Mila stopped fighting against the ropes binding her hands and ankles. Hayden hated her, truly didn’t care anything about what happened to her. Vance had sold her. Her parents had told her she was worthless, and it appeared everyone agreed with him. Except Anna hadn’t. Damien hadn’t either. Nor Tess. And Lars. Benji. That little kid who’s cut she had stitched. He had given her a big smile and thanked her. She had value. She couldn’t let Drake and his pack do this to her.
Drake was saying something about Hayden taking over the pack and then he placed a gun against her head. The chill of the metal sent terror down her spine. She wasn’t going to survive. He was going to kill her. Mila cried through the rag they’d stuffed in her mouth. Drake’s soulless eyes peered down at her. Mila clamped her eyes shut and listened as he cocked the gun.
“I’ll do it!” Hayden shouted.
Hayden shoved Drake aside and bent over. He flung the zipper down and hauled her out of the bag. She couldn’t stop shivering. Nothing made sense. Not why Hayden was carrying her, or what he was saying to her. Or why Drake was grinning. She only knew that being in Hayden’s arms again felt like heaven, except for the fact that she was clearly dreaming. Hayden didn’t care if she lived or died.
* * *
HAYDEN
Hayden said nothing as the guards escorted Callen and him to the old Winslow cabin far from the main part of camp. He hadn’t seen this place since he turned twenty and learned the truth of the male shifters who had lived there. The place should have been burned down back then, with both males still inside.
Mila had passed out, but she was breathing. And shivering. His bastard of a brother had left her in nothing but her bra and panties.
The guard shoved him inside, and he would have whirled and slugged the shifter except for two things. He was carrying Mila, and they still didn’t know where Drake was keeping the HEV. Callen was staring the guard down, daring the shifter to pass the threshold. Finally, the door slammed shut behind them.
“How many?” Hayden asked.
“Two on each side of the house and another two that I could see with rifles positioned in the trees on either side. That’s not accounting for any that may be using a scope from a distance.”
Hayden kicked in the first door off the common area. He stopped short. The place was nothing short of a torture chamber, and he smelled fresh blood there. Mila’s. There were restraints on each corner of the bed and a neck chain attached to the wall above the bed. The place wreaked of sex, torture, and depravity. There were two puncture wounds on Mila’s neck, the same spacing as the spikes on the collar.
“I’m not taking her in there.”
Callen squeezed by to inspect the room, no doubt looking for anything that could give them the advantage. “Lay her down by the fire. I’ll break up some of the furniture to burn. We can at least get her warm.”
Gently, Hayden laid her down on the floor, untied her hands and ankles, wishing he had something to apply to the rope burns. His entire body was still shaking from the terror of having smelled her and the scent of death in that body bag. Hayden stripped off his sweatshirt and eased it over Mila’s head and arms. It only reached her upper thighs. At least she wouldn’t feel so exposed, so vulnerable when she woke. If she woke. He gently brushed her hair aside to look at the wound on her forehead. It was just a bruise, but she had had a concussion recently from a blow to the same spot.
Callen tossed what looked like spindles from a wood bed frame followed by broken pieces of support slats into the fireplace.
“I don’t suppose you found a first aid kit back there?” Hayden asked as he pulled Mila into his lap. The floor was too damn cold without a rug and he needed to keep her warm.
“Trust me when I say you don’t want to know what I found.”
Coming from an enforcer, that was a heavy statement.
“Any running water?” Hayden asked.
“You know what this place is, don’t you?”
Drake’s own little torture chamber. Hayden held Mila closer. Her blood was in that back room. “Ideas?”
“Two against ten aren’t odds we’ll win.”
“I was sure Vance had taken her. Never even conceived it was Drake, not even when Damien was so sure.”
Damien had been right. Hayden had a blind spot for Drake and now his Mila was paying the price. He had to get her out of here. Callen too.
“Does it matter at this point?” Callen asked. “Drake has her. Us. And Damien is days away from realizing Vance doesn’t have her. Even if he changes directions and runs at top speed, Damien won’t reach us in time.”
“The goal is getting Mila out.”
“Agreed,” Callen said.
With his hand, Hayden rubbed Mila’s bare leg, trying to keep her warm.
“Drake was surprised by what I’d said. When I lied.”
“Which part?” Callen asked.
“About having no reason to keep her around. When I said I had gotten what I wanted.”
“Did you?”
Hayden glared at him. “You’re lucky I’m holding her, or I’d slice you into pieces right now.”
Callen grinned. He knew what he was saying. Asshole.
“Drake seemed a bit off to me,” Hayden added
“Seemed as crazy as ever.”
“Not crazy. No, just. . .. I don’t know. Surprised. But Drake doesn’t get surprised easily. He gathers facts, analyzes, uses them to his advantage.”
“Like you.”
Hayden’s wolf growled. He never liked being compared to Drake, no matter how accurate the comparison might be. Hayden had spent the last eight years defending himself against those who only saw Drake when they looked at him. Even his Mila had been scared of him when they had first met because that was all she could see. Drake. White wolf. Not Hayden, the shifter inside. The shifter who wanted to take long walks with her among the pack, get to know them one on one, ask them what they needed and then find a way to solve any problems. It’s what he enjoyed most, but rarely got to do, because his pack didn’t want him near them. His presence made most of them nervous, so he stayed mostly with the guys.
Hayden leaned over to kiss Mila’s forehead. He’d gladly take Drake’s place and turn himself over to Agent Sloan as Drake intended, but not unless he could be sure Drake wouldn’t harm Mila, that he’d let her and Callen go. He had no reason to trust his brother right now. Never had.
“I have a plan, but you’re not going to like it,” Callen said.
“Anything that gets her out of here.”
“We set the cabin on fire.”
“I’m hoping you mean with us outside?”
“No.”
“They’re not going to fall for that and rush in here to save us. They’ll let us burn.”
“What would Drake do to them if anything happened to you right now?”
Drake would punish them, and given the look of this place, those guards knew what a punishment entailed. The rest of Callen’s plan called for rushing whoever entered. Once they made it out, they’d set Mila down. Fight. Circle back to take Mila and then run. It wouldn’t be as efficient or fast in their human form certainly, but it was the best chance they had at this point.
Hayden held her tighter. “I don’t want to leave her alone.”
“It will only be for a few minutes.”
“I can run,” Mila said.
Beautiful green eyes were staring up at him. “Hi, sunshine,” he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking as he lightly caressed her bruised cheek. He had so much to tell her, and he wouldn’t have a chance. This plan of Callen’s, for as bad as it was, was all they had and they had to do it soon, before Drake returned for him.
“All those things you said back there, Hayden. . .”
“I was trying to protect you, Mila. I wish you hadn’t heard any of it. God, Mila, I thought you were dead. I was scared, really scared. I’m so sorry.”
Her smile was tentative. She didn’t believe him, not that he expecte
d her to. He had already destroyed her trust by pushed her away when she had needed him to listen.
Mila sat up, spotted Callen, and smiled. A real smile this time, for a shifter who she understood, who hadn’t let her down, who hadn’t given her cause to question his sincerity. It took her a moment longer to orient herself as she rose and swayed a bit. Hayden and Callen both reached out to steady her. She grabbed Callen’s forearm even though Hayden had been closer.
Hayden turned away from her and walked the cabin, taking a closer look at the filth and rotting wood, but not really seeing anything. She needed space and he needed to focus on the plan.
“I heard some of what you said earlier,” Mila said. “It was Vance who kidnapped me.”
Apparently, she had been awake longer than he had realized. Which meant she had heard most of what he and Callen had discussed. And yet she pulled away from him. One look at her face told him what he needed to know. Mila didn’t hate or blame him for this situation, but she didn’t love him either. They were little more than allies now.
“Vance?” Callen asked. “Then how did you get here.”
Her lip trembled until she bit it—hard. It took her a moment to compose herself. “Vance brought me here. Loaned me to a shifter.”
Delicate hands clenched in rage as her beautiful face tightened. Hayden couldn’t help himself. He approached, and despite the fact that she backed up, he pulled her in tight. Whatever happened to her, she wasn’t alone. She’d always have him, even if he had to keep watch over her from twenty feet away. For now, at this moment, she needed to be held, and he needed to hold her.
* * *
MILA
This tension between her and Hayden was making her anxious to the point of not being able to think straight. She hated that she had listened in on the men talking, but she had to know how Hayden felt and she had her answers.
He had said all those horrible things back in the woods to save her from Drake. It was smart, and something she would have done herself had she been in his position and thought of it. But it brought up a disturbing realization. She had believed Hayden. Worse than that, she had never questioned what he had said, not for a split second had she even doubted his words, as if she was ready to believe the worst about him.
Hayden reached for her as the dizziness returned. Without thinking, Mila grabbed hold of Callen’s arm, not Hayden’s. Neither shifter missed that detail, and it showed on Hayden’s face. Surprise for one, and another emotion that was taking over, one she didn’t recognize.
Hayden had been closer, but Callen had been in the direction she had been teetering. To explain herself would seem odd, as if she owed Hayden an explanation. She didn’t. She didn’t owe him anything, and he didn’t owe her. They’d parted ways, he had been quite clear about that. Despite how much she loved him, she couldn’t make him love her. His face betrayed nothing now. He had a habit of doing that, hiding his emotions behind a mask. It was another sign that they weren’t meant to be. Mated pairs shared everything, they didn’t hide from one another.
“You said Vance loaned you to a shifter,” Hayden said, clearly having trouble with the concept. From what she had seen since arriving, the way women were treated here was horrific. She couldn’t imagine how Hayden had even come from such a dark place and turned out so good, so caring, but she was thankful he had. For all that went wrong between them, she was still glad he had been in her life. Hopefully, he wouldn’t push her completely away when they returned to Damien’s pack. If they returned.
“Vance was heading back home, to kill Truman and take over as alpha.”
“I don’t give a shit about Vance or Truman right now,” Hayden said, moving to her in two long strides, unintentionally forcing Callen to step away from her. “I want to know who touched you here.” She had never seen Hayden this mad, except when that shifter had attacked her outside the bakery in Wyoming.
She could still feel the touch of the shifter Vance had loaned her to, along with Vance’s words, but she couldn’t remember his name. She didn’t want to remember his name.
Hayden took her hand in his and inspected her smallest finger. “What’s wrong with your hand?”
She’d been playing with her pinkie again. “He was missing a pinkie,” she said softly. “I’d rather not talk about this.”
“Chitman,” Callen said.
“I’m going to kill him,” Hayden said, rushing to the door.
Mila rushed after Hayden and grabbed him from behind. He spun around so fast she could see, she could feel, the raw emotion in him. If he ran out there in this state, Drake’s men would cut him down. Callen’s plan might not be the best, but it was better than Hayden running out there full of rage.
“I told you,” she said, trying to calm her voice and hopefully calm him at the same time. “Vance already left, heading north.”
“I’ll take care of him later. First, I’m going to kill Chitman.”
“I’m confused,” she said.
“You said Chitman held you in here. The shifter without a pinkie.”
“His last name is Chitman too?”
“What do you mean ‘too’, Mila?” Callen asked.
“That’s Vance’s last name,” she said.
“Okay, this is starting to make sense,” Callen said. “They’re brothers or cousins. And Drake probably sent Vance north some time ago.”
“Vance has been with my pack for as long as I can remember. His parents came when he was a child.”
Hayden began pacing. “Drake’s network of spies started before he took over as alpha. The family business. Started with Jacob, my grandfather, possibly earlier. Though I never heard of him sending wolves out to infiltrate other packs. He was all about putting spies in the human population. Logan. . . Fucking asshole wasn’t just crazy, he was smart. Never trust a white wolf, right Mila?”
Mila slipped her hand into his. The feel of his skin against hers brought back such sweet memories of him holding her, spooning her in bed, even taking her from behind in the shower. Even when he had been rough, he never touched her in anger.
“I trust you, Hayden. Always.”
He pulled away. “You shouldn’t.”
A door clicked. Callen had moved into the backroom. He would still hear them from in there, but it was a nice gesture, giving them a semblance of privacy.
Mila placed her hand on Hayden’s bare back as he leaned against the mantle, staring at the crackling fire. Her fingers glided up and down his smooth, warm skin and taut muscles. This self-destructive thinking of his had to end.
“You’re not like them, any of them. You may look like Drake, or share the same white coat as Vance and Travis, but you’re not them.” She stopped for a second, surprised by the lack of fear. Normally, when she thought of Vance, she was overwhelmed with fear. Now, she was with Hayden. Even trapped in this cabin and surrounded by the enemy, she felt safe with him.
“That felt good,” he said, his voice low.
She put her hand back on his back, letting her fingers trace the curves of his muscles. The power in him always amazed her.
Slowly, he turned to face her. Her body temperature spiked and it had nothing to do with the pitiful fire behind him.
Black eyes roamed over her body, settling on the two puncture wounds in her neck. The bleeding had stopped long ago, the cuts shallow enough to heal on their own without the need for stitches. Her healing abilities weren’t much better than a human’s, but she would heal, in time.
Two fingertips grazed over her wounds. That simple touch woke her entire body. That low-burning fire within her came to life, spreading through her, teasing her, as his fingers glided down her neck to the base of her throat. “I’ve missed you, Mila.”
She had missed him, too.
His hand skimmed over her chest, along the side of a breast. Her nipples tightened in response, but the damn sweatshirt was too thick. She wanted his hands on her, touching her skin, caressing her, showing her that she belonged to him, with him.
Even before she could lean back fully for a kiss, his mouth captured hers. Opening to him was right and as natural as breathing. His tongue swept through her mouth like his heart had swept through her soul long ago. This is what she had been missing. . . his touch, his fire. Hayden.
As he nipped and teased her mouth, turning a kiss into her salvation, his right hand slipped under the sweatshirt to the small of her back. That strong hand moved with precision and determination, spreading a heat over her shoulders, down her ribs and back down to her ass.
The low growl coming from him brought a gush of liquid between her thighs, soaking her panties. He was moving her now, away from the fire, against a wall. No doubt he had smelled her arousal.
The snap of a button, followed by the tinny sound of a zipper lowering reached her ears on the heel of another growl, a growl that vibrated through her, waking every part of her body.
“We’re not alone,” she whispered, even as his hand dipped into her panties, and into her folds.
“He’s in the next room.”
It felt so dirty, risky. Callen could walk in on them any minute.
“He can already hear you panting, sunshine.”
Her breathing hitched, and she soaked her panties.
“I think you like the idea of being watched,” he said as he drove two thick fingers into her.
She thrust her hips forward, loving how he made her feel. Special, beautiful. Loved. And yet it wasn’t enough. She needed more than his fingers inside of her. She needed to feel as one with Hayden.
Hayden pressed the heel of his hand against her clit, drawing a gasp. Her eyes flashed open. She stifled the urge to shout out Hayden’s name. To demand he fuck her with his cock, to take her hard, make her his again and not walk away this time, but Callen was in the other room.
Hayden was grinning, enjoying her predicament. “Should I invite him to watch?” He was fucking her with his fingers faster now, making it impossible to think.
“Yes. No. Don’t stop.” She didn’t know what she was saying. She’d say or do anything he wanted, as long as he didn’t stop, didn’t leave her. “Just don’t leave me.”
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