Page 9 of Alphas Never Hide

“You…”Iwaved my hand at him. “You’reall, ‘I’ma lone wolf.’”I’ddropped my voice in an amazingly accurate imitation of him. “Bothliterally and figuratively. ‘Iwork alone.’Blahblah blah.”

“Idon’t sound like that.”Hisnostrils flared, and he clenched his teeth. “Andit is for everyone’s protection thatIdo this without involving the others.”

“Right.”Thisguy had me rolling my eyes so much and so hard they’d be falling out of my head soon. “Andyet, a lowly faun knocked you on your ass.Youthink you could take on those other turd robbing jerks all on your own?You’rea deluded ass.Adeluded ass with a death wish.Ineed to get away from here.Thisplace is teeming with your kind.”

Although, even asIsaid those words,Ifound it comforting to have him here with me.Iwasn’t sure what that meant.Hemight be a deluded ass with a death wish, butIsensedIcould trust him to keep me safe.

Aftermy outburst, though, we waited in silence for help to arrive.

Chapter Four

HAYDEN

Ryleywas wrong about me, butIdidn’t have to explain myself to him, even if part of me wanted to.

“Whatis that?”Ryleyshrieked suddenly.Hisgaze darted from side to side and up and down.

Myhead was still fuzzy, soIhadn’t seen what had alarmed him.Ishot to my feet and braced for a fight.HadRobbietrackedRyleyhere?IfIwas going to deal with my brother,IwishedRyleyhadn’t tried to leave a crater in my head.Buttonight was not my night.

Amassive black shadow blocked out the starry sky andIlooked up.Oh.NowIunderstood.ThankMagicwe weren’t under attack.NowthatIknew the threat wasn’t a threat,Iwobbled almost as much asRyley, but pretendedIwas just moving to lean against a tree.Ishouldn’t have stood so quickly, because nowIwas dizzy on top of having a throbbing headache.

“Hi,Ogden,”Icalled out to the newcomer. “We’redown here.”

Ihadn’t expectedVanto show up with a posse, butIshould have known better.Iyanked my blood-stained shirt back on and waited for him to make his way to us.Theleaves in the trees fluttered as the dragon’s small wings stirred the air and sent a few of them spiraling to the ground.

“Youknowthat?Whatis it?Adragon?”Ryleygestured toOgden, whose long snake-like body was weaving between the trees as he descended to us.

Assoon asOgdenwas on the ground, the dragon sniffed the air.

“You’rebleeding.DoIneed to eat him?”Ogdenasked me.Hisintense dragon’s eyes blinked slowly as he eyedRyley.Ryleylet out a faint “meep” as he hobbled to safety behind me.

“Don’teat him,”Isaid. “IsVancoming?”

“Soon,”Ogdenagreed.Hepointed atRyleywith the tip of his tail. “Areyou sure you can trust this one?”

Ishrugged. “We’llknow more whenVanandDillonget here, but my gut says yes.”

“OfcourseIcan be trusted,”Ryleysaid indignantly. “Thequestion is:CanItrust you?”

Ididn’t bother replying.We’dbeen over this already.

“Theysent me ahead to check things out since they have to drive all the way around the lake and that’ll take a few,”Ogdensaid, ignoringRyley’soutburst.He’dobviously dismissedRyleyas a threat.Hewrapped his long body into a coil, as if settling in to wait. “Canyou textSimonand let him know we’re safe?Mylittle kitty cat worries.”

“Youdon’t have to stay.”

ButbeforeIcould finish the words, he was already shaking his head. “We’llwait together,Alpha.”

Ogdenhad only moved toWillowLakerecently, but the otherWillowLakershad already brainwashed him into thinkingIwas the local alpha.

“I’mnot the alpha,”Imuttered, for the billionth time in my life.Actually, that would only work out to about a couple hundred thousand times a day for the last twelve years, so that number might be a bit light.

“Whateveryou say,Alpha.”Ogdenbatted his reptilian-like eyes at me.

Ididn’t bother correcting him again.Myhead hurt too much to argue.Isent the text toSimon,Ogden’smate, and got an immediate thumbs-up in response. “There.Simonknows you are with me.”

Isat down and leaned against a tree trunk.Ryleysank down behind me and huddled against my back, keeping me squarely between himself and the dragon.Italmost made me smile.Apparentlyhe was now trusting me to keep him safe.

ButIwas too tired to manage even that.Mymuscles burned.Myhead ached.Anda bone-deep weariness had me closing my eyes.Justfor a minute.WasIexhausted becauseI’dbeen running all night, becauseI’dbeen hunting forRobbiefor months, or becauseVanwas going to demand answers to questionsIdidn’t want to answer?Ididn’t know.Itwas probably all three.