Un.Requited (Claimed Series) (29 page)

“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.” 

A smile wrinkled the corners of his eyes, but it dropped a moment later. “Hayden, you and Asher—”

“We aren’t together, Cole.” She had hoped they could have avoided this, but she could sense Cole’s determination to
get to the bottom
of it. Hayden tried to tug her hand back, but he kept his grip firm. “I should say, we aren’t together romantically, not like that.”

For a second, he seemed to lose all his power and authority, looking painfully like the young man of twenty-five that he really was. It was gone a moment later, the brief slip of control seemingly reinforcing his barriers.

“If that’s true, then why did you feel the need to sneak off with him?” Unforgiving eyes fastened and held Hayden’s gaze, sending an intimidating thrill down her back.

“Because you would act like this.”
She straightened her shoulders as much as her modesty would allow her. “Asher is the only werewolf outside the pack who approached me. He’s not afraid to get close to Nicolas’ claim. He and I are just
friends
.” She made sure to stress the word friends, or he would continue to come up with the wrong assumptions.

Truthfully, Asher really was just a friend. While there was a small attraction, Hayden had never acted on it. An unconscious obstacle had always held her back, or more specifically, a particular
someone
was holding her back. Asher seemed to respect the distance Hayden put up, for he hadn’t seemed inclined to make a move either.

Cole’s eyebrows shot up and he gave a bark-like laugh.
“Friends?
With Asher, there is no such thing as simple friends. He always wants something, something that will be a benefit for him.”