Page 39 of Alphas Never Hide (Willow Lake Supernaturals #5)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

HAYDEN

The party that night wasn’t planned, at least not by me. But somehow Ryley and I ended up at the Willow Lake Inn , along with almost everyone else in Willow Lake . I’d wanted to be at the police station with Van and Dillon while they interviewed Robbie and his men, but they’d turned me away at the Supernatural Council’s request. Van promised I could talk to them tomorrow under the SC’s supervision. I supposed their precautions made sense given the number of criminals killed during transport to SC prisoner facilities this summer, but still it didn’t make a lot of sense if you thought about it. If I had wanted Robbie and his people dead, they wouldn’t be breathing right now.

But at least they were in custody. Now . Finally .

The SC had also decided only they could gather evidence from the tunnels, which sounded like they just wanted to come in and throw their weight around to get credit for something they had nothing to do with. But whatever. Van didn’t seem bothered. Gage was chill about it too. So , I let it go.

Really , it was just a relief to have it all over.

At least the SC had agreed to act swiftly to carry out justice after they’d gone through Robbie’s secret lairs. Although no trial date had been announced, I already knew I’d attend. I wanted to see him get what he deserved, but that wasn’t the only reason. There was still some tiny part of me that thought of him as my brother, my family. It was fucked up.

So , instead of dwelling on the past and things I couldn’t change, I’d spent the day thinking about healing and hope for the future by spending time with some of Robbie’s victims. Their relief at Robbie’s capture was overwhelming, and I hated that it’d taken so long to give them their sense of security back.

Brodie and Dakota were still working through their trauma, as were Conny and Gretchen , but they were getting there. I made sure they knew they were all welcome to stay in Willow Lake as long as they wanted, forever even, and I hoped they felt a little safer now. The Jahaller was still struggling to move, but Doc assured me he was improving. Mercer and Oak were all smiles—especially Mercer , who was giving away bottles of glitter to everyone who walked in the door to their shop so they could spread the joy throughout town. I wasn’t sure I equated glitter to happiness, but I could see why it’d appeal to a raven shifter. Jake was excited to discuss the renovations to the inn, and Gage just looked happy that his mate was happy. I’d found Ash and Dillon at the Flying Rowan Café on Dillon’s lunch break from the police station. Ash was experimenting with a new pizza topping combination that would have set my tongue on fire but seemed to appeal to both of them. And I’d even stopped by the land Ogden and Simon had purchased to chat with them about their plans. They hadn’t been as directly injured by Robbie as some of the others, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Ogden would have been safe if Robbie’s activities hadn’t attracted kidnapping assholes to the area.

The list of those who had been hurt could have been so much shorter if I’d acted sooner. That was something I’d have to live with for the rest of my life. In the meantime, I would work to try to make it up to my pack every day.

But strangely, it also wasn’t all bad. If Robbie’s men hadn’t stolen that whistle from the inn, Simon and Ogden might never have met. That was the same for Jeremy and Adrian . And Robbie’s action was the catalyst that brought Ryley into my life too. I could never regret that. Not even a little bit. Ryley was the center of my world. I just wished he hadn’t needed to endure being abducted and held prisoner for us to find one another.

“ Robbie’s still not talking,” Van said, dropping into a chair across the table from me. He hadn’t even taken the time to order a drink yet. It almost felt like he was reporting to me. And now that I was officially the alpha, I supposed I warranted getting my own personal update.

“ Not surprising,” I said.

“ The SC is doing some good work,” Van continued, “despite Robbie’s refusal to cooperate. They tracked down the hotel where Ryley and Conny’s abductions took place and found the guy who helped Robbie . He was the front desk clerk, who supplemented his income with a side hustle in supernatural trafficking. Their vehicles were his finder’s fees. Unfortunately , the vehicles are gone. They were sold to someone overseas, so we can’t recover them. The guy had a ledger book going back about five years, though, so that’s useful. The records suggest three vampires were taken around the same time as Ryley .”

“ I wonder if that’s who Robbie was alluding to when he talked about his pets. You don’t think there are more tunnels out there that we haven’t found yet, do you?” I frowned.

“ The SC is bringing in an earth mage to test the entire property. If there is another tunnel, they’ll find it. We’ve requested Birch Avery , but it might be someone else who comes.”

“ I wish I could say Robbie might talk to me, but I doubt he will,” I said.

I honestly didn’t understand how Robbie had convinced so many people to sign up to be his minions. Even all those years ago when the pack had split apart, it’d never made sense to me. Was it just luck that he’d gotten this far and found so many people to join him? I wasn’t sure that it was, and that scared me, because I’d never considered him much of a strategist, and yet he’d done a lot of damage for a long time without getting caught. But maybe feeding people’s anger and prejudice overcame whatever shortcomings he had as a leader and attracted the people who could make his visions a reality. Even with some of his people talking to the authorities now, I doubted we’d ever really know the full story.

But at least he couldn’t hurt anyone else now .

“ The others are spilling their guts,” Van said. “ So that’s helping.”

That was true. Without a faun’s magic to keep them hidden, they’d been easy to round up in the woods. From the moment they found out about Robbie’s arrest, they’d started talking and hadn’t shut up about everything they knew, even before seeing Van and Dillon in their fiery hellhound forms.

One of Robbie’s cohorts had returned Conny’s flute and then he’d taken us around to all the tunnels. I swear I must have walked over some of those entrances a hundred times, but Conny’s magic had kept them hidden from me.

That’s when we found Gretchen . We found a few other supes down there too, but none of them had stuck around after being interviewed. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Willow Lake . And if they found it so easy to leave, they weren’t meant to stay.

That was one thing that had become increasingly clear in the short time I’d been alpha. Willow Lake chose us as much as we chose her. And everyone in this room right now, including Conny and Gretchen , had been invited to stay by Willow Lake herself.

“ Has anyone said anything else? Anything new?”

Van grimaced.

“ What ?”

“ Someone from the old pack was still with Robbie ,” Van said slowly.

I nodded slowly. The way Van was drawing this out was making my skin itch like it was too tight .

“ He was there when your parents died. He confirmed Robbie orchestrated your parents’ deaths.”

I sucked in a breath. I don’t know why I was shocked. I’d known… I’d fucking known. But having confirmation…

“ Apparently , Robbie thought that if he was with your dad when he died that your dad’s alpha power would pass to him.”

My eyes stung. We sat in silence for a moment. Ryley’s hand slipped into mine. He squeezed. The rest of the pub bustled with activity around us. Being surrounded by my pack soothed me in a way I’d never thought possible. I let their energy, acceptance, and love fill me until I could breathe normally again.

Jeremy brought a tray filled with drinks and lowered it to the table, pushing Paws aside until he had to jump out of the way.

“ Watch what you’re doing with that thing,” Paws grumbled.

“ Grab your drinks, people, I gotta get back up there,” Jeremy said. Everyone swiped a drink.

Jake had Alice and Jeremy working with him behind the bar filling drink orders, while Dakota and Brodie were both bustling around in the kitchen prepping food. Most nights, Dakota sat on a stool and watched Brodie , but he was scurrying around just as fast as Brodie was tonight. Like last night, the doors to the parking lot had been propped open and people were sitting all over the place inside and out.

“ Adrian , love, put ‘ Another One Bites the Dust ’ on the jukebox for me,” Jeremy shouted over his shoulder as he returned to the bar. “ Oh , and follow it up with Pink . It’s time to get this party started.”

I swear he said the same thing after the last time we survived facing off with the pack in the hills to the west.

As soon as the first song blasted over the speakers, Jeremy belted out the lyrics alongside Freddie Mercury while strutting behind the bar. Then others yelled requests at Adrian too, everything from Britney Spears to Taylor Swift to Lady Gaga .

“ Is everyone in Willow Lake gay?” Conny asked.

He had a very pregnant Gretchen tucked under one arm, while his other hand rested on her stomach. Some of Jake’s painting ladies had arrived earlier with armfuls of clothing and other supplies. They’d fussed over her, giving her a manicure and a haircut and who knew what else. Despite her trials over the last several months, Gretchen looked radiant and relaxed in a clean, flowery dress that flowed over her baby bump. I knew those smiles hid trauma, though, so Ash had already hooked her up with the same therapist that Brodie and Dakota went to.

She’d also been to see Doc Roberts . Unsurprisingly , the doctor encouraged her to rest. I swear he said the same thing to everyone. But she’d refused, saying she was tired of being alone and that it made her feel safe to be with other people. Conny was fussing over her like, well, an expectant father who’d almost lost his mate and their baby.

At Conny’s question, everyone at the table laughed except Ryley .

I felt him move, his foot swinging past mine to kick Conny under the table.

“ Hey , don’t be a bigoted asshole,” Ryley said .

Conny shook his head. His gaze darted over the group as if he thought they’d attack him. “ No , I didn’t mean it like that.”

“ There are a lot of us,” Ash agreed with a grin. “ That’s one of the many awesome things about this place. No one cares who you love, or what kind of supe you are, or how strong your magic is.”

“ It’s a bit like the Federation ,” Ryley mused with a nod.

“ Yes ,” Gretchen said, pointing at Ryley . “ That’s exactly it.”

They grinned at one another. They had more in common than I’d expected, and I was glad that Ryley was getting on well with her. It’d go a long way to repairing the awkward relationship he had with his brother.

“ What Federation ?” Conny asked. “ I thought Willow Lake was part of the Supernatural Council , like the herd was.”

Everyone else shrugged and looked at my mate.

“ You know, the United Federation of Planets ?” Ryley explained. “ Has no one else seen Star Trek ?”

It sounded familiar, but I wasn’t sure. “ Is that a show?”

“ Is that a show?” Ryley repeated my question in mock horror, turning his attention from his brother to me. “ Neither of you have seen Star Trek ? I can understand Conny not knowing about it, the herd only allowed weird old movies, musicals, and shows that reinforced the idea of obedience and traditional roles, but you, Hayden , what’s your excuse?”

I shrugged. TV shows had never interested me. There were always too many other things to do. Shows with fake laughter and stilted dialogue never held my attention for long, not when I could rebuild an engine or repair a transmission.

“ What about Star Wars ? Stargate SG -1 ? Battlestar Galactica ? Lost in Space ?” Ryley’s eyebrows crept up on his forehead when my face stayed blank. “ We need a movie night.”

“ Don’t say that too loudly,” Ash said, looking over his shoulder at Jeremy , who was eyeing us curiously from the bar as he filled a pint glass. “ We’ve had so many movie nights lately, I need a break.”

“ Why ? What do you mean?”

“ Jeremy decided all the supes need a pop culture education, especially Jake ,” Ash whispered. “ I love movies as much as the next person, but…”

He cut off his words when Jeremy appeared beside us and set a full pint glass in front of Van . “ What are you talking about? Did I hear someone mention Star Trek ?”

Ryley raised his hand. “ That’d be me. I can’t believe no one knew what I was talking about.”

“ No ,” Ash groaned.

“ What ?” Jeremy gaped. He shook his head and put his hand on his chest. “ I’m sorry. I dropped the ball. I haven’t introduced them to any of the space greats yet.”

Ryley grinned. “ We should plan?—”

“ A movie night!” Jeremy and Ryley finished in unison.

This time, everyone at the table groaned, but I could tell no one was too upset by the idea. As the conversation progressed to setting up days and times, I turned my attention to Van and Gage .

“ Did any of Robbie’s people know where to find the unicorn?” I asked.

Van frowned and shook his head. “ Nothing yet. They weren’t lying when they said they’d never heard of one.”

“ We’ll find him,” Gage said.

“ Because Jake had a vision about it?” I asked.

Gage nodded. “ Yeah , that’s part of it, but Nelson is also one of my best. He’ll find Morgan .”

“ I hope this is the end of this shit,” I said.

“ Don’t we all,” Van muttered, lifting his glass. Then his gaze caught on something at the door. I glanced over to see Parker slip inside. His gaze darted over everyone, then he quickly made his way to the pool table where he normally hung out.

Willow Lake Pub was primarily a hangout place for supes, but some humans were regulars here, too. Parker was one of them. It was surprising he hadn’t seen under the Eternal Magic’s glamour yet, given how long he’d lived here and how long he’d been crushing on our local minotaur. Levi , who’d been lining up to take his shot, spun around with his pool cue in his hand, like he could sense the other man was near. Yeah . I didn’t think Parker’s crush was all that one-sided. He greeted the human before turning his attention back to his game.

Parker’s gaze caught on mine, and he nodded. Then he placed money on the corner of the table, a sign that he would take on the winner of the current game. I swore his hand shook, just a little, but then he leaned against the wall and started teasing Levi . Just like normal. Huh . He must not have seen anything magical at Jeremy’s mini Olympics , or he probably wouldn’t be that calm .

“ Hey , what’s up?” Ryley said.

“ Nothing . Just surprised to see Parker out tonight. With this many supes in one place, most humans stay away.”

“ Yeah , I could see that,” Ryley said. “ So , what are we doing tonight? Going back to your place?”

I cringed. I didn’t want to take Ryley back to my trailer again. He deserved so much better than that. “ I talked to Jake . He said we could stay here for a while. I thought you’d want to stay close to Conny and Gretchen .”

Ryley slipped his hand in mine. “ Do we have to? I kind of want to get back to the trailer. It isn’t like we can’t come back tomorrow to see them.”

“ You’d want to stay there?”

“ Of course,” he nodded. “ It’s yours.”

“ I do like the idea of having you in my den,” I whispered in his ear.

“ It’s settled then. Besides , I thought a little privacy might be nice. Jeremy keeps talking about biting and knots.” He grinned. “ And now I’m curious.”

My blood heated at his words. “ We could definitely do that.”

“ Let’s go, Alpha mine.”

“ Anything for my mate.”