Free Shifted Perceptions (Alpha Division) by C.E. Black

lovely Endorphins. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, it felt so good. She probably thought I was mocking her, and I could admit that I was a little, but really, I just loved to fight. Anything.
    I had only one concern. In the fighter’s quarters , Stone explained to me that the first round was strictly in human form, but the second round, there were no rules. And because our most dangerous and powerful form was our animal, most fighters did shift. I was no exception. I would shift as well, and so would this bitch.
    I ’d recognized her immediately when I came into the arena. She was one of the women I saw hanging with the lion shifter. A lioness herself, she was going to be difficult to beat. I had her on skill, but her size alone would be killer.
    My mind had wandered, thinking about the next round , when I should have been paying attention to this one. The bitch rushed at me and I bent down into a squat, twisted and kicked out, but it was too late. She jumped up, flipped and landed behind me. My arms were pulled behind my back, as I was slammed face first into the metal cage.
    “Bitch,” I growled , as she laughed in my ear.
    “You’re playing with the big girls now, little fox,” the girl teased.
    As I rolled my eyes, my gaze took in the crowd. They were cheering, clearly happy that the cunt had gotten a leg up. It seemed I had messed up their bets and seeing how I was new to The Pit, no one wanted to gamble on me. I shrugged it off, because who gave a shit? I would laugh my ass off all the way home, when I cleaned the floor with this bitch.
    “It’s gonna suck when you lose in front of your pussy ass boyfriend. Maybe he can lick your wounds when I’m through with you,” I laughed, catching a glimpse of her lion watching with his other two women.
    My elbow flew backwards, but my opponent anticipated the move, sliding out of the way and slamming my face into the fence it again. Damn, that hurt. And that’s when something caught my eye.
    I was pretty close to the back hallway and could see clearly the two men that came out of the fighter’s quarters carrying guns. No one else seemed to notice them, as they made their way to the offices on the other side. I scanned their features, storing them to memory. Both were dark haired and medium build, though, one stood out more than the other. His arms and neck were covered in tattoos and his hair lay long and straight down the middle of his back.
    Both of them sported knuckles that were cracked and bleeding, making me wonder what was happening behind that secret door Bear had mentioned. Were they keeping Red in there? If he was the one they were working over, they were as good as dead.
    The bitch landed a punch to my kidney and I sucked in a sharp breath. Okay, I was done with this shit.
    The back of my head connected with her nose , and with her weight suddenly gone, I spun, securing a solid jab to her stomach. She toppled, and I lunged. Straddling her waist, I ignored the roar of the crowd, as I landed punch after punch. I counted three and was just about to land a fourth, when the bell rung.
    Her face was bruised and bloody, but she still managed to glare at me, the heat of retribution in her eyes, as she pushed me off of her and stood. We separated to opposite sides of the ring and began to strip. As my top came off, the catcalls started up. The shifters were used to nakedness, so most of the ruckus was caused by the humans, but I knew the shifters were part of it too. It was the atmosphere that did it, but I didn’t have to like it.
    I used the anger that was building up, pushing it into a nice neat ball for me to bring out later in the fight. I wasn’t sure why I reacted the way I did when someone stared at my nakedness. It just wasn’t a big deal to most shifters, but for some reason, I always felt vulnerable, like I was on display, an object to stare at and own. I knew it was silly and it wasn’t out of low self esteem. Hell, I knew my body rocked, but