Page 45 of Hayden's Haven
“You’ll be back to being the only human here,” Mila said, feeling like she was leaving Anna behind by consenting.
“All the more toe-warmers for me then!”
Mila laughed. “Deal.”
“Perfect. Tomorrow then. I’m not set up for the fix at the moment, and with the heat out, I’m going home to cuddle up to my own personal furnace.”
Thoughts of sleeping against Hayden’s chest returned. Four days ago, she had ventured to his cabin, full well knowing he wasn’t there. Being there, stepping inside and sitting on the sofa where he had held her while she slept, and being surrounded by his scent, comforted her.
That had been a particularly hard day. Reports of more virus-related shifter deaths out east had come in, and she had made no progress on the vaccine. She felt like a fraud and started to doubt herself. The way she had left things with Hayden only sent her fragile confidence into a downward spiral. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, what was bothering her, but she wished he’d return already. Damien said he expected Hayden to be gone two weeks, possibly more. When Vance had left for a mission she had always prayed he wouldn’t return, and as each day passed, her anxiety had skyrocketed, knowing that could be the day Vance would return.
With Hayden, she feared he wouldn’t return, or when he returned, he would no longer look at her, not in the way that said he cared about her. Her behavior had been shameful. She’d run from him, without an explanation or even a goodbye. Worse, however, was how she had failed to stand up for him when those shifters had accused him of awful things. They had surrounded him, weapons in hand, and she had backed away, running not for help but to protect herself from the truth.
Outnumbered though he was, Hayden would best them. She never doubted it. And that’s what scared her, that he was so strong and she was so weak. The Haydens of the world didn’t want shifters like her, not for blood-bonding at least. When he discovered her secret, he’d move on to another, and nothing she could do would prevent that.
* * *
HAYDEN
Frank yanked the bag from Hayden.
“Give it back,” Hayden said. Frank was holding it just out of reach, and Hayden was in no mood to play some child’s game to get the bag back.
“What’s inside?”
“If another inmate had grabbed something out of your hands in prison, what would have happened?”
“I would have grabbed it right back. Then they’d try to beat the shit out of me and found themselves in the infirmary instead with enough broken bones that they’d never think of even looking at me again.”
“And?”
“I’d end up in solitary for a month, maybe three.” Frank handed the bag back.
Nothing scared Frank like the thought of being put back in solitary, not that Hayden could ever do any such thing to his friend, but sometimes just the reminder was enough to rein in those lone-wolf tendencies of Frank’s that surfaced from time to time.
“What’s eating you?” Hayden asked.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“This isn’t about me.”
Frank shrugged. “I’m just tired, eager to get home. We don’t belong in the city with all those humans.”
Bored, Hayden thought. Frank needed a good fight, but he had been warned to be on his best behavior this mission. There was too much riding on making the right impression with Mr. Sloan from the Department of Shifter Affairs. The government now had an entire division devoted to the ‘shifter problem’. Fucking fabulous.
Hayden shoved the bag at Frank. “Look if you must.” Frank had been doing nothing but sit around a lot of government buildings, coffee shops, and clubs with Hayden for the past week and a half as Hayden met with various officials. Hayden had been at their beck and call. He could swear the humans kept picking seedier locations to test his moral fiber, as if they expected him to go on some sort of sexual rampage at the strip club or snort the coke the one official offered him at a park, a few hundred feet from a school of all places.
Hayden certainly understood Frank’s need to get home where he could shift and run any time, day or night, without anyone raising a brow or screaming his head off in fear. They hadn’t been able to shift the entire time they were in the city, except in the hotel room and even that hadn’t gone well.
Hayden’s control over his wolf had slipped. His wolf had howled. Damn wolf didn’t like to be kept locked away for so long. Frank’s disliked it just as much, but his wolf had gone a lot longer trapped inside the shifter while he was in prison, and he knew not to howl. Prison had changed Frank in so many ways, but the shifter was right. They didn’t belong in the city, among the humans. But that hadn’t been the purpose of the trip. They’d been sent to find a way to work with them, to make them understand shifters weren’t their enemy, well notallshifters at least.
“Lingerie?” Frank said pulling a frilly red negligée halfway out of the bag.
“Why, Frank, I do believe that’s your color. Feel free to try it on.”
Frank dropped the lingerie back into the bag and shoved the bag against Hayden’s chest. “If I want juvenile behavior, I’ll find Blade.”
Hayden slung the bag over his shoulder. The last thing he wanted to think about was Blade.
