Becoming the Alpha Read Free Page A

beneath the fabric of my collar.
    “Why would Lukas want to do that?” I decided it was best to play dumb. I needed to shift the focus of the conversation away from me. “You said that the council had already determined the alpha’s mate. Lukas wants to be alpha, so he’d know that. It’s not like he has a girlfriend or anything.”
    I didn’t know if Lukas had a girlfriend back in the city or not. It was another detail about his current life that I hadn’t thought to ask about. His attention seemed to be focused on doing everything in his power to make sure he secured his alpha claim so that he could find out what really happened to his brother. If there was a girlfriend waiting for him somewhere out there, I had a feeling she was going to be waiting a long time for him to come back. Truth be told, that idea brought me a little bit of glee.
    “Shhh. They’re getting ready to start,” Marilee said. Her voice trailed off, and it was as if she had forgotten I was even there.
    My eyes were drawn back to the arena. I knew at least the start of what was about to happen. Lukas and the sheriff wouldn’t have been wearing next to nothing into the arena if they weren’t planning to shift into their bear forms. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see what was about to happen, but now that the moment was upon me, I didn’t think I would have been able to draw my eyes away.
    The three council members moved off to the side of the arena and took a seat on a slight outcropping of rock. It didn’t seem like it would be considered a safe distance from the action in my opinion, but then I realized that they probably wanted to be able to see everything.
    Lukas and the sheriff retreated to opposite ends of the arena and faced each other. The tension and excitement sizzled in the air. Lukas stood tall with his chin up, and he radiated power and authority. Any inclination of earlier uncertainty had fallen away.
    The sheriff wore a small smirk on his face. He rolled his shoulders and leaned his head from side to side in an attempt to loosen the muscles of his neck and back. He rocked back and forth on his heels as his hands tightened into fists and then released. He was a snake coiling up for an attack, and his target was Lukas.
    Even though Lukas had told me not to worry, I was worried. Sheriff Monroe took over for Sheriff Nelson four years ago. It was just before I graduated from college and moved back to Greyelf. He came to town early in Markus’s political career and had quickly made himself indispensable to both Markus and the town. He had been the logical choice when Sheriff Nelson retired. Given he was a public figure, I knew surprisingly little about him. As far as I could tell, the man was married to his job. He felt it was his job to take over responsibility for the clan. For a man that took duty that seriously, it meant he wasn’t going to give up without one hell of a fight.
    My eyes were drawn back to Lukas. I wasn’t the only outcast in the crowd. His reputation proceeded him on all accounts. He had been Markus’s hellraising, out-of-control little brother. He didn’t care for authority or rules. He was a man who had grown up without the fetters of social norms and propriety. Lukas didn’t give one hoot if anyone liked him or not. At least, that had been the Lukas I knew ten years ago. The man he was now seemed to be someone completely different.
    I allowed myself to see Lukas the way that he had presented himself over the course of the last week. He had returned for his brother’s funeral. He had made a nuisance of himself getting involved in the investigation of his brother’s death. He asked me to help him find out the truth. He was ready to endure a bear match to lay claim to what he thought was his. My fingers wandered up to the crook of my neck. The fabric of my sweater covered his mark, but it was there. He had claimed me in the process as well, and I had let him. The sheriff wasn’t the only one who was