Page 33 of Becoming the Alpha

His father finished his shift and launched himself at Jason’s throat. Jason finished his shift and dropped to the ground at the last minute, rolling out of the way. I let a tense breath loose as he moved. The King whipped around, starting his next attack on Jason. He snapped his teeth at Jason again, managing to catch a tuft of hair on Jason’s shoulder. I cleared my throat, shifting in my seat again. Jason threw himself to the left, getting his father to completely shift around and going on the attack. He snarled and snapped his teeth, latching onto his father’s leg.

The King yelped, jerking his leg back to try to get it out of Jason’s grip. Jason kept his mouth clamped on The King’s leg, shifting around as his father pulled. Finally, his father’s logical brain clicked in and he realized he had perfect access to Jason’s neck from that direction. He reached down to clamp onto Jason’s neck, but Jason released his leg and quickly shuffled backward out of his range.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, a sense of dread starting to fill me. If Jason wasn’t careful, he wasn’t going to win this fight and we’d both end up dying. I wasn’t exactly ready to die, but more than that I really didn’t want to see my mate get torn to shreds. Jason’s wolf backed up a few spaces and then sat on his hindquarters, watching his father snarl and snap as he tested out his leg. It held the King’s body weight well-enough for the time being.

The King threw himself at Jason, bowling straight into Jason’s body, causing the two of them to roll a few feet and land in a pile of limbs. I stood up to try to get a better view as people were leaning over. A yelp sounded and my heart leapt into my throat again as I realized that the King had a strong hold on Jason’s shoulder. His teeth were tearing into the muscle and blood was pouring down in a large stream. Someone stepped up onto the stage and came to stand beside me, grabbing my hand. I glanced in their direction, barely recognizing that Nia was there, lending me her strength.

Jason snarled, his growl so loud I could feel it through the souls of my feet. I gripped Nia’s hand tightly, resisting the urge to jump in the ring and tear the King off my man. The King bit down harder, causing Jason to yelp again. I must have taken a step forward because next thing I knew Dean was standing slightly to my right, just barely in my line of sight. I could feel his hand on my shoulder, keeping me in place.

“He needs to fight his own battles,” Dean whispered in my ear. My wolf and I disagreed with that statement vehemently, a growl emitting from my throat again. Dean squeezed my shoulder. “Trust him.”

“I do, but that doesn’t mean he should have to deal with this alone.”

“That’s exactly what this means. If he’s going to be Alpha, he needs to do this himself. If you intervene, you’ll both be put down for disrupting the challenge and treason to the pack. Trust him. He’s got this.”

“I can’t lose him.” I almost whined the words, sounding like my wolf.

35

Jason

My father’s grip on my shoulder was searing. The pain was causing my mind to go completely blank. My body wanted to pull away from his mouth, get away from the pain, but I knew that would be the stupidest thing I could do. There weren’t many ways to get out of this hold and all my father had to do was wait until I bled out. He’d win by default. I couldn’t let that happen.

Lily had told me she loved me. She needed me to win this challenge. Hell, my people needed me to win this challenge. I couldn’t let my father win this fight. He was a poison to this kingdom. Determination like never before filled me and I straightened up, pulling my father along with me. He growled a bit, shaking his head and pulling the tendons and muscles of my shoulder apart. Pain seared through me again, but this time I used it to keep my focus.

I leaned toward him, letting my entire body weight drop onto him. It caused his head to bend at an awkward angle as he stumbled to try to hold my entire body without falling over. He had to release my shoulder and when he did, I shifted around his body to latch onto the back of his neck. I clamped my teeth down hard, the taste of his blood once again filling my mouth.

My father roared, trying to shake me off again. I shook my head, tearing at the muscle and clawing at his back. My claws raked down his back, pulling away his fur and causing blood to gush out. A commotion around us caused the crowd to shift and murmur in fear. I loosened my grip on my father’s shoulder a bit to turn my head to check in with Lily and try to figure out what was going on.

My father took advantage of my distraction and dropped his weight to the ground, pulling me with him. He rolled, throwing me over his body and causing my grip to completely disengage. I heard a scream as I whipped around to see my father’s sharp teeth coming toward me. I kicked up with my hind feet and caused him to buck off, ripping into his stomach at the same time. He landed on his back, causing an intense crack to sound. I bounded forward and wrapped my mouth around his neck. He struggled a bit, but ended up surrendering under my grip. I growled, biting down a bit harder to make sure he understood my point. He whined, his body not moving.

My wolf didn’t want to release him without tearing his throat out, but I was worried about Lily. The scream sounded like her and I wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt. I released my father, took a few steps back, and then turned away, looking for Lily in the crowd that was now panicking. I released a breath when I saw that Dean had her away from everyone. She connected gazes with me, her eyes wide with panic and fear. My wolf growled, pissed that she was scared and ready to take everyone who caused it out.

“Behind you!” She shouted, trying to get out of Dean’s arms. I growled, my wolf annoyed that Dean dared to hold her back. I didn’t get a chance to do much more because pain radiated up my back legs. I turned to see my father clamped down on my leg and then swipe at my hind quarters. I snarled, snapping my teeth toward his face. I latched onto the side of his face, my teeth digging into his eye socket. He released my leg immediately.

Dread tried to flood my body, causing my focus to falter, at the realization that I needed to kill my father. I knew that was what this whole challenge had been about and it was definitely time for someone else to be on the throne, but I hadn’t realized what this actually entailed. I hadn’t counted the cost for what this meant. My wolf didn’t give me a chance to come to terms with any of this, shoving all human emotion down and going into survival mode.

He clamped down on my father’s face one last time and then released him and lunged for his throat. He gripped and tore at it without preamble. My father tensed up and then dropped to the ground, blood drenching the ground. The crowd around us all paused in their panic, turning to look at me. My wolf retreated just enough so I could see exactly what was happening.

Everyone slowly dropped to one knee, bowing their heads. The Royal Guards, Simon, Dean, and everyone were bowing to me. I raised my head, standing tall even though my blood was pouring freely off my body. Lily made it around Dean and scrambled toward me, dropping to her knees in front of me. She raised her hands and gently cupped my cheeks, my fur brushing against her. We touched foreheads and released a sigh of relief at the same time.

“You’re okay…”

I leaned back, looking directly into her eyes and gave a firm nod.

I’m okay, Lily…

She jerked, blinking at me, then wiped tears off her cheeks and gave a hysterical laugh, staring at me - like she thought I would disappear if she didn’t keep her attention on me.

My wolf stepped forward lightly, nuzzling into her neck. She threw her arms around my neck and sobbed. My wolf sneezed, not sure what to do with all of these human emotions. I nudged forward, telling him to let me deal with it. He pulled back and I pushed forward, letting the shift take over me. I groaned as pain laced through me several times, causing the edges of my vision to darken. My shift finished and I was left kneeling on the ground, panting.

“Lily?” I asked, keeping my voice soft. She looked up at me slowly, her eyes full of tears. I cupped her cheek, leaning in to softly kiss her lips. I ignored another flare of pain, focusing entirely on Lily’s soft lips and the feel of her skin in my hands.

A throat above us cleared.

I broke off the kiss, looking up with an annoyed growl. Dean stood there, smirking, but I could see the worry he held hidden in his eyes. “Dean?”

“Apologies, Your Majesty, but there are several immediate matters you’ll need to attend to. The first being getting some fucking clothing on,” Dean chuckled. He threw a pair of pants down onto my lap. I rolled my eyes and shifted to pull them on, holding my groan in. The injury on my legs was slowly healing, but it was going to take a lot of time that I did not have at the moment.

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