Page 78 of Hayden's Haven
“You lied to get into the pack. You lied to stay. You used me, didn’t you? You needed me to advocate for you. You couldn’t seduce Damien because he was already blood-bonded.”
“What! That’s crazy!” Her heart was racing as she scrambled to figure out how to control this situation before it got any worse. “Listen to me, Hayden—”
“No! I’m done listening! I should have seen it earlier. You were desperate to get away from Vance. You said so yourself. And I get that, I really do. No one deserves being in an abusive relationship. You didn’t know us, or whether we’d take you in, so you made yourself indispensable to us. First, with promises to create a vaccine. Was any of that even true or are you pushing around lab specimens all day, claiming to be working on the vaccine?”
“How dare you—”
“You didn’t think Damien would let you stay unless you had value. Your words, not mine. But to drive home the deal, to ensure he’d allow you to stay, you wrapped me around your finger until I fought for you to stay here. And I did exactly that.” Hayden’s laugh was derisive, eerie. “Oh, you played me well, Mila. Well, here’s a newsflash for you,sunshine.”
He said her nickname with such derision that a shudder traveled down her spine. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Everything she had ever feared was happening. It was all blowing up in her face, and it was her own damn fault.
“I would have helped keep you safe from Vance no matter what. I protect the shifters of this pack and the second you asked for help, you would have had it, no questions. But using me, making me feel as if I mattered to you—”
“You DO matter to me, Hayden. I love you!” she shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Love? You don’t know the meaning of the word. The sad part is you probably never will. You’re just like all the rest of them.”
“Them?”
“The weak shifters. With my reputation here, they think I’m desperate enough to blood-bond a weak shifter, so they throw themselves at me, hope I’ll blood-bond them to strengthen their abilities.”
“I told you I didn’t want to blood-bond.”
“Yet. You didn’t want to blood-bond meyet. That’s because you’re smart, you’re playing the long-game. I couldn’t fight Drake if you weakened me through the blood-bond. No, you’re trying to send me off to kill my brother so that when I return I’ll be too much of an emotional wreck to see through your games. We’d blood-bond, making you stronger and me weaker. That’s why you didn’t shift when I carried you back to my place. It’s not that you couldn’t, it’s that I would have seen and recognized you for the weak shifter that you are. Worse, I would have seen you for who you are. . . a liar and a user. Serves me right for falling for you.”
“Hayden, please let me explain!”
“No! Don’t come near me, Mila. Continue living at Aloe’s, work at the lab. You don’t have to worry. I won’t say anything to Damien. I won’t be responsible for sending you back to that monster. Stay here, enjoy the pack. Hell, screw Benji and Lars for all I care, just stay away from me!”
Hayden shifted and ran off. There was nothing left for Mila to do but sink to the snow and cry.
Chapter Sixteen
MILA
Mila pushed away from the microscope and rubbed her eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about him, Anna. Everything a shifter could say and do wrong, I did.”
Anna leaned back in her chair and rubbed her growing belly. Her curly blonde hair was pulled back. The young woman looked a bit tired but otherwise healthy. Mila had been taking her vitals and had performed one obstetrics exam on her, but she really wished she could convince Anna to find an OBGYN in Devil’s Peak.
“I love Hayden. That’s why I should have told him the truth in the beginning. But I. . . I knew he’d leave me the moment he found out I’m a weak shifter. I was living in a fantasy world. Figured the longer I avoided telling him the truth that maybe he’d come to love me enough that my being weak wouldn’t matter. Of course, it matters. Strong shifters don’t blood-bond weak shifters.”
Anna sighed. “I think you have a bigger problem than you realize.”
Mila raised her head. “How so?”
“You lack confidence. You’ve allowed your self-worth to be tied up in your shifter abilities, as if you have nothing else to offer the world or Hayden.”
Did she do that? No, Anna couldn’t be right. She’d had plenty of confidence to leave home, to go to school, and return as a doctor. She had escaped Vance. Then again, she wouldn’t have been trapped into a relationship with Vance in the first place had she had confidence in herself and been able to see herself as more than simply a weak shifter.
Anna was right. Mila’s weak shifter abilities defined so much of what she did because she had no confidence to rise above them. Except when she was with Hayden. He had made her feel like she could do anything, be anyone. She had envisioned so much when she was with him as if there were no limits to what she could do in life.
“So, if you care for my two cents, I’d say the worst thing you did to Hayden was that you never gave him a chance. Lying was unfortunate, but the worst part was that you assumed he only cared about your strength as a shifter. Instead of giving him the chance to talk with you, to see how important your shifter abilities are to him, you made an assumption. Very unscientific drawing a conclusion based on assumption and not facts, Dr. Evans.”
Anna was spot on. Milahadassumed Hayden would reject her, without really knowing his feelings on the matter. “You’re right, about everything. How am I going to fix this, Anna? He’s never going to listen to me.”
“And there you go making assumptions again.”
“No, this time it’s a fact. He told me to stay away from me. He wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to explain, and nothing has changed. Hayden has written me out of his life for good.”
