Page 30 of Alphas Never Hide (Willow Lake Supernaturals #5)

Chapter Thirty

RYLEY

I hadn’t been this close to vomiting because of nerves since I left my herd all those years ago. Why on earth had I thought this would be a good idea? Nausea was not fun. Not to anyone.

The first three competitors had already gone, with another four, including me, yet to go. Adrian , who used to hunt fugitives when he worked with the Supernatural Council , was the seeker. The rest of us were supposed to hide and evade him as long as possible. Adrian found the first two within minutes. The last one, a little lizard shifter of some kind, had evaded being caught for a full fifteen minutes. Waiting for them to return had been nerve-wracking. I wouldn’t last that long. No way.

“ Our next competitor is Ryley Bell ,” Jeremy said after consulting his clipboard.

I staggered toward the starting line. I wasn’t drunk, but my limbs weren’t functioning properly. It might be because I was teetering on the edge of hyperventilating. If I passed out, I wouldn’t have to do this.

“ Are you ready?” Jeremy asked.

I gave him a shaky thumbs up. If living in the herd had taught me anything, it was that I was stronger than I thought. I would do this. I’d hidden my magic from mundane humans for years. I could hide from a supe for a few minutes. Besides , it didn’t matter if I came in last. Someone had to. It’d be fine.

“ Ry ? You okay?” Hayden asked from the sidelines.

I waved him off.

I needed a plan. Right . Now what?

Fuck a duckle, I sucked at this.

I just needed to break this down. First step, I’d go into the trees. Then all I’d need to do was find a pretty little shrub and sit down beside it. Yeah . That’d be fine. I could do that. Easy as pie. A piece of cake. A picnic.

I needed to quit thinking about food. It wasn’t helping my stomach settle.

“ Here is the tracker,” Jeremy said, handing me a funny little pin to attach to my shirt.

My hands shook as I tried to attach it. Hayden finally stepped forward to help. How embarrassing. Then Jeremy checked the signal on his phone.

“ We’re good,” Jeremy said. “ Ready ?”

I nodded. I couldn’t do words.

“ Adrian , go into your cone of silence.”

Adrian grumbled something about Jeremy making it up to him later, but he put on the helmet as requested. Black construction paper covered the visor so he couldn’t see out. Jeremy’s cheeks flushed as he patted Adrian’s back. A small smile played over his mouth.

Jeremy cleared his throat and glanced at his clipboard again, as if needing to remember what he was supposed to be doing. “ Right . Like the others, you’ll have a head start, then Adrian will go into the woods to find you after five minutes.” Jeremy held up a large metal bell. Based on what I’d seen of Oak’s work in the demonstration earlier, I thought it was one of his. And why, for the love of Magic , was I even looking at the bell? I was about to be hunted through the woods. “ Do you want some music to hype you up?”

No one else had agreed to the music, but it couldn’t hurt. “ Sure .”

“ Yes ! Finally !” Jeremy lowered the bell and scooped up his phone. He tapped on the screen and “ Lose Yourself ” by Eminem blasted over two small portable speakers. He waited until the chorus before he shouted, “ On your mark. Get set. Go hide!”

He clanged the bell. I shifted and galloped to the trees. As soon as I was away from the crowd’s eyes, I let out a deep breath. This would all be over in a few minutes. Then I could go drink a metric ton of ouzo and promise myself I’d never do this again.

The shrub I hid behind still had most of its leaves, so I was a little hidden from view. But that would be too easy. I wandered through the trees to find another spot. I didn’t want to make it too easy. Huh . Now that I was doing it, it didn’t seem so scary.

I could do this. Hide . Make it a little tricky for Adrian .

I walked a little further. They’d be sending him after me soon. I should hunker down somewhere.

What was that noise?

Shit . He must already be in the woods. Five minutes had passed fast. A twig cracked. Leaves rustled. I grinned, ready to jump out and surprise my hunter. He was getting closer and closer and…

“ Oomph . Ouch . Son of a goat herder’s daughter.”

I staggered, reaching for my head. Then I fell to my ass. What the ever-loving fuck had hit me? It was lucky I had shifted because my horns protected me from the brunt of the hit, but I was still dazed.

“ Grab him. Let’s go.”

Oh no. I recognized that bastard’s voice. But how? I was still within the Willow Lake boundary, and Robbie was supposed to be on the run. I blinked to clear my bleary sight, as rough hands hauled me to my feet.

“ It was nice of him to come out and greet us like a good little pet. Now , let’s go before he tries to run away again.”

Then someone came at me with something black.

I batted them away with my free hand, but they were stronger and faster. Fucking fuckity foo. There had to be a way out of here. I needed to escape. Then my gaze caught on something that made me freeze. Standing behind Robbie and his buddies was a face I hadn’t seen in years.

Conny was here.

HAYDEN

Ryley disappeared into the woods, and it took everything I had not to follow him. A digital timer was counting down the five minutes until Adrian would go after Ryley . It seemed to flick through the numbers more slowly than normal.

Finally , the timer got to zero.

Jeremy tapped Adrian’s shoulder. He whipped off the helmet and rushed into the woods. Jeremy glanced at his phone. Frowning , he tapped on the screen. Then he did it again.

“ Weird .”

“ What ? What’s weird?”

“ Ryley’s tracker isn’t showing up on my screen.” He shrugged. “ Must be a malfunction or something.”

The hairs on the back of my neck and arms all lifted at once. “ What did you say?”

“ The tracker. It isn’t on my screen anymore. Could it be because of his magic?”

I scanned the trees. Could that be the reason? I wanted to think so.

A portal opened beside us, and Jake and Gage rushed through it. Jake’s face had a streak of black paint, and the sight made my heart sink. Jake only used black when he was channeling a vision. I froze.

“ Stop everything,” Gage said. “ Jake had a vision. We were on our way here to tell you when I felt someone breach the town boundary.”

Gasps rose from the supes gathered around us. Then people were moving. Isaac abruptly stopped arguing with the frog shifter and shifted seamlessly into his centaur form. The frog shifted too and leaped on Isaac’s back.

Under different circumstances, Isaac batting at the smaller shifter to dislodge him would have been funny, but no one was laughing right now. Oak scooped Mercer into his arms and growled at anyone who got close. Jeremy’s white glowing magic flickered to life around Adrian , covering him in a protective shield. Brodie pulled a trembling Dakota close. Then they were both wrapped in Weston’s arms. Flames surged to life in Van’s and Dillon’s eyes, and a fireball burst to life above Ash’s open hand.

“ The vision?” I choked out.

Gage’s face was grim. “ It showed Ryley with Robbie .”

I didn’t wait to find out what else he had to say. I raced to the trees, shifting as I ran, needing to find my mate. Doc’s shouts, demanding I return and warning that I wasn’t strong enough to fight, were lost under the pounding of my paws across the ground.

As I ran, I tracked Ryley’s scent. It meandered through the trees. Given how potent the trail was, I knew Ryley hadn’t used his magic. Was it because he couldn’t?

Nothing about his scent said he was frightened. He’d been anxious before the event started, but that seemed to have faded once he was in the trees. I doubted his scent would be so normal if he’d come across Robbie out here.

I didn’t detect Robbie’s scent anywhere, so hopefully the vision hadn’t come true yet. If I thought the Eternal Magic would help me, I’d be begging and praying and promising her the world to keep my mate away from my brother. But I’d tried to do that too many times in the past and she’d never listened .

I found Adrian a few minutes later. He was sniffing and pawing at the ground, just inside the town’s perimeter. The boundary hummed beside us. I’d never felt the edge so vividly before. It must have been a by-product of the alpha magic.

“ What ? What did you find?”

“ Ryley’s tracker, I think.”

“ Move out of the way,” I demanded, and Adrian jumped away from the object. I pressed my nose to the tiny piece of plastic and circuitry. “ His scent is there, but it’s fainter than it should be.”

I inhaled deeply, trying to find his scent again in the vegetation around the area. It wasn’t there. Had he gone over the boundary? Why would he do that? And why the hell would he drop his tracker?

It had to be a joke, right?

Any minute now, he was going to jump out of the trees and laugh at us. We’d tell this story for the rest of our lives, and he’d tease me about how worked up I’d been when he finally showed himself. And I’d laugh right along with him and praise him for how amazing his magic was and…

I crossed the boundary to look for more clues. A whisper of Ryley’s scent floated in the air. And …

Fuck .

Robbie . Robbie had been here too. Right here. Right where Ryley had been but wasn’t anymore. My murderous brother had my precious mate. My heart felt like it’d been ripped from my body.

Then I lifted my snout to the sky and howled. I howled in anger. I howled in fear. I howled for my pack. But mostly, I howled for my mate.

The air filled with the answering cries from my pack. They would help. We’re here , they said. We’re coming, they said. Whatever you need, they said. And feet pounded through the forest toward me.

I wasn’t alone.