Page 63 of Hayden's Haven
Truman cleared his throat. All eyes turned to him. “Damien, clearly you have me at a disadvantage since I’m on your territory. And I must apologize, but we couldn’t help but overhear your discussion with the traitor earlier.”
Hayden visibly winced at being called a traitor, but Damien stood solid behind her, not making a move or a sound. Truman’s words meant nothing to him.
“While it’s true we lost a lot to the virus, there were a lot that were left homeless when their packs were wiped out. We’ve been recruiting them, training them off site. Fortunately, they were off site when the virus ripped through our camp, and it’s only through Mila’s quick thinking that the virus was contained and our losses minimized. So, you can see how invaluable she is to us.
“You need shifters to go up against Drake. I have shifters now, more than enough to help you overwhelm Drake’s pack. You want to see that other pack released and fix things with the government by handing Drake over? Fine. I’ll give you the army you need, Damien. But only if you give me Mila.”
Chapter Thirteen
HAYDEN
Hayden’s wolf growled and started biting him from within. He didn’t like the blond shifter standing in front of him. Hadn’t liked him from the moment he had seen him, and Hayden agreed. He knew from the moment the shifter fixated on Mila that this was the shifter who had made her life a living hell.
From the moment Mila descended the steps, Hayden noticed every technique Vance used to intimidate her. She had been doing really well, talking to her alpha, explaining what had really happened, until that asshole had side-stepped him and gained a direct line of sight to her. Then she had clammed up again. She had barely been able to take Hayden’s hand—though that likely had to do with the fact that she had finally learned the truth about him and Drake. Hell, what a mess.
More than once, Mila cast her eyes downward. The smell of her fear, the very fact that she no longer sought his strength, outraged Hayden. He would protect her no matter what. There was no way in hell these shifters would take Mila.
Truman’s lips curled into a smile. “I’ll give you the army you need, Damien. But only if you return Mila to me.”
The scent of Mila’s fear spiked to an all-time high, a split second before she bolted out of Damien’s house. Hayden shoved past Vance, who had the nerve to prevent Hayden from going after her. Despite shouts from Damien behind him, Hayden chased after Mila.
The snow was coming down hard, and she didn’t even have a coat on. Odd how that thought struck above all others. She was his to worry about, that’s all he knew, even if no one else would acknowledge it, including Mila.
He found her scent trail easily enough, but then it quickly disappeared with the wind whipping as it was. Snow quickly covered her tracks. Hayden shifted. His wolf would be able to track her better, though even he was struggling.
The wind calmed long enough for him to find the direction she’d fled. Hayden ran at top speed and still hadn’t overtaken her. That’s when he saw paw prints overlaying Mila’s scent trail. The truth struck him at that moment. Mila had shifted! That’s why she was able to maintain a lead, given the brief head start she’d had. Her wolf was fast! Pride swept through him, and joy, for his Mila. She could shift! They’d be able to blood-bond and run together and. . .
Hayden stopped short at the sight of the gorgeous brown wolf lying in the snow at the base of a tree. Her scent, the scent of her wolf that he’d caught and dismissed earlier today as his imagination had been real. His Mila could shift!
Dazzling green eyes had locked onto him, meeting him full-on, as her spirit did every time they were together. She hadn’t run from him, but from Vance and Truman, maybe even the situation itself. Then again, she hadn’t runtoHayden either.
Hayden shifted and knelt by her. “I’m sorry, Mila. None of that should have happened. I thought once they heard the truth they’d leave. For your alpha to try to barter fighters for you. . . Nothing excuses that.”
Hayden gently sifted his fingers through her fur, wondering what she was thinking, and why she refused to shift back so they could talk. They had a lot to talk about, not the least of which was the truth he’d kept from her. Maybe that was why she wasn’t shifting.
“I should have told you about me and Drake. Sometimes I think if I ignore what my brother’s become, then the rest of the world will too. Or that shifters will see me for who I am and not simply as Drake’s brother.”
Mila nuzzled his hand. Was he being forgiven? “I’d really like to speak with you. When you’re ready.”
The snow was really coming down hard now, and the wind was whipping through the trees, almost blizzard conditions, but not quite yet. Either way, they needed to get to shelter. He could shift back, should shift back, because in his human form he was starting to freeze, but he’d lose the ability to talk to her. He wasn’t sure she would go with him as it was.
“My cabin’s not far. Let’s get inside and talk.”
Mila’s wolf snarled as she sprang to her feet.
Hayden was slammed into a tree. The white wolf lunged for his throat, never giving Hayden time to shift. Hayden’s hand clamped around the wolf’s throat. In this form, he wasn’t powerful enough to crush the wolf’s throat, not with how the wolf was clawing the hell out of his chest, but it was enough to keep those jaws from tearing out his throat.
A growl deafened him as Mila’s wolf lunged at the white wolf, knocking him off Hayden. He had seconds at best to shift. Hayden shifted, but too late to keep the white wolf from clamping his jaws around Mila’s throat.
Hayden couldn’t do anything. If he charged the wolf, the wolf could easily snap her neck or bite down and tear her throat out. Hayden shifted back.
“I surrender! Leave her alone!”
The white wolf lifted his jaws off of her neck, blood was dripping down her throat but she was alive and conscious. The wolf kept her pinned, with his powerful front paw pressing down into her shoulder.
Hayden spread his arms out in the least defensive position he could think of. “I’m all yours. Or do you prefer to fight a female because it’s easier?” He was vulnerable in human form, but he needed to draw the wolf away from Mila, at any cost.
The white wolf lunged for Hayden’s throat. He was fast and strong, but not as experienced. Hayden twisted his torso and got the wolf in a headlock as the force of the impact threw them both to the ground. Hayden rolled to his left. Knowing he had no time to shift, he grabbed a branch and snapped it free. It wasn’t much but it would have to do. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mila’s wolf, lying on the snow, not moving.
