Page 25 of Alphas Never Hide (Willow Lake Supernaturals #5)

Chapter Twenty-Five

RYLEY

No one knew Hayden and I were staying together tonight.

So , as we snuck back to the room around midnight, leaving the others laughing and chatting in the pub and the grounds around the inn, it felt like we were doing something illicit, even though everyone had seen us holding hands all night. I didn’t think anyone would be surprised when we ended up in the same room.

The mood in the pub had been joyful, but in a contented, let-out-a-deep-breath-at-the-end-of-a-long-day sort of way. They were happy to have Hayden accept he was their alpha, but it hadn’t been a surprise. They’d known. It must be some kind of innate connection. And , when I’d watched him make his rounds through the people who’d gathered here tonight, I knew he was well-loved and respected. How had he avoided being alpha before now? Because it was obvious that he’d been the leader here for a long time .

I wasn’t sure what to think about Hayden saying I was a part of his pack, but his words didn’t feel wrong. Maybe some innate connection had formed between Hayden and me now too.

Could I be in a pack led by a wolf when I was half-human and half-faun? Hayden seemed to think so. So , that brought me to the next question: Did I even want to be in a pack?

When I’d left my herd, I swore never to live with supes again. But being surrounded by mundane humans all the time hadn’t been an easy way to live either. Fauns were herd animals. And supes were supposed to use their magic, even if they didn’t have much.

If I stayed in this pack, what would that mean? I found Hayden attractive, but what happened after we sated our lust and reality set in? Hayden would realize that as the alpha he’d need to have an appropriate mate. Someone who was strong and full of magic and who people looked up to and respected. A half-human, half-faun guy with wonky magic wouldn’t be appropriate. My birth pack hadn’t wanted me, so I couldn’t see a powerful pack like Hayden’s wanting someone like me in a position of influence. They had hellhounds, a demon guardian, a damn oracle, and Magic knew who else living here. Hayden could do so much better than me.

Could I stomach hanging around in Willow Lake if Hayden and I weren’t together? A sharp pang shot through my chest at the thought of Hayden’s future rejection. And that was just from me thinking about the possibility. If I had to live through it, it would be so much worse.

But I couldn’t answer any of those questions tonight .

Tonight , I wanted to kiss and be kissed. I wanted us to hold one another. And if we went further than kissing and embracing, it would be even better.

As soon as we were in the room, Hayden shut and locked the door. He grabbed me and spun me around. He grinned down at me as he crowded me against the door. His body pressed against me as his mouth smashed mine in the hottest kiss I’d ever experienced.

Holy Mother of Magic .

His hand cupped my face as his tongue swept over mine. He tasted like the lager he’d drunk at the pub.

Oh no, I hoped the taste of what I’d eaten for supper wouldn’t turn him off.

What had I been thinking ordering the veggie lasagna and garlic toast? I’d been so happy to see the vegetarian options on the menu I’d ordered with my stomach and not my head. Because I’d known we were going to kiss, and I never should have eaten something with garlic in it.

Hayden didn’t pull away, though. He didn’t demand I brush my teeth either. So , maybe it was okay.

He reached down and wrapped his arms around me, and I forgot to be worried about what I tasted like. Our bodies pressed together, without even a sliver of space between us, but I still arched into his solid, muscular body, needing to feel more of him. I wanted to wrap my legs around his hips and grind against him. I really wanted to lose our clothes.

So much for this being a simple, pleasant, and exploratory kiss to see if we wanted to do anything more. I was being devoured, and I was here for it.

“ Ryley ,” Hayden whispered against my mouth. Then he raised his head just enough to look into my eyes. His lips were red and wet, and I wanted them on mine again. Now . “ I don’t usually like kissing, but it’s like I need to kiss you. Taste you. My wolf is still a royal bastard right now. I can feel him there under my skin, but I don’t think I can shift yet, even after tonight.” He cleared his throat, obviously not wanting to talk about the whole alpha thing. “ But I can feel my magic writhing inside. It wants to be close to you too.”

“ We can stop,” I offered. “ I don’t want you to feel like we have to do this now, tonight. If your wolf still isn’t?—”

“ Do you want to stop?” Hayden interrupted me. His gaze locked on mine. I knew he’d stop if I said we should. But fuck that. I was only offering because I didn’t want him to feel pressured into anything when so much had happened already tonight. No , I didn’t want to stop. Not now. If this kiss was a glimpse of how sex was going to be between us, sign me up.

“ No ,” I confessed.

“ Me neither.” Then his mouth was on mine again.

I reached for his shirt as he reached for mine. Then we were shedding clothing and stumbling toward the king-sized bed. I remembered Jake helpfully listing all the toiletries they’d placed in the rooms. Yeah . Had he known we’d end up in bed together tonight? Was that why he mentioned it? He was the town’s oracle, so it was possible.

Then again, those people in the pub would have picked up on our attraction, even if we hadn’t held hands all night, which we had. That was the problem with hanging out with supes instead of mundane humans. There were too many of them who could pick up on our interest in one another.

Yeah . Okay . I didn’t want to think about those guys smelling how aroused I was around Hayden . I had much better things to think about right now.

“ There is lube in the bedside table,” I said.

Hayden paused. His gaze darted to the table. “ Right . It’s been a while. I forgot…”

“ It doesn’t matter, since it is here.” And we didn’t need condoms. That was the benefit of having sex with other supes, no sex-related infections. It’d been a long time since I’d had sex with another supe. I’d surrounded myself with humans and lived as one for so long that I’d almost asked Jake about condoms, too, when he’d mentioned the lube. But nope. We didn’t need those. I would be inside Hayden . Bare . Skin to skin.

Unless he wanted to top. I could work with that too, but I preferred topping. Especially tonight. I wanted Hayden to have the best sex of his life. I wanted him to lose himself under my touch. I wanted to unravel his control. But mostly, I wanted to take care of him.

Yes , I could do that in either position, but when I’d imagined this moment, I envisioned having him under me.

“ Do you bottom?”

Hayden blinked, as if he couldn’t process my question. “ No one has ever asked me that before. I’ve never done it. Everyone makes assumptions.” His cheeks darkened as his words trailed off.

“ Do you want to try it?” Shit . Did that sound like I was pressuring him? “ If you don’t, that’s fine.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and I wanted to lick it, just because it was there. I wanted to do everything with this man. But I wanted to wrap him up in my arms and give him the world more than anything else. Ever since I’d met him, I’d watched how people were with him. When was the last time he wasn’t expected to be in charge? Not since his parents’ deaths, I bet. Even when his friends were corralling him into going to the doctor, there was an unspoken understanding that he still maintained a position of power.

I didn’t want him to feel like he always had to be in charge with me too. Yes , I liked how he’d backed me up against the door—that shit was something straight out of a movie—but I didn’t need that all the time. And something inside me demanded that I take care of him, cherish him, prove to him I cared about him, not as the alpha, but as a man.

I hadn’t realized I wanted that until this very moment. But now that I’d had that thought, it felt right.

“ You’d want that?” Hayden swallowed hard. His cheeks had darkened. Yeah . I thought he rather liked that idea. “ With me?”

“ Hell yeah,” I said. “ Come on, let’s get these clothes off and I’ll blow your mind.”

He stared at me for a long moment before nodding.

I tugged off the rest of my clothes, not caring where they landed. I crossed to the bedside table and found the lube. It wasn’t the biggest container I’d ever seen, but it’d work for tonight. Then I flicked back the top blankets and sat down.

Hayden was still standing there, looking so damn vulnerable. He hadn’t removed the rest of his clothes yet. Hell , he hadn’t even moved.

“ Hey . If you change your mind or don’t like what I’m doing or whatever, we’ll stop. We can do something else or stop everything completely.”

He licked his lips. “ Yeah . Okay .”

“ Now , come over here and I’ll help you get undressed.” My fingers itched to slip over his skin and trace all the dips and hollows on his body. I wanted to watch how his chest rose and fell when he was on the brink of coming. I wanted to slide my tongue along the seam where his leg met his body and taste him there before dipping lower and lapping at his entrance. I wanted to do everything .

He closed the distance between us and stood between my legs. I looked up at him and rested my hand against his stomach. As soon as our skin connected, he let out a shaky exhale. Then he smiled down at me and pushed my glasses up.

“ Oh , right, I should…” I reached for my glasses.

“ Leave them,” he said.

“ I can do that.” I grinned at him as I reached for the button on his jeans.

He rested his hand on my shoulder. A solid, warm weight. He didn’t move me or change what I was doing; the touch was about connection. He watched as I slid the zipper down. He wasn’t wearing underwear. Oh . Now that was fun. His stomach quivered as I leaned forward and pressed my nose against the triangle of skin I’d exposed. His cock was hard, leaning to the right, so I nuzzled it until it jerked .

“ Ryley ,” Hayden groaned. His fingers grasped my hair as he rocked his hips closer to my face. I didn’t know when he’d pushed his hand into my hair, but I loved that he had.

I smiled against his warm, musky skin as I peeled his jeans down a little more, revealing more of his length. It was big, beautiful, and so fucking tempting. Tonight , I wanted to spoil him. Take my time with him. I definitely didn’t want him to come yet. Eventually , yes… but not yet.