with her clutched in his arms.
As he ran, my vision finally cleared of that staticky haze, but he was moving so fast, I couldn’t tell where exactly we were. The most I could tell was that the land smelled like King territory.
The minute I realized this, I understood that this was the night my mother died. I wasn’t expecting to see it so soon, and I didn’t know if I was ready to see what had happened. At the same time, I knew I couldn’t look away. I needed to know what had happened to them. I owed them that much.
My father sprinted into the woods, with King wolves not far behind. My mother cried out as pain rammed into her, her muscles contracting. Her water had broken, and her body throbbed as the baby—me—started to push through. I wished I could tell myself to hold off. This was theworsttime to go into labor, but the stress of the situation must have induced it.
My father had to stop when she screamed again. He set her down at the base of a large oak tree. She pushed his chest as if to tell him to go without her.
“I’m not leaving your side,” he said, his eyes wet with tears. “I’ll defend you to my last breath.”
