Page 98 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“Let her go, you coward!” Tavi screamed.
The word caused Troy to turn to Tavi now.
“Yeah, you heard me,” she went on. “Attacking a couple of women who can’t even raise a hand to defend themselves? You’re afucking coward!”
With a snarl, Troy let me go. I gasped air back into my lungs so fast I coughed on it as Troy stalked toward Tavi.
“I knew Wargs women were stupid, but I didn’t think they’d be this dumb,” he said. “You know, I only took you because it would hurt Night to know that his precious sister was at my mercy, but I’m not actually interested in you.”
“Lucky me,” she said.
Troy’s scowl deepened. “I won’t tolerate any disrespect from some worthless bitch. If you’re smart, you’ll keep your mouth shut.”
“I’m going to enjoy watching Night tear your throat out, you piece of shit.”
Troy gave a chuckle, but the sound was full of darkness, of threat. “I don’t think he’s the one who’ll taste blood.”
Before Tavi could respond, Troy backhanded her. Blood spurted from her mouth and across the wall, and I didn’t even have the breath to scream. Before she hit the ground, he grabbed a fistful of her shirt and punched her in the face.
Blow after blow and kick after kick landed on Tavi, leaving awful marks and bruises across her skin. My eyes watered with effort as I tried to scream for him to stop, to take his aggression out on me instead, but I couldn’t even do that. My throat was crushed, my lungs were burning, all I could do was gurgle and wheeze while inside my wolf and I howled together.
Eventually, when Tavi had been beaten so thoroughly that she couldn’t remain conscious, he tossed her broken body to his two men. “Keep the bitch alive but enjoy her however you’d like.”
The three men shared horrifying smiles as Harlon and Samson unlocked her shackles and dragged Tavi into the next room. Now alone with Troy, I fought to return to an upright position. I hated him so much, it burned my eyes. Troy released a low whistle as he crouched in front of me.
“Look at that glare,” he said. “It might be enough to scare me…if you weren’t still the same weak girl I grew up with.”
“Monster!” My voice was little more than a croak, but at least my throat had healed enough that I could speak at all. “Bastard! Your father would be ashamed of you.”
He gave another dark chuckle. “You don’t know anything about my father.”
“I know he cared enough about the pack to make sure it succeeded. I know he never lost his temper. I know he wasn’t a fucking madman.”
He slapped me. My teeth bit into my cheek and it hurt something awful, but he hadn’t hit me as hard as he had Tavi.
“My father wasnothinglike the man he pretended to be. He was a cruel, selfish bastard who only cared about appearances.”
Angry words lingered at the tip of my tongue like my own blood. The last thing I wanted was to hear Troy’s sob story. It didn’t matter how difficult his childhood was; it could never justify what he was doing to me and Tavi. But something was telling me that I needed to listen.You need to find out why he’s doing this, that voice told me.Find out what his plan is. It’s the only way you and Tavi are getting out of this.
I doubted that whatever info he gave me now would get me out of my restraints or provide anything that would be immediatelyuseful, but perhaps more intel could work in my favor down the line.
I turned my head to spit the blood out of my mouth and returned my glare to Troy. “Then who was the real Gregor Redwolf?” I demanded. “Because from where I’m sitting, there’s no way his treatment of you could hold a candle to the way he treated me, my mom, or any other female wolf. You sound like a pup bitching about his daddy not hugging him enough.”
He slapped me, much harder this time, and then wrapped his hand around my throat again. He brought my face close to his.
“The only bitch here is you!” he snapped, spittle flying from his mouth. “You want to know what my father was like? He relished torturing me. He was a sadistic fuck who beat me every time he was bored or angry. He made me watch as he tortured wolves who trespassed onto his territory, even if all they wanted was a few scraps of food. You know how he celebrated my sixth birthday?”
I didn’t answer. I wouldn’t play his shitty guessing game. I waited for him to tell me the answer.
“He forced me to kill one of the wolves he had been torturing. It was my only birthday present.”
I couldn’t care less for the man who stood before me, a man who seemed to have made it his mission to hurt me and everyone I held dear. But there was a small part of my heart that mourned on behalf of the boy I’d known when I was a little girl. Though he’d tormented me my entire life, no child deserved to be mistreated—especially not by their own parent.
But that sympathy could never stretch to the Troy of the present day.
“Why do all this?” I forced out. “Why go after Night or me or any of the Wargs when your father was the one who hurt you?”
Troy’s angry expression shifted into a sneer. “I can’t believe your mate didn’t tell you. Keeping you in the dark isn’t very loving of him, is it?”
