Un.Requited (Claimed Series) Page 20

  Like making it look like you, a newborn, did it? Hayden grimaced at the thought.

  The dark-skinned Alpha frowned at Red, suddenly losing his sardonic front. “You’re stepping over the line, Red. You may know of our secrets, and you may have the slightest ability to ward away other Hunters from our town, but by no means can you waltz in here and accuse one of us of killing humans.”

  Red hardly looked abashed. He flashed a smile full of teeth. “I can point fingers all I want if it happens at my bowling alley.” His aged, but sharp eyes landed on Hayden. “And I can certainly vouch for this young woman here. From what I’ve seen, she doesn’t make a habit of taking her lunch breaks outside in the alleyway.”

  “Then we still haven’t gotten anywhere.” Asher quickly interjected before Falco could intervene with any more insults. “Falco and Hayden aside, who had the motive to kill Robert Warden? And how did the murderer get away without leaving a trail?”

  No one had an answer for that, and even Hayden’s imagination fell silent. She knew she didn’t have anything to do with Robert Warden’s death, and yet, she failed to come up who could have done it and why.

  Moreover, her more pressing question was if she had actually seen Nicolas. Somehow, it was frightening to imagine the rogue Alpha having the ability to sneak around town without triggering any sort of warning alarms with the other Alphas.

  “Should we take cover, Cole?” Eric was the one to ask for Cole’s input. “Or do we continue on as we have, keeping an extra eye out?”

  Blake suddenly roused from his silence, anger evident on his face. “I told you we should have been wary after the rogue attack, Cole. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d listened to me. Nicolas has invaded our town and there is no way around it.”

  Cole slowly turned and drilled Blake into submission with a single stare. “We will talk about this later,” Cole promised softly, his dark eyes dancing precariously. “For the meantime, we’ll take shifts throughout the week. A separate pack is assigned guard duty each week and we will rotate accordingly. We’ll search the town for any signs of rogues.”

  “And the humans? Or for that matter, should we allow our pack members out by themselves?” Falco questioned. “We wouldn’t want any lone wanderers around town being accused of murder.” A few scoffs accompanied his cynical remark.

  Cole turned in Hayden’s general direction. “Members should go out in pairs, especially the unmated females and the pups. And you will not be continuing your job.” He clearly addressed the last part to Hayden.

  As much as she wanted to continue working with Shane, and having a piece of independence for herself, she reluctantly understood where Cole was coming from. She wouldn’t argue, not when Blake had already disrespected Cole in public, and especially not when Hayden wanted to be accused of another murder.

  Red grunted, pushing off from the railing. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to lock down now.”

  Throwing Red a few looks of contempt, the werewolves slowly began to make an effort of leaving. Oblivious to Cole’s close observation, Hayden and Asher made eye contact just briefly, a silent agreement passing between them.

  They would still meet by the territory line when Cole was at work. Quite frankly, Hayden couldn’t imagine not meeting with Asher. They always got along so well and she relied on him for making light of various situations.

  Asher nodded, standing up casually and following his father out the door. Unexpectedly, Devan jumped up from her seat and hurriedly made her way after Joseph. For a moment, Hayden was surprised, having temporarily forgotten about Devan’s presence.

  Hayden then remembered a certain human sitting next to her. Smiling, she poked him in his ribs, admiring the boy’s disenchanted expression.

  “This isn’t the last time you’ll see me.” They hardly lived far from one another, and knowing Shane, he was confident enough to cross Cole’s borders to see her. “Thanks for letting me work here.”

  It had been extremely short-lived, but she had enjoyed every minute of it.

  The human grinned as he stood from the bench. Near the concession stand, his grandfather called his name, but he easily ignored him. “Your spot is always open here.” He glanced cautiously at Cole before quickly looking back at Hayden. “And you can always stop by the house if you feel up to it.” His unspoken message was clear. He meant to say if Cole allowed her to stop by the house.

  “Shane,” Red stressed with a growl-like undertone.

  Hayden hardly had time process Shane’s last words before Cole took her by the back of her neck and steered her toward the exit. One look at him triggered a few warning bells in her mind. His face was pinched and there was an undercurrent of suppressed anger in his coiled muscles.

  Craning her neck around Cole’s restricting hand, Hayden looked behind her at Blake, mystified at the Alpha’s current mood. The beta only shrugged, just as clueless as Hayden was.

  “We had fun, Devan. But I can’t keep sneaking around on my father.” In the parking lot, they stumbled upon Joseph gently caressing Devan’s face. “I’m mated to a member of my own pack now. You should accept Nathan as well.”

  He’d said it quiet enough, but not as quietly as he should have. Hayden heard him well enough, and if she did, Cole and Blake would have overheard just as well.

  The words were self-explanatory, everyone would immediately know about the secret Devan had been trying to keep quiet. Briefly, Hayden wondered if Joseph had intentionally said those things because he knew Cole would overhear. He seemed like the type of sadistic bastard who would deliberately get Devan into trouble now that he was done with her.

  Joseph looked up, doing his best to appear startled at their presence. Hayden was unimpressed at his poor acting skills and adopted a look of loathing.

  She suddenly felt a rush of protectiveness for Devan, a member of her pack. If it came down to it, Hayden would do anything in her power to defend the members of her pack, and that included protecting them from their loved ones. She relayed as much through her gaze as she caught Joseph’s eyes.

  The dark-skinned beta covered his reaction to her raw animosity well enough. His lips thinned as he appraised her before offering Cole a curt nod. He didn’t stay behind for any explanations or apologizes, he just turned his heel and left.

  Cole released Hayden’s neck and continued walking to his car, his face carved from stone. He bypassed a distressed Devan, not even flinching as she sniffed pathetically. The events from tonight would surely cause Cole to snap eventually. Not only was he uptight about the murder, Adolf’s snide comments, and Blake’s disrespect, but he was also holding in his reaction after discovering Devan’s betrayal to the pack.

  “Devan and Joseph?” Blake whispered quietly to Hayden as they made their way toward Cole’s car. “I had no idea—”

  “You weren’t supposed to have any idea,” Devan exclaimed angrily, deliriously. “That was the entire point, idiot.” Her mascara was running underneath her eyes, making her appear that more fanatical.

  Blake made a sound of terror and ducked into the backseat of Cole’s car. Hayden chose to sit in the passenger seat, a buffer between him and Devan. She could barely fit inside the car with the amount of tension that swelled up between the inhabitants. Cole had a temper on him, but she had never seen him uncontrolled.

  “How could you disrespect me like that?” the Alpha asked quietly as he started the car. He kept the car idle as he stared into his rearview mirror. “I specifically told you no dating outside the pack, yet you willingly go against my word and see Joseph.” Heavy palms curled around the steering wheel. “Did you ever think, for one moment, how this would affect the rest of the pack?”

  “You mean how it would affect you?” Devan accused hotly, trying to hide the fact that she was crying.

  He offered a twisted smile, his anger all but intensifying. “You made a mockery out of the entire pack, not just me. We’re already seen as the misfit pack who struggles just to be taken seriously.”


  Hayden had never looked at it that way. She never though Cole cared about appearances. She supposed, with his status as Alpha, that he’d want to appear strong and capable.

  Many of the Alpha’s were quick to point out Cole’s young age and inexperience. Deep down, Hayden knew Cole wanted to prove them wrong. However, with all the disrespect and the constant disregard for his rules, Cole was struggling in the eyes of the other Alphas.

  Cole breathed deeply, his hands tightening on the wheel. “And what about you?” Emerald eyes, dark with rage, snapped around to look at Hayden.

  Dumbfounded, Hayden shook her head. “What about me?”

  His eyes adopted the gleam he had possessed earlier that night with Adolf. His wolf was near the surface and he watched Hayden closely, a mocking and roguish smile stretching his mouth. “Do you think I’m blind? Stupid, perhaps? I gave you the benefit of the doubt because I trusted you.”

  Blake, sensing the impending blowup, cleared his throat warningly. Unfortunately, his interference only seemed to tick Cole off further.

  The scolding had turned completely around. Devan was the one who was supposed to be on Cole’s bad side, not Hayden. As a result, she found herself rising up to his wrath with her own anger, a mediocre way of covering up her fear.

  “I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  “Asher,” Cole barked forcefully. “Tonight, after seeing you two eyeballing each other, I realized I should have kept a tighter leash on you.”

  Hayden’s jaw tensed and she raised a superior eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she repeated coolly, her hands clutching together. Like hell she’d let him talk as if he owned her. “I can and will see whomever I want with or without your permission.”

  Looking back on it, Hayden couldn’t remember who moved first. Logically, it must have been Cole, but she had been so on edge and so ready, that she had expected his move seconds before it happened.

  His hand curled forcefully around her throat and he pushed her head against the window. Hayden’s passive anger seemed to interweave with his, suffocating and consuming her with the intensity of it. She not only felt his rage, but she could feel his uncontrollable jealousy and possessiveness. She couldn’t understand it, they weren’t her emotions, but she was experiencing them as if they were her own.

  Out of desperation and the inability to control herself, Hayden lashed out. Her claws struck out at Cole and encircled his neck. She threw herself against him, her momentum pushing him back against the seat. Her body covered his and she eagerly punctured the skin around his throat.

  Appearing unfazed, Cole laughed weakly, scornfully. His amber eyes flashed up at her. “This is the first time you have ever lost control with us, Hayden.”

  He curled his hands over her wrists, his nails scraping painfully over the thin skin. As a result, she tightened her hold, suffocating in the sensation of wanting to hurt him, to dominate him. She wanted to show him she was on top and in charge.

  “Both of you, stop,” Blake ordered sharply. He leaned over the seats and tried to wrestle Hayden off Cole. Because he was at an awkward angle, he only succeeding in jostling her a bit.

  Off balance, her knee landed on Cole’s groin, causing a pained hiss to escape the Alpha’s mouth. At the sound, Hayden’s hard expression eased and the deafening silence in her ears seemed to fade. As she came out of her stupor, she noticed the blood from Cole’s neck was beginning to entwine with the blood from her wrists.

  Hayden breathed unsteadily when she realized what she had done. The sensation had been too similar to her experience under Tracer’s enthrall. Just thinking about that night caused her body to tremble and convulse. Hayden had attacked Cole just as blindly as she had attacked Addie.

  She knew she had to get out of the car before she did anything she regretted. Growling down at Cole, Hayden escaped from his hold and threw open the door to the car.

  “Where are you going?” Cole demanded as soon as Hayden scrambled out.

  She turned a deaf ear on him as she ran, pushing her legs to their limit. Her stomach lurched as she felt her wolf finally break past its restraints. The sensation of something tearing through her body was somehow familiar to her and she embraced it fully. Her next stride was not on two feet, but four.

  “Hayden,” Cole yelled after her, sounding far more in control than he had previously.

  She kept running, too on edge to return. Dimly, she was aware of Cole following after her, his cumbersome human movements soon transforming into the graceful and swift strides of his wolf. They were on equal grounds when they were both in their wolf form. Yet, Hayden’s smaller and more agile figure gave her an advantage to stay ahead of Cole, at least long enough to organize her thoughts.

  Dodging abruptly around a thick tree, Hayden used the mindless action of running to dwell on the most recent issue with Cole. Hayden usually didn’t have problems with Cole, at least problems like this, as he was always there for her, protecting and defending. The ease that came with attacking each other tonight frightened her. They were both willing to hurt the other just to show their dominance, their displeasure.

  However, she was still thinking with her inborn human rationality. Werewolves were part wolf. There was no excuse for how easily they had succumbed to their temper, but physical threats were a normal part of conflicts now. Alphas usually controlled unruly pack members through physical dominance.

  Why then, did she feel like his reaction was spurred by more than just the simple need to show her he was in charge? His emotions had been overwhelming in their intensity, and she had felt ever last one of them. For the most part, it was because of those strong emotions that she had lost control, unable to do anything but lash out to ease them. But if it was the bond between Alpha and pack member that explained how she could feel his emotions, then why hadn’t Blake and Devan reacted similarly?

  Her attention abruptly turned to her surroundings when she approached a fallen tree. Not having enough confidence to leap over it, Hayden skidded rapidly around it, growling lowly when she saw Cole leap over it effortlessly.

  In midair, the faint reaches of the moon highlighted his black pelt. His dark eyes were attentive on Hayden and his ears were perked, his senses wide open. In all ways, he looked like a natural hunter, and logically, she was his prey. Against a seasoned hunter like Cole, Hayden didn’t stand a chance.

  As his leap descended, he caught Hayden around her lower back, causing her strides to falter and fall. They tumbled to the ground together, both fighting for the top spot. As soon as he established control, his dull anger coupled with playfulness as he lightly nipped at Hayden’s neck.

  He looked down his muzzle at her. As their eyes locked, Hayden felt her stomach give a slight tug, a sensation similar to a fishing hook yanking at her intestines. She’d never felt her wolf recede, submitting back to her human, but this felt unnatural, almost as if Cole was forcing her to morph back.

  Once the analogy came to her, Hayden remembered Cole telling her about an Alpha’s ability to force his pack members to transform on whim. She’d never thought she’d experience his power firsthand, but it was definitely his influence now. No matter how hard she tried, Hayden could no longer keep hold of her wolf form. Her human appendages began taking shape under Cole’s silent demand, eventually transforming completely.

  Quickly sitting up in her human skin, Hayden pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. Through the fall of her hair, she stared at Cole. The Alpha was crouching only a few inches away, watching her inexpressively, seeming almost clueless how to proceed now that he got her attention.

  “I’m sorry for losing control,” Hayden said cautiously, needing to get rid of the tension between them. Her eyes dropped to his neck, noticing the dried blood stained across his throat. “I… don’t know what came over me.” Even if the wounds around Cole’s neck were healed, it didn’t lessen her guilt.

  The black-haired
Alpha reached out and encircled Hayden’s elbow, pulling at her arm in order to observer her wrists. The wounds were just as healed as his were, but marred with dark blood. “It’s a natural instinct for werewolves, Hayden. You wanted to defend yourself.” Deep emerald eyes looked up at her. “And you had a very good reason to defend yourself.”

  They lapsed into silence and he preoccupied himself with studying her healed wrist. Expression dour, he cradled it against his naked chest, his skin hot and solid. Hayden could faintly feel his pulse beneath her fingertips, realizing with startling clarity that the rhythm of their pulses matched exclusively.

  “I think I need to apologize for my actions as well.” He looked up at her, almost shyly through thick lashes. “As an Alpha, I should have been under control as I handled the situation differently.” The way he apologized seemed tense, as if he wasn’t accustomed to the act.

  At his awkward apology, Hayden bowed her head, relief washing through her. It was good to know Cole had the ability to apologize for his wrongdoings and not pile the blame onto her. She knew quite a bit of people who couldn’t gather enough courage to acknowledge their mistakes and would rather turn it around on the innocent party. But it made sense that Cole was one of the few who had enough nerve to confront a conflict head-on.

  She breathed steadily, her fingers moving on their own accord as they lightly traced his chest. He tightened her wrists in response, all but pressing her palm closer to him. Her heart fluttered rapidly at the intimacy of their positions. While both of them were vulnerable and exposed, Cole seemed oddly shielding as he huddled close to her, his eyes never straying from her face.

  “We both could have handled the situation differently,” Hayden concurred. “After all, we’re both Alphas now. I can hardly make you take all the blame.”