Free Alpha Champion (Wolf Fighters Book 1) by Terry Bolryder

distracted by the fights and the parties.
    Now she just had to hope he got through a couple more fights and won before her father could catch on to who he was.
    She clenched her hands together as she saw Lucas deliver the first hit. She put her face in her hands, trying to knead away the stress at her temples, and froze when she heard a voice behind her.
    “Interesting competitor, that one,” the voice said.
    She felt weight on the couch that meant someone had sat next to her. She looked up to see Bruce McGavin, the man who’d been gross her on the first night of the tournament. He was also the alpha everyone expected to win. She tried to scoot back away from him, but the side of the couch closed her in.
    “What are you doing up here? This is the VIP box,” she said.
    He sipped champagne calmly from a glass. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m a VIP, then. At least according to your father.”
    She swallowed and tried to act unaffected, turning her attention back toward Lucas’s fight. He was easily winning. His opponent appeared to have alpha strength, but that didn’t seem to be a problem for him anymore.
    He looked up toward her and she flashed him a grin, hoping he didn’t look beside her.
    “What do you want?” she asked Bruce. “Or did you just come to ruin my enjoyment of the fight?”
    Bruce laughed and gave her a long, slow look that made her feel dirty. “Enjoyment? You always look ill when watching them. I would know. I’ve been watching you.”
    The thought made her a little ill, but she tried not to show it. She didn’t want to give any of herself to this shifter that made her skin crawl.
    “Anyway, if he wins this match, I have something that might interest you,” he said. “We’ll see.”
    She said nothing, simply waited with the sound of her heartbeat in her ears as the match went on. When it ended, Lucas’s hand was raised as the victor, and she let out a sigh of relief.
    “I wouldn’t celebrate just yet,” Bruce said, handing her a large envelope.
    She made to open it, but he clicked his tongue and shook his head.
    “I wouldn’t do that,” he said, looking around them. “Not unless you want everyone to know the contestant they think is Asher Vale is actually Lucas Vale, an ineligible half alpha who wasn’t even invited.”
    She glared at him with wide eyes. “What do you mean?”
    “What do you say we meet somewhere private?”
    She didn’t want to. She wanted nothing to do with him. But if Lucas were in danger, she needed to know what Bruce knew and what he planned to do about it.
    He reached for her hand, ignoring her attempt to pull it away, and raised it to his lips. She let him, not wanting to make a scene as the other VIPs were milling around, but her mouth twisted up in disgust as he grinned and ran his tongue slowly over the back of her hand in a mocking gesture meant to show her he was the one in control.
    She longed to slap him but restrained herself. “Where are we meeting?”
    “Tonight. In the garden, where you met up with the mongrel,” he said. “If you bring the mongrel or you don’t show up, I’ll make sure copies of that info get to everyone in the competition. And then we’ll see what happens to your precious Lucas.”
    “If you want him out, why don’t you just send them now?” she asked.
    He laughed. “I don’t want him out. But I do want something. Come to the garden, alone, and I’ll tell you. And if you agree, you get the files.”
    “Fine,” she said. She didn’t have a choice.
    She looked down at Lucas, who was now frowning up at them. She gave him a wave, hoping to calm him.
    If Lucas were discovered now, he’d be immediately thrown off the premises. With the remaining alphas against him, she doubted even his brothers could help him get her and her sister out if that happened.
    No, the best thing was to go along with whatever Bruce wanted, just for one more day, and give Lucas time to get her sister out so they could escape as soon as