Page 39 of Alphas Never Hide

“Iknow.”Haydengrimaced. “Wecan come back and collect it later, when we have more people, butIdon’t want to risk having this stuff go missing before we can return.”

“So, we’re leaving after this?”Thatwas even betternews than finding cinnamon buns on the menu this morning.

“Yeah,”Haydenagreed as he shook everything out of a toiletry bag. “Let’sput the stuff in here to carry out.”

Itossed the two wallets to him, and he shoved them into the bag beside a phone and a wallet he’d found.

Threewallets.So, that was at least three people so far.Myhands shook asIgrabbed the next bag.Fromthe corner of my eye,IsawHaydenscoop up another too.

Therewas a click.

Itmust have been loud ifIcould hear it over the pounding of my heart.

Haydenwas closer to the door, but he spun toward me faster thanIcould register with my eyes.Hegrabbed me and hurled me toward the door.Iwent flying into the hallway as a loud clang resounded behind me.Irolled over to see what’d happened.

Oh, fuck a puck.

Wherein theMagichad those bars come from?Wemust have triggered some kind of booby trap.Whatwas worse?Haydenlay sprawled across the floor on the other side of the bars.Trapped.Hewasn’t moving.

“Hayden!”Iran over and grabbed the bars.Theydidn’t even wiggle. “Youbetter be alive.Youhear me?Youare not allowed to die in this place.”

Hegroaned.

“Thankfuck.”Ishould probably thank theEternalMagictoo, but right now she didn’t seem to be on my side, so she could damn well wait.

Haydenrolled to his side and gingerly probed the top of his head. “Why’dyou kick me again,Ry?”

“Ididn’t kick you.”Icrossed my arms over my chest.

“Yousure?Because…” he slurred.

“Ithink the bars conked you on the head when they dropped out of the ceiling.Whydid you do that?Youwere closer to the door.Ifyou hadn’t tried to save me…”Tearswelled in my eyes.

“Bars?”Heblinked like he was having trouble focusing.Herubbed his unusually pale face in an uncoordinated way like he was drunk. “Wheredid they come from?”

“Youlook like shit.Ifyou’re going to throw up, aim away from me, okay?”Iwouldn’t win any awards for my bedside manner, but if he was concussed enough to toss up his breakfast,I’dreally lose it.Ididn’t do well with sick people.Andit should have been me in there.Hewas the big, huff-and-puff-and-I’ll-blow-your-house-down werewolf dude.Heshould be out on this side so he could figure out how to get me out.Instead, everything was all wrong, andIhad to save him.Iwas not meant to be a hero.

“Think,Ryley, think.”Iscrubbed my fingers over my scalp.

Wherewas the lock?Iscanned each bar.Nofucking lock.Sonof a turd-filled twit.

Sothere had to be a lever.Somethingto make the bars pop back to where they’d come from.Wehadn’t found a control room.Hadwe missed something?Ihated the idea of leavingHaydento go looking for one, but what else couldIdo?

Itugged at the bars again.Theydidn’t even rattle.Criminy, we were lucky the bars hadn’t landed on either of us.Thatwould have been messy.Skeweredby a boobie-trap wasn’t how anyone would want to go.

Nope.Don’tthink about skewering.Ineeded to twist this narrative around.Embracethe power of positive thinking.Wasn’tthat the trickHaydenhad pulled on me in the woods earlier?Andhow didIdo that exactly?

Think,Ryley.

“Wearen’t as bad off as we could be.Noone is a shish kabob.Yay, us!”Iflashed two thumbs up towardHayden, who still looked dazed. “Ican do this.Ican get you out.Igot myself out, so this will be so much easier because there are two of us.”

Inother news,Iwas also brilliant at lying to myself.

Chapter Fifteen

HAYDEN

Myhead hurt.Again.