Page 164 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
Men who had been wandering around without aim straightened now that they had orders. They began to spread equally to the northern, eastern, western, and southern borders. I turned to Bryn before I followed them.
“I know you’ve got to go,” she said with a sad smile. “Some start to our honeymoon, huh? A war breaks out and my first day as Alpha goes to shit.”
I shook my head. “This isnotyour fault. Something fucked up is happening. But I promise you, we’ll get to the bottom of this. Together.”
She nodded.
“In the meantime, you stay here and care for the wounded.”
She nodded again, but there was a more determined edge to it. “Come back to me.”
I kissed her quickly, fiercely. “I will always come back to you.”
65
BRYN
Night shifted and sprinted off to see where he could help in the fight, and I turned back to the chaos around me. Wolves were carrying their wounded on their backs and on makeshift gurneys, looking lost as hell. Those on the ground remained motionless and unattended. Women lingered near the edges of the site, unsure how to help.
I looked down at myself. I was still decked out in this lovely dress. This was not the attire of an Alpha who was needed by her people.
“Hey!” I called. I didn’t quite have the force of the Alpha voice on my side, but I sounded commanding enough to get the attention of those who were still able-bodied. “Leave the wounded here for treatment. It’s too risky to try and carry them to the infirmary on the eastern corner.” As those carrying the wounded began to follow my orders, I turned to the women. “Claire, bring me a pair of pants and a t-shirt that you don’t mind getting bloody. As for the rest of you, bring back your medicines, your gauzes, your linens, and every first-aid item you can think of.”
I pulled my hair up into a bun, securing it with Tavi’s flower crown. In minutes, Claire had returned with the clothes, and Mom and Violet arrived to help. Behind Violet, Dr. Stan was on the way to us. I changed into my new outfit in seconds and tossed the dress into a nearby tree.
Women returned with hand sanitizer and water and everything else they had, and I directed them to assist those who were least injured. Dr. Stan took the lead on caring for those most seriously injured, and Mom and Violet, who both had medical experience, assisted him there. I dropped to my knees and began putting all the first-aid knowledge I had from school and from my mother to real use.
Seconds passed like minutes, and minutes like hours. I wiped sweat from my brow and pressed cloth to the bleeding chest wound of a Kings wolf before moving on to help a Kings woman hold down a Wargs man while he was stitched up. I quickly learned that pack lines blurred on a battlefield. Trish, Tanya, and Tara sobbed nearby. For them, and for many of these women, it was the first time they’d ever seen so much blood and death. They clutched each other desperately as they looked on at the chaos. They weren’t helping, but at least they weren’t getting in the way. I would have been just like them if I hadn’t had the experience in the cave on the Wargs’ territory, and if I hadn’t fought Troy myself.
I spotted Tyrell and Vince and Frankie bringing even more wounded our way. Fifteen injured became twenty, twenty became thirty, thirty became forty-five. The numbers dipped when we lost someone. Meanwhile, the battle waged on.
“Fuck this,” I whispered to myself, pausing in my work to help a group of women carry over a cauldron full of water. “This isinsane.” We set the cauldron on top of a raging fire to start boiling water.
As I resumed the bloody work, my addled brain slowly pieced together what Night had probably figured out before we’d even parted ways. Some-fucking-how, wolves as feral as the ones who had almost killed Vince and me in that cave a few weeks ago had organized themselves for this attack. That was unheard of in itself, but what was even more incredible was the fact that this had to have been a strategic effort. Otherwise, the battle would have been decided shortly after it started.
I wasn’t a warrior, but I could put two and two together. By attacking the border patrols that were spaced out with only a few wolves at each location, the ferals could do more damage than launching a full attack on the pack. My army was much larger than the ferals, and with the Wargs here as well, we presented an even larger force, but there was no protocol for a concerted feral attack like this. Ferals were vicious, crazed attackers, and from what I’d heard from Night, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child, let alone a full-grown wolf.
Please, Night,I thought, wiping blood from my hands and arms so I could help rip linen into strips for wraps.Please, please be safe.My wolf keened inside me. I didn’t understand why, but I knew she was telling me that he was in danger. I needed to get to him asap, but I couldn’t abandon my post here…
“Bryn!”
My head snapped up. Jasper and Tavi were sprinting my way. From what I could see, neither of them were injured, which set my heart at ease, though the wide, terrified expression on Tavi’s face left me feeling chilled to the bone.
“It’s great to see you both,” I said. “Jasper, I’m sure you’ve got to go help Night?”
“I’m on my way now.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
He reached for my arm and squeezed. “You too.”
As he sprinted off, I turned to Tavi. Now that she was close, I realized that her eyes, though still haunted, were laser-focused. She met my gaze head-on without wavering the way she’d been doing lately.
“Where do you need me, Alpha?” she asked.
My heart banged hard against my chest. “Tavi, are you sure you’re up to this?”
“Fuck no,” she replied. “I’m scared out of my mind, but I can keep it together for now. I want to do a good job as your beta.”
