Page 83 of Alphas Never Hide

“Conny?Youback here?”

“Yeah.”

“Canyou get this foul bag off my head?”

“Yeah.Holdon.Theytied the bag’s handles or whatever they’re called behind your head.”Amoment later, the bag was gone.

“Thanks,”Imuttered asIpeered around.Wasthis the same truck they’d used when they abducted me the first time?Atleast this timeIwas conscious and, even better,Iknew people were coming to help me.

Thetruck had one of those camper shell things over the bed, so that’d make it a little more challenging.Icouldn’t fling myself over the side and into the ditch.Butthe only ones back here wereConnyand me.Ididn’t know what had happened to his flute, butIdidn’t see it on him.

“Well, this sucks,”Isaid.

Icast my gaze to the road behind us, hopingHaydenwould suddenly appear, but the only thing that stirred was a flash of black against the yellow leaves on the aspen and larch trees.Wasthat a regular bird or a shifter?Icouldn’t tell.Ihoped it was a shifter, specifically someone fromWillowLake.

“Theymade a big mistake,”Isaid asIstruggled to sit up.Myhands were still secured with zip ties, and the truck was weaving erratically, which wasn’t helping my efforts. “Haydenwill come for me.”

Connyreached for me, presumably to help me sit, butIcringed away from him.Hewinced at my reaction and pulled his hand back.Istill hadn’t figured out what was going on with him yet.Ineeded him to explain things beforeIaccepted any more of his help.OnceIwas finally upright,Ibroke the zip tie and freed my hands.Thatwas better.

Icrawled to the back and tried the handle.Ittwisted.Yes!

“No!”Connywas on me, pulling my hand away.

Thetruck whipped around another curve, and we jolted apart.Robbiehad put on a brave face, but he wasn’t wasting time making his escape.HeknewHaydenand the others would be in pursuit.Ihoped he pissed his pants when he saw the armyHaydenwould bring.

“Please,Ry,”Connysaid.Hewas too thin, too pale, and looked years older than he should have for his age.Helooked so vulnerable as he met my gaze. “Don’ttry to escape.”

“What’sthe matter with you,Conny?Youbetter get talking.”

AllIgot was another loud sigh for an answer.Connyleaned against the tailgate.

“Whywould you help that blue-balled dick sock?”

Connyshook his head, and a small almost-smile twitched over his lips. “I’dforgotten about the weird way you swear.”

Hewasn’t the first to comment on that.Butsingle syllable curse words, which so many of them were, had always felt inadequate to me, like they couldn’t convey the depth of my ire.

“Yeah, well,I’llbe swearing a lot more, so buckle up.”

“Ididn’t know it was going to be you,”Connysaid.

“Wouldit have been acceptable if it was someone else?”

“No.”Connyrubbed his hands over his face.

“Whyare you here,Conny?MotherandTheAssPimplewould never have let you leave the herd.You’retoo young.”Conny’sfather, also known asTheAssPimple, was the guy who swept in to supposedly save my mother from making another mistake after my father died.Likegetting involved with my father, a human, had been some terrible traitorous error on her part.TAPhad timed it perfectly.She’dbeen grieving and vulnerable and ended up believing all the elitist bullshit lies the old-school fauns spread in the herd.They’dmarried shockingly fast, andConny, their only child, had come along shortly after.Givenhow rare supe children were, everyone in the herd had seen that as a sign of theEternalMagicendorsing their fauns-belong-with-fauns approach to life.Itdidn’t matter thatI’donly been born a little more than a decade earlier and no one had celebratedmyexistence.

“Fuckyou,”Connymuttered. “Andquit calling meConny.YouknowIhate it.”

“No, you don’t,”Isaid.Iglanced toward the cab of the truck.Noone was paying attention to us, although it wouldn’t matter if they were.Ineeded information. “Talkto me.”

Heheaved out a deep sigh. “Ihad to leave.”

“Leavewhat?Theherd?Why?”

Hisgaze flicked to mine before he looked away. “Imet a girl.”

Thatwasn’t whatIexpected him to say.