Page 15 of Alphas Never Hide

Isaacshifted as soon asIwas off him, as if scaredI’dtry to climb back on him again.

“Hestarted it,”Iinsisted.

AlthoughifI’dknown the situation would end with me inHayden’sarms,Imight not have protested so much.Imight be thin, butIwas solid, way heftier than a full-blooded faun, soHaydenmanhandling me so easily was a bit of a turn on.Thanksto my human dad’s contribution to my genes,Iwas bigger than most fauns andIalways had been.Noone had carried me around sinceIcould walk on my own.BeinginHayden’sarms was an unusual sensation, butIdidn’t hate it.Theonly thingIcouldn’t figureout was what to do with my own arms, soIcrossed them over my chest.

“Youwere on my back because they said you couldn’t walk here.We’rehere now.”Isaacstared at me like he was daring me to contradict him.

“Enough,”Vansaid.He’dalready shifted into his human form and was digging in his pocket.Hepulled out a set of keys and tossed them toAsh. “Getthe faun andHaydentoDocRoberts.Don’tletHaydentalk you into anything else.Don’tlet him get out of the truck until he’s atXander’s.Andstay there to confirm what the doctor says.”

“Forfuck’s sake,”Haydenmuttered.

Vanjabbed his finger at the wolf. “Weboth know you want to hunt tonight but that’s not happening unlessDocokays it.Yougot it?”

Haydengritted his teeth.

“Youguys ready?”VanaskedAdrianandDillon, both of whom were still in their animal forms.

Theynodded.

“Let’sgo.”

“Becareful.”Ashdropped a kiss on his hellhound mate’s fiery head.

“ShouldIcome with you?”Jeremyasked.

“No.Takecare of the alpha,”Dillonsaid.

ThatmadeHaydengrunt and clench his teeth harder.Vandropped his hand onHayden’sshoulder and squeezed.

“We’regoing to do some recon.Ifwe find anything,I’lllet you know.”

“Fine.Let’sgo,”Haydensaid.Itwas a wonder hecould squeeze out the words with how tightly he clenched his teeth.

“Shotgun!”Jeremyshouted.

Haydenstomped to the front passenger door and wrenched it open.

“Hey!Isaid—”Jeremy’svoice dropped to a mumble asHaydenshot him a withering glare and climbed into the front seat, “—shot gun.”

“WhydoesAshget to drive?”Isaaccomplained as he held open the door to the back seat for me.

Jeremyhad already claimed the seat by the door behindHayden.Itlooked likeIwas sitting in the middle.Isighed and crawled in.Sittingin a car in my faun form was not any more comfortable than riding the centaur.Mylegs stuck out like weird little stumps, my tail was bent under my ass, and my horns, although not huge, were still big enough to hit the roof.

Assoon as we were on our way, the human, who wasn’t entirely mundane, pulled out a pen and a small coiled notebook from somewhere and eyed me curiously. “Myname isJeremy.I’mhuman-ish, but also the seventh son of a seventh son, so magic-ish too.Yourname isRyley, right?Andyour preferred way to describe yourself is a faun?”

Thenib of his pen rested against the paper like he was ready to transcribe whateverIsaid.Hestudied me with an intensity that made me squirm, but when no one else was concerned with his questions,Inodded.Hescribbled something in his book.Ididn’t know how he could see what he was writing in the dark, but that didn’t deter him.

“So, part human, part goat?”Heglanced down at my furry bottom half.

“Yes.”

Hepulled out his phone and beforeIknew what was happening, he tapped to activate his flashlight app and shot the light right into my eyes.

“Whatthe fuck?”Iknocked the phone away.Littlerainbow-colored orbs danced in front of my eyes.

“Youhave pupils like a goat,”Jeremysaid, like it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.

“Youcould have asked me!Youdidn’t have to blind me.”Irubbed my eyes.