Page 167 of Ruled By The Alpha

“I know we’re all here to have a good time tonight and to experience something wild and exciting…” Clarence’s voice turned menacing. “…but there will be no violence, gentlemen. Not at my circus.”

The showman paused, waiting for his words to sink in.

“Now,” he continued, “alphas of all ages, welcome to the Freak Show!” With a flourish of his arm, the tent flaps behind him opened to reveal a large space with smaller stages and tents ringing the edges.

The alphas craned their necks to see inside the gloom of the tent. Anxious for the promisedsomethingthey’d never had the chance to see and probably never would again, a grumble of impatience rolled through the throng.

“Patience, gentlemen.” Clarence’s voice held a rough chuckle. “The entrance fee is fifteen dollars. This gets you into my tent to see my wondrous freaks, except for my latest acquisition—the one I know you’re all anxious to see. If you want to enter that tent, there is an additional fifteen-dollar fee. Once you enter the special exhibit tent, the rules and additional prices will be explained.”

Glad he had pulled his savings from the bank before coming, Jacob took the money out of his wallet to pay the thirty-dollar entrance fee. While the entire world had been decimated by the Cataclysm, this area had again been hit hard by a war betweenthe current monarch and a neighboring country twenty years ago and had yet to recover. Thirty dollars was an incredible amount of money these days, but the alphas in line were pulling out their cash with barely even a grumble. Hoping he had enough for whatever else was offered, Jacob moved with the rest of the crowd as they entered after paying and receiving metal tokens in return.

Once his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, Jacob found himself both amazed and disgusted. Along the perimeter of the tent were other tents and mini-stages with a variety of different “freaks.” On one stage, Jacob noticed a large tank of water that looked brown and murky. He saw a glimmer of scales against the side of the glass before they disappeared into the gloom. Looking at the banner draped around the bottom of the tank, he gave a disbelieving smirk at the “mermaid” that supposedly lived in the tank.

An unwelcome thought made him pause, and he let the crowd flow around him. Everyone knew that a freak show was nothing more than makeup, mirrors, and parlor tricks. What if this so-called omega wasn’t real? This crowd could get violent and messy very quickly.

Despite a strange sense of foreboding, Jacob allowed himself to be pulled deeper into the tent. The omega might be a fake, but she also might be real. Jacob, nor any of the other alphas, would let this chance pass them by. God help this Clarence person if he’d deceived them.

Eventually the group came to the entrance of a larger, blood-red tent jutting out into the center of the bigger structure. Unlike the other stages and attraction tents designed to host only a few people, this was obviously meant to hold a crowd. The alphas gave their extra entrance token to a scantily clad beta female at the entrance before ducking in between the flaps.

Jacob brushed his hair back that the tent flaps mussed, and let his gaze roam over the interior. Like the main tent area, the floor was covered with straw to keep the dust from the dirt floor in check, and row upon row of rough-hewn, blocky wooden benches spread from the curtained-off front area to the rear entrance where alphas were still pushing through.

Clarence reappeared in front of the curtain on a small stage, affording himself enough elevation to be visible above the seated alphas. Jacob made his way to a spot on a bench, but unlike his fellow alphas, he didn’t push to the front. One of the few things his daddy had taught him that had stuck was to avoid crowds of alphas, because that was where trouble was sure to start, but if he had to be in a crowd, he’d best find a spot nearest the exit in case he had to make a quick getaway. He’d put that advice to use more than once, and despite being so drawn to the stage it felt like something had lassoed his soul, he settled onto a bench closer to the rear exit.

“Gentlemen! Gentlemen!” Clarence’s voice rang out across the restless crowd. “Everyone who has the cash will get a turn! Please find a seat so we can get on with the show!” With a flourish, he stepped off the stage and disappeared through another slit at the front of the tent.

A few interminable minutes later, Clarence stepped back into the tent and onto the stage. Raising his hand, he waited until the room was silent.Pretty impressive, Jacob noted,controlling a room full of alphas with only a gesture.

“Alphas, what have you been missing all of your lives? What gaping hole do you feel in your chests… in your hearts… in your beds? Betas are fine to fuck. They have a wet hole to stick your cock into, but they are not what you truly want—what you trulyneed.”

Clarence paused for dramatic effect and swept his hand up to cover his heart. Jacob’s instincts screamed at him alternatelyto run and to stay. He stayed. Clarence might be a charlatan, but he was also right. Jacob felt that hole in his life. He knew he was considered a catch by the beta girls. He’d fucked enough of them since presenting as an alpha, but they weren’t what his body called out for in the night.

In his rut.

“Several months ago,” Clarence began in a hushed tone, “the circus was traveling through the forest in western Angilico. It’s a dense, dark forest that many fear is haunted. We had no choice but to stop in the woods, as one of our wagons was in need of repair. In the middle of the night, our wolf-boy started a terrible racket. Howling as if the very hounds of Hell were approaching our camp, he filled all of us with fear. Convinced that night would be our last, we gathered at our fire with every weapon available.

“I know that they look formidable now…” Clarence gestured to the beta guards standing around the tent’s perimeter. “…but I tell you truly that at the time, we were but a humble circus with naught but a few shotguns to our name.”

Jacob, like most other alphas, could scent a blatant lie; it was why this type of show was never very successful. Betas would fall for these charades, but alphas could tell when it was a sham. Surprisingly, however, Clarence was telling the truth—mostly. There was a hint of deception there, but Jacob couldn’t tell what exactly he was lying about. He was a showman. It could be more of an exaggeration than an outright lie.

“Our wolf-boy continued to howl until he fell silent. It was then we heard a most unusual rumbling sound. It was a rumbly sound. If a wolf could purr, that’s what this noise sounded like. You see, our wolf-boy, was sold to us by his parents, who could no longer bear the shame of his appearance…”

Lie.

“He’s always been quite feral. No one can approach his cage. We throw him food, but he has never let a single human into his enclosure without either attacking them or being tranquilized first.”

Truth. The true make-up of theater… a little bit of truth with a little bit of lie.

“Imagine our surprise when we made it to his cage to find our wolf-boy was not alone.”

Dramatic pause.

Jacob barely refrained from rolling his eyes, but he still found himself—along with every other alpha—entranced and waiting with bated breath for the rest of the story.

“Inside his cage, petting him as if he were a tame puppy, was a girl—a tiny little woman. Fully grown, but so petite she could slip through the bars of the wolf-boy’s cage. Our wolf-boy lay with his head in her lap while she ran her fingers through his hair as if he were a normal person and not a freak.”

“Now, I know what you think when you see me.” He gestured to himself. “But despite outward appearances, I am indeed an alpha.”

A few scoffs of disbelief followed his declaration, but Jacob looked at Clarence with a new perspective. Alphas, as a genetic rule, easily stood more than six feet. A generous estimate would’ve put Clarence at about five feet tall, but being an alpha would explain how he’d managed to keep an audience of other alphas under control.

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