Page 6 of Alphas Never Hide

Theguy stopped his wobbly approach.Heput one hand against a tree to brace himself and the other on his hip.Ifhis leg hadn’t been injured,Isuspected he would have been tapping his foot impatiently. “SoI’msupposed to believe you’re some kind of vigilante?”

“Can’twe just sayI’mhere to help?”

Theway his eyebrows lifted in obvious disbelief suggested that wouldn’t be happening.

“Listen, how about you take my phone?Youcan go online and call the police or something.Sometimesthe reception isn’t the greatest out here, but you could try.”

“Andyou’re going to sit there quietly whileI’mmucking about on your phone.Right.Sure.Ibelieve you.”Heshook his head. “Youreally must thinkI’man easy mark.Imight not be a full supe, but that doesn’t make me gullible.I’vefaced off against worse assholes than you.”

“Listento me for a minute.”Iwasn’t sure if this was a mistake or not, butIwasn’t getting anywhere with my other tactics. “I’mnot saying this to scare you, but if my intention was to abduct you or hurt you,Icould have done that by now.WhenIfirst approached,Iwouldn’t have gone for your feet.Iwould have gone for your jugular to kill or subdue you.Andnow?Icould shift and knock you to the ground before you could duck behind that tree.ButI’mnot doing that.”Ipaused and studied his reaction tomy words while trying to figure out how to be as non-threatening as possible, particularly after saying all that. “Doyou get whatI’msaying?”

Hisface twisted, suggesting my logic wasn’t impressing him. “You’resayingI’msupposed to trust you because you haven’t tried to kill me yet?”

“Prettymuch, yes.”Iwas used to being trusted.Ididn’t realize how muchItook that trust for granted untilIdidn’t have it.

“Youmust have really excelled at debate class in school.”Hefrowned as he eyed me for one long moment.Ifelt the moment he decided to take a chance on me.Thetension in the air eased.Hereached out and wiggled his fingers. “Giveme your phone.”

Ipulled my phone from my back pocket slowly, so he didn’t thinkIwas doing anything nefarious.Myfingertip was still bloody from whenI’dwiped my face, so it left a red streak across the surface whenIunlocked the screen.Igently tossed my phone to him, still not keen on getting too close to his hooves.

Myface was bleeding.Facialwounds were always such drama queens.Andhis hits had struck close to my eye, so the blasted thing was starting to swell.Nope.Ididn’t need another kick like that anytime soon.

“Youknow, you shouldn’t show your pattern to anyone.NowIcan unlock your phone any time and really mess things up for you,” he said as he tapped on my phone.Icouldn’t see the screen, soIdidn’t know what he was doing.Maybehe was downloading viruses or installing spyware or all those other thingsBuddyhad warned me about.Ididn’t really care.AllIused it for wasaccepting calls from people in the pack, so it wouldn’t be hard to replace it.

“Areyou seriously giving me a lecture about phone security right now?”

“Well, it’s true,” he said. “Whydon’t you have more apps?Theseare factory basic.Whereare your pictures?Yourapps?Yoursocials?Yourgames?Areyou sure you’re legit?Becausethis is not normal.”

Ididn’t think he needed an answer.

“Huh.So, weareclose toWillowLake.Youweren’t lying about that.”Hetapped on the screen a bit more. “Didyou know you have the police station’s phone number in your contact list as van?Whatis a van?Likean acronym or something?VillainsAreNicer?OrVictimsandNumpties?”

“Vanis the name of a friend.Ahellhound.He’salso theChiefofPolice.”

Afew more taps. “Huh.Wouldyou look at that?Supenetagrees with you.Thereis a hellhound in charge of the police inWillowLakenamedVanClark.”

Ibarely stopped myself from sayingItold you so.

Chapter Three

RYLEY

Wasthis guy for real?Hisphone suggested he was kind of pathetic.Sure, he looked handsome enough, but he needed a shower.Weren’tthere studies out there showing how good-looking people had an easier time making friends?MaybeIwas misremembering because his phone told a different story.

Hehad a lot of contacts, but not a single picture of anything or anyone, not even a pet cat.

Theother weird thing about him?Magicclung to the air all around him.I’dnever felt anything like it.Thiswas no average wolf shifter.Sofar, he wasn’t using all that magic against me, butIdidn’t want to know what would happen if he changed his mind about me.Idefinitely wasn’t ready to trust him, though, even if my gut was telling meIcould.Fornow,Ineeded to gather as much information about him asIcould, just in case the situation changed.

Istudied him in my peripheral vision.Myeyes in my human form couldn’t see shit, butIwasn’t in my human form at the moment.Excellenteyesight was one of the few heightened sensesI’dinherited from my mom, but it only worked whenIwas in my faun form.Guyslike this wolf always thought theEternalMagichad gifted them with the best senses, but they had no idea about the way a faun’s eyes functioned, which worked to my advantage right now.

Hisbig wolf form had been intimidating with all those sharp teeth, and his human body was just as scary.Hewas muscular, but he didn’t seem the type to work out at a gym, so he must do something physical for work.Basedon the streak of grease or oil or whatever on his cheek and the stains on his clothes,Isuspected he worked on machines.Hiseyes were a soft blue color.Icouldn’t identify the exact shade with only the stars for light—even a faun’s sight had some limitations—but they were pretty.Hisdirty blond hair was a mess, standing up in all directions like he’d been pushing his fingers through it all day.Heneeded a haircut, and his stubble was well on its way to becoming a short beard.

Ifhe didn’t smell so bad, he might even be attractive.Fora wolf.

Although, to be fair,Iwould have smelled a lot worse ifIhadn’t spent the whole of my captivity in my shifted form.Itwas one of the perks of being a shifter that every kid knew about.Ifyou stayed shifted, you didn’t need as many baths.Asan adult,Iloved showers, but my cage hadn’t come with one.Havinga long hot shower was one of the first thingsI’ddo whenIgot back to civilization.

Iclicked through his phone again, looking for hiddenapps or secret screens.Therewas nothing there.Whatkind of person left their phone empty?Nota grocery list?Ora music app?Orsomething favorited on their web browser?Hedidn’t even have a picture of, well, anything.Whyeven have a smart phone if you were going to treat it like a landline?

Hehad to be a psychopath.