Page 178 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“This conversation isn’t over,” I said. “I don’t need you to pity me just because I got a little emotional.”
“I’m not pitying you, Bryn, I just…” He let out a tight sigh and pushed his hands through his thick black hair. “You’re right that you are the alpha now, but there’s no telling who will be the next alpha a month from now. I hope it’s me—and I will do everything I can to make sure it is me—but if I fail, we don’t know who the next alpha will be. What if it’s someone who’s on Troy’s side? That person will ruin everything we’ve fought for.” He put his hands gently on my shoulders, and despite my frustrations, I couldn’t help but notice how warm they were. “We have the chance to eliminate a future threat, and we need to take it.”
I hated that Night was making some good points. We didn’t know who the next alpha would be, and we couldn’t bank on it being Night. He couldn’t even shift at the moment. But that didn’t change my mind. I was making good points, too, whether he wanted to acknowledge them or not.
“Don’t forget, Night,” I said, raising my chin to meet his gaze, “I will be on the council as den mother even when I’m not thealpha. I will have some influence.” I moved away from his touch and crossed my arms. “All of this arguing won’t matter if we don’t find Troy. When we have him, we’ll reevaluate what to do with him, okay?”
“Okay.” But it was obvious that Night was reluctant to leave things like this.
“We should get back out there to evaluate the damage Troy’s attack has done,” I said in a monotone.
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
As we moved to leave, I saw Night wince.
“Wait a second.” I jogged into the kitchen to find the closest first aid kit, grabbing a bottle of painkillers and shaking a few into my hand. After filling a glass with water, I went back to my mate.
Crossing my arms, I looked away as Night swallowed the pills.
“Thanks,” he murmured.
“Mmhm.” I grabbed the notepad and a pen, and we headed back into the sunlight.
It hurt to know we weren’t on the same page about something so important, but I couldn’t see a way to compromise. It wasn’t that I didn’t hate Troy; Iloathedhim. If we found out his army of ferals had killed him, or he’d fallen into a ravine and died, I would laugh before shedding a single tear. I wished for nothing but the worst to happen to him for all he had done to me and the people I cared about. That went for Samson, Harlon, and anyone else who had helped him commit all that evil—which was why it was so important that I didn’t kill him.
Before I realized I was a shifter, the Kings had tormented me because of the Redwolfs’ anti-human stance. The Kings had thought of me as prey back then, and many of them probably thought of me as a pushover even now. It would beso simpleto kill Troy and show them my authority. Doing that might earn me their respect, but would it get me their loyalty? Would they view me as someone who fostered the kind of pack they could feel safe in? No. Killing Troy would show the pack I was no different from the Redwolfs. Getting rid of him was the easy way forward, and it would go against everything I’d worked for.
Why couldn’t Night see that?
73
NIGHT
By the time Bryn and I finished assessing the areas that had suffered the most damage after the feral attack, the painkillers finally started to kick in. Every inch of my body had pulsed with aches; now the pain was just a numb memory. But my mind still raced with worry, frustration, and impatience.
Our disagreement about what to do if—when—we found Troy hadn’t helped with things. Bryn’s decision to keep him alive would never make sense to me. I would have thought that killing him would be a no-brainer after everything he had done to her. I’d heard what she had to say and tried to understand what she wanted for the future of the Kings, but I just didn’t get it. It irked me that we couldn’t see eye to eye about this, considering how important it was, but Bryn was stubborn and determined. I couldn’t just ask her to go along with what I wanted to do.
I spotted Dom talking with a smaller group of Kings. After sending out the search party, I had him patrol the territory on his own. Given the unusually messy state of his blond hair, he must have just gotten back.
“I’m going to catch up with Dom,” I said to Bryn.
“That’s fine.” She didn’t look at me, keeping her eyes on her list of facilities that had suffered the worst damage. “I’m going to find Tavi and discuss the damage. Maybe we’ll reconnect later.”
I watched her for a bit longer, but she didn’t return my gaze. My chest tightened when I remembered the tears swimming in her eyes during our argument and the moment she’d handed me the painkillers. Bryn didn’t use her emotions as a weapon when she was distressed. And even though she was angry with me, she still worried about me. Still cared.
That caring side of her persevered even when she felt low—it was part of what made her so amazing. As frustrated as I was with her, I still loved her deeply, which made this situation suck even more.
My wolf whined as I turned away from her. He didn’t like that we were on opposite sides of the Troy issue any more than I did. I wasn’t planning on changing my mind about Redwolf, though. I planned on living long enough to see that line die out, but if Bryn had her way, that wouldn’t happen as quickly as I wanted.
Dom nodded at me as I approached, but his attention was trained on the men in front of him. They were Kings, and from their quick, decisive gestures, it was obvious to me that they were either pissed, stressed out, or some combination of the two. Those conditions didn’t bode well for wolf shifters, but at least they were still in their human forms, which made them easier to reason with.
“I’m telling you that we’re handling this,” Dom said to the group. “We’ve got Wargs and Kings working for this.”
“What canwedo?” one of the Kings demanded, stepping toward Dom.
“Hold on,” I said, moving between the two. “What’s going on?”
“We heard that Troy escaped,” the same man responded. He had a decade on Dom and me, and he, like the men behind him, had the bulky physique of a fighter. “We heard he’s the reason we were attacked. That true?”
