Page 44 of Hayden's Haven
“Not really, but now that you mention it. . .”
“I’m making note of every time you use that excuse, because one day when I’m pregnant—”
“One day soon?” Anna asked, the ends of her lips curling as she finally looked up from her papers. “You and Finley perhaps?”
“Is that what this is about? You’re playing matchmaker? Waiting for me to get so cold that I’ll go down to maintenance and be forced to talk to Finley?”
“Hardly forced. Just a gentle shove in the right direction. The guy’s been hanging around here a lot lately, and it’s not just because of that ancient generator.”
The right directionwould be toward Hayden’s cabin, except he wasn’t there. As for Finley, if Mila asked him to fix the generator again, he’d probably drop everything to do so. In the week since Hayden had left with Frank, Finley definitely had been dropping by more and more. The shifter was sweet, kind, and funny. The type of guy Mila could see herself ending up with, except. . . he wasn’t Hayden.
Her sense of what motivated weak and strong shifters was definitely changing, and she was just as confused now as when Hayden had driven himself into her, taking her,claimingher. And it had been a claiming, in every sense of the word. Except she’d run from him and was still running from him, even when he wasn’t here. She’d tried forcing all thoughts of Hayden out of her mind, and she was failing, miserably.
“The way you’re frowning,” Anna said, breaking Mila out of her trance. “I guess Finley isn’t why you’ve been moping around here for the past week.”
Finley had blamed Hayden without knowing the facts. Twice now, she’d seen weak shifters goading, even attacking Hayden. Both times, Hayden had restrained himself. He could have killed Benji, he had every right and opportunity to do so. He hadn’t beaten Finley, either. Or berated him. Or tried to force an apology. Hayden had stood up for himself but had never gone on the offense or bullied Finley, a weak shifter.
Life was so very different in this pack. Hayden. . . her sweet Hayden was different from all the shifters she’d known too.
“Finley’s not my type.”
Anna’s eyes sparkled. “You have your sights set on someone else! Dish. . . who?”
Girl gossip. Mila had actually missed this from her college and medical school days. The female shifters of her pack didn’t exact sit around chatting about the guys they were interested in, at least not with her.
“No one here,” she lied. Anna wouldn’t want to hear about Hayden. That day Hayden had accidentally run into and knocked Anna over had shaken her for some reason, and Anna refused to talk about it. Blade had even made a point of finding Mila alone and asking her not to mention anything about the incident as he was afraid more stress wouldn’t be good for Anna or the baby.
Blade was right, of course. This fun-loving shifter that everyone spoke of as if he was impulsive and lacked direction at times was anything but when it came to Anna’s well-being. She admired that about Blade, and it made her miss Hayden all the more. He worried about Mila and the whole damn pack, a pack filled with shifters who didn’t deserve his loyalty.
“The temperature’s dropping really fast. How are you sitting there looking as if it’s a warm, sunny day?”
Anna flexed her boots. “Blade brought me a bunch of toe warmers.” She rose and dug through the layers of clothing to the top of her jeans and bent the waistband over so Mila could see the red plaid lining. “Flannel jeans. I lived practically my whole life in the Boulder area and never once tried flannel jeans. A definite must-have.”
Her smile dropped. “Oh, Mila, I keep forgetting you’re feeling the cold as much as me now. I can go home and get you a bunch of toe warmers and Blade can order some flannel-lined jeans in your size too.”
“Flannel jeans sound nice. I’m as human as you these days.”
“And yet you don’t sound upset about it.”
Upset that she no longer had to go through the torment of being shifter? No. “I’ll let maintenance know the generator’s out again.”
“I can still get you some toe warmers. It might take a while for someone from maintenance to solve the problem with the generator.
“I’ll take you up on that, but it can wait until tomorrow.”
“Or you can take the treatment, and not be so vulnerable to the cold like me.”
Mila toyed with the idea. It would also be nice to heal faster and be warmer in the winter months. “If I do this, Anna, can it be between us?”
“You wouldn’t want anyone knowing you can shift again?”
“It’s a long story, but I’d rather keep it secret. Doctor-patient confidentiality.”
“I’m not bound by the Hippocratic oath, Mila. I have a Ph.D.”
“All I need is your word that you won’t tell anyone, including Blade.”
Anna smiled. “I can’t say I understand your need for secrecy on this, but I won’t tell anyone, including Blade, though he’d keep your secret if I asked him to. I’m just happy to help you.”
