Mated To The Alpha: A Standalone Wolf Shifter Romance, стр. 20
"Then how will it be decided? They just wear each other down like this until only one has the energy to stand?"
"Possibly."
Emma could feel both Kate and Ziva pulling hard for Galen, but she didn’t know who to root for. She knew Elam wasn't interested in being Alpha, so she was confused as to why he was fighting so hard. They'd put on a great show. Both brothers were obviously equals in battle. But she knew one wanted it, and the other didn't.
It seemed like any moment now would be a good time for Galen to take it, and for Elam to still come out of this looking like a warrior.
The two stilled suddenly.
Elam was crouched on his stomach, with Galen above him, pinning him down. Galen looked to have Elam's throat in his teeth.
For a second Emma almost giggled. She was sure it was the stress of watching this that turned her mind to silly, inappropriate thoughts, but it almost looked to her like the two were mating instead of fighting.
With Elam underneath Galen like that, Galen above him, his weight pinning Elam down, and Galen's teeth at the nape of Elam's neck, it looked to her like the two dogs she always saw mating in the front yard next door when she was growing up.
She covered her mouth to silence the giggles she was afraid were about to escape at the thought of this whole challenge turning on a dime into something wholly unexpected.
Her giggles turned to confusion quickly though, as it seemed Elam was suddenly growing.
She heard her confusion echoed by those around her, as Elam started to rise. He almost looked like he was shifting again, but his color stayed the same, he just grew bigger.
Things changed, but with Galen blocking the view, still griping Elam's neck and straddling his back, she couldn't see very well.
Elam kept getting bigger. Soon Galen was lifted, still holding on, but his paw's no longer on the ground.
A roar ripped from Elam as his shifting form started to stand up, rising to his back legs and standing tall on two feet.
Only it wasn't a wolf standing there on two legs, with another wolf hanging from his back.
It was a bear. Elam had shifted from his wolf form into a huge, standing, auburn, grizzly bear, with Galen rising farther and farther off the ground as he kept his grip on his brother's neck.
Galen released his hold finally, landing on all four paws and backing away from Elam, who stood tall in the clearing, snout aimed at the sky in a terrifying roar.
"Damn it, can't just one challenge go the way I expect?" Ziva's words were full of venom.
"That can't be good." Kate's words followed right behind Ziva's. "So now what?"
Thomas spoke then.
"I knew that boy was special, but even I didn't expect this. Who in the hell were his blood parents?"
Emma asked, "So is it over now? What does this mean?"
Thomas answered, "Oh, it is over, all right. And it is also just beginning."
11
It was two weeks post-challenge, the entire pack was still trying to adjust to Elam's sudden and deciding win over Galen at the Alpha Challenge, and Emma was damn tired of tiptoeing around everyone on eggshells.
Kate was pissy and resentful that she wasn't actually going to be the new Alpha's mate, since Elam had so soundly kicked Galen's ass by surprising everyone and turning into a freaking bear out of the blue, and she was taking it out on everyone around her, including Emma.
Emma had tried for days to be there for Kate, but Kate wasn't having it. She did seem to be letting Ziva, her new mother-in-law, comfort her, though. Every time Emma tried to get some alone time with Kate, Ziva swooped down out of nowhere with something important she needed Kate to help her with.
Emma tried to understand. After all, both Kate and Ziva had something in common now, after Galen's loss.
Although, since it was Ziva's other son, Elam, that was going to be Alpha now, you'd think she would be proud of whichever son won, but Ziva seemed to take it as a personal affront that her adopted son Elam was now officially a step above her actual son, Galen.
Ziva and Kate seemed to bond over the surprising, and disappointing-to-both-of-them fact that Galen wasn't actually going to step into his father's paws, Elam was.
Galen seemed to be valiantly trying to adjust to the sudden switch in hierarchy, but Emma could tell he was operating at a low boil. She had a feeling that it wasn't going to be much longer before Galen exploded out of pure frustration.
All his life he had been groomed to take over this pack, and then in one defining moment, everything changed. He was no longer heir to the throne, Elam was. And Elam didn't want it.
Elam was just as pissy as everyone else. He hadn't wanted the Alpha position, and yet it was his. Or it would be, once Thomas passed.
The only thing the pack had talked about in the weeks since the challenge was the upset, how Galen was no longer next in line for the throne, and how Elam had won instead, turning into a bear out of nowhere and surprising everyone.
The fact that Elam turned into a bear during the challenge surprised Emma the least of everyone. Emma was still coming to terms with the fact that practically the entire seemingly human pack out here in the middle of nowhere could turn into wolves at the drop of a hat, so she wasn't all that shocked when Elam's wolf shifted into a bear.
She just took it in stride, not knowing that most shifters only had one animal form and one human form. Since she was still adjusting to learning that werewolves were real, it wasn't a big leap for her that a werewolf could also become a bear.
But, according to the rest of the