Page 77 of Hayden's Haven
“Can you take Drake down?”
“Maybe. Probably. It’s hard to say.”
“Hayden, there’s no other way to solve this situation with Sloan. And one way or another, you need to come to terms with the past and the present. You need to confront Drake, even if that means doing so through a challenge.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You’re a strong shifter. I’ve seen you. You can do anything you set your mind to. I believe in you.”
“Enough to blood-bond me?” he said with a hopeful smile.
His question stunned. She wasn’t expecting that, especially not right now. She couldn’t blood-bond him, could she? His smile was hopeful.
“I don’t think this is the time to discuss blood-bonding.”
“I need you, Mila. Just thinking about going up against my brother, possibly killing him. . . I’m confused.”
“Talking about a blood-bond will only confuse matters further.”
He shook his head as he drew her close. “Everything is clearer when I’m with you. It’s easier to see what’s important and what isn’t. All day and night yesterday, I was walking around in a fog. But being here with you, I can see more clearly. We’re good for each other. Blood-bonding you is the only thing that makes sense to me in this whole damn mess.”
He did look confused and as if his confidence had been shot. Which is why this conversation shouldn’t be happening now. “We can talk about blood-bonding after you hand Drake over to the government, okay?” she said, sliding from his embrace.
His brows furrowed. “No, it’s not okay. That’s at least the third time you’ve avoided discussing this with me. I’m not Vance.”
“God, don’t you think I know that, Hayden?”
“Then why won’t you blood-bond me?”
“It’s too early.”
“You were willing to blood-bond Vance, but not me.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. His tone and face had hardened as they tended to do when Hayden contained his emotions. She wasn’t doing much better, especially with her wolf’s incessant whining distracting her. Mila wanted to run away from the stress and especially from being in the presence of a strong shifter who was angry. Except this was Hayden, who would never hurt her no matter how angry he was.
“Vance lied! I never wanted to blood-bond him and he certainly never wanted to blood-bond me. That’s why he hit me so much!”
“That makes no sense,” he said, looking more confused than before.
“It makes perfect sense! No enforcer, no second, wants to blood-bond a weak shifter. That’s what I am, Hayden. A weak shifter. Vance wouldn’t dare weaken his abilities by blood-bonding me and he punished me for keeping him from knowing the oneness that comes with blood-bonding!”
Mila gasped. She’d finally told Hayden, but this wasn’t the way she had wanted to do so. She had been caught up in simply loving him that she had been afraid to ruin what they had together. She took a step toward Hayden, but he stepped back, his arm extended to keep her from going near him.
“You’re a weak shifter? That’s why you’re healing so slowly. . .” He scrubbed his face with his hand, trying to let the news sink in. “That’s why you avoided getting the treatment. You lied to me, Mila. You’ve been lying to me all along.”
“It’s not like that—”
“That’s exactly what it’s like!” he shouted, as he finally let his emotions show. “You lied to me, from the start. Even after we slept together, you continued to lie to me. And just now, you didn’t plan on telling me, it just came out.”
She took another step forward.
“Don’t,” he warned, adding a growl this time.
That growl stopped her, made her wolf curl into a ball, as Mila wanted to do.
“What else are you lying about?”
“Nothing.”
