Un.Requited (Claimed Series) (21 page)

Asher had a look of disbelief on his face before he began laughing. “Wow,” he moaned. “I’m definitely missing out on that.” His tone was sarcastic, amused.

Hayden shrugged, offering him a small grin in return. She did go stir-crazy at times, but she would always occupy her time with
something
. She didn’t want Asher to think Cole was keeping her locked away in the basement with nothing to do. It was constricting at times, but she managed.

“Don’t you think it’s odd, though?” Asher suddenly asked. He turned his heel and began making his way toward the swings. “That Addie and Devan can freely roam around town, but you can’t even toe his territory line without someone holding your hand?”

Amber eyes watched as he plopped down on the swing. “He doesn’t want me to get in trouble. I’m a newborn and uncontrollable.” It sounded like an empty excuse even to
her own
ears.

Eric’s son and beta surveyed Hayden closely. Pale blond locks fell into his eyes, giving him a smoldering look. “That’s a nice excuse, Hayden, but I haven’t seen any evidence of your temper. Humans may be tempting to you, but with Cole’s constant influence around you, you should be able to resist them now more than ever before.”

He paused, planting his feet into the sand beneath him. Bowing his head, he considered his shoes before suddenly looking back up at her. “Is there something going on between you and Cole? Is that why he he’s so overprotective?” he asked evenly.

The question shook her more than she’d like to admit. Truthfully, she wanted to know the same thing, but she had always avoided the topic. At times, Hayden felt like there
was
something
between Cole and her.

There was a tension and a warm familiarity, but as soon as she became aware of it, Cole seemed to shut down and avoid her, as if disgusted. His icy avoidance always grounded her back into cold reality.

“No,” she denied firmly as she looked him in the eye. “There isn’t anything.”

Asher seemed doubtful, but he didn’t press the topic further. “Then you wouldn’t mind if I said I’d like to see you more often.” He watched her, waiting for her reaction.

Against her control, her cheeks reddened at his bold request.

“You don’t want to,” he deduced after noticing her unchecked surprise.

Hayden grinned ruefully and sat on the swing next to him. “You didn’t even give me a chance to respond.” She hesitated just briefly. “I don’t know if this can end well. I mean, Cole forbid me to meet with you or any other male—”

“It’s not like we’re doing anything forbidden.” Asher swung his leg around the swing, straddling it sideways in order to give her his full attention. “I like hanging out with you, Hayden. There’s nothing wrong with that. Cole is too overprotective, so we can find a way to meet when he isn’t at home. We’ll take it as it comes.” He offered a shrug, seeming nonchalant, but his scrutiny was proof that he was anticipating her response. 

Across the park, Devan and Joseph were sitting together and exchanging playful banter. Hayden considered the two, marveling at Devan’s naked emotions. The female Alpha had never appeared so carefree and lively.

Their relationship really was bittersweet and Hayden didn’t want to fall into the same trap.
The rule about dating inside a pack
was incredibly flawed
. If Cole or Falco ever found out about Devan and Joseph’s relationship, the two would face a struggle just to remain together.

Turning away from Devan’s painstakingly wide smile, Hayden looked at an expectant Asher and found
herself
relenting. Asher was hinting that he didn’t want anything serious or heavy. It would be something fun, something she could look forward to without any guilt.

Hayden mirrored Asher’s earlier actions and straddled the swing sideways. She pushed back the lingering fear that she was betraying Cole’s trust and relented. She was just agreeing to get to know Asher better, nothing more.

“We can meet near Cole’s territory line during the week. I’m sure Devan can come up with something that would explain my absence.”  

His answering grin was enough to settle any qualms she may have had about agreeing to meet with him. “That’s great.” His hair turned wild when he ran a hand through it. “I promise I won’t bother you with any more questions about New York.”  

Hayden scoffed. “Still drooling over New York City?” She leaned closer to him. “Why don’t you stop dreaming and commit to it?” she asked curiously.

His dimpled-grin faltered as he turned her question around in his head. “It’s not the right time yet.” Before she had a chance to press the topic, he continued. “I’ll know when it is. It’s just not now. Unlike Joseph, some of us take our responsibility as beta seriously.” 

His pointed glance in Joseph’s direction drew Hayden’s attention to the pair. She scoffed a little at Devan. “It’s amazing that they’ve gone so long without their relationship coming out.”

Asher reached across the distance separating them and grabbed her swing’s chain. He tugged it towards him, causing Hayden to lean in close to the beta. “Do you want to know a secret?” His tone was serious, but humorous grin ruined the image.

“Many werewolves in Albertville already know about their
hush-hush
relationship.” His grin grew wider at Hayden’s perplexed expression. “Most issues stay within the pack. No one will
go out of their way to tell Cole or Falco about Devan and Joseph. And besides, most members of Falco’s pack are too afraid of Joseph to squeal on him.”

Hayden could relate. She never wanted to be the one to approach Cole with this type of news. “I wouldn’t want to be in their position,” she exclaimed softly, glancing toward Devan and Joseph. “What if it ends badly?”

Asher’s stare grew searching as he looked at her. “If they really love each other despite the rules and expectations, don’t you think a bad ending would be worth it just to have the chance in the first place?”

There was an underlying message in his words and Hayden had a fleeting concern that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to get closer to Asher. She
was drawn
to him and his sincere personality, but she didn’t want it to go past a mutual attraction.

“I would say that you’re the biggest romantic between the two of us,” she said lightly.

She didn’t know if she agreed with his view. If she knew beforehand that a relationship would end badly, Hayden would never take the steps to further her attachment to said person, no matter how blissful it would be together. However, wasn’t she going down that road with Asher? Was she starting something that would eventually turn sour in the end?

Raising her gaze, she noticed his easy-going grin that instantly made her wonder why she
was so worked up
about this. Being in
his
company brought with it a sort of welcoming thrill, a sense of novelty. Seeing the same excitement mirrored in his eyes made Hayden begin to accept that maybe things wouldn’t turn out for the worse. Maybe she would just let things fall into place.

_______________

Hayden swung her feet back and
forth
as she watched Blake and Fergus from her position on the front porch. The two males were tossing the football back and forth, though Blake seemed more inclined to chuck the ball as hard as he could and watch Fergus fumble his way through a catch. Cole’s beta chuckled wickedly as the football slipped through Fergus’ open hands and proceeded to hit the twin in the face.

She smirked half-heartedly, conscious of an observing Nathan sitting behind her on the bench. Unfortunately, it seemed as if becoming a werewolf hadn’t improved Fergus’ athletic prowess. If the lankier twin was this bad now, she could only imagine what he would have been like as human. Then again, his towering height could have been useful on the basketball court.

Blake and Fergus suddenly stopped their contest and looked toward the road. Even Nathan stopped pretending he was reading and set his book down. Hayden cocked an eyebrow when she noticed a boy toeing Cole’s territory line before stepping over it.

The stranger was a familiar face and it took only a mere second to identify the human as Shane Donovan, the boy who worked at the bowling alley and possessed an unlimited amount of knowledge on werewolves. The last time she had seen him, Hayden had been distraught over Addie and Fergus finding out about Nicolas’ claim on her. For a human, Shane had done a remarkable job calming her frayed nerves.

Shane caught sight of Hayden and marched his way up the lawn. He didn’t seem too bothered by the sharp observation coming from the three male werewolves around him.

“Hayden!” he offered a hesitant grin as he came to a stop in front of her. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I… I hope you remember me—”

“Shane Donovan,” Hayden supplied easily. She matched his nervous grin with a laidback smile. “Of course I remember you.” It had felt like ages ago, but in reality, it had only been a little more than two weeks.

He seemed relieved at her answer, for his nervousness dropped abruptly. His attention wavered from hers for a moment, taking notice of the other three werewolves for the first time. Instead of fearing their observation, Shane nodded earnestly toward a motionless Blake. The beta nodded back, offering Hayden a look full of raised eyebrows and sly grins as soon as Shane turned his back.

It was so nice seeing Blake back to normal that Hayden withheld her disproval of his actions. After the attack with Tracer and the rogues, it had taken Fergus hours upon hours to pull Blake from his gloomy guilt-trip.

“I was hoping to see you around town again before the full moon,” Shane commented as he leaned against the railing she was sitting upon. “But considering tonight’s the full moon, I thought I would come to you.” The tall teen leaned his forearms on the railing and looked up at her. “Have you adjusted any better?” He may have a broad-figured stature, making him appear like a young man, but his curious, wide eyes were all innocence.

Hayden bowed her head, remembering her distress when she encountered Shane for the first time. She hadn’t found her place in the pack just yet, but since then, she’d slowly started to grow more comfortable in her new environment.

“Much better,” she replied sincerely. Swinging her leg, she motioned to the tattoo on the inside of her ankle. “I even survived the pack initiation.” She pitched her tone lower, bringing in an underlying hint of mystery and secrecy. 

Shane seemed generally intrigued as he peered at the tattoo and then up at her in sharp interest. “Yeah?” he pressed breathlessly. “Was it dangerous?”

Nodding, Hayden ignored Fergus’ giggle from the front yard.
“Extremely.”
She titled her head, enamored at his pure curiosity. “It’s top secret though. You understand.”

She didn’t feel entirely too bad for egging Shane on. His hunger for anything werewolf related was cute and she was willing to play along with him. He would be devastated if he knew the pack initiation was just a simple tattoo.

“I understand, Hayden,” he replied. His curiosity slipped into a knowing smile. Apparently, Shane
wasn’t easily fooled
, no matter how strong his admiration for werewolves was. “If you survived the initiation, then I bet you probably aren’t worried about the full moon tonight.”

Hayden tensed. She’d forgotten about the full moon for a few blissful minutes, which was surprising, considering it was hard to forget about it. Her skin felt prickly, her feet wouldn’t stop moving, and her restlessness never ceased.

Addie had given her a natural herb that helped her relax most of the jitters, but it did nothing to get rid of that looming possibility that her body might not make it through the transformation.

He tapped her leg, bringing her back to the present. “If it makes you feel any better, there is a higher probability of not making it through the initial bite. If you were strong enough to live through that, it’s doubtful you would die tonight.” Offering a tilted grin, Shane dug in his shorts and pulled out a fluffy object. “At any rate, I got you this for good luck.”

She took the offered gift, holding it up and studying it. A white rabbit’s foot
was strung
on a long chain. “A rabbit’s foot,” she exclaimed happily.

“Not just
any
rabbit’s foot.” Shane shoved his hands in his pockets and he nodded toward the rabbit foot with his chin. “It’s the left hind leg of a rabbit. It
was shot
with a silver bullet in a cemetery, on the full moon. All those requirements are what make a rabbit foot a
real
luck charm.”

She’d never heard of that, then again, she had never been too interested in reading up on rabbits or their good luck charms. It was incredibly thoughtful of him and Hayden could only admire him for bringing it here for her before the full moon.

“Did you shoot it yourself?” she asked curiously, stroking the white fur.

“No, it was my grandfather’s. He shot it himself.” The human saw her look of protest and held up his hands in objection. “You keep it, really. I wanted to give it to you.”

“How sweet,” a voice remarked directly next to Hayden’s left ear.

“Incredibly sweet,” another added in her right ear.