“Let’s move.”
The back exit and alley behind the old bakeshop were clear. Hayden led the way, with the women at his side. After only a few minutes of walking through the woods, the women were falling behind. Traveling over uneven terrain was too slow in human form, and his wolf itched to be freed.
Hayden dumped Mila’s backpack on the ground and started stripping out of his clothes. “We need to shift, at least until we’re a few miles deeper into the woods. Shifter or human, whoever those men are, they’ll catch up too easily at the rate we’re moving.”
Kate pulled away from Mila, ready to strip and shift. Mila put a hand on her, stopping her. “She’s too weak to shift, Hayden.”
“I can do it,” Kate piped up, even as she sagged against a tree.
Mila gave Kate a soothing smile. “Shifting’s too much of a strain for you right now.”
“It’s better than a bullet between her eyes,” Hayden said.
Mila’s face hardened. “Are you always such an ass, or just when you’re under pressure?”
Kate put her hand on Mila and immediately Mila’s expression softened. “He wouldn’t suggest it if it weren’t necessary,” Kate said.
“I don’t need you defending me, Kate.” Hayden walked up to Mila, stopping only inches from her. At that moment, he realized what a foolish move that had been. He had meant to intimidate her into following his lead at least until they put enough distance between them and the men searching for them.
Her scent, lilac and morning dew, filled his lungs, distracting him in a most inappropriate way. His cock stirred and Hayden realized he enjoyed fighting with her, trying to get the upper hand and riling her in the process. Seeing her cheeks flush when she was overwhelmed was downright sexy and something he wanted to see more often—but alone, in private. Now was not the time to even ponder what having her in his bed would be like, not with their lives at risk.
“This is the last we’re having of this conversation, Doctor. Your safety, both of yours, is my responsibility.” He glanced at Kate to make sure she was okay. She was in mid-shift, having already stripped and shoved her clothes into her small bag. It wasn’t the backpack she had taken with her when she went to hack the WSSO, but from the look of it, it was fairly stuffed, though considerably lighter than Mila’s. Kate’s shift was flawless and fast, despite the fever she was running.
“See, she’s shifted. No problem.”
“I know what I’m talking about,” Mila said.
“I’m sure you do. And when we have a medical crisis, I’ll defer to you. But keeping us alive and getting us out of here, all of us, is my responsibility. You’ll defer to me, understand?”
She hesitated. He reached out and let two fingers glide along her jaw. He had never touched her before, but at that moment, with her fear filling the air, he wanted—needed—to calm her. He glimpsed a frailty in Mila, one that unsettled him.
“Please, Mila,” he whispered to her, hoping she’d understand he was being serious and not trying to aggravate her. “You need to trust me on this.”
She nodded slightly, green eyes suddenly looking scared but not panicked. He didn’t think she’d panic. She was a trooper. She had risked her life taking care of Kate. Then, she had stood up to him and Callen when they’d first arrived and she hadn’t known who they were.
“I won’t give you any trouble,” Mila said, though she still looked nervous.
“Leave the backpack,” Hayden ordered when Kate’s wolf grabbed the lightweight bag between her teeth.
Kate bared her teeth without dropping the backpack. Was this his lot in life, to be defied by obstinate females? “Kate—”
Voices boomed off to their left. Eyes wide, Mila looked to Hayden, finally trusting him to lead. He pushed Mila’s backpack behind some bushes. He’d retrieve it later after he got the women some place safe. Eyes and ears turned in the direction of the voices. Hayden shifted. Immediately, he gave a low growl, ordering the female shifters to follow him.
Hayden dug in and started running. Even as his paws struck the dirt, he rotated his right ear, listening behind him. The men’s voices faded into the background. Kate’s untrained gait was heavy on the ground, breaking branches and crushing leaves beneath her paws, but she was keeping up. Mila was completely silent. That was the difference between a shifter raised as a shifter. They learned from an early age how to move through the woods quietly. Kate hadn’t had that advantage, but Hayden was sure Callen would teach her in time.
God, Hayden hoped Callen was okay. The enforcer should have caught up to them by now. If anything happened to Callen, after they’d finally found Kate. . . No, Hayden wouldn’t allow his thoughts to go there. He had to stay strong for Kate. She was already fighting an infection, and Callen was everything to her. Hayden would keep his thoughts to himself, make sure Kate stayed focused and optimistic. If anything, he needed a plan to keep the women safe while he doubled back to find Callen.
“Hayden!”
Kate’s shout stopped him. She had shifted back to human form for a reason. He shifted as he turned around. Mila was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is she?” he yelled back to Kate, even as his wolf clawed at him to find Mila.
“I don’t know. I thought she was behind me, but when I looked back she was gone.”
“Shit.” He had to go find her, but Kate was breathing heavily and looked ready to pass out. She had her bag with her still. That would have slowed her, not accounted for how pale she looked. At least she still had that gun of hers.
“Get your gun out and wait here as long as you can. And for goodness’s sake, Kate, don’t shoot me when I return.”
“I’ll try not to.”
That made him feel so much better as he shifted and retraced their steps. It was a good mile before he picked up Mila’s scent. Some leader he was. He had lost her further back than he realized. Hell, he wasn’t even the one who had noticed. Kate had. It was little wonder so much of his pack didn’t have much, if any, faith in him. They only tolerated him as Damien’s second because of Damien.
The pack respected Damien, not that they shouldn’t. Their alpha was strategic, smart, fair, and strong. A true alpha. Hayden didn’t have Damien’s desire or strength to lead. Oh, he could fight with the best of them, had nearly taken Damien down during several sparring matches, but he had always yielded, too worried that he had hurt Damien. If he put his full effort into fighting Damien and ended up injuring the alpha, then Hayden would be stuck with leading the pack, something he never wanted to do.
Hayden would take over as alpha if anything ever happened to Damien, but he had left that destiny behind long ago when his uncle Logan had murdered Hayden’s father and then taken Hayden’s younger brother Drake to raise as his own. It was clear then and there who would follow in Logan’s footsteps. And given what being alpha had done to Logan and ultimately Drake, Hayden didn’t want anything to do with the position.
Hayden heard movement up ahead. He dropped into a crouch and waited. The noxious scent of fear filled his nostrils as the human came crashing through the trees. No, not human. Mila. Still dressed and carrying the heavy backpack. She had gone back for the damn bag.
Hayden’s wolf leapt into her path. She gasped at the sight of him and in her desperation to get away from him tripped over a root and fell face-first onto the packed earth. Immediately, Hayden shifted and bent down to lift her.
“Get away from me!”
The bitter scent of her fear tripled even though he had shifted back to human form and she could see who it was. Hayden backed away.
“I was only trying to stop you from running in the wrong direction. I came back for you.”
“That was your second mistake.”
“Second?” What the hell was she talking about? And did they really have to talk about this here and now? He had no idea where the men were, and he had left Kate by herself, with just her gun to protect her. Granted, she was a dead shot, but not if she passed out. “Neve
r mind. Tell me later. We have to get going.”
“I’m not going to shift. I need my bag, and it’s too heavy for a wolf to carry.”
“I’ll come back for the bag.”
“When? In a week? A month? Whoever’s after us might take it. And I can’t leave it here for the weather or animals to destroy. All my research and samples are in here. I need this if I’m going to continue my work.”
Hell. That backpack was now more valuable than him and Kate combined. Hayden hoisted the pack over his left shoulder and extended his hand to pull her up. She didn’t accept.
“I don’t bite.”
“Are you sure, white wolf?”
Damn family history was going to follow him everywhere. “We’re allies, which means you have my protection whether you want it or not, Doc.”
Green eyes softened slightly, though enough suspicion remained there to remind him that he would never be rid of his past, even with a woman he had just met.
“I thought scientists were supposed to be less prone to making snap judgments.”
She eyed him curiously as if she couldn’t figure him out. He hoped she’d give him a chance, a real chance, unlike the majority of his adoptive pack. If it weren’t for the close-knit circle of friends he had among Damien’s top shifters, Hayden would have left Damien’s pack years ago.
Mila finally took his hand, allowing him to help her up. It was a sign of trust, despite how hesitant she was. Hayden held in the need to smile, for fear of spooking her further. He could work with hesitant. At least she had given him an opening.
Eager to reach Kate, Hayden clasped ahold of Mila’s hand and started walking.
“Must you?” she whispered.
He followed her eyes to where his hand held hers. His thumb had been lightly caressing the back of her hand. That had not been intentional.
“Sorry.”
Mila was a distraction, no doubt about it. She had been since he first spotted her coming and going to the bakery when he and Callen were observing the place, waiting for the elusive Dr. Evans they were sent to escort. Hayden had never imagined the beautiful woman was the doctor or that she had been caring for his injured cousin.
Kate. . . Hell, he’d left her practically defenseless.
Hayden picked up his pace. He was practically pulling Mila along as he dodged low tree branches and leapt over knotted roots. Despite her heavy breathing beside him, she was keeping up. Her hand was soft, so perfect in his that it was no wonder he started stroking her smooth skin again.
As soon as he realized what he was doing, he stopped and released her hand. Fortunately, she hadn’t minded him caressing her. If she had, she would have pulled away for sure this time. Mila was no coward; she had stood up to him, several times now. He just wished she didn’t fear him.
Instincts told Hayden someone was near. He ground to a halt and listened for the enemy. The distant hum of voices heading away from him and Mila put him at ease, but not enough to be complacent. His wolf was edgy because they weren’t in their territory, surrounded by pack.
“You can call me ‘Mila’,” she said, between heavy breaths as they continued hiking toward Kate.
“Are you sure? Sounds rather personal considering how much you fear me.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
Her scent had said otherwise, but he wasn’t going to call her a liar. “Kate’s a white wolf too.” He didn’t know what made him say that, except that Mila liked Kate. She had gone out of her way to help Kate, risked her life for her even.
“I know. But she’s not one of them.”
“Them?”
“The pack of crazy white wolves to the South.”
Drake’s pack. Hayden’s birth pack. “Being a white wolf doesn’t make a shifter crazy,” he bit out, trying to keep from sounding defensive. She didn’t know him yet. She had no real reason to trust him.
“You look like their alpha.”
“You’ve met Drake then. Where?”
“Yes, that was his name. Drake Novak.” She shuddered again, and his heart sank. Not that he ever expected a good reaction when Drake’s name was mentioned, but still, this was his brother. If she knew of Hayden’s connection, then she’d never give him the time of day once he got her back to Damien’s pack.
“It’s been a few years, but yes, I met him. He attended a summit between alphas from four states about three years back.”
Hayden remembered that summit. Damien had left Hayden in charge of the pack, taking Callen with him to the summit. Damien had said Hayden was needed at the pack, but the truth was that Damien avoided having Hayden at his side—where a second should be—anytime Drake was involved. Not that Hayden didn’t understand Damien’s reasoning. Drake lost any and all sense of reason and civility every time Hayden approached, and nothing could get accomplished when Drake was in one of his moods. Nonetheless, being left behind—being the only second excluded from such meetings—never sat well with Hayden, and it made the pack question his true worth.
For all of his strengths and insight, Damien couldn’t see the damage he did to Hayden’s reputation each time he left him out of high-level meetings. Damien was Hayden’s best friend and his alpha, but that didn’t mean they always saw eye to eye.
“I wasn’t at the summit, but I heard there were a few hunters that had stumbled across the site and started shooting. Slipped right past the patrols.”
“Our enforcer back then wasn’t exactly on the ball,” Mila said. “Poor management when it came to the guards. He’s since been replaced by an enforcer that. . .”
She shuddered again. Hayden wondered if she was getting sick.
“Never mind,” she said with a wave of her empty hand. “You don’t want to know the gritty details of that train-wreck of a shifter. In any case, I was called in after the massacre.”
He raised a brow. “To treat the humans?”
“No, there was nothing left of them. They hadn’t killed any shifters, but they tried. With six alphas there. . . Let’s just say I couldn’t even be sure how many hunters had been killed. They were beyond shredded.”
“I hadn’t heard that part.”
“Your alpha had gone with two others to run a perimeter when the melee started, to ensure there weren’t any others approaching our pack. It was the white wolf, Drake, that went berserk.” She shivered again.
Ok, then, not sick. It’s just Drake that terrifies her.
“I kept my head down and worked on the two alphas that had been shot. I’m an expert at removing bullets these days.”
“Good, because we’re getting close to Kate, and she likes to shoot me.”
That made her laugh. God help him, Mila’s laugh held such light that Hayden felt invigorated, like he was twenty-three again, before everything went to shit at his birth pack. Eight years he had been with Damien’s pack, and sometimes it felt like decades. Not today, not with Mila.
“I’m serious,” Hayden said, giving her one of his famous grins, the one Tess accused him of using to woo the female shifters back at camp. He suddenly couldn’t even picture any of the girls he had dated in the past year.
Mila suppressed her smile. “You can’t be serious.”
“You can ask Kate yourself, Doc, I mean Mila.” Her name rolled right off his tongue, but using it also seemed too familiar.
He had never had trouble approaching women, flirting, even asking them out on a date after just meeting, but this one, this doctor who was willful at times, she would run from him the second she learned the truth. Staying formal would be the smart thing to do, even if he loved how gentle her voice was or how the waves of her rich, dark hair cascaded over her breasts, tempting him to step forward and ease her hair behind her, maybe even steal a kiss.
He held out his hand again. This time, she accepted without hesitation. Progress. A few minutes later, he stopped and surveyed the area, looking for Kate. The air was thick with her scent, despite the lack of wind. This was definitely the spot he’d left her
. She was probably hiding.
“Kate, it’s me. Don’t shoot.”
Kate didn’t answer. “Stay here,” Hayden said, trying to ignore the rising panic within him.
“Mila!” he yelled when he found Kate unconscious behind a felled tree.
Mila raced over, dropped her pack beside him, and bent down. She moved quickly, taking Kate’s vitals and then tearing into her bag as she mumbled to herself, cursing.
“What’s wrong? Why won’t she wake?”
“Shifting strained her, but it’s possible the infection spread.” Mila tore open an IV bag. “I have to start a line. Do we have time?”
The doctor was finally deferring to him. “Do what you need to do. Tie the bag to her to make her mobile. I’ll carry her.” Hayden rooted around in the muddy snow until he found her gun. He brushed it off, ejected the clip and checked the chamber. He wasn’t an expert on guns, but it seemed to be in good shape. He snapped the clip back in place.
“Here’s the safety.” After showing her how to remove the safety, he handed her the gun. “Point, aim, shoot. Don’t worry about hitting your target. Shoot if anyone other than me gets close. I’ll hear it and you’ll scare them off long enough for me to return.”
“You’re leaving?”
Was that a note of worry in her voice? It was nice to think so. He flashed her one of his usual smiles, hoping to keep her calm. Given her wide eyes—beautiful eyes that he could stare at all day—she either saw right through him or she’d picked up on the scent of shifters nearby just as he had.
“I’m going to run a perimeter to find out where those men are, so I can adjust our course. Just make sure everything’s packed and ready to go, especially Kate, in case we have to run. I want to be able to grab her and go. Understood?”
Mila nodded. For the first time since he had met her, she didn’t argue with him. Maybe all hope wasn’t lost. Maybe this one shifter would look past his dark family history and how he had killed to get where he was today.
Hayden’s Haven Page 2