Page 15 of Hayden's Haven
A chuckle this time from Mila. And a smile. That smile was worth all the abuse Kate could dish out. More.
Kate stopped walking, trained her eyes on the ground and focused. Then her eyes lit. “I can feel him!”
Hayden kissed her forehead. “Aren’t you glad you didn’t kill me?”
Another swat and another laugh. He was on a roll. With Kate now smiling as well, it was time to take point, separate himself from the women before the group’s mood took a nosedive.
“That was nice, what you did for her,” Mila said, catching up to him.
“It could have backfired just as easily. I was gambling on Callen’s ability to survive. If she’s sensed him gone, then she would have lost it completely. See what a great guy I am?”
“Why are you doing that?” she asked.
“What? Be pessimistic?”
“More like self-deprecating, but yes.”
“It’s been a trying few weeks, nothing more.”
“I think there is more.”
“You don’t know me, Doc, and you don’t want to be near me, so why would you care?”
“And now you’re being presumptuous. You don’t know what I want any more than I know what you want.”
“Oh, so you want a womanizer? My experience tells me that doctors are smarter than that. Or hasn’t Kate told you I charm all the ladies back in our pack? A new one every week. Then, when I’m done with them, I send them on their merry way and scope out new meat.”
Her eyes went wide. He had shocked her. He had shocked himself. He’d said the first thing that had come to mind, to drive her away. Mila was sweet, gentle, and too smart to get mixed up with someone like him.
“And here I thought I’d somehow insulted you. I just wanted to apologize. Never mind. I’ll leave you alone.”
The last thing he wanted was for her to leave. Her presence soothed him, and yet that was the problem. She had no intentions of getting involved with a white wolf.
There were close to two hundred shifters in Damien’s pack, and every day they were taking in new shifters, lone shifters whose packs had been wiped out by the virus. It would be easy to hide from her, but he didn’t want to. Damn it, there was something about Mila that he wanted to get to know, even if there was no future for them together. Right now, he’d be happy with being friends, especially given how few of those he had in the pack.
“Don’t leave, please,” he said when Mila turned to walk back to Kate. She stopped, long enough to look at him, as if waiting for an explanation as to why she should put up with him any longer. “I know I’m poor company, but I’d appreciate having someone to talk to.”
“You keep forgetting I’m here too!” Kate said from behind.
“How could anyone forget you, especially when you don’t let them?”
Mila lightly smacked his arm. She had been taking lessons from Kate apparently. “Callen’s going to think you’re flirting with her when he returns.”
“No chance of that. I mean of him misunderstanding.”
“He says you’re a big flirt,” Kate called forward.
“God, Kate, you’re like the annoying little sister I never had! Go back to pouting, please.”
Mila giggled. It was light, ethereal, and something he’d never forget for as long as he lived. His Mila, giggling and carefree. Hayden stopped short.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice tinged with alarm.
HisMila. He had no right to think of her as his. He barely knew her, and she didn’t want to get to know him beyond basic friendship, if that much. “Nothing’s wrong. Sorry to scare you. Just had a thought going through my head. Logistics of the pack. Routine stuff.”
Her hand slipped through his arm. “I’m not scared. Not exactly. But I’m feeling a little faint. Thought I should steady myself. You don’t mind, do you?”
Did he mind? He’d take any excuse to touch her, but it was only a formula for disaster. The women he had dated in his pack, and the occasional one from Liam’s pack, had all been nice enough, but none had truly caught his attention, let alone that of his wolf. They had been temporary flings in his search for a woman who would challenge and intrigue him.
