Page 103 of Hayden's Haven
Hayden traced the line of her jaw to her neck. The scars and bruising were gone. Her wolf had finally healed her, at least her body.
“I never meant to put you in danger. You’ll be safe here now.”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I was scared you wouldn’t return. Callen said he had spoken with you, that you had recovered, but you didn’t say when—or if—you’d return.”
Hayden’s hand sifted through her hair. He’d forgotten how silky soft her hair was. How could he have forgotten?
“You were always on my mind. Always. I should have sent a message, but I guess I was scared, too.”
“Of what?”
“That you’d be mad at me still. For pushing you away, for accusing you of trying to use me. All the things we never had a chance to discuss in that wretched cabin but should have. I just keep thinking about what an ass I’d been. I couldn’t apologize to you through Callen or even a note, and I didn’t expect to be there that long.”
“You’re here now,” she said, her smile as wide and lovely as ever. His Mila trusted and gave and deserved so much better than what he could offer. He had so much to tell her, but right now, he just wanted to hold her.
“Want to go back to my place?” he asked. When she didn’t say anything, he added. “Or yours. We can just talk. We don’t have to do anything. I just want to be with you, for as long as I can.”
“What does that mean?” she asked as he rose and held a hand down to her.
“Nothing.” He pulled her up and pulled her in tight against his chest. Never mind that they were both naked after shifting, he needed to feel her body against him and to remind her of who they were together.
She didn’t pull away, but met his eyes straight on. “No more lies, Hayden. From either of us.”
“I want to blood-bond you, Mila,” he said. He wouldn’t let her slip out of his hands again. She had turned him down once, but couldn’t give up on her. It was the very reason he couldn’t stay at Drake’s one more hellish minute. He could put up with his brother’s shit and the cesspool of the pack that he led, but being without Mila had been tearing him apart. What he did, where he went. . . None of that mattered without her.
“We can’t, Hayden.”
“Of course, we can. We get a knife, and then we blood-bond. Just the two of us. Unless you want the formal ceremony, with everyone watching.”
“I’m a weak shifter, Hayden. You say you don’t care if your abilities weaken, but you will, in time. Once we blood-bond, there’s no reversing it. Sooner or later, you’ll start to resent me. The first time you can fight alongside the others, the first time you’re unable to do something you used to do.”
He could see where there might be resentment from a shifter losing his or her strength as a result of a bond, but there was so much more to be gained.
“Anna did some sort of treatment with Blade, to protect him when they blood-bonded. We can do that too. I want you, Mila, all of you.”
“I guess that’s an option.”
She didn’t sound pleased. “You said no more lies. Are you afraid to share a bond with me?”
She bit her lip. “I want that, Hayden, I desperately want that with you. A blood-bond with another was all I ever dreamt of as a little girl. Then I shifted, discovered how weak I was. My mother told me I’d never blood-bond. That I’d be lucky to have any shifter. ‘Weak wolves don’t bond’ she always said.”
“Bull shit. Most of the mated pairs here are blood-bonded. Though most of it is strong to strong or weak to weak.”
“Then you understand why I can’t have the bond! I want you, and I don’t want you to wake up resenting me one morning because of the damage I caused you. I can’t be responsible for making you weak.”
“I can care less about being weak. So, I’ll heal a bit slower. I know a great doctor, and I’m betting if I can sweet talk her into making bed calls.”
“That’s house calls.”
“For me, you’ll make an exception. Bed calls.”
She laughed, and he didn’t need any stupid tradition of strong shifters only blood-bonded other strong shifters, or mothers from her past ruining this. He was going to find a way to blood-bond her.
“I’m not alpha of a pack. Only a second. Around here that doesn’t mean much. I don’t need to run perimeter or fight intruders.”
“Except you can’t stay here. This pack, despite all the wonderful things about it, is hurting you. You need to return to Drake, take him up on his offer to be his second.”
“What? How do you know about that?”
