Page 33 of Alphas Never Hide

Mywolf bristled at the thought of adults abandoning a grieving child in the woods.Whowould pull shit like that?Hecould have died out there from exposure or an animal attack or so many other things.Thoseelders needed to be locked up.ThentheSCneeded to investigate the rest of them, expose their archaic traditions and narrow-minded beliefs, and drag them into the twenty-first century.Fewerand fewer supes were born each year and there was a group of assholes out there torturing the ones they were blessed with.

“Canwe forgetIsaid that last bit?But, yeah, that’s what fauns do.”

Iwanted to ask more questions.Iwanted details.Iwanted names.Butthis wasn’t the time or the place.

“So,”Isaid.

Ryleypointed at me and shouted, “Ha!”Heeven managed a small smile.Iregretted using that word, but making him smile, even a little after he’d seemed so dejected, did something to me.Mystomach felt lighter.Myskin felt warmer.Iscrambled to finish my thoughts. “Whena faun is in the forest and wants to hide, what happens?”

“HowshouldIknow?Theyjust…”Helifted his hands and made a gesture that looked like something exploding. “Poof.Disappear.Vanish.”

“Becausethe forest responds to their magic.”

“Yeah.Iguess.”

Istared at him.Hestared right back at me.

“Noway.”Hewaved to the forest. “Ididn’t do this.”

“Wecan askVanabout your magic when we get back toWillowLake, but bear with me for a minute.”

Ryley’sbrow furrowed. “What’she got to do with anything?”

“Hellhoundscan identify other people’s magic.Theycan tell how strong it is.”

Hescoffed.

“Inthe meantime, humor me.Walkahead of me a bit.Gothat way.”Ipointed with my snout.Itwas a little further from where we’d stopped, but along the same trajectory as what we had been walking.Ithought it would be good to move away from where so many people had been trampling through the underbrush. “Thenshift.Iwantyou to open your senses and see if you can detect anything useful.”

Hesighed like this was a huge inconvenience.Hestomped a few feet ahead of me, muttering the whole way.Hehooked his glasses on his shirt collar.Amoment later, he was standing in front of me in his shifted form.

WhenI’dfirst seen him as a faun last night, we’d been in the shadows of a starlit forest.Withmy wolf’s senses,I’dseen him well enough, but the darkness had obscured the subtle tones of his fur.Iwasn’t a poet, soI’dnormally describe his fur as tan or beige, but there was so much more to it than that.Itranged from the color of sweet honey to the soft hue of sun-drenched sandstone.

Lastnight,Ialso hadn’t seen him shift, soIhadn’t noticed the smaller differences between his two forms.Isaw everything this time as he transitioned right in front of me in the daylight.Historso was slim in both forms, but it appeared more toned when he was a faun.IwishedIcould stare at him longer to catalog all the minor differences, but he crossed his arms over his bare chest and gritted his teeth.Hewas uncomfortable and a touch angry with me.Idoubted he’d just stand there and let me look at him.

“Idon’t feel anything.Areyou satisfied now?”

Ofcourse he didn’t.Hewouldn’t feel a damn thing with that attitude.Iapproached him slowly.Thelast thingIneeded was for him to kick me in the head again.Ileaned against his side and sent out a wave of my alpha power to him.Ittook a moment for him to relax, but eventually, the tension eased from his body.Hishand came to rest on my head.Hisfingers combed through my fur, like he waspetting me.Ididn’t stop him because the action seemed to relax him.

Really.

Thatwas the only reason.

“Nowclose your eyes.”

Hisfingers tightened on my fur for a moment before they relaxed again.

I’dnever tried to help someone connect with their magic like this before, butIremembered my dad doing this for me.Maybeevery shifter had to be talked through this when they were first learning about magic and how to shift.Someof it was innate, which was howRyleyknew how to shift, but some connections to theEternalMagicneeded to be nurtured.IfRyley’sparents had decided he wouldn’t have a strong affinity for magic before he’d been given the chance to find out, they could have unwittingly stifled it.

Itmade me wonder how many other people were cheated out of their magic this way.Maybemagic wasn’t fading from the earth, maybe people were just being trained to ignore it.Althoughthat wasn’t the full answer either, because look atJake.Hehadn’t even known magic existed and yet his powers still pushed to be set free.Still,Icouldn’t help but think there was something there, butIdidn’t have time to think about it right now.

“Breathein deeply.Now, let it out slowly.”Ispoke quietly. “Andagain.Deepbreath in.Thenout.”

Ididn’t rush.Thatwould defeat the purpose.Sowe stood in silence and simply breathed for a few minutes.

“Now,Iwant you to reach deep inside…”Ialmost saidwhere your magic livesexcept that’d trigger him and makehim tense up again.Soinstead,Ifocused on the magical part of himself he did acknowledge. “Goto the place that warms when you shift.”

Heswallowed hard, but he didn’t protest or pull away.