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

Chapter Five

RYLEY

“ I’m telling you, I’m fine,” Hayden grumbled. “ I can shift.”

“ Absolutely not,” Van said. “ Doc said if you were injured, you weren’t supposed to shift until he looked you over. And it’s pretty damn obvious you’re bleeding.”

We all eyed the blood dribbling down Hayden’s face. I’d always thought shifters, especially predatory shifters, healed quickly. I guessed not. Oops . The others glanced at my hooves. Yeah . It might be better not to dwell on how much the guy was leaking. It was time to change the topic.

“ How far is the walk back?” My ankle ached. The trek out was going to be a bitch.

Van shot a look at Isaac . “ Can you carry him?”

“ Uh … What ?” Isaac blinked, like he didn’t understand the question.

“ You heard me,” Van said impatiently .

“ If Isaac can’t carry him, I’ll shift and do it,” Hayden said through a growl.

Van ignored Hayden .

“ I never said I couldn’t carry him,” Isaac grumbled. “ But I’m a centaur, not a horse.”

Van stared the guy down with his fiery eyes. Man , those were creepy as fuck. It didn’t surprise anyone when Isaac finally surrendered and agreed.

“ Should I shift?” I asked.

“ Doc said no shifting and that goes for you too.” Van pointed his creepy eyes at me, and I held up my hands in surrender.

As soon as Isaac shifted, Van hoisted me onto the centaur’s back. Hayden growled the whole time. What was his problem? It wasn’t like he was the one trying to balance on top of Isaac .

“ Oh ,” Jeremy murmured. “ Maybe we should use a picture of them instead, you know, for the riding competition. Because it is impressive. Riding should definitely be a category.”

“ He’s not riding me, I’m carrying him,” Isaac protested.

I didn’t see the difference.

I’d never ridden a horse before, so I couldn’t say if riding a centaur was similar or not. But I was confident a horse wouldn’t complain as much as this guy. It was awkward as hell straddling the centaur’s back while I was still in my faun form. My bottom half resembled a goat, and goats weren’t meant to have their legs splayed like this. Having my tail under me was also awkward. But I made it work with only a smidgeon of grumbling, unlike certain other people in our group— cough , Isaac , and cough , Hayden .

Once I was situated, I wiggled a little, testing how easy it would be to fall off. I kept my seat. So far, so good. I looked around. Huh . This wasn’t so bad.

From his perch on Adrian , Jeremy was holding out a selfie stick, angling it like he was trying to get himself, his friend, me, and our rides, of course.

Having a phone pointed at me had me smiling by habit. I had one client who was always snapping selfies when we got together to discuss her projects. She plastered them all over her socials. It wasn’t until Jeremy’s flash went off that I realized what I’d done.

Being around supes usually made me want to run far, far away, but here I was smiling. I’d like to pretend I was comfortable around them for normal reasons. After all, Isaac reminded me a bit of Conny with his long hair, his hooves, and his youthful energy. But I suspected I was in shock.

Then we were on our way.

Having Isaac’s body move under me was a bizarre feeling. I mean I’d ridden guys before—ha!—but it hadn’t been like this. For one thing, I had no interest in the centaur. Not even a little itty bit. I blamed it on having already seen Hayden without his shirt on tonight. Apparently , my libido could only fixate on one person at a time.

My body swayed and jiggled with Isaac’s every step. His back muscles moved under my butt, which was weird. But the best part was being up so high? I could see so much more. It was brilliant. Epic , even .

I felt like I was a warrior riding off to battle. Except , well, if we were at war with someone, the last place I would want to be was on a horse or a centaur going toward trouble. Fauns were more flight than fight. That was one of the few things I had in common with my kind. Being around other supes made me want to climb up a mountainside to escape.

Huh .

So why wasn’t I making a break for higher ground? I’d felt a spike of worry when they first arrived, but it faded fast. Faster than it should have. I hadn’t been with this many supes since I left my herd, so what was going on? I glanced between them, wondering where my fear had wandered off to. My gaze landed on Hayden . Sure , I’d kicked him, intending to kill or at least maim him, but paradoxically I’d also come to trust him, possibly more than I trusted the hellhounds.

What in the Magic was that all about?

Stockholm syndrome shouldn’t have kicked in yet. I’d only known the guy for little more than an hour or two. So , what in the name of goats everywhere was happening right now? Was it all because of Hayden ? And , if it was, what did it mean?

“ His foot can’t be that bad,” Isaac grumbled to himself as he clomped through the trees. “ He got this far, didn’t he?”

I patted his back, eager to distract myself from my absurd thoughts about the grumpy wolf shifter. “ There , there. Be a good centaur.”

Isaac swatted at me. Beside me, Hayden’s growl deepened. I looked down from my mighty perch at Hayden , who was walking alongside us. His eye—only the one because the other had swollen shut—flashed with the golden light of his wolf. Why was he getting so worked up? Was it because his friends were making him go back to town? Whatever . He’d get over it.

Isaac’s long blond hair flowed down his back, and I couldn’t resist running my fingers through it. I used to braid my baby brother Conny’s hair all the time. I missed that.

“ What are you doing back there?” Isaac shook his head as if my touch tickled him.

“ Hold still,” I said. I gathered his hair into my hands and divided it into three bunches.

Isaac did not hold still, so I yanked a little to get him to behave, which earned me another of Hayden’s growls. How curious. Why would me manhandling someone else be a problem for him?

“ It’ll look great when I’m done, I promise. Although if I had more time, it’d look better.” I plaited his hair into a Dutch braid.

“ Are you done yet?” Isaac asked, but he didn’t try to pull his hair out of my hands again.

Our trek through the woods to their vehicle was longer than expected. I should have gone for a more complicated braid. Maybe next time.

“ We would have been there already if I had shifted,” Hayden mumbled as he kept pace beside me and Isaac . Everyone ignored him.

We made a strange procession through the woods. The fire mage, who was riding his hellhound mate, was in front and cast glowing balls into the air to illuminate our path. Isaac , Hayden , and I were next. Behind us was the human riding a wolf, and at the rear was the other hellhound. The hungry dragon with the pretty claws had flown off, saying he’d let the doctor know what kinds of injuries to expect, so he was prepared. We were like a little convoy of misfit supernatural beings.

When we finally arrived at the SUV , Isaac sat his ass down on the road, sending me sliding down his back. I screeched and clung to his braid, so I didn’t slide off his rump to the ground and get concussed like Hayden . Isaac shrieked in alarm as his head wrenched back, but it served him right.

“ Get him off me,” Isaac shouted as he batted at me to loosen my grip. He couldn’t twist around enough to do any damage.

“ We should give points for most memorable dismount,” Jeremy whispered to Ash .

“ Come here,” Hayden said, scooping me off the centaur. “ Let go of his hair, Ryley .”

Isaac shifted as soon as I was off him, as if scared I’d try to climb back on him again.

“ He started it,” I insisted.

Although if I’d known the situation would end with me in Hayden’s arms, I might not have protested so much. I might be thin, but I was solid, way heftier than a full-blooded faun, so Hayden manhandling me so easily was a bit of a turn on. Thanks to my human dad’s contribution to my genes, I was bigger than most fauns and I always had been. No one had carried me around since I could walk on my own. Being in Hayden’s arms was an unusual sensation, but I didn’t hate it. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was what to do with my own arms, so I crossed them over my chest.

“ You were on my back because they said you couldn’t walk here. We’re here now.” Isaac stared at me like he was daring me to contradict him.

“ Enough ,” Van said. He’d already shifted into his human form and was digging in his pocket. He pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to Ash . “ Get the faun and Hayden to Doc Roberts . Don’t let Hayden talk you into anything else. Don’t let him get out of the truck until he’s at Xander’s . And stay there to confirm what the doctor says.”

“ For fuck’s sake,” Hayden muttered.

Van jabbed his finger at the wolf. “ We both know you want to hunt tonight but that’s not happening unless Doc okays it. You got it?”

Hayden gritted his teeth.

“ You guys ready?” Van asked Adrian and Dillon , both of whom were still in their animal forms.

They nodded.

“ Let’s go.”

“ Be careful.” Ash dropped a kiss on his hellhound mate’s fiery head.

“ Should I come with you?” Jeremy asked.

“ No . Take care of the alpha,” Dillon said.

That made Hayden grunt and clench his teeth harder. Van dropped his hand on Hayden’s shoulder and squeezed.

“ We’re going to do some recon. If we find anything, I’ll let you know.”

“ Fine . Let’s go,” Hayden said. It was a wonder he could squeeze out the words with how tightly he clenched his teeth.

“ Shot gun!” Jeremy shouted.

Hayden stomped to the front passenger door and wrenched it open.

“ Hey ! I said—” Jeremy’s voice dropped to a mumble as Hayden shot him a withering glare and climbed into the front seat, “—shot gun.”

“ Why does Ash get to drive?” Isaac complained as he held open the door to the back seat for me.

Jeremy had already claimed the seat by the door behind Hayden . It looked like I was sitting in the middle. I sighed and crawled in. Sitting in a car in my faun form was not any more comfortable than riding the centaur. My legs stuck out like weird little stumps, my tail was bent under my ass, and my horns, although not huge, were still big enough to hit the roof.

As soon as we were on our way, the human, who wasn’t entirely mundane, pulled out a pen and a small coiled notebook from somewhere and eyed me curiously. “ My name is Jeremy . I’m human-ish, but also the seventh son of a seventh son, so magic-ish too. Your name is Ryley , right? And your preferred way to describe yourself is a faun?”

The nib of his pen rested against the paper like he was ready to transcribe whatever I said. He studied me with an intensity that made me squirm, but when no one else was concerned with his questions, I nodded. He scribbled something in his book. I didn’t know how he could see what he was writing in the dark, but that didn’t deter him .

“ So , part human, part goat?” He glanced down at my furry bottom half.

“ Yes .”

He pulled out his phone and before I knew what was happening, he tapped to activate his flashlight app and shot the light right into my eyes.

“ What the fuck?” I knocked the phone away. Little rainbow-colored orbs danced in front of my eyes.

“ You have pupils like a goat,” Jeremy said, like it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.

“ You could have asked me! You didn’t have to blind me.” I rubbed my eyes.

“ Try getting a hoof to the face, then you’ll really know what it is like when someone tries to blind you,” Hayden muttered.

“ I said I was sorry.”

“ No , you didn’t.”

I thought back. He was right. Oops .

“ Sorry ,” I said.

Hayden snorted like he didn’t believe me.

“ So ,” Jeremy started, drawing my attention back to him. “ Are you faster in your shifted form? How do you run on only two hind legs? Do you hop? Would you go faster if you had one of those wheelchairs they make for differently abled dogs? You know, so you could lean your front half on the wheels and run with your back legs. I bet you could get some pretty good speed up.”

I blinked at the strange man. “ Pardon me?”

“ Well , it looks like you escaped Robbie in your shifted form, so I was wondering why. It seems like you would be faster with longer human legs than two shorter goat-like legs.”

I blinked at him some more.

“ Unless your human legs are just as short…”

“ Fine . You’re right. My human legs are longer, which means I’m taller than this, too,” I said, only because I couldn’t handle anyone envisioning my long human torso on little stumpy human legs. The proportions would be all off. I didn’t think I was a vain person, but it looked like I was. “ They took my shoes, so I shifted. My hooves are sturdier than my bare feet.”

He looked down at my hooves, which was easy considering how I was seated. They were sticking straight out in front of me. As a human, I didn’t think he could see much in the shadowy darkness of the back seat, but his lingering gaze still made me squirm. I wasn’t usually self-conscious about my shifted form, but suddenly I wanted to get in touch with the murderous dragon and book an appointment with his nail technician. If my hooves were buffed and shiny with a clear coat of polish, I might feel better about everyone looking at them.

“ But you were limping.”

“ I messed up my ankle when I kicked the lock to break it.”

At those words, everyone gasped.

“ A lock?” Isaac asked.

I nodded. “ They’d put me in a cage.”

“ Fucking Robbie ,” Hayden murmured.

I wasn’t sure why he sounded so shocked and disturbed by the idea. He knew someone had held me against my will. What did he think they’d done to keep me there? Tell me to sit and stay like a dog? I was a faun, which meant I had some goat-like qualities. Determination was one of them, although my human dad had just called me stubborn. I wouldn’t stay somewhere just because someone told me to.

“ Hmm … I see…” Jeremy said eventually and made another note in his book. “ That makes sense. Do you have a little loin cloth thing in your shifted form?”

Was he being serious? Or was he trying to lighten the mood? I glanced down. “ Does it look like I’m wearing a loin cloth?”

“ Levi told me he has a loin cloth, so I thought I’d ask,” Jeremy said, sounding disappointed. “ They could have taken it along with your shoes.”

What had the dragon said about someone called Levi ? I couldn’t really remember. Now that I was reasonably safe, my energy was flagging. I didn’t bother hiding my yawn when it hit me.

“ Maybe ease up on the questions, Jer ,” Ash said from the front seat. “ Ryley and Hayden have had quite a night. They’re probably exhausted.”

Jeremy let out a long sigh, but tucked his pen and notebook away.

A few minutes later, we passed a sign welcoming us to Willow Lake . No one spoke as Ash drove us through the deserted downtown streets before turning into a residential area. As we arrived at a regular-looking house on a regular-looking street, the garage door opened. Ash guided the vehicle right inside. As soon as the engine was off, the door slid down behind us, and a light came on.

A man in his pajamas approached us. He must have been sleeping when they called to say they were bringing us to him. His hair was a wild mess of curls, and he had creases on his cheek from his pillow, like he’d fallen asleep while waiting for us to get here and had just woken up. Ash , Jeremy , and Isaac poured out of the vehicle, but Hayden and I stayed seated. The man leaned forward and peered through the passenger door window at Hayden .

“ That’s quite the shiner,” the stranger said. Then he looked in the backseat at me. “ Hi , you must be Ryley . I’m Xander .”

“ The doctor?” I eyed him, trying to figure out what kind of supe he was.

“ You bet. At least until someone else wants to do it. Come inside and let’s see what’s going on.” Xander motioned for me to exit the vehicle. “ Come on, Hayden , you’re coming too.”

“ I’m fine,” Hayden muttered.

“ We both know that isn’t how this works,” Xander said.

Suddenly it clicked. This guy was a sphinx shifter. I’d met a few when I lived with the herd. This guy wasn’t like any of them, at least not a first blush. Most of them were so rigid and stiff they resembled that famous Egyptian statue.

Hayden huffed, but the doctor’s gentle insistence got Hayden moving. As we walked into the house, Xander asked after Van . Ash filled him in on where the hellhound had gone.

“ He’s still out there?” His forehead creased, and he shook his head. “ He might be a hellhound, but he isn’t invincible. No one is, isn’t that right, Alpha ? ”

Hayden scowled. “ Not the alpha, Doc .”

“ Dillon and Adrian are with Van ,” Isaac said. He pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. “ They’re supposed to let us know if they find anything. They checked in a few minutes ago with nothing new to report.”

“ Well , that’s something, I suppose.” Xander pursed his lips, but he didn’t sound happy. He opened a door to a small exam room and motioned Hayden inside. The stubborn wolf didn’t budge.

“ Look at Ryley first,” Hayden insisted.

No one was happy at his request, and I wondered about the whole alpha thing. Was he really the alpha here? If he was, the doctor should look at him first. I hated to think what would happen if the wound I’d given him got infected. I was used to supes being jerks, but I didn’t need an angry mob of them coming after me with pitchforks.

“ Make sure the alpha doesn’t leave before I see him,” Xander ordered the others before turning to me. “ Let’s check you over.”

My medical went smoothly. The doctor was super friendly, and his bedside manner was excellent. He took swabs of the bite wounds, pictures of my chest, and measurements of my other injuries. He compared the lengths of my horns and my hooves, noting the differences. The worst of the damage came from when the bastards who’d stuck me in that damn cage had “taken samples” to see if they could sell bits of me on the magical black market. It was unsettling the shit people bought. Like , how could anyone truly believe a bear shifter’s claw would protect them, or a succubus’ tongue would make them more attractive? The wolves hadn’t been impressed when I laughed at them for being deluded, because I was the least magical supe around. I was barely even a faun, something my old herd had reminded me of daily.

Unfortunately , they refused to take my word for it. They pinned me down and took hand-held cheese graters to my horns and hooves, while I’d let them know they were shit-snakes and swore to have the Eternal Magic curse them and their families. I just wished I could have carried through with the curse.

If I ever saw them again, their nuts were going to get up close and personal with my hooves. Their balls would swell up as big as Hayden’s eye had, and it would be spectacular. They should consider themselves lucky I didn’t have plans to take the damn grater to their family jewels. Sure , I’d thought about it, but I didn’t think I could stomach touching those bastards there. And think of the mess. It’d be disgusting.

The doctor didn’t mention finding Hayden’s blood on my hoof, so hopefully there wasn’t any. I didn’t need him gathering evidence like that. I didn’t want to end up in a supernatural prison for assaulting an alpha. He pressed here and there and everywhere as he assessed me for broken bones and such. In the end, he had me drink some kind of healing potion and asked me to shift a few times. By the time I was done, all the injuries were healed.

It was wonderful to be back in my human form again. My favorite burnt-orange T -shirt with the saying This is not a red shirt that I’d found at a Trekkie convention a few years ago had even survived the whole ordeal unscathed. Maybe it was a sign everything would be okay, like the Eternal Magic herself had declared I wasn’t expendable. I sighed and stretched. Everything felt pretty good. Well , everything except my eyeglasses. The frame was bent and hadn’t sat right on my face since they were damaged during my abduction. I pulled them off and tried to twist them into shape. It didn’t work. Damn it. They felt all wrong. I’d have to buy another pair because I couldn’t go without. My eyesight was amazing when I was shifted, but it sucked in my human form.

“ Here , drink another of these,” the doctor said, passing me a vial of the same elixir he had me drink before shifting. “ It’ll help replenish the magic you used when you shifted. And that’s about all I can do for you. You’ll want to eat lots of leafy greens over the next twenty-four hours, though, to bolster your magic a little more.”

This time, when I drank down the potion, my nerves tingled as the magic zinged through me. In its wake, everything felt fan-frigging-tastic. My glasses weren’t even bothering me as much as they had. “ Do you sell that stuff? You’d make a killing.”

“ Nope . It’s only administered under a doctor’s supervision.” Xander winked at me. He gave me funny little paper slippers to put over my socks since I didn’t have shoes, and that was that.

Then it was Hayden’s turn.

Hayden was in there a long time. When he and the doctor finally came out of the exam room, neither of them was smiling. The spot where I’d kicked him still looked messed up, although the swelling had gone down.

“ I’ll make up a bed,” Xander was saying.

“ He’s staying?” Ash asked. He sounded shocked, and I understood why. A shifter like Hayden shouldn’t need medical supervision to recover from a little scrape.

“ No , I’m not,” Hayden argued. “ I’m fine. It isn’t the first time I’ve been knocked in the head.”

Xander crossed his arms. “ I have handcuffs for unruly patients. I will use them if I need to.”

“ Kinky ,” Isaac muttered, making Ash and Jeremy snicker.

“ I’ll rest better at home.”

“ Someone needs to be with you,” Xander said, the first sign he was bending to Hayden’s will.

I adjusted my glasses, then I stuck my hand up in the air like an eager child who knew the right answer to the teacher’s question. “ I’ll do it.”