Page 110 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“Bryn?” she whispered. “What’s that? Where are we?”
“We’re in a cabin, but I don’t know where we are. Can you come closer to me? Maybe you could undo these chains?”
She tried to sit up, but the chain was so thick and heavy against her that she couldn’t do more than shift around. “I’m sorry. I’m too sleepy.” Her speech was slurred.
“Tavi, focus on me.” I tried to scoot closer to peer into her eyes.
She shifted a little closer to me too, but her strength gave out just as she reached my knee. Her head fell onto my leg.
“I’ll help, I promise, I just…I need to…” The rest of her words became mumbled gibberish, and then her eyes slipped closed.
I wiggled my leg, hoping that would wake her up again. “Wait, wait, wait! Tavi, no! Don’t go to sleep!”
Her eyelids twitched and she let out a brief whimper, but again, she lay silent.
I realized with a chill that she was still suffering from the effects of the drug. I had no idea if Tavi and I had received the same dosage or if we’d even received the same sedative. Tavi was alive now, but who knew what could happen in the next few hours? What if she was falling into a coma? What if she choked on her own tongue without ever waking up?
“Tavi, can you hear me?” I spoke more urgently. “Tavi—Octavia? Octavia Black!”
But no matter how much I tried to wake her up, it was useless. After those initial movements, she remained motionless even at the sound of her full name.
That wasn’t good. Bitter panic began to mount in my body. The only bit of relief I felt was that she was more comfortable on my leg than she was lying on the ground. This bit of comfort was the best I could give her, but it wouldn’t get us out of harm’s way, and it wouldn’t protect us.
A sob tore free from my chest as I leaned over her, my hair brushing her face. “Please…I can’t do this by myself,” I whispered as stinging tears slipped over my cheeks and dripped onto hers. Even then she didn’t stir.
I heard a door open above us. Footsteps descended the staircase, and then Troy and a few of his men approached.
“Stay back!” I shouted.
The men ignored me, making a beeline for Tavi. They unlocked her chain before dragging her through the door across from me. A glimpse through the doorway revealed a similarly darkened space, but no further details. I caught one last look of Tavi, her face contorting in pain, before the door slammed shut.
I shrieked after her, straining against my bonds. My wolf raged inside me, both of us keening and screaming after our friend.
“She’s hurt!” I looked at Troy. “She could die! Please don’t?—”
Troy crossed to me and slapped my face hard. “Shut up.”
My mouth filled with blood. Desperate rage rose inside me, and I turned to Troy. Before I could think better of it, I spat the blood in his face, the crimson glob hitting his cheek. He grabbed me by my hair and lifted me to eye level. I hadn’t thought I’d be capable of feeling more pain, but here it was, electrifying across my scalp.
“If you want to live, you’ll learn to respect your Alpha and fall in line like a good whore!”
“You willneverbe my Alpha,” I snapped. “I’ll die before I accept you.”
He let me go and I thudded to the ground on my back. He backed away from me and began walking back and forth in front of the staircase. His restless pacing was happening more and more often. I wondered if he was closer to defeat than I thought.
“You’re just like my father,” he grumbled to himself. “No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I do, neither of you think I’m good enough.Nobodythinks I’m good enough.Iam the one in control here. Why does no one respect that? My father ruled with control and fear, and people bowed to him. I do the same, but I get nothing. Why?”
"I’m nothing like your father, Troy.” I glared at him. “Butyouare no better than him. You’re a coward who cheats instead of fighting his own battles.”
I had no idea what was going on or if I would survive the day, so I just let him have it. What more could he do to me? What other pain could he inflict?
“Just because your father was fucked in the head doesn’t mean you have to be,” I said, glaring at him. “You could have been the better wolf, but you chose to be worse.”
“No! It washisfault.” He turned on me. “My father made me this way, and then he tried to rip everything away from me by reminding me about Night. The fucker got sick and then he started feeling guilty about all he’d done to his firstborn.Not to me. He didn’t apologize for any of the shit he put me through. Shepherd was the only one he could talk about. He told me he was going to announce it to everyone when he got better. That Night should always have been his heir, not me.”
I stared at him as he beat his fists against his chest. He was a child throwing a tantrum because his older brother got the toythat he wanted to play with, a poor sport who’d lost at some greater game.
Of course, I didn’t discount the fact that Troy was probably telling the truth about Gregor and how Gregor had treated him throughout his childhood. But nothing excused the way he was acting now.How was I so afraid of him before?How could I have thought he was anything other than a sniveling, pathetic child in a man’s body?
