Page 165 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
I wanted to hug her, but it wasn’t the time or the place. “Get yourself covered in sanitizer. I need those linens ripped into strips.”
She nodded. “I can do that.”
“And in the meantime, these women need direction. Dr. Stan or Violet or my mom can help you if you’re stuck, but our biggest issue is setting up another area to help the wounded.”
“Right, but Bryn?” Her eyebrows knitted together. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I have to speak to Night.” We needed to work together to find the location of the person pulling the strings.
“Okay. You can count on me.”
I nodded, and then ran off. I reached out to my wolf to help guide me to the closest location where there was danger—the northern border. On the way, I spotted Dom with an injured young wolf draped across his shoulders and another wolf under each arm. He was naked, and he was bleeding from cuts and bites along his body, but he couldn’t have transported three wolves to safety in his wolf form.
“Dom, bring the injured to the center of the compound. Tavi and a few others have more injured gathered there.”
He nodded and increased his pace.
“Wait, where’s Night?”
“He’s at the eastern border. That’s where most of the ferals are coming in.”
“Got it!” I altered course and pushed myself to run faster. The sound of chaos and fighting grew worse as I got closer to the border. Above the spot where the worst of the fighting was localized was a small rock formation. On top of that formation stood Harlon and Samson, wearing twin manic grins.
Something told me it wasn’t a coincidence that on the same day the two of them abandoned the pack, the feral attack began. They were behind this somehow, but I couldn’t fight them on my own. I needed Night.
66
NIGHT
After I left Dom to fight at the northern border, I headed to the eastern border. My wolves there were telling me that was where the fighting had started and where the majority of ferals were gathered. When I arrived, I found ferals engaged in a close battle with Wargs and Kings warriors. But our forces were struggling.
The problem was that they were out of sync. Without organization, they couldn’t work together, so our wolves fought in groups of all Wargs or all Kings, but that only made them easier targets for ferals to overtake or attack from behind. This was my worst fears come to life—not used to working together, both packs were allowing gaps in formation and making it easier for the enemy to slip past. I didn’t want to think about how many ferals were running wild behind the border. I couldn’t.
I let out a long, echoing growl—an Alpha’s growl that brought a momentary pause in the fighting. Even the ferals were paralyzed for a moment. They wouldn’t be able to hear my thoughts, but it would stun them. In that time, I seized control of both Wargsand Kings fighters and sent out an open call for anyone in the area to hear.
“Group up in front of me!” I was grateful when not just the Wargs, but Kings also scrambled to follow my orders rather than push back. They must have realized that they had loved ones in danger just like we did.
Just as wolves began to form an arrow of several lines in front of me, the ferals snapped out of their momentary stun. That trick wouldn’t work again, but that was fine. This time, we presented a united front.
I wanted to join the fray at the point of the arrow, but I kept close to the back so I could pick off any ferals who managed to slip past our defense. I intercepted one such wolf, grabbing hold of his back paw with my teeth and tossing him into another feral who tried to help him. In front of me, a young Kings wolf, no older than sixteen, didn’t notice that there was a feral sneaking up to flank him.
When the feral went in for the attack, I cut him off, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and biting down until I felt bone give way between my jaws.
“You alright, kid?” I asked, letting the feral drop.
“Y-yeah,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Just stay sharp.”
The fight wore on and the sky turned black. I wasn’t exhausted yet, but I was surprised by how determined these ferals were. Ferals were usually cowardly and skittish. How the hell had they joined forces so powerfully?
The telltale scent of flowers hit my nose, and I whipped my head around. Bryn was coming here? Why?
While my attention was on her, a feral slipped by me. It was headed in Bryn’s direction. I sprinted after it, zig-zagging between the trees. Ahead, I saw Bryn running toward me in her human form. She was already covered in blood, and that horrible sight caused me to lose it.
The feral roared and leapt for her. My heart dropped. Bryn hit the dirt, and for too many milliseconds, I couldn’t see her. I didn’t know if she was still there, but then the feral passed over her, and I saw her crouched low to the ground. Relief rushed at me even as rage flooded my blood. The feral skidded gracelessly into the trunk of a tree, and I lunged for it. Before it could recover, my jaws were locked around its throat. With a roar, I forced it down onto its back.
It whimpered beneath me until my fangs closed and blood gushed from the fatal wound. The feral taken care of, I turned to Bryn. She was just getting to her feet, but my wolf and I were so desperate to check on her that I almost knocked her over again when I poked at her with my nose, prodding at the spots of blood that stained her shirt and pants.
