Page 4 of Alphas Never Hide

Irolled to get my feet under me again, butIkept low.Adrenalineswept away my fatigue.Iinhaled again, dissecting the scent for more clues.Icouldn’t tell ifIwas smelling a person or an animal.Thescents were all mixed together.Stayingcrouched close to the ground,Icrawled forward slowly.

Chapter Two

HAYDEN

“Sonof a fucking, cloven-hoofed dick weasel.”Themuttered words cut off with a thud and a groan, like someone had fallen and hurt themselves.

It’dbeen a handful of minutes sinceI’dstarted tracking the scent of blood, soIpaused and listened.

“Fuckingbucking duck,” the person continued. “Whyhasn’t anyone perfected transporters yet?Icould really handle getting beamed the fuck up about now.”

Theyobviously hadn’t detected my presence yet.Isniffed the air again.Theblood was concentrated here.

“Getthe fuck up,Ryley,” the mystery man said.

Wassomeone with him?Ionly scented one person and an unfamiliar animal-like scent, too.Themixture reminded me a bit ofIsaac, the centaur who’d moved to town recently, orLevi, the local minotaur, but it wasn’t quite the same.Weirdly, the scent, reminiscent of grass and sage and clover, intrigued me.Itreminded me of hot summerafternoons whenIran the perimeter of the pack lands, particularly along the stretch that was more prairie than forest.

Icrept closer.

Theyhadn’t noticed me yet, andIwanted it to stay that way as long as possible.Onestep.Thenanother.Iinched forward untilIcould make out limbs and fur and skin.

Whatwas that?

Sprawledacross the forest floor was the strangest creatureI’dever seen.Hewas undoubtedly a supernatural being, butIdidn’t know what kind.Thebottom half looked like some kind of farm animal, but the top was human-ish except for the short, little nubby horns poking out through his dark brown hair.

Washe a centaur who had somehow lost his backside?Ora child-sized minotaur?No, minotaurs didn’t shift like that.Washe stuck mid-shift?

I’dnever seen a mid-shift problem like that before, so perfectly divided over the body.Although, myAnubisform, which had my head transition to a wolf and made subtle changes over the rest of my body, was similar.Wasthis the same, only in reverse?

Intriguedby the unusual sight,Istepped closer.Acluster of brittle leaves crackled under my paw.Ifroze, but it was too late.Thesupe lifted his head.Myfirst thought was this was not a child.No, this was a full-grown supe.Hiswide eyes scanned the trees until they landed on me.Hisface contorted in anger, pain, and fear.

“Fuuuuck.”Hegroaned and cast his gaze up toward the sky, as if begging for divine intervention.Itwas such a human gesture, because every supe knew theEternalMagicdidn’t live in the air. “Notanother one.Areyou replicating yourselves out here or something?”

Istartled as he collapsed to his back.AsIdrew closer,Isaw the source of the blood.Hispale torso was covered in it.Itflowed from scrapes and cuts and, fuck, were those bite marks, too?

Whatwas he doing?Exposinghis stomach to me was a submissive gesture, but his muttered words didn’t sound submissive.Histwo little hoofed feet twitched in the air.

“Alright.Comeon.Let’sget this over with.Comeand get me.”

Iedged closer, sniffing the ground for more clues about what was going on. “Ismelled blood.Areyou okay?”

“ForMagic’ssake,” he muttered, like he couldn’t believeI’dask such a question.Evenin the dim light,Icould see his eyes roll. “DoIlook okay to you?”

Hesounded more irritated than pained, but between the eye rolling, the twitching, and the strange things he was saying,Iwondered if he was having a hallucinatory seizure.Hisbehavior wasn’t normal.

“Comeon already.Let’sdo this.”Hiswords dripped with impatience as he beckoned me closer.

“Areyou okay?”Iasked again asIneared him.

“Wouldn’tyou like to know,” he grumbled. “Whatis taking you so long?Getyour ass over here.”

“Doyou need help standing?Areyou mid-shift?”

“Whatan asshole,” he muttered, andIhad no idea why.Myquestions were perfectly reasonable.Heglared at me. “Yeah.Right.Sure.Youshould check my ankle.IthinkItwisted it.”

Shit.Ifhe’d broken it, he could be in shock.Wasthatwhy he was acting so strangely?AtleastIcould help with his ankle.Maybethen he’d settle.Theplace inside me where my alpha magic lived warmed asIgave in to the need to care for him.

Theheavy scent of blood nearly obliterated the smell of everything else, but asIdrew closer to the creature,Ipicked up other nuances.Andthere, under the rest, was a scentI’drecognize anywhere, even after all these years.Robbie.Mydamn brother’s scent was all over this poor man.KnowingwhatIknew of my brother,Isuspected he was responsible for those scrapes, bruises, and raw looking bites on the man’s lean body.