Page 254 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“It depends on what Bryn wishes to see,” Elder Woods said. “Remember, Alpha Night, Bryn will be experiencing the memories of a pack mother. Those memories span hundreds of years, if not thousands. She will likely be able to focus those memories on when her mother was with child, but it will take her some time to do that. Seeing through the eyes of someone else is a very complicated process.”
I groaned. The elders weren’t making this any easier on me.
“Night, what do you remember of Blossom?” Mom asked.
“Blossom? I remember…that she was pregnant,” I said slowly. “And I remember she went missing.”
I paused and frowned as I thought more deeply about her. “I’m starting to remember more now that she’s on my mind. She was a huge fixture in my life, almost as huge as Dom’s father.” I hesitated. “I think she mentioned once that her daughter and I would grow up to be close.”
Soon after Blossom went missing, she was presumed dead. Her death, and her baby’s death, had depressed me and the rest of the pack for weeks and weeks. It was such a dark time for me that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought about her for such a long time.
“Are you sure that’s all you remember?” Mom asked. “Think a bit more.”
I closed my eyes and ransacked my memories of Blossom. More of that fog disappeared, and I realized with a slight jolt that I’d misremembered what she’d said about her baby. She hadn’t told me we would be close; she’d said we would be fated mates. When I was a pup, I thought she was being silly. I was still at the age where I believed girls were a waste of valuable playtime, but I’d adored Blossom.
And as if a fog was lifting from my brain, I remembered the beautiful woman who was kind and graceful. She was always very sweet to me, sharing her treats with me and inviting me over to chat…though our chats usually entailed me talking without pause for hours on end. I’d forgotten how much of an attention hog I was.
And when I learned that she and the baby had died, I had this crushing sense that I’d lost something precious. Even when I started to become interested in women, none of the females in my pack ever felt like the right fit. I couldn’t commit myself to them. Eventually, I thought I’d have to give up on the idea of claiming anyone. That deep sense of loss followed me until the moment I met Bryn.
“Mom, why are you asking me about Blossom?” I asked. But as soon as the question left my mouth, I started to put together the puzzle pieces. “Was Blossom the pack mother we were hiding?”
Mom just smiled instead of giving a verbal answer.
Shock rocked me, and I sat on the nearest seat—a tree stump. If Blossom was the pack mother,Brynwas the baby girl she was carrying. All this time, Blossom’s baby had been my fated mate, and I’d had no idea. All this time, our paths had already crossed, and neither of us had known it.
At first, I couldn’t process this huge piece of information. But the longer I thought about it, the more it made sense. I hadn’t remembered who Blossom was until my mother asked me about her, and I knew that had to be for a reason—the Fates or destiny or whatever had kept me from knowing Bryn’s identity until this very moment. As Bryn was learning more about her mother through her visions, I was making a few discoveries about my past, too.
A groan from Bryn yanked me out of my thoughts. The white light was fading from her eyes, and the circle was dimming, too. Soon, her eyes returned to normal, and she fell back, her body convulsing.
95
BRYN
When I came back to the present, I found myself on the cold ground, trembling in the wake of the ritual and everything I’d experienced. Night appeared at my side in an instant, crouching next to me and gathering me into his arms. I shivered against the heat of his body. All the warmth had left my body during that ritual, as if seeing through my mother’s eyes had sucked some of my vitality out of me.
“Bryn, are you okay?” My mate’s murmured words permeated the heavy cloud of disorientation.
I gave a shaky nod and a shakier thumbs up.
He let out a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh and lifted me in his arms like a bride. I felt a pang of sadness as he carried me. Lucian—my father—had done this with my mother in the moments before her death. He’d been just as tender as Night was with me. I gripped Night’s shirt in my trembling hand. I mourned for both my parents and the loss they must have suffered from being separated from each other so brutally.
“You can take her inside,” I heard Elder Queene’s voice from far away. I focused on it to stay in the present. “It’ll be warmer there.”
Night took me inside the elders’ cabin, the others following. He sat on a bench with me in his lap, holding me gently as I tried to stop my body from shaking so much. Elder Forsythe built a fire in the hearth while Violet draped a blanket over me. I hadn’t felt this cold since I was human. After all these weeks of living with a higher body temperature, I had no idea how I’d managed the cold.
“Don’t worry, Bryn,” Elder Woods said. “Your body is reacting to the strain of the ritual, but it will pass soon. We just need to get you warmed up.”
“Strain” was the right word for what I felt. My mind was still swimming with all I’d learned, and my heart drummed against my ribcage. I felt exhausted and wired with energy at the same time.
I opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t form the words. Night, Violet, and the elders were all waiting to hear what I had seen, but I wouldn’t be able to tell them anything until I felt like myself again.
Closing my eyes steadied me. I hadn’t been able to see my mother’s features, but I’d heard her laugh and voice. My vision blurred at the memory, and tears poured down my cheeks before I could quell them. I hadn’t been able to cry while looking through my mother’s eyes, and it was such a relief to be in control of myself and my body again. To be able to feel and grieve and ache for the loss of who she was.
“Oh, Bryn.” Night sighed, his lips brushing over my forehead. “What did you see?”
I was still shivering but not as much as before. After a few moments, I was able to find my voice. “I didn’t see my mom,” I said quietly. “But I heard what she sounded like, and I saw her hands and her pregnant belly. I felt what she felt as she experienced it. It was amazing.”
His smile was full of relief as he loosened his tight hold on me now that I could speak. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to see what she looked like, but I’m really happy you got some answers. Did you see where your mother was from?”
