Mila couldn’t breathe. He wasn’t going to make this quick, simply break her neck or rip out her throat. Drake flung her against a tree like a ragdoll. Pain traveled up her back as the wind was knocked out of her. Laying on her side, she watched helplessly as Drake stalked toward her, shifting mid-stride. His wolf’s teeth were as long and deadly as she remembered, and they were coming right for her. The white wolf lunged for her throat.
He never reached her as another white wolf slammed into him from the side. Her head was too foggy, giving the scene before her a surreal look, especially with the deafening sound of shouting and then howling from all around. The previous circle of shifters disappeared, replaced by a circle of white wolves with shredded clothing beside them. One shifter with glowing yellow eyes remained in human form. Callen. He caught her attention and motioned his head toward the right as he took a subtle step back behind one of the wolves. He wanted her to slip away, to leave Hayden.
The battle between Hayden and Drake raged on. Blood stained the snow and the beautiful white coats of both wolves. She couldn’t tell which brother was which. Jaws snapped and growls echoed through the trees, drowned out by the cheers when the slightly larger wolf landed a particularly nasty bite to the other wolf’s forearm.
She was sure the wolf with the injured front leg was Hayden because of how he’d been drawing the other wolf away from her. Hayden’s wolf was limping, favoring the leg, which meant he couldn’t leap, only wait for Drake to attack. Mila sought out Callen again, but he was gone. He had slipped away, leaving her and Hayden.
Drake leapt at Hayden, but Hayden anticipated the maneuver. He leapt out of the way; he’d been feigning the severity of his injury! With a hairpin change in direction, Hayden descended on Drake and sank his teeth into the base of Drake’s neck. He missed Drake’s throat, but rent a long gash down Drake’s shoulder, causing the alpha to misstep and go down.
Despite the blood gushing from his shoulder, Drake didn’t stay down. As Hayden went for Drake’s throat a second time, Drake sank his teeth into Hayden’s wounded leg.
Hayden let out a high pitched howl as his leg gave way. Hayden went down hard, throwing Drake’s wolf off balance and forcing him to let go. Both wolves rose. Hayden’s leg was a bloody mess with gouged flesh, but the tear in Drake’s shoulder was bleeding excessively, more than it should. . . unless the artery in Drake’s shoulder had been nicked.
Both wolves had slowed down, but neither was stopping. Each had too much to lose.
Mila’s was sure her heart stopped as Drake leapt through the air. Before Drake landed, Hayden pivoted, ran and jumped, slamming Drake from the side.
Drake’s body struck a tree, hard enough to daze him for a brief second. Hayden lunged, but Drake was wily, fast. He twisted beneath Hayden, ultimately gaining a position over Hayden, holding him down.
A hand clamped over Mila from behind, silencing her as she was dragged into the trees. She kicked outward until she heard Callen’s voice.
“Quiet,” he whispered a second before releasing her.
She couldn’t take her eyes off of Hayden, who had shifted back to human form and lay beneath Drake’s feet. Both men were breathing heavily, and covered in blood. Drake wasn’t moving away from Hayden, but it had nothing to do with brotherly love.
Hayden had torn into Drake’s right upper thigh and left shoulder. Drake was in as bad shape as Hayden, except he had come out on top. Hayden had lost.
“Nothing we can do now,” Callen whispered. “Need to go, before they realize you’re gone.”
“But Hayden—”
“He lost as planned.”
“As planned?”
“Hayden intentionally missed several opportunities to take Drake down. If he had killed Drake, he wouldn’t find the HEV. He needs Drake for that. This way Drake will use him, give him the remaining HEV to turn over to the DSA. It solves a problem for Drake, getting rid of the HEV, Hayden, and the DSA. Drake doesn’t want the HEV. He knows it's a liability at this point.”
“How do you know this?”
“Listening to some of the guards talk while you and Hayden were. . . busy.”
“The DSA will kill Hayden, Callen.”
Callen said nothing, because there was nothing to say. It was the truth, and he knew it, except there wasn’t a better option.
“Mila, he wants you safe. Trust me when I say this, Hayden will be at peace with his choice if he knows you’re safe.”
“I can’t leave him!”
Callen grabbed hold of her hand and started running. Mila felt as if she were on autopilot as she ran alongside Callen. She trusted Callen and Hayden, but there had to be another way.
“How long before Damien returns? Can he send shifters directly to Liam’s pack, before Drake hands Hayden over?” Yes, that could work. Hayden would have the HEV in hand at that point.
“No time to wait for Damien. There are others I can get. But it’s going to be tight. Hayden will stall as long as he can.”
“Stall?”
“It’s one of the contingency plans we discussed.” Callen quickly stripped and shifted. They’d make better time in wolf form.
For the first time in a while, Mila felt as if she could breathe. Hayden wasn’t lost to them yet. Despite how crazy and desperate this plan of theirs sounded, there was a chance it would work. The males both knew how to adapt to changing circumstances. She had seen them work together before, when they’d first walked into that bakery in Wyoming.
All she needed to do was to keep up with Callen as they raced to Damien’s territory. She stripped and started to shift. The shift was painful, and Callen kept watchful eyes over the area as he waited for her. She hated that he had to wait for her, that she was slowing him down, but there was nothing she could do about it except keep moving forward. Everything would work out. It had to.
Except something was still bothering her about what Chitman had whispered to her, before the challenge. Hayden was in more danger than he or Callen realized.
Mila grabbed her clothing in her mouth. Callen sprinted forward, north. That’s when Mila turned and headed south.
Chapter Twenty-One
MILA
“Stop, Mila!” Callen whisper-screamed from not too far behind Mila.
By the time Callen caught up to her, it was too late. She was on a hill not far from where the challenge had taken place. Hayden was being escorted out by six guards, while Drake limped his way along.
Mila dressed quickly. She still only had her underwear and Hayden’s sweatshirt, but it was better than going down there naked. The very thought of going before Chitman naked turned her stomach, but she pushed forward. This had to work, or Hayden would be a dead shifter.
Mila took a deep breath, inhaling Hayden’s scent on his clothes. It was the encouragement she needed to race down the hill, Callen hot on her heels.
“Go back to your pack, Callen!”
“You really don’t know me very well.”
She actually did, but she had hoped he’d go just the same, especially if she was wrong and ended up risking both of them for nothing.
All the guards, Drake, and Hayden turned toward her and Callen at once. The shifters had caught their scent on the wind, but that was fine. She wasn’t trying to hide now. As always, her eyes automatically sought out Hayden. That look of peace that had been on his face gave way to fear. His eyes sought out Callen. Anger danced across Hayden’s face.
“It’s not his fault,” Mila said to Hayden as she came to a grinding halt in front of Drake and his shifters.
“Come for your challenge, doctor?” Drake said, amused by her appearance. He must have thought her incredibly dumb, yet she didn’t get the sense that Drake was looking down on her. Rather, he looked puzzled, maybe amused or even a bit intrigued by her reappearance. After all, she and Callen had escaped. Now that she thought of it, he hadn’t sent a single guard to track them.
“You wanted us to escape, didn’t you?” she accused.
&
nbsp; “Wanted? No. More like I simply didn’t care. You’re no threat to me. I have what I want,” Drake said.
And yet his words came off as only partially true. Something about Drake seemed different, more sober, more alpha than yesterday.
“Hayden didn’t kill her,” Mila said. This wasn’t what she had planned to say. Engaging Drake about the past wasn’t smart, and yet it seemed the best option. “Your uncle did, except you don’t want to believe someone you loved could betray you like that.”
“Betray me?” Drake’s laugh was dark and filled with pain. “Hayden’s the only one who betrayed me.”
“He’s not the one that forced Reina to blood-bond and then killed her when she resisted.”
“Mila,” Hayden begged. “Please, don’t. This won’t change anything.”
“They say everyone has a weakness, and I finally found yours, Drake,” Mila pushed.
“Who? Logan? Reina? Hayden? And here I thought you were smart. You’re nothing but a foolish female. Why did you return?”
“Your weakness is not knowing whom to trust. . . and ultimately trusting the wrong person. You’ve known it all along, but you can’t admit it. Easier to blame the brother who failed to get you away from the monster than the monster you came to love. And you’ve never known whom to trust ever since. Like now. You didn’t infect those towns with HEV, Drake, but instead of telling Hayden and trusting that he could actually believe you after everything you’ve done, you decide to use him instead. You’re still trying to fight the monster, except he’s long dead and Hayden isn’t. You don’t know who or how to trust, Drake, and it’s turning you into the same bitter monster Logan was.”
With a murderous look in his eyes, Drake bounded toward Mila.
* * *
HAYDEN
Hayden couldn’t believe it when he scented lilac and morning dew in the wind. Mila was near. Too damn fucking near. Surely Drake and his guards would pick up her scent any second if they hadn’t already.
“All these years and you’ve done nothing of significance with the pack,” Hayden said, hoping to goad Drake enough that he wouldn’t pay attention to Mila’s scent until the wind shifted direction.
“Nice try,” Drake said. “I smell your female. And your enforcer. Neither was smart enough to leave when they had the chance.”
“This changes nothing,” Hayden said, struggling to keep himself and his wolf calm. Having Mila safely away was the only reason he had surrendered to Drake. That and the need to get the damn HEV.
“If you harm her, I’ll tell the SDA the truth and then they’ll send in the military to wipe everyone out, starting with you.”
“You’d do that? Risk everyone, yourself, your current pack even, for her? And yet you never risked yourself to get me away from Logan.”
He had tried and failed. Over and over again. He had been a scared kid without a father or mother to counsel him. Just distant cousins that agreed to give him a place to stay if he didn’t cause any trouble. His attempts had been in secret, alone, and not without consequences. . . and promises of executions from Logan ultimately.
“I should have fought harder for you,” Hayden conceded. His brother deserved that much from him, not that it would change anything.
Mila jogged right up to Drake, Callen immediately behind her. Callen shook his head. Whatever Mila was doing had caught the enforcer by surprise.
Hayden’s brave piece of sunshine started talking to Drake, as if he were a friend, or at least an ally, something he hadn’t been to Hayden in over a decade. How Mila found the courage to confront Drake, to stand there and tell him to his face that she knew his weakness, boggled Hayden’s mind. Even more amazing was the fact that he saw a slight shift in Drake. He wasn’t refuting her words or the fact that he had a weakness. The entire conversation between the two was rather surreal.
“You didn’t infect those towns with HEV, Drake—”
He’d missed the rest of what she had said. Everything clicked into place with that piece of information. Drake had a traitor in his midst which was why Drake was so willing to give the remaining vials of the virus over to DSA. For all of his talk and bravado, Drake had never intended to start a war, but here they were, on the verge of one, nonetheless. All because he had a traitor.
“What does she mean you didn’t infect the towns?” Hayden asked, stalling, trying to reason who would want to infect those towns. Bringing the government down on the pack endangered everyone, the traitor included.
“Chitman wants you dead, Drake,” Mila accused, but it was too late. Chitman had already pulled a knife from a nearby pack and lunged at Drake from behind.
Hayden knocked Drake aside, but before he could bring his arm up to deflect Chitman’s knife, Hayden slipped on a patch of ice. The knife sank deep into Hayden’s belly and Chitman twisted it before pulling it free to turn on Drake.
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.”
“The DSA is expecting a white wolf. Give them Chitman. Especially since he’s responsible.”
“Heal him only to let them kill him?” Drake grinned. “Your female is growing on me, Hayden.”
Hayden growled. “Callen, take her. Go.” He said, forcing the words out as his vision blurred.
“I’m not leaving you, Hayden!” she said, but then she was pulled away from him, only to elbow Callen in the gut. He whispered something in her ear, and she stifled a cry, but nodded, and fell to her knees beside Hayden.
Her lips were warm and sweet and reminded him of home. Because that’s what she was to him. Home. His Mila would be safe, Hayden thought as her fingers caressed his cheek. At last, she had forgiven him. All was right with the world once more.
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