Becoming the Alpha Read Online Free

side. But this,” his hand swept toward Lukas, “this is something that we cannot tolerate. Markus never intended to his brother to become the alpha. His spirit is no doubt rolling over in his grave at the very idea. I have been here serving the clan every day for the last eighteen years. Markus was forced to send his brother away to save face and embarrassment for Lukas’s misdeeds and behavior. This is not the right man to lead you. I have no choice but to contest the Kasper bloodline claim because it is the right thing to do, not for me, but for the clan.”
    A small burst of cheers and clapping went up as the sheriff let his words sink in. I looked at Lukas then.
    “Isn’t he going to say anything?” I didn’t realize I had spoken the words out loud until I heard Marilee’s sigh.
    “He’s been here less than a week, Maren. Nobody knows him anymore. What could he say? The time for words is over.”
    I knew she was right, but I fumed inside.
    Lukas stepped forward then. His attention had never wavered from the sheriff. “Guess we’re going to have to agree to disagree then. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be alpha, let’s see it.”
    Then it was as if the air rippled, and everything that I thought I knew about the world changed.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Phased was such a simple word that was wholly inadequate for the metamorphosis that I watched happen before my eyes. They might as well have called it magic because what I observed didn’t fit any reality that I knew until that moment.
    Lukas’s limbs lengthened, and his face contorted as his jaw bones changed. His handsome face morphed into a snout and teeth filled jaws. A wild roar broke into the air. Then time sped up. Lukas was already moving toward the sheriff even as a thick pelt of pitch black hair sprang into existence covering every inch of his muscular body.
    One minute, he was a man. The next minute, he was a grizzly bear. I gasped even as my brain processed just how fast the phase had happened. As my mind was trying to wrap itself around the fact that this was still Lukas, he catapulted himself at the sheriff. It hadn’t even registered with me that the sheriff had already phased as well.
    The two massive forms hit each other hard and then locked into a tight bear grip. I could have been amused by my mind’s quip and feeble attempt to understand what was happening, but there was no time for it. Lukas and the sheriff stood on their hind legs with their front paws wrapped around each other’s neck. As they struggled and twisted with each other trying to gain additional purchase, their snarls told everyone that despite any bluster on the sheriff’s end, the two seemed fairly evenly matched.
    My eyes danced over Lukas’s form. He had to be over seven feet tall in his bear form, and the sheriff appeared only an inch or so shy of that height himself. These were the nuances that I forced myself to pay attention to because they were the ones that would matter to those who read the story later. Whether for the clan’s posterity or national news, readers would want to know every gory detail.
    It was easy to tell them apart. The sheriff’s pelt was a faded, burnished black and tan, and there were shots of gray decorating parts of his back and shoulders. The sheriff was in his forties but given he didn’t have a gray hair on his human head, these were curious markings. I made a mental note to ask Lukas if there was anything different about shifter biology when it came to the aging process.
    Then the sheriff seemed to gain the upper hand, and their bodies tilted in unison. Lukas fell backward even as the sheriff took the opportunity to pull his body up on top of him. I felt a small whisper of a moan escape my lips when I saw the sheriff’s strong jaws lock onto Lukas’s shoulder. His roar of pain bit at some part of me deep inside as if the sheriff’s teeth had sunk into my own flesh.
    “You didn’t think someone was going to come out of