Page 13 of Hayden's Haven
Kate nonchalantly waved her hand through the air. “Mere pennies.”
“I’m glad you have so much cash at your disposal, but that doesn’t give you the right to pry.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Kate fell silent again.
Mila felt awful. Kate was struggling with not knowing what had happened to Callen. Perhaps she was only looking to distract herself.
“Trusting is hard lately,” Mila said before she could stop herself, but sometimes a person just had to go outside her comfort zone to help another. And helping others was what being a doctor was about. “My distrust has nothing to do with Hayden personally.”
“Then youdolike him!”
“He’s a white wolf, Kate!” Inwardly, Mila scorned herself. She kept forgetting Kate was a white wolf. “Of the male variety. Aggressive. Deadly. The type that sucks the life out of a shifter. Someone you don’t go near unless you don’t have a choice.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter. I just wanted to see Hayden smile for a change.”
“Hayden smiles plenty from what I’ve seen.”
“At you. Not in the pack.”
Kate was playing matchmaker because she wanted everyone to be as happy as she was with Callen. Mila had seen that happen before among the single females of her pack. The moment they blood-bonded, they turned into matchmakers. Mila couldn’t bring herself to say anything more. Why Kate thought Hayden was interested in her was beyond Mila. The shifter rarely spoke to her, and when he did he was usually giving orders.
In all fairness, though, Hayden had been rather nice to her. She needed to ignore the fact that he was a white wolf and judge him based on his actions.
Walking downwind of Hayden’s tantalizing scent had her battling the urge to move closer to him. Her body certainly didn’t seem to care what type of wolf he was.
Kate wasn’t the only one who needed a distraction right now, and not just from their current situation. Mila knew exactly where she’d be right now if she hadn’t met Kate online six years ago when she was about to drop out of medical school for lack of funding. Trapped. Kate’s call for help had been a lifesaver. That’s twice Kate had saved her, without even realizing it. Back in college, Mila had been working nights and weekends at the local diner. The income barely paid for housing and food, and her scholarship money for tuition and books had run out.
Connecting with Kate had been nothing short of a miracle. It’s the reason Mila gladly dropped everything to meet Kate outside of Medicine Bow to treat her injuries. She would have gone all the way to Boulder and further, but Kate had chosen the spot.
Mila had been packing up her travel bag with medical supplies, eager to reach Kate, when she had dug out the bloody rag from the bottom of the bag. A few months back, Mila had hastily shoved the cloth in her bag, just to get it out of sight and not think about how she’d receive that bloody nose. Packing her supplies and discovering that dirty rag had triggered something in her. That’s when she decided it was time to leave her pack, for good. She had packed up her research and intentionally left her personal items behind. She wanted nothing from Truman’s pack, and she wouldn’t be returning there if she had any say in the matter.
Chapter Three
HAYDEN
Hayden didn’t like eavesdropping, but it was hard not to when they were talking about him. Kate was still getting used to being a shifter and likely didn’t think of the fact that Hayden was still within earshot. As for Mila, she had been a shifter her whole life Clearly, she didn’t care if Hayden overheard. He was nothing to her, nothing more than an escort charged with bringing her to Damien.
“He’s a white wolf, Kate! Of the male variety,” Mila said to Kate some twenty feet behind him in a useless whisper. “Aggressive, deadly. The type that sucks the life out of a shifter. Someone you avoid at all costs unless you don’t have a choice.”
He’d been a fool to think he ever had a shot with Mila. He wasn’t even sure what it was about her that he or his wolf saw. Beyond that curvy body, long legs, ample breasts, and green eyes a shifter could lose himself in.
Oh, how he’d like to lose himself in all that was Mila, again and again, and again.
“Everything okay up here?” Mila said as she caught up to him.
“Fine.”Far from fine. Every time she drew near, his wolf nipped and clawed at him to move closer to her. Today that was a particularly bad idea. Seeing what that shifter had done to her. Bruised, battered, concussed. . . Hayden had barely stopped himself from shredding the shifter into a thousand pieces. That’s something Drake would have done—has done, numerous times over the years. Hayden didn’t want to be like Drake, but the truth was, they were very similar. The same genes, the same urges, ran through both of them. He had thirsted for that shifter’s blood, fought back the urge to shred him only because he needed to see to Mila’s injuries. The second he had killed the bastard, Hayden had raced to her side, to do whatever he could do to help her, which turned out to be not one damn thing. She was the doctor, not him. He was supposed to have kept her from getting hurt in the first place.
Kate moved to his other side but said nothing. Those big brown eyes of hers narrowed, scrutinizing him and then danced over to Mila. What the hell were they up to?
“A penny for your thoughts,” Mila said.
“I don’t need money.”
“Hear that, Kate? You’re money’s useless here.”
“I never said I was spotting you.”
“No money needed. Perfect. Scram, Kate,” Mila said.
