Becoming the Alpha Read Online Free Page A

this without bleeding, did you?” Marilee hissed at me. “Get a grip, girlfriend. This is the big leagues.”
    I had a sharp retort on my lips, but then I saw the slightly frenetic look on her face and the sweat that shone across her brow. A ripple of fear crawled up my spine as I recognized the same look on all of the faces around me. It was as if they were holding onto whatever small shred of humanity they could, because there was a war of emotions raging inside of them. The spectacle in front of them had heightened some kind of primal excitement. If they all phased into their bear forms at the same time, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be safe; not even for a moment.
    Then I realized that if the sheriff won the match, there was no certainty that he would let me go after having seen what was transpiring in front of me. Tendrils of icy dread wove themselves around my ribcage, and I felt like it was hard to catch a deep breath.
    “C’mon, Lukas,” I whispered under my breath. I channeled every thought I could toward the direction of the bear lying on the ground in front of me. I saw the sheriff’s jaws clamp down for another full bite just above the wound that he had already created. I heard the sounds of clapping hands and squeals of joy from the crowd that masked whatever verbal reaction Lukas unleashed in response to the attack.
    It was disgusting. Lukas was trying to leverage his broad form to get himself out from underneath the sheriff, but he had hundreds of pounds of solid muscle hammering down on his chest even as the sheriff continued to ravage his shoulder. A thick pool of blood formed on the ground beneath him, and I felt faint. Things couldn’t end this way between us. No matter what I thought before, I wasn’t going to let Lukas die in front of me.
    No way. No how.
    I didn’t know what to do. But something broke inside of me then. I pushed my way around the bodies in front of me ignoring the snarled curses being hurled in my direction. I had to get closer to him. I knew it would be my funeral if I tried to interfere in the match itself, but I needed to do something. Marilee shouted my name, but I ignored her too. This might be their way, but that didn’t mean I had to go along with it. I wasn’t a part of their clan. Their rules didn’t apply to me.
    Once I reached the ground, I found that it was difficult to see what was happening in front of me without the vantage point of being further up the wall. Here, men from the clan gathered in clusters. I wasn’t sure if it was to ensure that the spectators stayed away from the match or to have the best view of the match itself. Probably a little bit of both.
    I couldn’t go through them, so I did the only thing I could think of. I ducked down and forced my body between two of them. There was a heavy smell of sweat and dirt that unsettled me far more than I’d like. I was in the middle of the woods surrounded by bear shifters. I should be committed because it was certifiably crazy. But I lasered in on the reason that I was willing to risk it all, and I felt as if it wasn’t soon enough.
    Somehow, Lukas managed to squeeze out from under most of the sheriff’s bulky form. The sheriff was fighting him every inch of the way and had his paws locked around Lukas’s throat. There was a heavy bounce of their bodies upwards and a shift, and Lukas almost got away. I gasped. It felt as if my heart leaped into my throat. But the sheriff hadn’t released his hold, and now he held Lukas in a bear hold from behind.
    In that instant, Lukas’s eyes locked on me, and I felt a searing ripple of anguish, pain, and anger roll through my body. It was as if we were connected on an entirely different level. I didn’t understand it, and there certainly wasn’t time to question it. But I did know that my bear needed me and my strength. I would gladly give it to him.
    The reality of the whole thing was this wasn’t the first time I had been forced to sit on the sidelines