Page 75 of Alphas Never Hide

Well, that changed things.Ipulled him into a quick hug, fully aware of how many people were watching us and snapping pictures like the nosey bastards they were.

“I’mproud of you,”Isaid. “Youdon’t have to do this, but if you do,I’llsupport you.”Ihated the idea ofRyleygoing off by himself to hide, but this was a safe and fun way for him to experiment with his magic.

Heshrugged, and his cheeks darkened. “IsawJeremytake part in the mage competition earlier.Noone cared that he sucked or that his magic didn’t do everything he wanted it to.Everyonewas…”

“Supportive?”

“Yeah,Iguess.”Henodded and looked away. “I’venever seen that before.Inmy herd, by the time you were an adult, failure wasn’t accepted.”

Itightened my arms around him. “Everythingyou tell me about your former herd makes me angry.”

Heleaned against my chest. “Ididn’t know there was anything wrong with it for a long time.Itwas just the way things were.Noone thought to question their bigotry and their narrow-minded traditions.AfterIleft the herd,I’dhear humans talk about their elections andIfigure it’s the same thing.They’dsay, ‘Myfamily has always voted for that party, soIdo too.’Theynever stopped to listen to what was being said, to see if those promises made sense or aligned with their beliefs.Itwas sad.Thereis nothing worse in the world than saying ‘Ithas always been that way, so we don’t want to change it.’”

“Ican’t imagine how difficult it was for you to leave them,”Imurmured against his hair. “ButI’mproud of you.”

Hisarms tightened around me.

“Whendoes the hide and seek competition start?”

“Ithink it is up next,” he said.

Severalevents had already finished.Atiny mouse shifter had won the prize for being able to squeeze through the smallest opening.Isaachad won for being able to leap the highest of everyone when in their shifted form, but one of the frog shifter competitors was trying to get it overturned.Hesaid it should be based on the ratio between how high someone could leap and how tall they were.Isaacdisagreed, for obvious reasons.

Honestly, though, if any of the cat shifters had competed,Isaacwould have lost anyway.Afterall,I’dseenCliveleap higher thanIsaacwhen he was trying to outrunVanafter nicking a fish fillet out of the grocery store.Butafter the cats had shifted this morning, a couple of empty boxes mysteriously showed up close to the competition site.Intrigued, the cats had investigated.Theyjumped in the boxes, plonked themselves down, and made it clear they had no intention of leaving again.Ididn’t think the boxes were a random coincidence, but neitherIsaacnor the frog shifter had taken responsibility yet.

Butthe day wasn’t just about sports, if you could call squeezing through tiny holes a sport.Jakeand his painting ladies had set out easels early in the day and had captured the festivities in acrylic on canvas.Jake’spainting had moved me so much,I’dbought it from him.Ididn’t know whatI’ddo with it.Thecanvas wouldn’t fit in the trailer, which meant it’d have to go in the shop’s waiting room.Jakeshowcased supes in their shifted forms, painting everything in a whimsical style.Amundane human woulddismiss it as fantasy, even if it was real.Icould stare at it for hours.Itmade me wonder what life would be like if we could live like this every day.Nohiding.Nofear.Justpeople living their lives out in the open.

ThenRyleyandIwatchedOak’sdemonstration where he worked metal scraps into garden statues.Whenthat finished,I’ddraggedRyleyover to grab some cheeseburgers for me and grilled pineapple for him.It’donly been midmorning at that point, and it hadn’t been that long sinceI’dfinished a big breakfast at the inn, butIwas hungry.Myalpha magic had expanded quickly last night, so maybe that was whyIwas trying to eat my weight in beef.Eitherthat orXanderwas right, andIneeded the extra protein to heal my magic.

Afterthat, we found our way to the registration table.Ashwas sitting behind the table, looking bored.Hewas wearing one of his many pink sweaters, andIcouldn’t figure out how he wasn’t melting in the afternoon sun.Besidehim,Jeremywas standing on a chair with binoculars in his hand.Heglanced down at something on his phone before peering through the binoculars again.

Onthe other side of him, but standing on the ground instead of a chair,DocRobertsstared at the water too.Asa sphinx shifter, he’d have decent eyesight, so he didn’t need the binoculars, but he shielded his eyes with his hand.I’dnoticed him lingering around earlier, probably staying close in case someone got injured during the events.ButIhadn’t chatted with him yet.Iwasn’t sureIwanted to, not after he sent that text to the whole damn pack telling them to make sureIrested.

“Ithink you’re right,Ash,”Jeremysaid. “Ithink bothHenriettaandGarydropped to the bottom of the lake and stayed there.Didthey forget they were in a race?”

Sallycackled. “Ibet they got frisky and decided that was more interesting.”

Jeremylooked aghast at the succubus. “Inthe middle of a race?”

Sallyshrugged. “LikeIsaid, they have stamina.Howdo you think they built that up?Sex.Lotsand lots of sex.”

Everyonewho heard that comment grimaced, andIdoubtedIwas the only one thinking about the bakery, where, untilSallycame into their lives, they seemed to spend most of their time.Surely, they wouldn’t do that as much asSallywas suggesting.

Nope.Ididn’t want to think about that.

“Howcan you tell where they are?”RyleyaskedJeremyas he looked out across the water.Hetugged off his glasses and looked toward the middle of the lake.WestonandBrodiewere at the far end, so the middle was calm.Noteven a ripple broke the smooth surface.

“Thecontestants have trackers so we can make sure they hit the marker before swimming back,”Jeremysaid. “Theyare on loan from theWillowLakePoliceDepartment.Theyordered in a bunch of new ones after the oneSimonsent through the portal withMorganmalfunctioned.Theseare their old ones.”

“Willyou use them for the hide and seek competition too?”Ifthat was the case, it’d ease a lot of my worries aboutRyleygoing off on his own.

Iwasn’t sure why that worried me so much.Everyonein town was here, soIcouldn’t see anyone, not evenRobbie, trying anything with so many witnesses around.Wasthis anxiousness about separating caused by our mating?

“That’sthe plan.”Jeremynodded. “I’mthe only one who can see them, andIwon’t let anyone else use the info to cheat.Thisis important research.Iwon’t have the results messed up because someone had insider information.”

“Ithought it was all fun and games,”Ashteased his friend.

“Haha,”Jeremysaid, sounding anything but amused.Helooked through his binoculars again. “LookslikeWestonandBrodieare on their way back.Itis going to be a close finish,Ithink.”