Page 206 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
It had taken me no time to throw the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers together for the salad, and the bread was toasting in the oven with butter, garlic, and cheese. That meant I could turn on the battery-powered radio and put on some music. I keptthe radio on a station that played the latest hits, turning up the volume to let the music fill the kitchen and dining room.
Human music wasn’t as deep and bass-heavy as the traditional sounds played by pack musicians, but it was still fun to dance to. I was used to reading and working in relative silence, so the music was a real treat. I spun around to a particularly boppy song, and the pleated skirt of my dress swished around my knees. As I completed the turn, I found Night nodding along to the beat.
“Tell me, Night,” I said, sashaying my way into the kitchen, “can my big, strong alpha dance?”
He laughed, looking at me over his shoulder. “Not as well as I can cook.”
I offered my hands to him. “Care to show me?”
He lowered the heat and covered the sauce with a lid to let it simmer. “Alright, but you have to keep what you’re about to see between us.”
“Oh? Is it that bad?”
He took my hands and let me pull him to the open space of the living room. “I guess you’ll have to decide for yourself,” he said.
As it turned out, Night wasn’t nearly as bad as he let on. He didn’t know the most impressive dance moves, but he could hold the beat, which was more than I could say for some of the other male wolves I’d seen dancing at the few wolf celebrations I’d attended. And despite how large and imposing he was, my mate was very light on his feet.
He took my hand and spun me before pulling me against him again. We swayed to the music, and his hand slipped down to mylower back. He gazed down at me, his eyes a brilliant jade-green, and my heart skipped a beat.
A slow smile spread across his lips as he heard the tempo of my heartbeat speed up. He leaned down and brushed his lips across the top of my ear.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Do I pass your test?”
“With flying colors,” I murmured. “I never get to see this side of you, Night.” I inched my hands up his chest to his shoulders. “Promise me when things get really busy, we’ll make time to do things like this once in a while.”
“I promise,” he said. “I love spending time with you like this.”
I stood on my tiptoes to nuzzle him. “I love you, Night.”
“I love you, Bryn.” He pressed his lips to mine, and my eyes fluttered closed. He kissed me for a long time—so long, I couldn’t think of anything but the softness of his mouth or the warmth of his hands on my back, my hips, my ass...
But we had company coming, and before things could go further, there was a knock on the front door. Night and I pulled away from each other, and I hurried to answer the door, smoothing my clothing as I did.
Tavi was the first to arrive. She’d dressed up for the occasion in a dark teal sheath dress and black flats. Her black hair, which she normally wore pulled back in a messy bun, hung down her back in soft waves. There was even a touch of makeup on her face—mascara and tinted lip gloss.
“You look gorgeous, Tavi,” I said, hugging her. Tears stung my eyes because she reminded me of her old self before Troy and his goons got to her. It meant so much that she was willingto celebrate with us tonight. “Come in, come in. We’ll put the noodles on.”
“Already on it,” Night called from the kitchen. “They’ll be done in ten minutes.”
“It smells great,” Tavi said as I closed the door behind her. “But I’m surprised you convinced Night to cook. It was always like pulling teeth to get him to do anything more elaborate than put together a box cake.”
“No, Tav, I was like that withyouspecifically,” Night retorted. “For you, I don’t do anything for free.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes at me.
I giggled.
There was a second knock on the door, and unsurprisingly, that turned out to be Dom. He had dressed up as well, wearing black slacks and a navy-blue button-down shirt that accentuated his muscular torso. His curly golden-blond hair was combed out of his eyes.
“Nice to see you, Dom,” I said, hugging him.
“Same here. And congratulations, Bryn.” He lifted his hand, which held a bottle. “I brought some apple cider for you.”
“Thank you so much.” I beamed at him and accepted the bottle. After I closed the door behind him, I watched his eyes find Tavi’s. There was an immediate connection there, the air between them electrifying as I stood there, and then Tavi looked away.
“It’s good to see you,” she told him.
“Yeah, good to see you, too,” he said gently. “You look beautiful.”
