Free Carnival of Hearts: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance by Scarlett Rhone

“You are no longer my alpha. I repudiate you. I challenge you.”
    “You sonovabitch.” D’Orfeo bared his teeth. “I should’ve killed you like I did your father. I should have left you to die with the pathetic remnants of your den.”
    “But you didn’t,” Marcus snapped. “I challenge you.”
    “Good!” D’Orfeo threw up his hands. “Excellent! Finally, a fight worthy of the Carnival D’Orfeo!”
    “If I win,” Marcus said evenly, “we go free.”
    D’Orfeo hissed at him behind his teeth. “If you lose, you die.”
    Marcus felt Clara’s grip on his hand tighten. He looked at her and summoned up a reassuring smile. “I won’t lose.”
    “You better not,” she whispered.
    D’Orfeo shoved aside the entrance flap to the big top and prowled into the tent, and Marcus followed, drawing Clara along with him. The rest of the den filed in behind them. Marcus settled Clara in the stands with Kat and Mabel and the other den members and stepped into the performance ring opposite the Ringmaster.
    Baptiste and Liam stood on the sidelines, and Marcus knew they were there to stop any of the other den members from intervening in any way. It came down to his strength versus D’Orfeo’s, as he had always known it would. But where before, he’d always felt a sense of great anxiety, of fear, at the thought of facing down the man who’d destroyed his people, now he felt nothing but determination and love and pride. The strength of the mark would see him through this.
    The lights inside the big top dimmed on the stands, throwing the anxious, shifting crowd of den members into darkness. Shadows in scarlet and tangerine kissed the performance ring, brightening through the tent’s colors as the sun rose in the sky outside. D’Orfeo unbuttoned his trousers and shucked them off his legs, tossing them aside. Marcus climbed out of his jeans and did the same.
    “Let the challenge for dominance begin!” Liam bellowed.
    Marcus dove to the ground. His hands hit the sand, and he gave his heart over to the bear, felt his bones crunch and change, his skin receding beneath thick fur, as he shifted from his man skin to his bear skin. Across from him, he saw D’Orfeo do the same, but he knew the man was not shifting into a bear as he did. Wild tawny fur swept over the Ringmaster, gigantic paws with talon-like claws overtaking his hands and feet, and when it was done, he lifted his regal head and the lion let out an earth-devouring roar. Then he lunged, and Marcus lunged, and the two beasts slammed together in a flurry of claws and fangs, snarling and swiping and snapping as the fight began.

Chapter 15
    Clara covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide as she watched the Ringmaster transform into a lion . He was a freaking lion. And then the bear and the lion were tearing into each other, and she felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest, fear icing through her. It was all happening so fast, and so violently, that she was struggling to keep up with who was landing more blows and who was wounding who the worst. Blood began to splatter the sand of the performance ring.
    “This is our way,” Mabel murmured to her. “This is the only way he’ll ever be free.”
    “This is barbaric,” Clara hissed.
    “Yes,” Mabel agreed. “We are a barbaric type of creature. It’s still our way.”
    Clara started towards her feet. “I have to help him.”
    But Mabel grabbed her arm and yanked her right back down into her seat, more strength to the woman than Clara would’ve given her credit for.
    “You can’t help him that way,” Mabel said softly. “Focus on the mark, girl. Focus on the bond between the two of you. Give him strength.”
    Clara pulled in a deep breath, staring at the two animals ripping each other apart. She tried not to look at the blood, not to hear the growls or the roars or the snarls. She focused her eyes on the bear, on her Marcus, and thought about how deeply she loved him. How she’d remembered him, waited