Page 85 of Alphas Never Hide

Thathad to mean he was still okay.Ihad to get to him before that changed.

Myheart thundered in my chest.Mypaws pounded against the leaf-littered forest floor.Suddenly, a raven cawed overhead.Mercerwas back.Ithought about stopping for an update, butIcouldn’t.NotwhenIwas sureRyleywas just ahead.

Mercerducked between the trees like a shadow.Thewhisper of his wings shook the yellowing leaves on the aspen trees.

“Icouldn’t see or hear them, and then suddenlyIcould.Thereare five wolves, includingRobbie.Twoof the wolves are carrying people over their shoulders.OnehasRyleyand the other has another faun.Thatother one is playing a flute.”

“Didthey see you?”

“Idon’t think so,”Mercersaid as he banked around a tree trunk.

“Good.Howfar ahead?”

“Theyare almost at the road.Awolf is waiting there with the engine running on a beat-up truck.Idon’t recognize the vehicle, butIcan describe it, andIgot the license plate numbers.”

“Excellentwork.Getthat toVan,”Isaid. “Andtell him to send a vehicle out to meet us at the road in case we don’t get there in time.”

“Yes,Alpha,”Mercersaid as he shot up through the trees and out of sight.

Iwas already running, butIforced my legs to pump faster.Idoubted we’d overtakeRobbiein time, butIhad to try.Assoon asIsmelled vehicle exhaust,Iknew we were too late.Webroke out of the trees in time to seeRobbie’struck veer off the shoulder and onto the asphalt.

“Damnit,”Isaid on a panting breath.Mywolf wanted to race after them, butIknewI’dnever catch them.

“I’mback andIbrought company,”Mercershouted from overhead.Hislarge black wings thumped against the air as he raced down the highway after the truck.Besideme,Oakgrowled his displeasure, but he didn’t stop his mate.

“Company?”Iasked.

“Overthere.”Gagepointed to the blue streak undulating over the treetops along the side of the road. “SimonandOgdenare with him.”

“Wait, did you saySimonis there too?”Ilooked at the blue dragon again and sure enough,Simonwas up there, attached toOgden’sback with some kind of harness system.Icouldn’t imagine what’d draggedSimonout here.Ihoped he didn’t feel obligated to do this because we’d helped him andOgdena while back.I’dnever demand such a thing from him.Thiswas not a tit-for-tat situation.

Still,Ididn’t wantMercerout there alone, either.Yearsago, someone had shotMercerout of the air.Robbiehad blamed one of his friends, but even if that was true,IknewRobbiehad encouraged him to do it.Icouldn’t let that happen again.Mercerwould be safer if he had a companion in the air.

Fuck.Ihad to getRobbie.Ihad to stop him.He’dbeen causing problems for too long.

“Whereis the damn vehicleIasked for?—”

“It’scoming.Overthere,”Dillonsaid, pointing his nose toward the road leading to town.

Acar skidded around a curve and raced toward us.

“Whois that?”Gageasked.

Irecognized that car, from its dented green roof to the ticking noise in the engine thatIkept trying to get the owner to fix.Igroaned. “CliveRivers.”

“OneofSimon’sbrothers.”

“Believeme whenIsay he is nothing likeSimon.”Thatmuch was obvious asClivebrought the car to a squealing stop in front of us.Theback end of the car fishtailed, but he didn’t lose control.Iknew he didn’t always have that much luck, because he called the shop almost weekly to pull him out of a ditch.

Thepassenger door swung open andWarren, anotherRiversboy, jumped out.

“Hi,Alpha,”Warrensaid as he waved at us. “Here, you can sit up front.”

“Wecan’t all fit in there,”Isaid.

“Wecan ifIshift,”Warrenoffered with an eager smile.

Iwanted to argue with him, tell him and his brother to stay here while we took their car.Butwe were already losing time and an argument with those two would only waste more.Icould probably command them to stay here using my alpha power, but the idea of compelling them to do something against their will made me queasy.