Page 94 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
I looked at him, eyebrow raised. How the hell could I have slept with my mom dying right in front of me and Bryn and Tavi missing?
Dom winced. “Okay, point taken. You do look terrible.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. I feel like shit.” And then after a pause, I added, “I feel like I’m being torn up inside. Like, if I don’t do somethingright now,I might just burst into flames.”
“That’s probably the mating bond, Night. After finding your mate, you’re supposed to feel powerful, not weak. But because you’re an idiot, you didn’t complete the claiming.”
I couldn’t even muster the energy to glare at him. “So what do I do?”
“You need to claim Bryn, but obviously, Redwolf has made that impossible. Until you can do that, your body and your wolf will start reacting to her absence, too. You’re only going to get weaker and weaker as time passes.”
His words chilled me, but what was even more chilling was that Bryn would have to suffer the same effects, but she wouldn’t have the same support that I had. “So, Bryn is going to be feeling this, too.”
“Yes.” Like Dr. Stan, Dom never sugarcoated the truth, not to me. “The pain won’t stop until one of you dies, and then the survivor will be free from the soulmate bond. But that isn’t to say that they’ll be ‘okay.’” He put air quotes around the last word.
“What do you mean?”
“The wolf who survives their soulmate’s death could very well go crazy from the grief.”
I couldn’t care less about myself, but the thought of Bryn being harmed ignited the need to be beside her again. My wolf began to snarl and grasp for control again, but he began to calm again as I spotted Doc through the window, carrying a tote bag ofthings. He nodded at Dom and me and headed inside. I heard the front door open downstairs.
“Is he staying over?” Dom asked.
“Yeah, just until Mom wakes up. He said he’s got things covered at the infirmary.”
“Good. I can’t imagine a better man keeping an eye on her. And it’ll give you a chance to rest.”
“Dom—”
“Night, listen, you won’t be any good to anyone if you don’t get a nap at least. You’re really going to want to conserve as much strength as you can until you can claim Bryn.”
I understood the logic—I even agreed with it—but dammit, it felt wrong to sleep when I knew my mate was in danger. Dom, seeing straight through my hesitation, grabbed my shirt and tugged me out of Mom’s room and down the hall to my own.
“Wait, hold up?—”
He ignored me, pulling me toward my bedroom door and pushing me inside. “This is the only way I know you’ll take a fucking break,” he said.
“I could just leave,” I replied with a glare. “What’s to stop me from leaving through the window?”
“You could, but the minute I catch you walking around outside your cabin, I’ll ask Doc for a sedative. Don’t play games with me, Night.”
I heaved a sigh. “Alright. I’lltryto get some sleep.”
He smiled and nodded. “That’s all I’m asking from you.” He closed the door, and I heard his steps retreating downstairs.
Alone in my room now, I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. Every corner of my room should have felt familiar, but as I glanced around, nothing felt real. My body was here, but my mind wasn’t. I’d lived in this cabin since I was sixteen, but it might as well have belonged to a stranger. Without Bryn here, the space could never feel like home.
I paced back and forth. I intended to keep my mind on Bryn and Tavi and what I could do to help them, but the more I paced, the more sluggish my body became. After an hour of it, exhaustion began to weigh me down even more than my stress, and I crawled into bed.
Doc’s scent was present in the room, but Bryn's scent was stronger, lingering in the sheets and the pillows. The bed itself felt eerily cold and empty. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I hadn’t earned the right to lie down and relax when Bryn and Tavi were in Troy’s custody. But Dom was right—I wasn’t a machine, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t force myself to keep going.
I turned onto my side, pulling the covers and pillows that smelled most like Bryn to me. If I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend that I held her in my arms. I thought I would spend the next while tossing and turning and worrying, but before long, I fell asleep.
Iwoke up a few hours later. The sun was still out, and I felt a bit more rested. I got out of bed, stretched, and headed out to look after Mom.
Because I’d broken off the doorknob, the door to her room was ajar, unable to close. Through the opening, I saw Doc sitting in the chair next to her bed. He held her wrist in one hand. With the other, he dabbed away the sweat that collected on her forehead with a cloth.
Something about the slow, gentle way he swiped the cloth across her forehead and the way he held her wrist had me tilting my head. I appreciated his care, but I couldn’t help but wonder if his bedside manner was so attentive with all of his patients. Or, was he taking extra care with her because she was my mother?
