Page 33 of Hayden's Haven
A sly smile crept onto Hayden’s face. “He doesn’t mean much to you, or you would have been quicker to answer.”
“He proposed,” she bit back, wishing she had the guts to tell Hayden everything, like how she’d never mate Vance. Never in a million years.
“You didn’t accept, or you would have said as much. Interesting.”
How did he see right through her? “Thank you for showing me the falls.”
“Next time we can go to the underground caverns. There are some fabulous stalagmite and stalactite formations to see.”
Next time? Were theydating? “Maybe. I-I have to get back to work.”
As she turned to head back to the lab, Hayden reached out and caught a tendril of her hair. He sidled up behind her, so close that the heat from his body warmed her torso and backside despite the cold February air. As he stepped closer, his scent flooded her and his hands lingered in her hair, pulling slightly to lock her to him. Heat pooled in her belly and traveled lower. The vision of him sinking his hands into her hair while taking her from behind was so sudden she nearly gasped.
“You can stay here,” he said, whispering in her ear as his hand sifted through her hair until she leaned her head back against his broad chest. “The pack has already accepted you, and that isn’t an easy feat to accomplish for an outsider. It means you’re one of them. You’ll be protected, given the freedom to pursue your career and have your pick of any available shifter. Though they will have to go through me to get to you, my Mila.”
My Mila?God, if only she could be his. She’d do anything to make that happen, but it wouldn’t last, not when he learned the truth.
“I’m not yours, Hayden,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Not yet,” he said as his hand slid away.
She felt the loss of him pulling away as keenly as if she had removed her winter coat and been struck by an arctic blast. She didn’t dare turn around, because if he was still standing there, looking at her, she’d crack. She’d tell him that she hated her pack and never wanted to go back, that she wanted to stay here with him.
That was the very last thing she could let happen because Hayden would damn well make sure that dream became a reality.
Chapter Seven
MILA
Mila watched the pack gathering around the lake, stripping down and shifting one by one. The cries of the weaker pack members shifting throughout the crowd sliced through her, making her spine stiffen and her mind recall the pain and agony of her last shift before the virus.
“You could be out there running with them,” Anna said, rescuing her from the memory. “I’ve only performed the treatment on Tess, but it worked. Hayden says you’re not willing to try yet, that something about it scares you.”
“He picked up on that, did he?” She wasn’t scared that it would fail, but that it would work.
“He’s observant, detail-oriented, but he can’t read minds, Mila. I don’t mean to pry, but you haven’t even asked about the protocols. It’s as if you don’t care if you regain your ability to shift.”
Hayden wasn’t the only observant one. “I don’t feel like I’m missing anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. I simply don’t want to split my focus right now. I realize that must sound lame, but there’s nothing I really miss about being a shifter. Sure, the ability to heal faster is useful, but it’s not like I get injured that often. What happened back in Wyoming was a rarity.”
That was an outright lie, but it wasn’t to Hayden which somehow would have been ten times worse. Then again, she didn’t like lying to Anna. Mila turned to her new friend, taking in her blonde hair, blue eyes, and rounding belly. Anna stood out here in so many ways, yet she was totally comfortable in this pack. For them to accept a human as one of their own was quite impressive. Why didn’t the pack accept Hayden the same way? He was shifter, and a strong one at that.
“I promise I’ll go over it soon. I’ll take it back to my pack and ensure everyone gets the treatment.”
“Including you?”
“Why would I skip it?”
That seemed to satisfy Anna. Mila wondered when she had become so skilled at avoiding the truth. Was it when Vance would accuse her of looking at other shifters, treating them when they really didn’t need it? Or was it more recent, driven by this need to protect herself from the pain she would feel if she let anything develop between her and Hayden?
She glanced toward the rocks where the top shifters stood as Damien talked to the pack. At this distance, neither she nor Anna could hear what he was saying, but the pack seemed energized. This pack loved and supported Damien, and they’d do anything for him, but not Hayden. Her eyes sought out the handsome shifter.
Hayden was staring at her as Damien shifted and leapt from the rocks, the pack following after him. Hayden ignored the flurry of wolves racing past him as he held her eyes. Then with a slight quirk of his mouth, he shifted. It was as if he was making a promise that in the future they’d run together. He wasn’t giving up on her. This was definitely not good.
* * *
There was a banging somewhere nearby,like hammering, that woke Mila. If she had been back at her pack, she would have opened up the door to yell at whoever was making a racket when the sun was barely up. At least she would have wanted to, knowing full well that calling attention to herself like that never ended well.
She always found it odd how being a doctor earned a human a lot of respect, but a shifter just the opposite, at least back home. No one there could understand why she had ‘wasted so many years’ of her life to becoming a doctor when most shifters healed on their own. Gaining knowledge never seemed like a waste to her, and the shifters here certainly appreciated her coming to work on the vaccine. She hoped she didn’t let them down.
