Page 56 of Alphas Never Hide

Peopleall around the bar swung their gazes in our direction.Icringed and tried to hide behindHayden.IfIhad to butt heads with someone,Iwould, butI’dprefer not to.Notthat it usually got that far whenIshifted.Mostpeople thought twice about banging heads with someone who had horns, even when said horns were on the diminutive end of the horn spectrum.

“Shutup,”Iwhisper-shouted to him out of the side of my mouth.Thelast thingIneeded was forHaydento draw more attention to us.

Hedragged me back through the doors leading to the inn.Damnit.Iguessed we wouldn’t be eating.Maybethey had room service.ButHaydendidn’t pull me all the way back to our rooms.Hestopped in the hallway and spun me to look at him.

“Iswear on theEternalMagicthat not a single person inWillowLakewill care about your lineage.Andthey’d never know you had a human for a father anyway.Notif you didn’t tell anyone.Noone can tell something like that, because it doesn’t matter.Magicwins, remember?Thesupernatural side of your genes trumps everything else.Butif you don’t feel comfortable, we won’t go in there.”

“I’mpretty sure they can tell,”Isaid, pushing my glasses up my nose.Itwas a nervous habit that gave me something to do with my hands other than wringing them like a dishrag. “I’vebeen roughed up enough to know that hybrids aren’t welcome in supe towns.”

“Hasanyone made you feel uncomfortable whileyou’ve been here?”Adeep growl punctuated his question.Hiseyes flashed with the gold of his wolf.

“Hey, your wolf…”Ipointed at him. “Isaw it in your eyes.That’sa good sign, right?Isit back?”

“Ryley,” he said, in a tone that suggestedIwas being difficult. “Answermy question.You’vemet a lot of supes sinceIfound you in the woods last night.Haveany of them been less than welcoming?”

Hewas right.Noneof them had called me anything nasty or made me feel uncomfortable.Well, except for the dragon.ButIthought his behavior was because he wanted to protectHayden, not because of who or whatIwas.

“Wewere talking about other things then.Iwas useful to them.ButI’mnot useful to all those other people in there.”Iglanced toward the door. “Adozen supes are in there.Maybemore.”

Haydencleared his throat, as if trying to tamp down on his growling. “SoIdon’t have to kick anyone’s ass?”

“Yousaid ‘so,’”Isaid, forcing a grin.Isaid it to distract him from whatever hell he was thinking about unleashing on his friends and neighbors.Hedidn’t need to burn any bridges because of me.Iwas used to being the odd guy out, butI’dprefer to skip the part where people were assholes to me.Itwas easier to avoid them. “Ishould go to the room.”

“Isthat a ‘No’?”Haydenpressed.

“Fine.No.Everyoneso far has been nice.ButIdon’t want to tempt fate.”

“Good.That’sgood.”Henodded.Hisgaze caught on mine and held. “Iswear,Ryley, we would have gone somewhere else ifIdidn’t think it would be safe here.I’veknown most of these people for years.Theyare good people.”Herubbed the back of his neck. “Ididn’t want to talk about this, but it might help.”Hemet my eyes again.Hesighed, andIdidn’t like the dejected way it sounded.Haydenshould never sound defeated or sad. “Abouttwelve years ago, my parents died.”

Iopened my mouth to say something, but sorry didn’t seem like enough.

“Don’t,” he said. “Don’tsay anything yet.Letme finish saying this.”

Inodded.

“Mybrother seized the opportunity to splinter the pack.Theones who left, they were assholes who might have believed in all that hybrid shit.Theyonly wanted wolves inWillowLake.Theydidn’t want any other supes here.Justwolves.Theywere assholes, the whole lot of them.”Heshook his head like he couldn’t make sense of their bigotry. “Butthe ones who stayed?Theyare the ones who are in that pub right now or the ones who moved here since that happened and have been welcomed.”

Iglanced toward the pub doors.Itwas strange to see so many types of supes in one place.Wasthere something different aboutWillowLake?

“Thinkabout it,”Haydencontinued. “Thinkabout all the supes you’ve already met here.Wedon’t tolerate bigots.Jerkswho think they are better than everyone else because of their narrow-minded opinions, or their cultish ideas about theEternalMagic, or their incorrect views about supernatural hierarchy aren’t welcome here.”EmotionlacedHayden’spassionate words.

Iwas starting to see why people called himAlpha.Hislove for this place and these people was as much a part of him as his wolf or the color of his hair.

“That’swhat makesWillowLakeso special,” he said softly. “It’sbecome everything my parents dreamed about.Theybelieved in inclusivity and helping others and the joy in discovering all the things that bring us together rather than the things that pull people apart.Hatefulrhetoric like what you’re talking about, that shit doesn’t fly here.Iswear.Thosepeople in that pub, they won’t judge you based on the type of supe you are or that your father was human.Peoplelike that aren’t welcome inWillowLake.Infact,Isometimes wonder if theEternalMagicherself encourages them to leave.Theones who stay save their judgments for things that matter, like how you treat people.”

Iswallowed hard.Iwiped my eyes because they were burning and blurring a bit.

“Ithink theEternalMagicbrought you here,Ryley.”Haydenbit his lip, but it wasn’t a sexy move.Helooked nervous. “Ithink she wanted you here because you fit here, with me…Imean, with us.”

Icouldn’t deny thatI’dfelt like she had been steering me in this direction ever sinceI’dset out on the road, but whatHaydenwas saying?Thatsounded too good to be true.

“Ithought you changed your mind about me.”

“Whydo you say that?”

“You’vebeen acting weird since you had your shower.”

Haydenfrowned. “That’son me.Notyou.”Herubbed his neck. “Ihave some shitIneed to figure out.VansaysIoverthink things and get stuck in my thoughts, butIdon’t know how to stop doing that.Ididn’t mean to make you thinkI’dchanged my mind about you.”