My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 78

Misha

I’m standing on my side of the field, and my eyes rake Josie up and down. She looks confident with her little smirk on her lips. I watch her lift her hands in a “ready to punch” stance and notice that my pack is whistling and screaming.

“You got this, Josie!”

“The victory is yours!” Tarryn is sitting with Josie’s family and whistling for full throttle.

“Go, Misha and Josie!” Jinora beams at us both. “Go, go, go!”

It warms my heart that Jinora is cheering for us both. The kids and Kade, however, are all rooting for Josie. Not that I take offense. I let my eyes sweep over the audience. My eyes land on some random guy.

He is shooting with his fingers curled around his lips. “Go, Josephine! You got this in the bag! Show Misha what earned you the title of the strongest young werewolf in the pack!”

Asher—who I would recognize anywhere, growls at the guy. It must be his friend since they are sitting together. “Hey, I get that Josephine is strong, but she isn’t more powerful than me!”

The guy winces. “Sorry…”

Interesting conversation. I have to beat Asher in the future just to set his feet back on the ground.

“Scared?” Josie asks me, and my attention lands back on her. My dad is speaking to the audience, and I smirk.

“Not at all.”

“You should be,” Josie says. “I won’t go easy on you.”

I breathe a laugh. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“Alright, that’s enough talking,” my dad says, grinning at us with a flag held securely in his hand. “The first battle of the alpha tournament is about to start. This duel will be between Josephine from the Grimfang pack and Misha from the Grimfang pack.”

The audience cheers and I look around the field. Adrenaline is pumping into my veins. I’m so ready.

My dad continues talking. “The rules are simple: hold your opponent down on their back for thirty seconds. Whoever is the first person to win two duels is the winner. Shape-shifting, magic, and any other talents are allowed. And while this battle isn’t to the death, killing your opponent is not against the rules if they don’t surrender.”

My eyes are locked on Josie, but I briefly meet my dad’s gaze. I can see that there is something he is thinking about. I lift an eyebrow at him, and he grimaces.

‘I can’t tell you, or it would be cheating, but… you should know that you don’t know everything about Josephine.’

Huh?

Instead of easing my confusion, my dad lifts the flag into the air. The crowd is wild when my dad shouts, “Let the duel begin!”

Immediately, I can feel the air shifting, and my eyes widen when Josie’s purple eyes glow brighter. “You wouldn’t use magic, right?”

For some reason, I hesitate to answer. “Well… it would make things way too easy to use magic against someone who doesn’t have it.”

“Who said I didn’t?” Josie winks at me, and I watch her throw off her clothes on the ground. There are whistles from the bleachers, but Josie doesn’t show her skin for long.

I watch her with calculating eyes as she shape-shifts into an enormous red-haired beast. It should be a lycan, but her werewolf genes make her look more graceful and less swollen with muscles. Still, it would be a damn mistake to underestimate her.

Her power can be felt in the air, and my nostrils flare as I breathe her in and realize that… she doesn’t smell like magic. Did she lie to me to throw me off my game?

Only one way to replace out…

I sprint forward with the speed of lightning. Realistically, Josie shouldn’t be able to see it coming, but I gasp when she lifts her massive arm. She easily blocks my attack by shoving her arm into me, resulting in me landing on the ground with wobbly legs.

How the f**k did she know I would attack her from the side?!

There is no time to think. I have to duck as Josie swings at me like a rabid polar bear—she even sounds like one!

“Get him, Josephine!”

“Whack that weakling!”

Even though I’m using speed far superior to a werewolf, I bet that I must look weak to the audience because Josie can read all of my attacks.

When I try to punch or scratch her, she is there to block me and growl like a polar bear. And it’s not easy holding my own against her when she knows my attacking pattern—she must be ten feet tall!

And her strength? It’s purely insane! She can hold her own against a vampire’s strength!

Then again, I’m not drinking human b***d, but still! How do I fight her since she can read me!?

Did Josie inherit Kade’s psychic abilities without telling me? Is this why my dad was so hesitant before the duel?!

I clench my fists. Frustration pummels me—Josie knew of my powers but didn’t tell me about hers! I know she did it to have the upper hand in our duel, yet my anger is still rising.

I try to hit her—she blocks me. I try to jump higher and kick her—she snaps up her head and slashes my leg. A sharp cry leaves my lips, and b***d splatters everywhere. Pain is shooting through me, and I land squatted down on the ground.

“Get him now!” The audience shouts. “He is down and weak!”

Even the Howler is cheering for Josie. “Get that weakling of an alpha! The tournament isn’t for idiots who can’t even shape-shift!”

“Yeah, why is he in human form?”

“I heard he had magic—why isn’t he using it?”

There is laughter, and then I hear Asher speak. “Even if that weak excuse of an alpha’s son used magic and won against Josephine, that would be like… cheating. The future alpha should be able to handle a girl without relying on magic!”

f*****g Asher…

Josie growls, and I jump away from her but wince when I strain my leg, and more pain ricochets up my spine. I g***n and begin to pant to keep breathing. It doesn’t look good…

Josie focuses her purple eyes on me, and I take a deep breath: what is more important, winning or my pride? I can feel my inner wolf’s presence, but it’s not joining me. Shape-shifting isn’t an option.

‘The audience isn’t the only person watching you, son,’ I hear my dad say inside my head. ‘Your wolf is here to observe you since you’re back with the pack. He has been absent because you choose a loner’s route, and now, your wolf is wondering if you’re strong enough to deserve him. If you want to be able to shape-shift in the future, you must convince your wolf that you’re stronger than your pack members.’

I hold my breath. ‘How do you know?’

‘Call it an alpha’s intuition. And while I know you intended to beat Josephine with raw strength, you haven’t had human b***d—your vampire powers haven’t reached their max capability.’

I talk to him while avoiding Josie’s attacks. My body is getting tired, and I’m bleeding—my movements are slowing. Josie knows this too, but she is toying with me. I can see it in her eyes.

‘Misha…’

A growl leaves my lips. ‘I can defeat Josie!’

‘Misha… you still haven’t bonded with your wolf. So, your magic, which comes from the moon goddess’s side of the family, might be the only thing you got. Do you want to hold back from using it and risk losing in the first duel of the alpha tournament? Is your pride more important than becoming the alpha?’

His questions hit me hard. My dad has a point: I can’t refrain from using magic. Josie is a hybrid too, and she is insanely strong and powerful. She can also read me and has memorized my movements by now.

I would expect nothing less from my future luna…

But her fun ends here.

‘You’re making the right decision.’

I smile. ‘Thanks…’

Josie roars at me, and the audience shouts and howls. The large lycan is coming for me, but I will stand my ground. I close my eyes and the whole atmosphere on the field changes. The blazing sun gets covered by clouds, and it starts to snow.

The cheering stops. “What is up with the weather?”

“Is it colder?”

“You’re right… gosh, I’m freezing.”

“Is that ice on the grass?!”

Josie tries to hit me with her claws, but this time, she wobbles on the ice that has spread underneath her feet. Her eyes widen, and then she falls down onto her back with a thunk. I’m quick to act and freeze her legs and arms to the ground.

A growl erupts from Josie. She tries to writhe herself free but can’t fight the ice growing around her to keep her in place—the first round is mine. I glance down at the lycan.

“I’m sorry,” I don’t show any emotion on my face as I speak. “But the alpha position is my birthright.”

The seconds pass with Josie screaming as if in pain. It sucks that it had to come to this, but I got no choice. I have to win against Josie and then take down Asher and Blaze.

When I’m finally announced as the winner of the first round, I close my eyes and wave my hand in the air. I release Josie from the ice and calmly walk back to my side of the field.

The audience isn’t cheering. Everyone has grown quiet, but I hear whispers and gossip from the bleachers.

“So he can use magic…”

“Did he change the weather as well?”

“Bleh, what kind of first round was that?” Asher complains. “Misha just held her down! There was hardly any action!”

“Try harder to break the ice next time, Josephine!” The friend of Asher shouts at the top of his lungs.

I glance at the audience and notice that Blaze is watching me with a half-surprised expression. His eyes are stuck on the snow circling down from the sky, and apprehension ticks against his jaw before he meets my eyes with newfound respect.

My dad’s words echo inside my head: if you win against Josie without using magic, it might be to your advantage. Because revealing to the fire alpha that you have ice magic might be a mistake.

Have I made a mistake?

Doesn’t matter. It’s too late to look back.

I take my stance, and my dad wags his flag again. Josie roars and speeds forward. This time she is aware of the ice and avoids it easily. Did I somehow stray off the future she saw? Or was the ice wobble a mistake from her side?

Either way, I will make this quick—I shoot up ice spears from the ground. Josie is evading them like a pro, but what does it matter that she can read me if she can’t do anything about my attacks?

“It’s over,” I say, and then raise countless ice spears at the same time to hold the lycan in place. A snowstorm rages on, and it’s howling stronger by the second.

The audience goes deathly silent when I freeze Josie solid. It won’t kill her, but I can see the panic in her eyes when she can’t move.

“Oh my god, he has turned the entire field into an ice hockey rink!”

“There is now everywhere!”

“He froze an entire lycan!”

My lips quirk into a smirk. “One… two… three…”

I can see the defeat in Josie’s eyes when I approach number thirty, and when I release her from the ice, she falls flat to the ground—exhausted from holding her breath.

Poor Josie.

I stare at her in silence as he body changes her back into a human, and then, as the audience cheers, I walk to pick her up. She needs to be taken to my mom for healing…

As I scoop Josie’s lifeless body up into my arms, my dad holds up his hands and shouts. “AND MISHA FROM THE GRIMFANG PACK IS THE WINNER!”

Despite hating me before the duel, the crowd, including my pack members, goes wild.

“The alpha’s son won!”

“Did you see that?!”

“Misha’s magic is so cool!”

“He won without shape-shifting!

“MISHA-MISHA-MISHA!”

I ignore the crowd and peer down into Josie’s unconscious face with pride swelling in my chest. “You fought better than I thought you would. I’m impressed and so proud of you.”