Page 96 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
My eye twitched. I loathed the idea that the fucker had touched her at all. “Do you remember anything else, Mom?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t move, but I was conscious. Through the pain, I heard everything that happened next. Tavi sprinted into the room, shouting something, but one of them slammed her to the ground. I think he hit her?—”
A low growl filled the room, but it wasn’t from me. It was Dom. I watched him closely. I hated hearing this, too, but I wouldn’t have expected his reaction to Tavi’s pain to be so...impassioned.
Mom continued, “After that, Tavi was still. Bryn was standing on the stairs, and they started going after her. She shouted at them, tried to run, but one of those bastards grabbed her and dragged her down the stairs. She tried to fight them still, but Pax—” She cut herself off with a gasp. “How is he? What happened to him?”
I wasn’t sure. My chest throbbed with guilt for not asking after the pup who’d alerted me to Bryn and Tavi’s kidnapping in the first place, but as usual, Dom was on top of it.
“He’s fine—or, as fine as he could be given the circumstances.” His voice was tight and clipped, like he was speaking from the deepest part of himself, the part that still held some control. “He’s with his parents now.”
“Thank goodness,” Mom breathed.
“What happened after Pax?” I asked. “What happened to Bryn?”
She turned to me, her eyes large and bright green. “Troy used Pax to make Bryn agree to go with them. Not that he needed to make her agree. Shortly after that, I smelled something in the air—some drug—and I think they used that to knock Bryn and Tavi out.”
I bristled, seconds away from shifting. Bryn had once told me after we made love that Troy had convinced a pup to give her the spiked drink that led to her ending up tied up in his bedroom. It made me sick to my stomach that he would do that to her again—that she would have to suffer through it again when Troy was just going to drug her anyway.
“Night,” Mom said, pulling me from my thoughts. “I’m sorry, but Troy knows that Bryn is your mate. He would have smelled it on her the minute he stepped through my door.”
That was too much for me to hear.
I wasn’t sure how it happened, but I came to my senses in the foyer, inches away from opening the door. My wolf had taken control for a few seconds while the blow of that news hit me. I jerked away from the door, falling to the floor. My wolf gnashed his fangs, trying to force the shift. I clenched my fists, my sharpened nails piercing through my palms. I used the pain to help me focus, trying to fight for control.
Dom was suddenly at my side, trying to talk me through it. I heard Mom calling me from her room, urging me to be strong. On the stairs, I heard Dr. Stan coming down to help Dom with me.
I pushed all that outside shit away. Something was wrong with me. Never in my life had it been so difficult for me to regain control. My wolf had never fought so hard to take over. But slowly, thankfully, my wolf’s hold began to lessen and lessen until I was myself again. I heaved a shuddering breath, and with Dom’s help, I rose to my feet again.
“Night—”
I cut him off with a sharp shake of my head. “Not now. I just need some time to myself.”
“Right. Of course.”
Dr. Stan slipped his hands into his pockets. “I’ll keep an eye on Violet while you’re gone.”
“Thanks, Doc. I appreciate it.”
I turned my back to them and set off on my own. My body felt like it weighed ten tons when I first entered the forest near my cabin, but as I continued to walk, it became easier. I still felt off, not fully myself. My body seemed slow to respond to my commands, like that struggle with my wolf had put me on autopilot. And my wolf was eerily quiet now. I hoped I was just recovering from the struggle, but I knew it was more than that.
Dom had warned me that I should conserve my strength, but now that I was in the cover of the forest, I began to sprint. I needed to feel the blood pumping through my veins. If I could get my body moving, I’d feel more present. As I pushed my bodyto run even faster, my wolf started to stir again. This time, he wasn’t trying to take control. He was grateful for the activity.
He and I both found a lot of satisfaction in feeling the breeze on our skin and through our hair—or fur, in my wolf’s case. The mechanical movement of running and the woodsy scent of the forest grounded us both. I would stay in my human form for this run, though; I couldn’t trust him not to do something risky.
I couldn’t blame him for losing control. The fates knew that I was close to doing the same. Every fiber in my being was telling me that I needed to shift and get to Bryn as quickly as I fucking could. But I knew I needed to use my brain, not my emotions. I was scared out of my mind about what Troy might be doing to my mate and my sister, but I couldn’t dwell in that worry. If I let my emotions get the better of me again, I could make a mistake that ended up getting Bryn and Tavi hurt.
I reached the hot springs and slowed to a stop. I panted hard, my heartbeat pulsing through every inch of my body, sweat dripping from my chin and onto the forest floor. I looked at my hands. There was still blood on them, but the puncture wounds from my nails had healed.
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm the rapid beat of my heart. When I was a pup, I had dreamed of becoming Alpha. After I achieved that, my focus had been on getting the Wargs back on their feet. Leading up to the day I found Bryn, I’d finally felt that my pack was in a good enough place that I’d be able to take control of the Kings and merge them with the Wargs.
Finding my soulmate had caused my priorities to shift. Taking over the Kings and combining them with the Wargs became secondary while Bryn and I slowly got to know each other. The Kings were meant to be mine as Gregor’s oldest son, and Troyknew that. He knew that taking Bryn would not only weaken me but also delay that goal further. I couldn’t keep pushing this off. I owed it to my pack to follow through on my promises, but I needed my girls home safe again.
The stakes were too high for me to let Troy’s capture of Bryn and Tavi get to my head. To find my family, I needed to be smart—much smarter than my half-brother. Now that he was a full-fledged Alpha, there was no underestimating what the psycho was capable of. I would have to be overcautious and overprepared to make sure Bryn and Tavi came back alive. I needed to plan, and I needed to keep my heart as far out of that plan as I could.
The hot springs ran into pools of varying sizes. Some were large and could fit up to twenty or so people, but others were smaller and cozier. I approached one of the smaller pools, peeled off my clothes, and eased into the hot water. I leaned back against the wall worn smooth by the water and let my head fall back against the bright green moss that lined the mouth of the pool. Steam wafted to my face, and I breathed it in until my lungs were full, letting the breath back out slowly. I did this again until my heartbeat calmed.
These hot springs were one of the jewels that the Wargs’ territory provided for us. I closed my eyes and imagined Bryn sitting next to me, pressing her soft body against my arm. I hadn’t had the chance to show Bryn this magical place. Knowing her, she would love to see all the tiny wildflowers that grew along the perimeter of the springs. She’d probably tell me all about them while I smoothed my hands over her back and pressed kisses to her neck.
