Alpha Champion (Wolf Fighters Book 1) by Terry Bolryder Read Free Book Online Page A

replied.
    “I wouldn’t call fighting with broken ribs necessarily even. But yeah, the fight will be over soon now,” Tim said apathetically.
    Lily wasn’t sure who her cousin meant was going to win. All she knew was watching Lucas get hurt like that was breaking her inside.
    She’d thought his ability to fight and his hard work and talent could overcome the obvious advantage that alpha powers gave some of the other contestants.
    Now she wasn’t so sure. Was it safe for him to be here? She couldn’t stand if anything happened to him.
    Ron was smiling now, walking leisurely toward Lucas with his guard up.
    “Give up. You know I’ve won,” Ron called, his voice gravelly and hoarse. “You can’t fight like that.”
    Lucas didn’t reply, just looked intently at his opponent, as if he were calculating something.
    Ron took the lack of reply as an invitation to continue his taunting. “Look, we both know you’ve got at least several broken bones. Better to surrender now before I—”
    Ron was interrupted as Lucas lunged at him like a panther pouncing on its prey. He came down hard with a hook across Ron’s face, knocking him to the side. Before Ron could recover, Lucas pulled him back and finished him with a powerful pivot punch that seemed to drive directly through Ron’s head. Ron staggered back, almost in slow motion it seemed to Lily, and then fell backward onto the mat with a tremendous thud.
    Lucas stood over his opponent, watching intently as if waiting for him to get up.
    But Ron didn’t move, and the referee called the count of ten and then declared Lucas the victor.
    The crowd exploded with applause. Tim and Tom clapped and whistled, drawing dirty looks from the silent spectators in the VIP room, none of whom seemed happy with the outcome.
    Lily’s heart was still pounding. If that punch had been to his head rather than his ribs, Lucas would have been killed. And this was only the first match. The opponents would only get stronger from here as fighters were eliminated. Lily let out a long sigh of frustration. They couldn’t do this again. She’d need to convince him to forfeit before it was too late.
----
    L ucas winced as he sat down in the locker room and started to take off his wraps. His phone buzzed and he put it on speaker with a groan, knowing what was coming.
    “What the hell were you doing out there?” Asher scolded, his voice crackling slightly over the speaker.
    “I guess you saw a feed of the fight?”
    “I have my ways,” Asher said. “So what the hell?”
    “Matt’s notes said he had strength, so I trying to be careful and keep him at a distance.”
    “Yeah, careful . Which obviously you weren’t being when you gave him a clear shot at your ribs,” Asher replied angrily.
    “Hey, regulation mats don’t normally have craters in them,” Lucas retorted, getting angry as well. Mostly at himself for not having ended it sooner.
    His injury would heal, but he couldn’t afford mistakes like that. Not if the upcoming fights were harder than this one, which was likely.
    Lucas had fought many shifters before in the ring. It was a closely guarded secret that most of the world-class MMA fighters were in fact werewolves or other shifters. But they were usually rogue shifters, not alpha males. And he’d never fought someone with alpha strength before.
    For now, Lucas was just relieved the match was over and once his ribs healed in a few hours, he’d be back to normal.
    “Anyway, I’m fine,” he said. “I lost focus for a second, but it won’t happen again.”
    “It better not,” Asher growled before hanging up.
    Lucas looked down at the phone, wondering when his little brother had become so protective.
    The phone buzzed again. It was Jordan this time. Lucas put the phone to his ear.
    “Hey.”
    “Hey,” Jordan said. “Asshole move, tripping on the mat. Try not to embarrass the family next time.”
    Lucas laughed as the phone disconnected with a click. That was Jordan, and