Claiming His Prize (Bad Boy Alphas) (Feral Breed Followings Book 2) by Ellis Leigh Read Free Book Online Page A

only to fail once more. “Shit.”
    “You okay, Tidal?”
    “I’m fine.” I struck with my fists, giving up on lower-body training and going back to working my arms.
    Laudon grabbed the bag and leaned into it, holding it in place. But after only a handful of hits, I knew this wouldn’t work. My mind was too scattered, my body too far on edge. My dragon was practically pacing on my last nerve. I needed a break.
    I stopped hitting and doubled over, breathing hard. Laudon came running as I knew he’d do.
    “You okay?”
    I shook my head. “Yeah, man. I need to use the bathroom, though.”
    The trainer took two steps back and gave me a sympathetic frown. In a building full of men, there was one thing everyone understood. Sometimes, you had to drop a load alone.
    Laudon nodded and smacked my shoulder. “Find me when you’re done and we’ll try again.”
    I nodded and left the ring, trying not to move too fast. Once I was out of the training area, I headed for the service hallway that ran the back length of the building. At the end was an emergency door leading outside, one I hadn’t used in a long time. We weren’t allowed outside, and we certainly weren’t allowed to do what I was about to. But if there was one thing I’d learned about the difference between wolf and dragon shifters, it was that the wolves were easier to control. My beast refused to be tethered. I could either get outside and shift or suffer until he tore through my mind and took over. The former seemed the better option.
    I rushed through the door without looking back. As soon as I hit the tree line, I shifted. Skin became scales, wings pushed through the flesh of my back, and my eyesight sharpened. The world became a sea of colors—red and blue, orange and yellow. All denoting the temperature. All showing a rather cool day on the mountain. Spots of brighter colors scurried through the undergrowth, animals moving about their business. They ran from me as prey tends to run from predators, but they were no concern of mine tonight. I needed wind, I needed space. I needed to fly.
    My wings unfurled behind me as I took two steps and jumped, taking to the air smoothly. This was what I’d been missing since I’d been fighting my way through The Pack House. The freedom, the feeling of letting go that came from soaring above the trees. I couldn’t fly for too long or go too high, but I could take a few loops around the mountain. Just enough to clear my head and settle my dragon. Enough to figure out what was going on with the good doctor.
    But as I arced over the river and beat my wings to go higher, the irritation from my dragon didn’t disappear. It was a weight on me, a tether around my neck, tying me to the ground. It grew and pulled tighter the farther away from The Pack House I flew, drawing me back, refusing to let me escape. Irritation sizzled under my skin, and smoke trailed from my nose. For the first time in my life, flying wasn’t enough to calm the billowing currents inside of me.
    I swung back around, heading for The Pack House. The weight I felt as I flew away lessened, the direction the right one. But the reasoning behind the sensation was something I couldn’t understand. So I stepped back, giving more mental space to my beast. Letting him take over our thoughts. It was something I rarely did, as the loss of my humanity scared me, but this time, it was needed.
    Digging deep, trying to see what my dragon saw, I gave him as much control as I felt comfortable letting go of. And he took it, practically singing his joy at having the reins hang free. At first, it was almost as if the beast was blocking me, as if he didn’t want me to see what he wanted and needed. Why he was so focused on staying at The Pack House. I could only see red and orange, fiery hot colors that made the dragon needy and demanding. That blocked everything from his mind but whatever was behind the wall of color. But then the focus changed, moved back, and out of