Becoming the Alpha Read Online Free Page B

and watch Lukas in a fight. Those earlier scrimmages had been with other boys at school or kids from neighboring schools who wandered over to Greyelf curious to see what a shifter looked like. Lukas’s temper practically guaranteed that if they ran across him, there was sure to be a clash. I used to give him a hard time about it. The thing was that in all that time, I had never seen him give up, even on the rare occasion that he ended up on the losing end of the fight.
    Lukas Kasper was a fighter. In the past ten years, he might have tried to temper those emotions and hide them underneath the exterior of a successful businessman. He had done his part to fit in with the humans and probably led a semi-normal life. But that wasn’t the person that he needed to be here in Greyelf. I saw that now. If he wanted to be the alpha, he needed to fight.
    For a split second, everything came into sharp focus, and it all made perfect sense. Alphas didn’t take shit from anyone, and there couldn’t be any cause for question or uncertainty. I knew then the sheriff would kill Lukas to win. It was the only way to guarantee his victory while sending a message that didn’t need any interpretation. But Lukas couldn’t do the same because whether he liked it or not, he needed the sheriff. He needed to know what the sheriff knew about Markus’s final days and to find out what was being hidden from him around Markus’s death.
    So that meant that Lukas had to beat the sheriff into submission. But the threat of what the sheriff represented would still linger. That was why Lukas needed me too. He would be surrounded by people who didn’t want him. He could earn their trust and respect over time, but only if given a chance. As I watched him beginning to falter in the arena, I knew somebody had to believe that he could do it. I had to believe he could do it.
    I let my face tighten in a cruel grin. I twisted my arms up and showed him my fists. Then I jabbed one first hard into the air as I mouthed three words to him.
    Kick. His. Ass.
    His eyes narrowed. I wasn’t sure if he understood me. I wasn’t sure what could be understood when he was in his bear form. But my gesture should have left him little doubt about what I was telling him to do.
    One of Lukas’s heavy paws came up, and I saw the flash of claws as he awkwardly swiped in the air behind his head. I heard the first squeal of pain from the sheriff, but I couldn’t see what damage had been done before the sheriff’s lock released. Lukas was free. He shot into the middle of the arena and turned back toward the sheriff. He went up on to his hind legs and then let out a mighty roar that sent shivers down my spine again.
    It was a signal to the sheriff and everyone in the arena who had gone quiet. Lukas Kasper wasn’t giving up. The sheriff’s paws covered his face, and I could only see blood seeping through the fur and onto the ground as he squirmed in pain. Lukas had gotten his claws into one or both of the sheriff’s eyes.
    Lukas moved back toward the sheriff’s prone form, but Doc Walden moved between them. The sheriff hadn’t moved yet.
    “Yield or kill?” Doc Walden looked at Lukas. Lukas snorted and twisted his head up into the air. He came back down onto his haunches. Doc Walden nodded. I wasn’t sure if there had been some kind of bear telepathy that had just gone on, or if Lukas’s snort was some gesture that I was supposed to understand.
    Doc Walden moved closer to the sheriff. “Do you yield?”
    The sheriff howled. I shivered. I couldn’t understand if he said anything at all, but there was a clear mingling of frustration, anger, and pain underlying the noise.
    Doc Walden shook his head. Then he threw his hands up in the air and yelled, “Continue!”
    Lukas shot across the arena floor in an instant crossing the distance between him and the sheriff. He barely missed knocking Doc Walden out of the way. As soon as he was within striking distance, his claws were back