Un.Requited (Claimed Series) (23 page)

“Haven’t you spoken to her?” Cole asked, perplexed.

Hayden looked at him in frustration. “No, I can’t even imagine what I would say. She hasn’t contacted
me
at all. Blake’s parents were supposed to talk to her the night you brought me to Oregon.” Thick despair and betrayal deflated Hayden’s mood. “She obviously thinks I’m a monster now. Otherwise, she would have flown here herself just to make sure I was settling in.”

He tapped her chin smartly. “You’re not a monster, Hayden, and I doubt your mother thinks of you as one.” Silence stretched before he leaned in closer, his breath ghosting across ear. “Knowing Blake’s parents, they probably reassured her that you were being well-taken care of. She’s simply waiting for
you
to call her.”

The idea seemed ludicrous. “Call her?” Hayden repeated dumbly. The prospect of reaching out first had flirted in the back of her mind, but she had never had the courage to hear any possible rejection coming from her mother.

Cole stood from the railing and hovered behind her. He placed his chin on top her head, somehow vanishing her anxiety. “We are your family now, Hayden. If your mother can’t accept who you are, you’ll always have us.” Purposely, he set down his cellphone on the railing.

Moments like these were what made Hayden unsure of her relationship with Cole. The Alpha seemed warmer around her when the rest of the pack wasn’t near.
And yet
, when they got too close, he shut down completely, making Hayden feel like a castoff, a mere inconvenience. 

Taking her silence as acceptance, Cole took a step back, catching her gaze. “What about your father?”

Immediately, Hayden stiffened. “Why do you ask?” she countered icily.

Cole, hardly affected by her tone, only raised an eyebrow. “You only talk about your mother. I assume your father passed away?”

A humorless smile twisted her lips. Just thinking about her real father made the buried hate and the bitter betrayal burn as hotly as it had the day he’d left.

She picked up Cole’s phone and studied it, giving herself something to distract the raw emotions. “No,” she started, her tone clipped and strained. “He left us when I was fourteen. I haven’t heard from him since.” 

“Hayden—”

She raised her gaze to meet his. His dark eyes saw too much. Hearing his condolences on a topic she buried long ago was not something she wanted to hear.

“She ended up remarrying two years later.” Hayden was rather fond of the memory. “He’s a bit boring, but he’s a loyal man. The only negative is the baggage he has in the form of a son. That urchin is a hellion.” Really, her stepbrother had been a headache she had been happy to get rid of.

Strong, sure fingers caught her jaw and turned her around to face him fully. He nuzzled her cheek just briefly before butting foreheads with her. “Call your mom. You’ll feel better after you do.” With one last reassuring squeeze around her chin, Cole turned toward the house.

The anxiety over calling her mother was still present, but Hayden fully registered what Cole had said earlier. He had been right. The pack was like family, they
were
beginning to be
family, although slowly. She belonged here. Thoughts about moving back to New York after regaining self-control were beginning to fade, as she was finally growing roots here in Oregon.

Dialing her mother’s number, Hayden placed the phone up to her ear, anxious to hear her mother’s voice again
. 
Across from her, Cole lingered near the doorway, attentive to the conversation in case Hayden needed him.

“Hello?” Her mother answered on the first ring, sounding hopeful. “Hayden? Is that you?”

Hayden pressed her lips together, relishing in that familiar voice. It brought with it waves of calming reassurances. “Yeah mom, it’s me.” She slouched when she heard her mother cry out in relief on the other end.

“Oh, Hayden.”
She gave a sob. “You don’t know how
worried
I was about you.”

In the back of her mind, she was aware of Cole escaping into the house, satisfied. “Everything is alright, mom, more than alright.” Hayden looked after Cole’s retreating figure, grinning despite herself. “There is so much I need to tell you…”

The unease lifted and she felt weightless.

Who knew Cole c
ould be right some of the time?

Everything seemed rather
muted
as Hayden stood motionless on the forest floor. Through unfocused eyes, she watched as Fergus and Blake argued over something, their words muted and muffled.

The leaves were fluttering and the trees were swaying, yet she couldn’t hear a sound. There was a heavy breeze through the woods, but it only felt like a lingering caress as it whispered across her fevered face.

Devan’s and Nathan’s forms were mere blurs as they raced past the pack and submerged deeper into the woods. The rhythmic beating of their feet soon transformed to noiseless strides as they morphed effortlessly into their wolf forms. Fergus was quick to yell after them, sprinting after his twin as his body lurched and morphed into a grey and white wolf.

Hayden stared after them unseeingly, her racing pulse becoming almost deafening in her ears. One hand clutched the rabbit’s foot around her neck while the other
was fisted
at her side to stop the trembling. She flinched as a set of hands lightly squeezed her shoulders.

“You will do fine.” Addie’s reassuring words somehow cut through Hayden’s haze for only a moment.
And
just like a memory, her touch and her presence were gone, easily forgotten.

“We’ll meet up with you two later.” It was Blake this time, his voice knowing and encouraging at the same time. He tugged off his shirt and threw off his pants, his movements jerky and unbridled with unsuppressed excitement.

She found herself staring, daunted, as Blake shook his head back and forth, like that of a wet dog drying off. His sculptured body trembled and jerked before he began to descend toward the ground.

Before his hands could brace himself, they turned into large, flexed paws. Like the movements of a calm lake, his human body rippled and rich chocolate fur grew across his once flawless skin. She only blinked for a fraction of a second, but in that second, Blake had transformed completely into his wolf. 

Proud and mischievous, Blake trotted over to Hayden’s frozen form and lightly nipped at her quivering fist. Treating it as a game of tag, the beta then leaped away from her with a bark and ran into the woods, his tail twitching in satisfaction.

As soon as he was out of sight, Hayden swung her head around, looking at the only werewolf left in the vicinity. Cole stood across from her, his face impassive but a calm smile ghosted across his lips. He tossed aside his balled-up shirt, revealing a chiseled torso that would put any man to shame.

“I’m terrified,”
Hayden
admitted quietly, hating feeling so afraid, but hoping Cole had some way of reassuring her. He always had a remedy for her restlessness. Certainly, he could do something about it now. “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”

Dressed in nothing but an oversized shirt, Hayden felt small and vulnerable as Cole approached her. Without the aid of words, he answered her silent pleas for assurance by encircling her huddled form with his arms, cradling her softly against his chest.

He cupped the back of her head and pressed it against him, wrapping his opposite arm around her waist. The chest beneath her cheek was warm and hard, certainly not comfortable against her feverish face, but every bit reassuring and protective. 

Hayden squeezed her eyes shut when the forest began to darken as the sun set. Her entire body was shaking like a leaf and she was afraid her racing heart would gain enough momentum to break through her chest. The skin along her spine and arms were itching, prickling as if they had fallen asleep and were trying to regain feeling.

Her eyes snapped open when her lungs began to burn and constrict, making her feel as if she were underwater, struggling to breathe. Pained and short pants escaped past her parted lips, her stomach tightening in fear. She realized her heart hadn’t been racing out of just fear, but because it had been the first organ to change. Canines
were known
to have quick pulses. How could she have not realized it sooner?

Her fingernails clawed into Cole’s stomach as she struggled to breathe. Terror was thick and it prevented her from getting enough oxygen into her lungs. She felt herself falling, taking
Cole with her by dead weight alone. He rocked her steadily into his lap, stroking her hair to let her know he was there.

“Don’t fight it,” Cole insisted through Hayden’s panic.

Hayden issued a choked sob, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes as pain tormented her body. She had never known this pain before. Her bones burned, as if they were turning to liquid, and her organs were shifting, cramping together unnaturally.

Her eyes rolled back and she stared hungrily at the rising full moon that peeked through the trees. Something tugged painfully in her stomach at the sight of the silver rays and she jerked, having the strongest desire to run wildly and worship the night.

But
that was outrageous. It was animalistic and it frightened her to lose control of her human instincts. As long as her body remained a barrier to the creature wanting to invade, the longer she could remain in control.

But
the
pain…

“You’re fighting it,” Cole accused hotly into her ear. His arms were disproving as he gave her a fierce shake. “You’re too damned stubborn, Hayden, but so is she. You’re not doing yourself any favors!”

He had said ‘
she’.
Through her pain-filled haze, Hayden knew he meant this creature inside of her. He was implying that the more Hayden fought against her wolf, the higher her chance was at dying before morning.
But
she couldn’t possibly let this… this invasion take over.
Could she?

Looking back up at the moon, Hayden decided tonight could be an exception.

As soon as she submitted to the invading presence, her body went limp in Cole’s arms. She focused on nothing but his breathing and the moon above her. Her limbs snapped and cracked, twisting unnaturally. Surprisingly, while in her numb mindset, it was only mild discomfort. After all, her body had prepped for this transformation for over a month.

Her vision shuttered and she twisted wildly out of Cole’s arms, finding herself landing on the ground on all fours. She leaned toward the forest floor, panting, and closing her eyes against
the last wave of discomfort and nausea. Distantly, she was aware of her incoherent cries turning into miserable high-pitched whines.

“Look at you,” Cole admired breathlessly, “simply beautiful.”

Hayden struggled to open her heavy eyelids. When she was finally aware of her surroundings, the world around her seemed to be the thing that had changed, not her.

The forest had come alive with highlights of alluring beauty. Mosquitos and flies buzzed in harmony around one another, the beat of their wings seeming slow and hypnotic as they disturbed the air around them. Flecks of pollen and dust shrouded the night air, appearing like glitter as they caught the rays of moonlight through the trees. Even the scents were stronger, crisper, as she could smell and hear the vigilant rabbit just a few yards away. 

Turning her head, Hayden caught sight of her new body, taken aback at the color of her pelt. Not even a single smudge of color stained her beautiful pristine white coat. Her body was lithe, small compared to Cole’s majestic form, yet her paws seemed a bit too large, almost unnaturally large in proportion to the rest of her.

Ears perking, Hayden peered into the woods as soon as she was aware of movement further into the forest. Sniffing the air, she immediately identified the approaching bodies as her pack mates. She whined in excitement, trying to stand up to greet them. Only, four legs were difficult to get used to and she fell back on the ground, ears flattened in despair.

Blake was quick to leap into the clearing, his tongue lulled outside his mouth. The beta smugly trotted up to Hayden’s fallen form, looking ready for a fight. She growled at him, leaning back as he insisted on nipping at her ears.

Fortunately, Cole, now in wolf form, intercepted Blake and nudged him away. The sleek black wolf stood proudly before his pack, both his head and tail held high. Hayden buried her face in the front of her paws, watching as the pack members greeted him with kisses and nibbles to his muzzle. She was instantly impressed, albeit jealous by his stature and his ability to communicate with and command his pack.

Flicking her tail in exasperation, Hayden distanced herself from the rest of the playful pack and practiced finding her balance on four paws. Eventually, after countless of wipeouts, her unrestrained determination to go running with the pack fueled Hayden to finally get the hang of it.

Bypassing the others, Hayden only had eyes for her Alpha. She trotted in a circle around Cole, nipping at his tail, and veering sharply toward the woods before jumping back toward him. She wanted to go running, she
needed
to go running, but it
would only be allowed
if her Alpha permitted it.