Un.Requited (Claimed Series) (22 page)

Hayden deadpanned, looking at Blake and Fergus as they loomed on either side of her. Their eyes jumped from the gift in Hayden’s hand to Shane. Vaguely, she wondered when they had gotten there, but brushed them off easily and focused on the boy in front of her.

“Ignore them. They’re just jealous they hadn’t thought of it first.” She put the charm over her neck and tucked it underneath her shirt. “Thank you, Shane. It means a lot.”

Shane hardly looked flustered at Blake and Fergus’ antics and only nodded his welcome. “I also wanted to ask if you’d ever thought about getting a job, maybe to waste some time or to get some extra cash. The bowling alley has been getting a bit busy since one of our veterans passed away. We could use another set of hands if you’re interested.”

Without even thinking about it, Hayden thought the idea sounded
wonderful
. It would give her something to do and it would give her a bit of independence she had been craving since coming to Oregon.

She would need to argue with Cole first, she knew, but he would eventually cave in. Hayden’s self-control was getting better each day. Even with Shane’s close proximity, Hayden wasn’t feeling the overwhelming sense of hunger that she normally did.

“What’s your angle, lover boy?” Blake cut in before Hayden could response. He squinted at Shane from his side of the railing. “If it’s romance you’re looking for—”

“Blake,” Hayden interrupted, exasperated. Her interactions with Shane held no romantic underlies whatsoever. Even Shane seemed flabbergasted at the beta’s comment. It was strictly platonic on both their ends. “I have to ask Cole first, Shane, but I’m sure he’ll say yes.” She ignored Nathan’s snort behind her.

The human grinned widely. “Great.” The
brunette
pushed off from the railing and nodded to Cole’s beta. “When you find out, you know where to find me.” Without prolonging his stay, Shane turned and trotted down the yard and off Cole’s territory.

“I don’t trust his motives,” Nathan announced his presence with a sneer. He leaned against the pillar of the porch, watching Shane disappear through the thick trees. The twin’s turquoise eyes then zeroed in on Hayden accusingly. “Cole won’t allow you anywhere near the human.”

Fergus threw an arm around Hayden, leaning into her. His yellow teeth flashed in a silly grin. “Come on, Nathan. The boy has nothing but pure intentions.”

“His family—”

“He isn’t like his family,” Blake interrupted the twin to defend Shane. “He’s harmless.”

Hayden sat up, struggling to remain upright with Fergus’ heavy arm around her. “What about his family?” she asked, interested that there was more to Shane Donovan than he let on. She
had
noticed he knew a lot about werewolves aside from simple curiosity.

“He’s a Hunter. They hunt werewolves for fun. It’s like an art for them,” Nathan supplied icily. “They slaughter werewolves and they hang our skulls on their walls.”

“Come on, Nate,” Blake argued. “Don’t scare her like that.” He bumped his shoulder into Hayden’s baffled form. “Shane isn’t a Hunter. His father is and so is the rest of his family. However, unlike his family, Shane doesn’t have a cruel bone in his body. He moved here with his grandfather, Red Donovan a few years ago.”

It hadn’t even occurred to her that something could be a threat to werewolves. If she was honest with herself, she could understand the fear and the disgust that would drive men to hunt creatures they only saw as monsters.

But
for the life of her, she couldn’t understand the coldblooded killings. Werewolves may have been different from humans, but they were still beings with feelings and emotions. When they were in human forms, there was hardly any difference between them and humans.

“Is Red a Hunter as well? Why would the werewolves let him stay so close to them?” Hayden asked, looking to Blake for answers. The beta seemed confident that Shane was nothing like his family. She was more than willing to believe him.

“Red was
once
a Hunter, a notorious one at that.” Blake raised a finger, emphasizing his point firmly. “But everyone is allowed to change their ways, Hayden. Red doesn’t have a Hunter’s cruelness anymore and prefers to share his grandson’s empathy of werewolves. In fact, Red decided to move here for penance. He and Cole’s father were good friends. It was Xavier Slayter who asked him to live here and protect our town from any potential attack from Hunters.” 

It was hard to imagine the werewolves being comfortable enough with letting a retired Hunter into their territory. Then again, from what she’d heard of Xavier, he was once a respected Alpha. If he was half of what his son was, Hayden could see why the other Alphas would stifle their objections. 

This revelation didn’t change how she looked at Shane. If anything, she was impressed at his strong will and his ability to think for himself.
Being raised
in an environment that was anti-werewolf would have easily corrupted his mind. Instead, he seemed to have escaped with a free-willed spirit.

“Still, it would be best if you didn’t get mixed up with him,” Nathan protested.

Hayden turned and flashed him a cheeky grin. “I never knew you cared so much, Nathan.”

Next to her, Fergus beamed at his brother, seeing something in the stoic twin that no one else was able to see. “It’s just simple curiosity on Shane’s part, he’s only interested in Hayden because she’s a friendly werewolf,” Fergus insisted.

Blake threw his shoulders back. “Well, we
are
superior creatures. I don’t blame the kid for being so interested in us.”

With eyes half-lidded, Hayden watched as the beta inflated his own ego. “
We
are superior creatures, Blake, but I can’t say the same about you,” she teased. 

He had the audacity to look insulted, but the car pulling into the driveway cut off his retort.

The four werewolves turned, watching as Cole parked his car before exiting in a dignified fashion. His presence seemed to thicken the air with awareness and all eyes riveted toward his graceful and imposing approach.

Command and power cloaked his figure with an impressive and obvious light. If there was one thing Cole excelled at, it was his ability to carry authority with poise. As opposed to many men before him, who strutted under the pressure and eventually gave in to their power-hungry tendencies, Cole had the power to use it to his own advantage.  

Hayden’s heart lurched as his dark eyes bypassed all the others and landed on her. How could he make her feel so exposed, so vulnerable by one simple
look
? It had been lax these past few days; she wasn’t used to his overwhelming presence.

Since the attack with Tracer and the rogues, Cole had kept a respectable distance. Hayden had gotten used to his aloofness, so it was hard to find her stability when his undivided attention
was
on her. She had managed before, so she could do so again.

As she looked back at him, Hayden couldn’t stop the guilt that consumed her. She knew it was because of her decision to see Asher behind his back.

When she had gotten home from the park, Devan told her to take a shower to make certain Asher’s scent washed off, away from Cole’s detection. Somehow, the shower made her feel as if her meeting with Asher really was something to be ashamed
of
.

As if sensing her guilt, Cole’s dark lashes lowered in suspicion.

“Have you managed to take vacation away from the office, Cole?” Blake asked, grinning. “Have they caught on that you take three days around the full moon every month yet?”

Deep emerald eyes tore away from Hayden and surveyed Blake. “It seems as if you’ve already recovered from your mishap the other night.”

At his chilly words, Blake’s mirth died down and he paled. Hayden grimaced, feeling sick. Apparently, Cole was still sour over Blake’s lapse of judgment from night of the rogue attack. If it hadn’t been for Fergus, Blake would have still been brooding around the house.

She leaned into her beta, silently telling him he had her support. She didn’t dare openly argue with Cole’s comment, simply because she saw his set jaw and knew he wasn’t open to any uninvited opinions. 

Cole dropped his briefcase on the garden beneath the porch. Crossing his foot over the other, he leaned his hands on the railing, caging Hayden in from both sides. “Why don’t you all go help Addie with dinner while I talk with Hayden.” His eyes traced her schooled features, clearly not fooled by the front she was putting up.

The male werewolves jumped at a chance to escape their Alpha’s dour mood. They leaped off the railing and hurriedly made their way to the door. Only, Nathan stood tall, almost merging with the pillar next to him.

“I have something to address with you, Cole. Shane Donovan—”

Fergus cleared his throat, interrupting his twin and hauling him away by the arm. “Not now, Nate.”

Cole braced his weight on his arms and inclined further into Hayden. “Is everything all right?” he inquired casually. Underneath the pleasantry, one couldn’t dismiss the steal-like quality in his tone. 

Hayden’s chest contracted at his close proximity and she broke out in cold sweat across the back of her neck. She refused to lean away from him, if only to show him she
wasn’t intimated
. “You’re being kind of an asshole to Blake,” she said simply, innocently.

Cole blinked before bowing his head, his face only a few inches away from her stomach. His jaw clenched stubbornly again, but then a small, almost obscure grin lifted the corner of his mouth. “Besides my asshole tendencies towards Blake, I imagine there is something else on your mind.”

He looked back up, removing one of his hands from the railing and reaching toward Hayden’s throat. The pads of his fingers skirted around her neck, causing shock-like currents to dance across her skin.

Any sort of physical contact around her throat made Hayden cringe ever since becoming a werewolf. Cole’s touch didn’t seem to irritate the creature inside of her, but she was hyperaware of everything he did.

His fingers discovered the chain around her neck before tugging on it. The white rabbit foot Shane had given her dropped against her chest and he examined it curiously.

At his raised eyebrows, Hayden clutched at it possessively. “Shane gave it to me for tonight’s full moon.” She wouldn’t push the topic about Shane’s offer to work at the bowling alley, at least not tonight.

Cole clenched his teeth in a mockery of a smile, giving his features a sort of roguish light. “You don’t need superstitious good luck charms when you have me.” He pushed off from the
railing and jumped over it. Using his unlimited supply of natural grace, he sat down next to her on the railing, facing the opposite direction as Hayden.

He instantly noticed her lack of concentration. “What? No scathing response from you?”

She found herself relaxing as soon as he moved away from her personal space. In her moment of anxiousness, between her guilt and her hyperawareness of his proximity, she realized that she hadn’t registered his earlier comment.

“I’m not afraid for tonight,” she said distractedly.

The more she thought about it, blaming her turmoil on the full moon probably would have been a good idea. It was better than telling him she felt guilty about agreeing to meet Asher while he was away at work.

The black-haired Alpha gave a noise of disbelief at her preoccupied response but remained silent on the topic. His fingers tugged at a strand of Hayden’s damp hair, which fell loosely to the middle of her back.

“What did you do today?” he asked evenly.

His question was remarkably too close to the truth. She shrugged carelessly, controlling her reactions. “Devan and I went into town.”

Cole dropped her hair and peered at her closely. “You and Devan,” he repeated dubiously. The words were almost foreign on his tongue. “I didn’t know you two were on friendly terms.”

Her hands curled around the peeling railing. “We aren’t really, but she was nice enough to bring me along when she went shopping.”

It was supposed to be their cover story. Frankly, Hayden wondered at the believability of it. Considering the rest of the pack knew they weren’t close, going shopping sounded extremely suspicious.

The man next to her was silent for a moment, his eyes contemplative as they searched her face. “Your fear over the full moon and your questionable alliance with Devan aside, something else is bothering you, something more.”

It wasn’t
possible
. He couldn’t sense her emotions, could he? Was it another side effect to him being her Alpha?

She remembered feeling his unease the night of her arrival. It had prevented her from falling asleep. He had also been able to feel her skittishness around humans and had calmed her effortlessly. She supposed it did make sense for him to be able to sense her guilt, which only meant she needed to cover it up by an even stronger emotion.

She turned, meeting his eyes firmly. “I miss my mom,” she blurted out. Spurred by his taken aback expression and the stark truthfulness of the statement, Hayden continued. “My mother and I were… are really close.”

Thinking of her family, her mother especially, was always a painful topic. Most importantly, Hayden could only imagine how her mother had taken the news of her status of a werewolf. The whole issue of her mother easily doused out her guilt over meeting with Asher.