Page 35 of Alphas Never Hide (Willow Lake Supernaturals #5)

Chapter Thirty-Five

HAYDEN

“ Here , Alpha ,” Ogden shouted from the ditch.

Simon hunched over his mate’s back like a jockey riding a horse to the finish line. The dragon’s long snake-like body was whipping through the air alongside the car as he guided us to where Robbie had taken Ryley . When they had found us a minute ago, Simon said Mercer was keeping watch on Robbie’s truck while they came to direct us.

“ Turn , Clive . Turn !” Simon yelled.

Clive didn’t slow. Had he not heard?

“ Turn now,” I yelled.

Clive hooted as he brushed the brakes with barely enough force to slow us. We almost blasted through the intersection before the car swung around the corner. Warren’s front claws grappled to hang onto the vinyl dashboard while his back ones ripped through my jeans as he held on so he wouldn’t go flying into Clive’s lap .

I tore my eyes away from the road to grab the cat in my lap, while Warren laughed like this was the most fun he’d ever had. The tires slid over the ground as branches and leaves from overgrown trees batted at the car.

I glanced up. My mistake. That wasn’t it. Clive had just driven off the road and was racing down the ditch.

“ Who gave this guy his license?” Dillon muttered.

“ Be careful,” I ordered Clive .

“ Their vehicle is up ahead,” Clive said. “ I can catch them.”

So he didn’t slow down, and I didn’t try to make him. I wanted to get to that truck more than anyone. But if we couldn’t stop them on the road, we needed a plan for what would happen when we finally had Robbie cornered.

“ Dillon , send Van an update,” I said as Clive finally maneuvered the car back onto the asphalt.

“ Already done,” the hellhound said.

I looked at Gage . “ Are you strong enough to keep going?”

After the demon had bonded with Willow Lake , he’d complained that his magic was weaker when he left the town boundaries. I didn’t want him out there if he couldn’t hold his own.

“ It’s better than normal. Might be because you’re here.”

I frowned. “ Why would that make any difference?”

“ Because you’re my alpha.”

Huh . Right . I supposed I was. I hadn’t known if a pack bond would work the same for a demon. Apparently , it did.

“ Van and the others are a few minutes behind us.” Dillon looked up from his phone. “ They were already on their way when I texted.”

Oak still didn’t say anything. He looked like he wished he was anywhere but here. If I could, I’d keep him out of the fighting.

“ If Robbie stops and makes a run for the woods, we should wait until they get here to go after him,” Gage said, even though I knew he’d never have listened to that same advice if our situations were reversed.

Because what if Robbie disappeared again? I might be able to track him now that Ryley was with him, but I couldn’t risk it. I considered my options.

The Rivers boys were all the size of house cats, but they each had different colorings. Warren was a brown tabby, and I remembered Clive’s fur as being orange. With the fall foliage, Clive would be less noticeable than if we’d been out here in the summer, but Warren still had the best chance of blending in.

“ We think Robbie’s going to another tunnel he built on his pack lands. I doubt we’ll be able to stop them before they exit their vehicle. So , Clive , while we get to wherever Robbie’s going, you stay here with Oak ,” I said. “ When the others get here, they’ll be able to track us.”

“ No way,” Clive said. “ I’m better at this kind of shit than Warren .”

“ We aren’t doing anything right away. We’ll look around. I don’t want to confront Robbie until the others get here.” It killed me to say that, but it was the right thing to do. We didn’t know how many followers Robbie had out here. I thought most of his pack had disbanded and moved on, but what if they hadn’t? And others might have joined him since.

Too many people were too easily manipulated by anger, lies, and bigotry, and Magic knew Robbie used those to his advantage. It was wild the shit people believed. Too often those misguided beliefs were twisted into a justification for people’s heinous actions. He could have riled up a whole new mob of angry, entitled assholes to follow him by now.

Clive kept his mouth shut, but I figured he’d try to change my mind again once we stopped. In the 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.

“ If he drops into a tunnel, that’s going to be a problem,” Gage said.

“ I know.”

If they had enough food stored down there, they could defend the tunnel indefinitely. My dad had once told me of a famous battle in ancient Greece where a small army defended a narrow passage against a much larger one. This would be no different. If Robbie’s new 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. Robbie could easily pick us off one by one as we tried to get down there with him.

“ A tunnel would leave us with three options,” I said. “ One , we wait for him to come out, which seems unlikely, and I’m not waiting around for him. He wouldn’t retreat to a tunnel if he didn’t think he’d be safe down there. That means he has either food or an exit strategy.” I don’t know why I mentioned that option. I’d never leave Ryley in his hands. As it was, I was 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’m reluctant to mess with their oxygen. And , lastly, I go in and negotiate with him.” That was my favorite option.

“ There are more options than that,” Gage protested. “ Common sense says we wait for Ash’s brother Birch to get into town. He’s already coming here when he finishes up with the SC . As an earth mage, he could have that tunnel exposed in a day, two at most.”

Before I registered what I was doing, I swung around and bared my teeth, which wasn’t the smartest thing to do to a powerful demon. “ I won’t wait around for days. He has my mate. My mate!”

“ I understand.” Gage nodded. “ At least wait until the others arrive before you decide on what action to take.”

I would go into that damn tunnel. I didn’t care what anyone else said. I needed to see Ryley . I needed to make sure he was alive. He had to be.

I swallowed. I hadn’t realized my parents were dead until Van had sent someone to wake me in the middle of the night, so he could tell me. I prayed it’d be different with Ryley because he was my mate, but what if it wasn’t? What if my belief that I could feel him was just wishful thinking?

I had to know.

And this confrontation was a long time coming. I couldn’t hide any longer. I’d done that long enough. Alphas didn’t hide.

“ Fine ,” I agreed. “ After we know what we’re dealing with, I’ll wait until Van and the others arrive. In the meantime, we’ll need to scour the forest for a back door to the tunnel.”

“ On it,” Oak said.

“ I’ll go with him,” Clive said decisively, still irritated at being sidelined earlier.

“ Look for large clearings. The tunnel opening we found the other day was in a cleared area. They must have taken the trees down when they built the tunnel entrance.”

“ This is all just a bunch of wild speculation. We don’t know where he is going or what his plan is. Hell , there might not even be another tunnel,” Dillon said.

Yeah . He was right, but I needed to do something. Otherwise , I’d just feel like my life was spinning out of control. I needed some way to get control. And coming up with schemes to overcome all the various scenarios we could imagine felt like I was taking action. Who knew? Maybe one of them would actually come true and we’d be prepared.

From the corner of my eye, I saw movement on the side of the road. What was?—?

“ Watch out!” I shouted.

Out of nowhere, a tree fell in front of us. Clive slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. The tall aspen crashed onto the hood in an explosion of yellow leaves. The windshield shattered. Warren shrieked as he went flying from my lap. My head slammed into the dashboard.

I blinked once. Twice . The side of my face felt wet and sore, reminding me of when Ryley had kicked me the first time we met. Damn it. The last thing I needed was another concussion. From the seat behind, I heard grunts and groans. Clive was already reaching for his brother, who’d ended up in the tree and, as far as I could tell, was still breathing. We were all alive.

I wrenched the door open and shifted before my paws hit the ground.

“ Stay with them until help arrives,” I said to Ogden , who’d shifted and was telling someone, hopefully Van , about the accident. Simon rushed to his brothers, muttering something about how they were running out of lives and how their mama wouldn’t be happy.

I leaped into the forest by the side of the road. That tree hadn’t fallen on its own, and whoever had done it was going to tell me everything I needed to know about where Robbie was going.