Page 98 of Hayden's Haven
Mila screamed as Hayden went down. Snarls and warning growls erupted to his right. As Hayden clamped his hand on his wound, Drake’s and Chitman’s wolves fought. Callen caught Mila by her waist and lifted her off the ground and away from the fight.
Chitman was no match for Drake under normal circumstances, but Drake had several injuries thanks to his fight with Hayden. The whole fucking situation made sense suddenly. Chitman had planned to take Drake down from the start, except he wasn’t strong enough. He had needed Hayden to challenge and weaken Drake, if not outright defeat him. From that point, it didn’t matter who won because the winner would be wounded, giving Chitman the only advantage he would ever have to take over as alpha.
Chitman had used Mila, goading her into challenging Drake knowing that Hayden wouldn’t let her fight Drake. It was clever and had worked. Drake and Hayden. . . they had walked into Chitman’s trap.
The guards watching nearby split into two sides, though it wasn’t clear if the division was along loyalty lines or merely shifters giving Drake and Chitman space to fight. That would be for Drake to determine, if he survived. Hayden had to get Mila out of there.
“Callen!” he shouted.
Mila, his strong foolish female, saw him pointing toward the woods, mouthing for Callen to take her and leave. She scowled at him. He needed to add stubborn to the list of adjectives he had been collecting in his head when he thought of her.
Mila wove her way through the guards, only to be pulled back by Callen. “Let me look at the wound,” she ordered as she dropped at Hayden’s side.
“No hello kiss?” Hayden asked.
“Hello,” she said and blew a kiss as she pushed his bloody hand aside from his belly.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“See me after you’re healed, and you can have all the kisses you want.”
“Just kisses.”
“He can’t be that wounded if he’s flirting,” Callen said.
Mila didn’t answer. That wasn’t a good sign. Neither was the increasing amount of blood sliding down his side and curving to his lower back. “You’re going to be fine,” Mila suddenly said. She looked more scared now than when she had stood up to Drake.
With a shaky hand, Hayden put it on her forearm and pushed her away. “Take her home, Callen. That’s an order.”
“Don’t!” she snapped at Callen when he reached for her. “I need to keep pressure on the wound until someone gets me a surgical kit or Hayden’s wolf decides to stop sleeping on the job.”
His wolf wasn’t sleeping. He was working hard—and failing. Belly wounds were one step below having one’s throat torn out. Shifter, human, it didn’t matter. The odds were never good and from the look on Mila’s face, this was one of those times. “Take her home, Callen,” Hayden said again, though not an order so much as a plea this time. He didn’t want her to see this. It didn’t matter that she was a doctor, he didn’t want her to blame herself. Better she should blame him, or blame Callen for pulling her away. Callen would understand, even if Mila wouldn’t.
“No!” Mila said jerking free of Callen and putting pressure on the wound. “I’m not leaving you. Someone get me a fucking surgical kit.”
“You’ve been hanging out with Damien too much,” Hayden said.
“Don’t give up, Hayden,” Mila said, tears breaking through her calm exterior. “I can’t lose you again.”
“Please, Callen—” Hayden began.
“Too late,” Callen said, as his eyes looked past Hayden. “Fight’s over.”
Hayden couldn’t see past Mila who refused to move from his side. Drake’s bloody face stood over Mila and looked down at them both.
“Enforcer,” Drake said. “Take the female back to Damien. You have one hour to reach the border. Do not return.”
“Hayden can’t be moved yet,” Mila said.
“He’s not going anywhere. You’re leaving without him. Go.”
“No!” Mila said, tears streaming down her face. Hayden could see that she wanted to rise, to confront Drake, but she wouldn’t take the pressure off his wound. “You don’t need him, Drake.”
“You think my plans have changed because he saved my life? You’re more foolish than I thought. I’m not turning myself in to the DSA.”
“Is Chitman still alive?” she asked.
“Not for long. He doesn’t deserve a quick death.”
