Page 97 of Hayden's Haven
“It’s not his fault,” Mila said to Hayden as she came to a grinding halt in front of Drake and his shifters.
“Come for your challenge, doctor?” Drake said, amused by her appearance. He must have thought her incredibly dumb, yet she didn’t get the sense that Drake was looking down on her. Rather, he looked puzzled, maybe amused or even a bit intrigued by her reappearance. After all, she and Callen had escaped. Now that she thought of it, he hadn’t sent a single guard to track them.
“You wanted us to escape, didn’t you?” she accused.
“Wanted? No. More like I simply didn’t care. You’re no threat to me. I have what I want,” Drake said.
And yet his words came off as only partially true. Something about Drake seemed different, more sober, morealphathan yesterday.
“Hayden didn’t kill her,” Mila said. This wasn’t what she had planned to say. Engaging Drake about the past wasn’t smart, and yet it seemed the best option. “Your uncle did, except you don’t want to believe someone you loved could betray you like that.”
“Betray me?” Drake’s laugh was dark and filled with pain. “Hayden’s the only one who betrayed me.”
“He’s not the one that forced Reina to blood-bond and then killed her when she resisted.”
“Mila,” Hayden begged. “Please, don’t. This won’t change anything.”
“They say everyone has a weakness, and I finally found yours, Drake,” Mila pushed.
“Who? Logan? Reina? Hayden? And here I thought you were smart. You’re nothing but a foolish female. Why did you return?”
“Your weakness is not knowing whom to trust. . . and ultimately trusting the wrong person. You’ve known it all along, but you can’t admit it. Easier to blame the brother who failed to get you away from the monster than the monster you came to love. And you’ve never known whom to trust ever since. Like now. You didn’t infect those towns with HEV, Drake, but instead of telling Hayden and trusting that he could actually believe you after everything you’ve done, you decide to use him instead. You’re still trying to fight the monster, except he’s long dead and Hayden isn’t. You don’t know who or how to trust, Drake, and it’s turning you into the same bitter monster Logan was.”
With a murderous look in his eyes, Drake bounded toward Mila.
* * *
HAYDEN
Hayden couldn’t believe it when he scented lilac and morning dew in the wind. Mila was near. Too damn fucking near. Surely Drake and his guards would pick up her scent any second if they hadn’t already.
“All these years and you’ve done nothing of significance with the pack,” Hayden said, hoping to goad Drake enough that he wouldn’t pay attention to Mila’s scent until the wind shifted direction.
“Nice try,” Drake said. “I smell your female. And your enforcer. Neither was smart enough to leave when they had the chance.”
“This changes nothing,” Hayden said, struggling to keep himself and his wolf calm. Having Mila safely away was the only reason he had surrendered to Drake. That and the need to get the damn HEV.
“If you harm her, I’ll tell the SDA the truth and then they’ll send in the military to wipe everyone out, starting with you.”
“You’d do that? Risk everyone, yourself, your current pack even, for her? And yet you never risked yourself to get me away from Logan.”
He had tried and failed. Over and over again. He had been a scared kid without a father or mother to counsel him. Just distant cousins that agreed to give him a place to stay if he didn’t cause any trouble. His attempts had been in secret, alone, and not without consequences. . .and promises of executions from Logan ultimately.
“I should have fought harder for you,” Hayden conceded. His brother deserved that much from him, not that it would change anything.
Mila jogged right up to Drake, Callen immediately behind her. Callen shook his head. Whatever Mila was doing had caught the enforcer by surprise.
Hayden’s brave piece of sunshine started talking to Drake, as if he were a friend, or at least an ally, something he hadn’t been to Hayden in over a decade. How Mila found the courage to confront Drake, to stand there and tell him to his face that she knew his weakness, boggled Hayden’s mind. Even more amazing was the fact that he saw a slight shift in Drake. He wasn’t refuting her words or the fact that hehada weakness. The entire conversation between the two was rather surreal.
“You didn’t infect those towns with HEV, Drake—”
He’d missed the rest of what she had said. Everything clicked into place with that piece of information. Drake had a traitor in his midst which was why Drake was so willing to give the remaining vials of the virus over to DSA. For all of his talk and bravado, Drake had never intended to start a war, but here they were, on the verge of one, nonetheless. All because he had a traitor.
“What does she mean you didn’t infect the towns?” Hayden asked, stalling, trying to reason who would want to infect those towns. Bringing the government down on the pack endangered everyone, the traitor included.
“Chitman wants you dead, Drake,” Mila accused, but it was too late. Chitman had already pulled a knife from a nearby pack and lunged at Drake from behind.
Hayden knocked Drake aside, but before he could bring his arm up to deflect Chitman’s knife, Hayden slipped on a patch of ice. The knife sank deep into Hayden’s belly and Chitman twisted it before pulling it free to turn on Drake.
