Page 69 of Alphas Never Hide

Ibrushed the sweat-damp hair from his forehead.Awide streak of that pine needle green marked his hair.Itwas the color of our combined magic.Icaressed the strands with my fingers, butIdidn’t mention it.Notyet.Hewasn’t ready yet, even though he could probably see a matching patch of green in my own hair.Iwanted to keep combing my fingers through it, this manifestation of what’d happened.Instead,Iforced myself to pull my hand back.Iadjusted my glasses, which had miraculously survived what we’d done, butIdidn’t climb off him.IfIdid,Iwas sure he’d bolt.

“Hayden,Idon’t regret this.Icould never regret you.”

Hesucked in a shuddering breath.Iwrapped my arms around him, and he pulled me tight and pressed his face into my neck.

“TheEternalMagicis a bitch,” he muttered.

“Why?”Iasked, trying not to be offended that he was cursing the entity that’d just joined our lives together.

“Youdeserve so much better,” he whispered. “Whenthe others mated, theEternalMagichad given them time.Theyweren’t joined their first time together.Theyhad time to decide if that’s what they wanted.Butnot me.Ohno.Shehad to do this now, like she was determined to trap you with me before you knew enough to make your escape.She’sbeen trying to control my life for years and now she’s fucking with yours too.”

“Thereis a lot to unpack in what you just said, butI’mnot trapped,”Isaid. “I’mwhereIwant to be.”

Herolled us to our sides, andIshivered asIslipped free of his body.Irested my hand on his hip, determined to hold him in this bed so we could talk through whatever was going on in his head.Hefinally met my gaze.

“Howcould it be?Youwere hesitant to join the pack, but being my mate, that’s more.That’spermanent.”Hisforehead crinkled. “AlthoughTeaguemight be able to sever?—”

Ifroze.Itwas either that or double over in pain. “Areyou…Areyou rejecting me?”

“What?No!”Helooked surprised.

“Thenwhy are you talking about severing our brand-new mate bond?”

“Iwant you to have a choice,” he said.

“Ihad a choice.Ichose you.”Ishoved aside the magic-deep painIfelt at the talk of removing our bond and held his gaze.Ineeded him to understand this.Ineeded him to pay attention to whatIwas about to say. “Imay not be as old as you, butIknow it takes two people to decide that they are mates and accept that before the bond will form.YouandImight not know everything about each other, but we don’t have any important secrets between us.Ifwe did, theEternalMagicwould not have given us her blessing.Iunderstand why you don’t know if you can trust this but believe me whenIsayIwanted this.AndIthink you did too.”

Myheart pounded asIwaited for his answer.Pleaselet me be right.

“I’llalways want you,Ryley.Isuspected we might be mates before we got into bed tonight.Iknew it was a possibility andI…”Heswallowed. “Ichose you too.”

“Oh, thankMagic,”Isaid.ThebreathI’dbeen holding whileIwaited for his answer blasted out of me.

Haydenpulled me close again. “I’msorry if my reaction hurt you.Thatwasn’t my intention.Butit’s allhappened so fast.Ican’t help but think theEternalMagichas rushed us.Firstthe whole alpha thing happened, and now this?”Heshuddered. “Iknow you picked up on enough of the conversation tonight to know thatI’vedenied my role as alpha for a long time.Twelveyears.Eversince my parents died.Ilet all those people down.Ilet down my pack.”

Idoubted that was true. “Tellme about it.”

“Ifroze.Icouldn’t cope.Allthose people were depending on me andIjust walked away.Idisbanded the pack.Isold the pack house right away and gave whoever hadn’t left withRobbiea share of the moneyIgot for it.Icouldn’t stand to be here.Icouldn’t handle all the memories.”

Hepaused and sucked in a shaky breath.

“Thewhole pack lived here?”Iasked, because that just didn’t sound possible.

“Backthen, the official pack was just made up of wolves.Myparents had wanted to change that.Havinga whole bunch of different kinds of supes living inWillowLakewas their dream.But, no, not even all the wolves lived here, but a lot of them did.So, all those people lost not only their pack but their homes too.”Tearsshimmered in his eyes.

IwishedIcould ease his pain, but allIcould do was listen and be there for him.

“Butthe worst part was thatIlet my brother get away with doing all that.Vanwas sure he killed my parents, but there wasn’t enough evidence.”

Igaped.Robbiehad killed his own parents?Evenin my darkest moments in my old herd,I’dnever wanted todo that.Whatkind of person would?Butwhy wasIeven surprised?Robbiehad tried to killHaydentoo, hadn’t he? “Doyou think he did it?”

“Ididn’t want to.Icouldn’t wrap my head around it.Itwas just so… so…”Heswallowed hard. “ButifI’dstopped him then, he wouldn’t have been able to hurt anyone else.Idon’t know why they would ever want me to be their alpha.I’vebeen hiding for twelve years.Alphasshouldn’t hide.Packshould always come first.”

“Ithink you’re too hard on yourself.”Iwiped away the tears rolling down his cheeks. “Youwere young and going through a traumatic experience.Noone should have expected you to take care of the pack when you were grieving, both for your parents and for your brother’s betrayal.Itwasn’t fair to thrust you into that.”

“Iwasn’t that young,” he argued.Becauseof course he did.

“Inshifter years, yes, you were,”Isaid. “Inmy herd, kids weren’t considered adults until they were at least a hundred.”Well, except for me.Iwas deemed to be too human, soI’dbeen labeled an adult at eighteen and encouraged to move out of my mother’s house.Sheallowed me to stay untilIwas in my mid-twenties, but by then it’d become too much.Inot only left the house,Ileft the whole herd.Inall honesty,Ihadn’t been ready.Theherd hadn’t prepared me to live on my own.It’dbeen damn tough in the beginning.