Page 24 of Hayden's Haven
A flicker of horror crossed her face and then eased. “Oh, a joke. I thought you meant I should alter the baby’s gender.”
He looked to Mila, who was silently watching the exchange. Her smile was tenuous, too. “Perhaps I should go.”
“No,” Anna said as she tore off her latex gloves and dug out a pair of fur mittens from the coat she was already wearing. Blade was right. The storage unit was too cold for the women. “You stay, I’ll go. Shall I bring you anything, Mila?”
“No need,” Hayden answered instead. “I’ll take care of her.”
Mila raised her brow, then turned to Anna and smiled. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
Anna shot out the door. The moment the door clicked shut behind Anna, Mila rose.
“What do you want, Hayden? I’m busy.” She turned her attention back to her microscope.
“It’s my job as Damien’s second to check in on new shifters. To make sure everyone’s acclimating and getting what they need.”
“I have everything I need. Thank you. You can go.”
His back straightened. This wasn’t the reception he had been hoping for. “I didn’t mean to ignore you the past few days. I meant to speak with you earlier, but you’ve been holed up in here, and then at Aloe’s.”
“Oh, were you looking for me? I didn’t notice. I’ve been knee-deep in notes from Alex.”
“You can’t work twenty-four seven, Mila. It’s a sure-fire way of burning out.”
“I’m fine. Doctors get used to long hours in medical school and during residency,” she said as she removed the slide from the microscope, placed it on a tray in a special metal box, and retrieved another slide from the same case. “I can stay glued to this seat for weeks and come out as fresh and bright-eyed as when I entered.”
“You’re not healing.”
She dropped the slide she was about to put under the microscope. After a moment’s hesitation, she picked up the slide and focused the lenses. “I’m definitely healing.”
“You should be fully healed by now.”
Calmly, slowly, Mila rose and faced him. “Maybe I should have brought my degree along because you don’t seem to believe me when I say I’m a doctor. I can certainly assess whether I’m healing or not.”
“Maybe you should stop trying to hide the truth from me and tell me why you’re not healing.”
“How is it any of your business how fast I’m healing orifI’m healing at all?”
Hayden ran his hand through his hair. The way she was staring at him, hands on hips and green eyes flaring told him he had hit a nerve. That hadn’t been his intent when he had entered. He simply wanted to see her. He hadn’t been sleeping well and he’d been distracted 24-7. He’d spent the last three days puttering around the compound, finding odd jobs that would keep him close to Mila. The only time she left Aloe’s was to eat in the cookhouse or go to work, here, in this run-down shed with barely any heat.
“I’m going to see what we can do about finding a better workspace for you and Anna.”
“Fine. You do that. Now let me get back to work.”
Her tone, her body language, everything about her said he wasn’t wanted there. He never should have listened to Damien and gotten his hopes up.
Hayden slipped out of the storage unit, making sure he shut the door tight to keep out the cold and the wind. Something wasn’t right with Mila, and it was more than the fact that she was healing so slowly. As Damien’s second, Hayden had every right to investigate every new shifter who entered camp. Maybe once he dug deep enough, he would find out how exactly he had offended her. She had turned cold to him. Even back in the bakery, when he had held her against her will until they realized she was the one they’d come to escort, she hadn’t been dismissive of him. She had lobbed insults, but that was because she had been scared.
He thrust the door open again, unable to leave with this awkwardness between them. He must have startled her for she jumped from her chair and spun around, her face suddenly pale. She had the longest eyelashes that provided a stunning contrast to her eyes.
Mila backed up and bumped the worktable. The rattling glass beakers and test rubes brought him out of his daze. He had frightened her somehow. She had seen Drake, whom he looked like, tear shifters to shreds years ago and Hayden had nearly done the same to the shifter who’d attacked her. No wonder she had ended the kiss, that kiss that had seared a place in his soul. She saw the violence in his blood, the wolf inside who maimed and killed all too easily.
“Mila,” he said, using his gentlest tone. It was the one he used when he first approached a female he was interested in dating and the one that should hopefully put her at ease.
“Yes, Hayden?” Her tone had softened as well.
“There’s a Running of the Moon tomorrow night. The whole pack is expected to run, except those on patrol or babysitting duty.”
“I’m not part of your pack.”
