Page 2 of Alphas Never Hide

Ha!Whata waste of time that had been.Mytraining as a mechanic had served me a hell of a lot better.

Ishouldn’t have bothered with all that pack crap, because all my parents’ dreams for the future—for me, for themselves, for the town—faded away after their deaths.Theonly good to come from that time in my life was when oldGeorginahad offered the shop to me when she retired.Itwas like she’d knownIneeded something to ground me and keep me busy.

ThedayGeorgina’sGaragebecameHayden’sGarage,I’deven been happy.Almost.

Fromthat moment forward,I’ddone my best to beHayden, the mechanic.Notthe previous alpha’s heir or the guy who refused to beAlpha.JustHayden.

NowIwas skipping down memory lane again like a kid going to the ice cream shop.

Ipushed the memories away.Thedamn things had been haunting me lately.Untilthis past summer,Iwould have saidI’dcome to terms with my past, but life sometimes had a way of proving you wrong.Iscrubbed my hands over my face and wishedIcould scrub away all the shit in my head at the same time.

Iturned out the lights in the service area and made my way to my office.Thetiny, cluttered room wasn’t much of a space.Mydesk was covered with invoices and the same desktop computerGeorginahad used when she owned the place.AndIwas pretty sure the thing had been old even then.Butit still did whatIneeded, soIsaw no need to change it.

Iwas adamant about keeping the service bays reasonably clean and tidy—well, as clean and tidy as a space like that could be.AndIpaid a local husband-and-wife team to clean the washrooms, the front desk area, and the waiting room, so those were always presentable, too.ButIcouldn’t remember the last timeI’ddragged a mop across the floor in here.

Itwas looking a little grungy to be honest, soIdid my best not to look.

Istripped out of my stained and ratty overalls and hungthem on a hook behind the office door.Ishould toss them, butIjust hadn’t had the time to order more.

Thingswould settle down.Assoon asIfoundRobbie, everything would be back to normal.Ihoped.

Aquick sniff of my pits told meIneeded a shower, butIdidn’t want to waste time.Ineeded to get out of here.I’dbe fine for another couple of hours.Itwasn’t likeIwas expecting to see anyone, anyway.I’dshower whenIgot back.

Withone last cursory check of the empty shop,Ishut off the rest of the lights and locked up.Iexited through the back door to the fenced lot where we stored the cars we kept overnight.Inthe far corner, behind a stack of used tires, was the old travel trailerIcalled home.Thething looked like a piece of shit because it was one.Theonly thingIfixed and checked regularly was the caulking at the seams.Ididn’t need a lot to be comfortable, butIpreferred to be dry.

Ihadn’t ever told anyoneIlived back here, butIsuspectedVanknew.

Igazed longingly at the small corner of the trailerIcould see from here.AllIwanted was to go in there, get shitfaced, and pass out.Exceptno one in town sold magically enhanced whisky anymore, and the human-strength alcohol did fuck all to get me drunk.Ulric, the old owner of the pub, had sold the high-test stuff as off-sales, but he was dead more than a year now and whatever stash he’d had was long gone.I’dhoped now thatJakehad found out about supernatural things he’d start ordering more again, but he hadn’t yet.

So, the only thing left to do tonight was hunt.

Sincethe attack onRobbie’spack a month or so back,I’dbeen out every night looking for leads, trying to find my damn brother.Instincttold meIwas missing something, but what?Right.IfIknew the answer to that question, thenIwouldn’t feel likeI’dmissed something, wouldI?Still,Ihad a niggling feeling the answer was right there in front of me.

Hewasn’t dead.Iwas sure of that because the same instinct that told meIwas missing something obvious also told me my brother was still alive.Ijust had to find him.Thedrive to hunt him down was all that was keeping me going right now.Ihadto find him before he hurt anyone else.Ineeded to do it for myself, for those poor kids he’d trapped and caged, for all the people in my pack?—

Nope.Notgoing there.Iwas doing it because it was the right thing to do.

I’dplanned to go out there again tonight, but my feet refused to carry me to my truck, which could only mean one thing.TheEternalMagichad different plans for me tonight.

“Sonof a—”Igroaned and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands.Whycouldn’t she leave me alone?

Ilifted my face and sniffed the area for strangers or non-magical people.Noone should be able to see me back here, butIstill checked anyway.Notfinding anything amiss,Ilet a partial shift roll over me asItook on myAnubisform.Ihated wasting time like this, but theEternalMagicwas becoming increasingly pissy with me.Lately, she only deigned to communicate with me whenItapped into the magic of my wolf.

WhenIwas a pup, people said they could sense astrong alpha power inside me.It’dtaken me a long time to figure out what they were talking about.Mydad, who’d been the alpha of the only packI’dever been a part of, had tried explaining it to me.Inthe end,Ifigured it all boiled down to an innate need to take care of those in our pack, having a closer connection to theEternalMagicthrough our animal side than the average shifter, and being able to merge those two things into our alpha power.

Alphapower was some woo-woo shit theEternalMagicgave to us to help us look after our pack that essentially made us a conduit for all things magical.Ifa shifter had trouble shifting, we could help them access their magic and shift.Ifa shifter was anxious, we could help them connect with the powerful calm of theEternalMagic.Anytime someone needed to tap into theEternalMagic, alphas were your one-stop shop solution.

Notevery wolf had alpha power.Itwasn’t something you could learn.TheEternalMagiceither blessed you with it or she didn’t.Atleast that was my interpretation of what my dad had said whenIwas a pup.Atthe time, it made me feel special.Ofcourse, it also made my brother jealous, butIhadn’t figured that out until it was too late.Whatwas it they said about hindsight?

Andthe other thingI’ddiscovered over the years?TheEternalMagichated when her gifts were ignored.Butshe could fuck off becauseIdidn’t want to be alpha.She’daccept it, eventually.

Idaydreamed about theEternalMagicfinally accepting defeat and stripping me of this ridiculous alpha power and giving it to some other wolf.Thenshe couldstart pestering someone else for a change.Alphapower was more of a pain in the ass than anything else.

And, no, the back of my neck wasn’t getting itchy at the thought of someone else becomingAlphaofWillowLakeand stepping in to take care of the pack.I’dbe perfectly fine with it.Happyeven.Seriously.Thetrue alpha, whoever they were, would come soon and take over.Iwas a stand-in until they showed up.Astand-in.Apale imitation of what the real alpha would be.Iswallowed around the weird lump in my throat.

IhopedIwasn’t coming down with anything.It’dbe just like theEternalMagicto mess with me by giving me a cold, like a weak, mundane human.

Whatever.Ididn’t know whyIwas thinking about all that, anyway.Itdidn’t matter right now.Anew alpha wasn’t about to step into the role tonight.