Page 298 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“Dammit.” I applied more pressure on his joint, pressure I knew would hurt.
He growled again, the sound carrying pain and resistance. He was so damn stubborn.
“Yield!”
A few tense seconds passed, and then Lance chuckled. “Ah, Night,” he said through clenched teeth. “I think we both know this is no way to make friends or ask for help.”
I said nothing. He was right, but I didn’t give a fuck. He’d pissed me off.
“You’re lucky I don’t want anyone else to die at Troy’s hands. I’ve seen what he’s capable of, and you’re going to need as much help as you can get.”
Slowly, very slowly, I eased my hold on him. He pulled his arm free, rubbing his elbow and upper arm. We sat on the ground, glaring at each other.
“So, does that mean you’re willing to help us?” I asked.
He gave that dark chuckle again. “I’ll think about it while I lick my wounds.”
My lips started to pull away from my teeth. “Lance, this isn’t the time to mess around?—”
“Alpha Night, there you are!”
Jasper’s voice interrupted me. He was running in our direction, his copper curls flopping around his head. Lance and I got to our feet to meet him.
“Listen, I—” Jasper stopped, his dark blue eyes widening as he took in my ripped shirt, Lance’s bruised arm, and the dust that covered our bodies. “Is everything all right?”
“We’re fine,” I said. “What do you need?”
“Right. I just got word from the hunting party.” Jasper was keeping in contact with the hunting party, occasionally leaving pack grounds to meet up with them.
“Good,” I said. “What did they have to report?”
He hesitated, glancing at Lance before meeting my eyes. I was glad Jasper was asking for permission. It was hard to believe that when Bryn and I had just met, I’d wanted to tear the poor kid up. He was a great wolf to have on my team.
“You can speak freely,” I assured him.
Lance raised an eyebrow, as if he were skeptical of what I was doing. He turned his body toward Jasper, which told me he would listen even if he doubted my intentions.
“All right,” Jasper said. “We still haven’t had any sighting of Troy yet, but we’ve found a lot of wolf bodies in unmarked territory. Sometimes a single wolf, sometimes two or three. From what we can tell, these wolves are either out hunting for smaller packs, or they’re looking for new packs to call home.”
“So some of them don’t have pack affiliations,” I said. The disappointment on Lance’s face mirrored my own. That wasn’t the news I’d been hoping to hear. “Do we suspect that Troy killed these wolves?”
“There’s no direct evidence, but the deaths are close to the Camas Pack lands. It’s impossible to predict Troy’s movements because his scent is all over the place.”
“Perhaps Troy is looking for something connected to the portals he thinks exist.”
Lance snorted.
“You got something to say?” I demanded.
“Nope.” He smirked at me.
I’d known talking to this guy would piss me off, but that didn’t make me any less frustrated.
109
BRYN
Night arrived home a couple of hours after I did. His shirt was ruined, and he was covered in dirt, but when I asked him about it, he didn’t seem to want to talk about it. Instead, he grumbled something about the “training grounds” and disappeared into our bathroom. Seconds later, I heard him turn on the shower.
