Page 87 of Alphas Never Hide

Oakstill didn’t say anything.Helooked like he wished he was anywhere but here.IfIcould,I’dkeep him out of the fighting.

“IfRobbiestops and makes a run for the woods, we should wait until they get here to go after him,”Gagesaid, even thoughIknew he’d never have listened to that same advice if our situations were reversed.

Becausewhat ifRobbiedisappeared again?Imight be able to track him now thatRyleywas with him, butIcouldn’t risk it.Iconsidered my options.

TheRiversboys were all the size of house cats, but they each had different colorings.Warrenwas a brown tabby, andIrememberedClive’sfur as being orange.Withthe fall foliage,Clivewould be less noticeable than if we’d been out here in the summer, butWarrenstill had the best chance of blending in.

“WethinkRobbie’sgoing to another tunnel he built on his pack lands.Idoubt we’ll be able to stop them before they exit their vehicle.So,Clive, while we get to whereverRobbie’sgoing, you stay here withOak,”Isaid. “Whenthe others get here, they’ll be able to track us.”

“Noway,”Clivesaid. “I’mbetter at this kind of shit thanWarren.”

“Wearen’t doing anything right away.We’lllook around.Idon’t want to confrontRobbieuntil the others get here.”Itkilled me to say that, but it was the right thing to do.Wedidn’t know how many followersRobbiehad out here.Ithought most of his pack had disbanded and movedon, but what if they hadn’t?Andothers might have joined him since.

Toomany people were too easily manipulated by anger, lies, and bigotry, andMagicknewRobbieused those to his advantage.Itwas wild the shit people believed.Toooften those misguided beliefs were twisted into a justification for people’s heinous actions.Hecould have riled up a whole new mob of angry, entitled assholes to follow him by now.

Clivekept his mouth shut, butIfigured he’d try to change my mind again once we stopped.Inthe meantime, my gaze clung to the tailgate of the truck in front of us, while my nose hunted for any little hint of my mate’s scent.

“Ifhe drops into a tunnel, that’s going to be a problem,”Gagesaid.

“Iknow.”

Ifthey had enough food stored down there, they could defend the tunnel indefinitely.Mydad had once told me of a famous battle in ancientGreecewhere a small army defended a narrow passage against a much larger one.Thiswould be no different.IfRobbie’snew bolt hole was like the other tunnel we’d found, the entrance would only be wide enough for one person to enter at a time.Robbiecould easily pick us off one by one as we tried to get down there with him.

“Atunnel would leave us with three options,”Isaid. “One, we wait for him to come out, which seems unlikely, andI’mnot waiting around for him.Hewouldn’t retreat to a tunnel if he didn’t think he’d be safe down there.Thatmeanshe has either food or an exit strategy.”Idon’t know whyImentioned that option.I’dnever leaveRyleyin his hands.Asit was,Iwas barely resisting the urge to rip the world apart to get my mate back. “Two, we toss some kind of smoke bomb or something down there to flush him out, but if the tunnel is anything like the last one, there will be no air vents.I’mreluctant to mess with their oxygen.And, lastly,Igo in and negotiate with him.”Thatwas my favorite option.

“Thereare more options than that,”Gageprotested. “Commonsense says we wait forAsh’sbrotherBirchto get into town.He’salready coming here when he finishes up with theSC.Asan earth mage, he could have that tunnel exposed in a day, two at most.”

BeforeIregistered whatIwas doing,Iswung around and bared my teeth, which wasn’t the smartest thing to do to a powerful demon. “Iwon’t wait around for days.Hehas my mate.Mymate!”

“Iunderstand.”Gagenodded. “Atleast wait until the others arrive before you decide on what action to take.”

Iwould go into that damn tunnel.Ididn’t care what anyone else said.Ineeded to seeRyley.Ineeded to make sure he was alive.Hehad to be.

Iswallowed.Ihadn’t realized my parents were dead untilVanhad sent someone to wake me in the middle of the night, so he could tell me.Iprayed it’d be different withRyleybecause he was my mate, but what if it wasn’t?Whatif my belief thatIcould feel him was just wishful thinking?

Ihad to know.

Andthis confrontation was a long time coming.Icouldn’t hide any longer.I’ddone that long enough.Alphasdidn’t hide.

“Fine,”Iagreed. “Afterwe know what we’re dealing with,I’llwait untilVanand the others arrive.Inthe meantime, we’ll need to scour the forest for a back door to the tunnel.”

“Onit,”Oaksaid.

“I’llgo with him,”Clivesaid decisively, still irritated at being sidelined earlier.

“Lookfor large clearings.Thetunnel opening we found the other day was in a cleared area.Theymust have taken the trees down when they built the tunnel entrance.”

“Thisis all just a bunch of wild speculation.Wedon’t know where he is going or what his plan is.Hell, there might not even be another tunnel,”Dillonsaid.

Yeah.Hewas right, butIneeded to do something.Otherwise,I’djust feel like my life was spinning out of control.Ineeded some way to get control.Andcoming up with schemes to overcome all the various scenarios we could imagine felt likeIwas taking action.Whoknew?Maybeone of them would actually come true and we’d be prepared.

Fromthe corner of my eye,Isaw movement on the side of the road.Whatwas?—?

“Watchout!”Ishouted.

Outof nowhere, a tree fell in front of us.Cliveslammed on the brakes, but it was too late.Thetall aspen crashed onto the hood in an explosion of yellow leaves.Thewindshield shattered.Warrenshrieked as he went flying from my lap.Myhead slammed into the dashboard.

Iblinked once.Twice.Theside of my face felt wet andsore, reminding me of whenRyleyhad kicked me the first time we met.Damnit.Thelast thingIneeded was another concussion.Fromthe seat behind,Iheard grunts and groans.Clivewas already reaching for his brother, who’d ended up in the tree and, as far asIcould tell, was still breathing.Wewere all alive.