Page 94 of Hayden's Haven
Her terror sliced through Hayden, making his wolf howl inside and try to force a shift. Hayden pushed him down as he shouted at his brother. “Drake, let her and Callen go, and I’ll do anything. I swear, anything. I’ll claim to be you and confess to the bioterrorism. Or I’ll claim it in my name and say I was framing you. Whatever you want. Just let them go!”
Drake stood in front of him, blocking his view of Mila. “You’re weak, Hayden. Always have been.”
He had to keep Drake engaged. Play to his ego, make his brother hate and want to hurt him so badly that he’d agree to release Mila.
“Yes. I was weak. Iamweak. Which is why I left you with Logan. It’s the reason I left ultimately.”
“Bullshit,” Drake said.
It was, but Hayden didn’t care about the truth right now, just like Drake had never cared about the truth.
“Drake,” Mila called. Chitman had released her. She was shaking as she walked toward Drake. What the hell was she up to?
“Mila,” Hayden called her name, adding a growl that told her to stay out of it, to stay clear of Drake.
“I challenge you, Drake!” Mila said.
“What?” Both Callen and Hayden said at the same time.
Drake looked amused as he turned to face her. “Challenge me for what? The right to be alpha.”
“Yes. There’s no law saying a female can’t be alpha.”
“Indeed not, though there should be. I hear you’re a weak shifter, doctor. And even a strong female would lose against the weakest of males. It’s nature. Remain quiet, and I might let you stay in my house tonight instead of whatever fleabag cabin Chitman plans to fuck you in,” Drake said as he turned away.
Mila froze, the terror showing on her face, and then she pressed forward, pushing away the horrors of her past. His Mila was so brave, but she didn’t understand the sick games his brother could play. Drake hadn’t always been that way. He had been a kind kid until Logan had gotten his claws into him, warping him, corrupting him. This shifter who looked so much like Hayden wasn’t the brother he had loved, that he had failed to save.
“Hey, I’m talking to you, asshole,” she said, hands on hips with a fire in her eyes that would get her killed.
“Mila!” Hayden yelled, trying to warn her back, to be quiet, anything but what she was doing.
Drake spun on his heels and surged toward her.
“She’s not challenging you, Drake,” Hayden yelled. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. It’s not a true challenge. Mila, rescind the challenge now!”
Mila faced him finally. Beauty, strength, and resolve; that’s what he saw there. She was sacrificing herself for him.
“The DSA will kill you, Hayden. You need to follow Damien’s plan.”
He understood what she wanted him to do, but it wouldn’t work. As long as Drake had Mila, he had leverage over Hayden. He and Drake both knew it, but Mila didn’t understand. “The plan has changed, Mila. We have to hand over the HEV and the shifter responsible, or the government won’t back down. This is the only way.”
“They will KILL you, Hayden!”
Chitman. The damn shifter had done this. He had gotten her all worked up and now she was so terrified she didn’t know what she was doing. “You can’t accept a challenge from her, Drake,” Hayden turned back to his brother who’d been watching the exchange with a smirk on his face.
“You presume to tell me what I can’t do, Hayden? After all these years? After you betrayed Logan, me, our pack?”
“He didn’t betray anyone. Your fucking uncle’s the one who killed Reina,” Mila shouted.
“Mila, enough!” Hayden said. If Drake lost control, she was dead.
“What other lies have you been spreading?” Drake said as he shifted the claws of one hand and dragged them down Hayden’s chest, re-opening the wounds from eight years ago.
“Leave him alone,” Mila said, as her wolf growled loud and clear.
Sheer terror shot through Hayden. Mila’s wolf had openlygrowledat Drake. There was no way Drake’s wolf was going to ignore a challenge from another wolf, especially a female.
“It’s not a true challenge, Drake,” Hayden said as his brain frantically searched for an answer. “She’s not pack. Only pack can challenge.”
