Page 37 of Hayden's Haven
“I won’t hurt you,” he said, his words a vow. “No matter what happens, I’ll never hurt you.”
“I know,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You’re not like him.”
Him?Hayden closed his eyes. This wasn’t about the shifter in the woods who had attacked her. There was another who had hurt her, and that’s why she was reluctant, afraid even.
“I owe you an explanation,” she said, her voice shaky but determined.
She wasn’t ready to share her past, not with the way she was shaking. He turned and captured her mouth with his. He didn’t intend the kiss to be as long as it was, but he needed to show her that he cared, deeply. Then he scooped her up again.
“I-I can’t,” she said, tears in her eyes.
“Nothing more than hot chocolate and sitting by the fire.” He placed her on the sofa in front of the fireplace while he retrieved the hot chocolate from the kitchen. “It’s all I had,” he added hastily before she could ask any questions. He didn’t want her to know he had put a special request in with Greg when the shifter headed into Devil’s Peak for a supply run a few day’s back.
“It’s great. Thanks.” She sipped from the mug as she stared into the fire that had finally come to life.
“You’re staring at me, aren’t you, Hayden.”
“Yup.”
“Any reason why?”
“I think you know why.”
She began shaking again.
“Ah, hell, Mila. Nothing’s going to happen unless you want it.” He ran his left hand up and down her arm. “I was just flirting. I mean, you gotta let a guy have some fun if all he’s allowed to do is look at you, right?”
She chuckled, which quickly turned to tears. He slid the mug from her and set it on the floor as he pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arm around her. His wolf was unsettled, but for once he didn’t have the urge to run off his frustrations. Everything in him said this was where he had to be, even if he had to keep his mouth shut until she felt secure. Her fingers splayed wide over his chest, and to his surprise, glided over his pecs.
“I’d love to ask you what you’re doing, but I’m afraid I’ll scare you. Or worse, that you’ll stop.”
“You don’t scare me, Hayden. Not anymore.”
“That’s good to know. . . I think.”
She laughed as her hand continued moving, this time directly over the scars on his chest. “You tried to hide these from me when we first met. I never saw you without your shirt except when you shifted and then you always turned your back to me, so I wouldn’t see. Why?”
This wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. There was a lot about his past she didn’t know, and discussing his past would not make her feel safe. “Vanity, I guess.”
Her head tilted back. “Liar. You’re not in the least bit vain.”
He released a deep breath. “I left my pack under less than ideal circumstances.”
“You had a fight?”
“Yes, but the scars came afterward. Punishment for my crimes.”
“Benji called you a traitor.”
Her hands stopped tracing the scars and she pulled back slightly, but not completely. He knew he’d have to explain this sooner or later, he just wasn’t expecting it to be so soon when they were still getting to know one another. Defending his honor against the Benjis of the pack was something he had decided he wasn’t going to do a long time ago. Some shifters would never give him a chance, no matter how hard he fought to protect this pack. But Mila knew how to listen, how to weigh the facts and judge for herself, which made this situation so precarious. Telling her the entire truth. . .no, it was too soon.
“You’re right, that most white wolves come from Drake’s pack. Or are related to it. I fought the alpha before Drake—Logan—and won. I believed him to be feral and put him down, per pack law. Drake didn’t see it that way. As Logan’s second and the male designated to take over for Logan, Drake became alpha. Some would think this would have made Drake happy, but it didn’t. He idolized Logan and had no desire to remove him from power. Unfortunately, Logan mentored him, taught Drake everything.”
“I never would have thought Drake capable of that type of camaraderie.”
“Family, not camaraderie. Logan raised Drake as his own. Father and son, essentially, though uncle and nephew in reality. Either way, when I killed Logan, Drake. . .”
Hayden drew another deep breath. He could still feel Drake and his enforcer take him down, sinking their teeth and claws into him. They’d caged him for three days, allowed him to heal, only for Drake to chain him up in the center of the pack and drag his claws down his chest, over and over again for a week until his wolf could no longer heal him.
