Page 305 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“Yes. But you need to keep this between us. You can’t tell anyone, especially Bryn.”
That knocked me out of the trance the information had put me in. “Wait, what?”
“I’m telling you to keep your mouth shut. This is too dangerous for Bryn to know.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can’t keep this from her, Lance. She’s my mate. It’s not right for me to hold this back.”
“You’ll have to. I keep telling the two of you that there are enemies everywhere in this pack. Even I’m not sure of every wolf Troy has in his pocket. But for now, they think I’m still loyal to Troy. If they suspect I’m not, they’ll kill me, and I wouldn’t be able to protect Bryn.”
I shook my head. “We can work with each other. I’m sure there’s a better way to keep her safe.”
“Not one I’m willing to risk.” He stormed up to me and got in my face. “I mean it. You keep this between us. If what I said about her safety isn’t enough to convince you, then maybe this will: this is a family matter, one that’s between me, Bryn, and the memory of our mother—a pack mother. You’ll be fucking with destiny if you even consider telling her before she needs to know.”
I stepped back, his words ringing in my head. Only hours before, I’d vowed to Bryn I wouldn’t keep anything from her, yet now I was at this impasse. It might endanger Bryn and our pup if she found out Lance was her brother, but I felt the truth of hiswords when he mentioned destiny. If I told her now, would I be interfering with Fate? It felt like I was killing a piece of my soul, but how could I risk our future?
“Fine,” I said slowly. “But I’m not keeping this shit to myself forever. What you’re asking me to do will break Bryn’s heart. If you don’t tell her by the time our baby is born or by the time Troy is dead and buried, I will. And”—I went to the spot where Lance tossed the book and picked it up—“I’m holding onto this for now."
He glared at me, but then he nodded. “Fine. I can agree to those terms. You just keep it safe.”
I rolled my eyes and started walking home. “Obviously,” I called over my shoulder.
As I walked, I tried to gather my thoughts. Lance and I had come to a kind of truce, but it felt like I’d just taken ten steps back in my relationship with Bryn by keeping this huge secret from her. I didn’t even know if Icouldkeep it from her. If she called me out, I doubted I could keep this information to myself.
111
BRYN
The next morning, I woke alone to the scent of frying bacon. My stomach rumbled, and the baby did a somersault.
I put my hand over my belly and smiled. “Okay. Let’s get something to eat.”
I rolled out of bed and made myself presentable. I could hear several people shuffling around in the kitchen. One of them would be the person who would get as much bacon in me as I could stand.
I made my way downstairs and found Violet, Mom, Night, and Dr. Stan talking in the kitchen. They all looked at me as I walked in.
“Morning, everyone,” I said. Night came to me and hugged me tightly, as if this was the first time he’d seen me in days. I peeked around him to see our visitors. “Violet, Dr. Stan, long time no see.”
“Likewise,” the doc replied. “But remember, you can call me Damon if you like.”
“Oh, right.” I giggled. “Sorry.”
“We’ll have another checkup when you and Night have the time,” he said.
“Of course. We’ll figure out the best time to do that.”
Night finally let me go, and I went to the island to snag a piece of bacon.
“Bryn,” Mom said, “you should know that now that Violet’s back, we’re going to start getting things prepped for the baby.”
“Oh, really?” Night and I shared a look.
“I don’t know if Glenda made this clear or not,” Violet said, looking from Night to me, her jewel-green eyes glinting with mischief, “but we’re going to absolutely spoil this baby.”
“Believe me, Mom,” Night replied. “We know.”
I chuckled. “How are things in Wargs’ territory? Anything we should know?”
“Things are great there,” Violet said. “Pax asks about you every day. He had an oral presentation for class and almost refused to do it unless you attended.”
