Page 343 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
I nodded. It was reasonable advice. “Night was feeling the pressures of being an alpha, but I think he’s been doing a lot better. Our recent successes have helped bolster his confidence, but it was tough for a while there. He even kept the fact that Lance was my brother from me.”
Mom’s eyes widened, and Violet demanded, “He did that to you?”
“Lance asked him to keep it a secret from everyone, including me.”
She let out a tight sigh. “Fates above, I’m so sorry on my son’s behalf. If you need me to, I can give him an earful.”
Mom frowned. “He knows how important family is to you. I know I’ve stuck up for your mate in the past because you were both getting used to each other, but you’d been together for months by then, and you’d told him repeatedly what you wanted. I’ll give him a piece of my mind, too.”
I raised my hands in a placating gesture. “No, no! Don’t worry. I appreciate the concern, but Night and I already talked about it a while ago. And Lance explained things to me, too; he was working through his own feelings about our mother and about being a brother to me. Those things prevented him from telling me the truth. And Night was sworn to secrecy.”
Mom and Violet hesitated, but in the end, they accepted my words.
“I’m surprised you’re sticking up for him after he kept such a huge secret from you, Bryn,” Mom said. “It’s something you’ve talked with me about before, but it seems like you might be over it.”
“I wouldn’t say that I’m ‘over it,’ really. I just told him that he couldn’t lie to me by omission anymore. I made him understand that I wouldn’t tolerate that kind of protection. He swore to me that he wouldn’t do it again, and I believe him.” My heart still beat hard, remembering how he’d gotten on his knees in front of me and made the promise. Suddenly, I missed him like crazy and just wanted to see him, to have him near.
Mom patted my arm, and I rested my head on her shoulder. “Okay, honey, if you’re sure. But we’re here for you if you need more support.”
Violet nodded. “If he gives you trouble like that again, you let me know. I’ll set him straight.”
I laughed.
“And one more thing, Bryn,” Violet said. “It’s true that being a leader means making sacrifices for your people, but the same is true of motherhood. To protect your children, you might find yourself doing things that you never thought you’d be capable of doing. With me, it was raising Night on my own and protecting him from the harshness of our pack as much as I could.”
“And for me,” Mom said, “it was standing up to Gregor when he wanted to send you away and staying loyal to you even when it meant leaving my friends behind. You’ve already made sacrifices for the life of your child, but that devotion won’t end when they’re born.”
I gripped their hands. Their advice struck a chord within me. Of course I would do anything to protect my baby, but hearing them talk about it gave me a sense of foreboding. Their words stitched themselves into my brain. I wouldn’t forget it.
We talked for a while longer, and they said they would be moving the baby things to our cabin soon. It was finally livable. Night and I would be able to move into the cozy little home before the baby arrived, and that thought sent a blossoming spark of joy through me. Violet and Mom had gone above and beyond with these gifts, but I was excited for the day when I got to see all these things in my baby’s room.
They cleaned up the wrapping paper and ribbons for me before heading out. I sat there, fiddling with the bib, their words still echoing in my mind when the front door opened.
Night, Dom, Lance, and Vince came into the cabin, looking grim. I stood to meet Night. He touched my arm, then brushed his nose over my hair. His urgent need to touch me told me that something serious must have happened.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There was another attack today,” he said. His frustration was a slight, growling tremor in his voice. “On the Garou Pack.”
I slapped my hand to my mouth. “Are there…?”
I didn’t need to finish the question—I had my answer when I looked into his eyes, but he responded, “Yes. It was another small pack, but there are dozens of casualties. None of our wolves died, but ferals did, and the Garou Pack suffered heavy losses.”
Grief tore at my heart. Not just for the Garou Pack, who must be devastated, but for the ferals, too. Troy’s army wasn’t made up of wolves who’d been ousted from their packs; many, if not most, of them were traumatized kids. Our pack’s kids. Losses like this hit even harder now, which made Troy’s actions all the more unforgivable.
“Reports tell us that the attack was sloppy and uncoordinated,” Dom added. “And it came hours after the attack last night. It was just luck that our hunting team heard the sounds of the attack and arrived before the Garou Pack lost everyone.”
I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them. “They’re getting more violent and unstable.”
“Yes.” Night clutched me to him. “I need to get down there. My men need their alpha, and we can’t afford to let things get even worse. But it feels like we’re just going around in circles. We just can’t get ahead of him. Not like this.”
It came to me that this was a pivotal moment. I was always planning on being involved with the search for Troy’s lair—after all, I was the only one who had an idea what the lair looked like—but it meant that I would be going out into the thick of it. I was heavily pregnant, and I’d be leaving the safety of our territory to find a dangerous, crazed man. The Night I had gotten to know months ago would never have let me do something this risky. But how would he react now?
There was a pause, and I watched Night’s face closely as the gears turned in his mind. And then, he said, “Bryn, I need you with me.”
A flood of emotion, of relief, of love came to me then, rocking me so hard, I actually swayed on my feet.
“Of course. I’ll get ready now.”
