Read Un.Requited (Claimed Series) Online
Authors: Reese Morgan
Un.Requited (Claimed Series)
Un.Requite
d
Reese Morgan
Copyright
©
2012
Reese Morgan
All Rights Reserved
This
is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be copied, r
eproduced,
or distributed,
either electronically
or otherwise, without
written permission
from
the
author.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
W
ith
heightened
senses, Hayden quickly spun around the bald-headed man in her way, easily avoiding a collision.
He appeared
speechless
at the sight of her concealed face
,
but
quickly
recovered
his voice
.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!”
Ignoring the irate man,
Hayden
tigh
tened the scarf around her
face
.
After a long day of work, m
en and women
scurried home to their families
, ha
rdly paying her much attention.
While her eyes and chin were on the ground, her senses were open, alerting her to the surrounding strangers. If they came too close, she would have to hold her breath and focus on anything but their proximity.
School
just
ended
two hours ago
. It
had been
her first day of senior year and it
had
also
been the wors
t
day of her life. This past summer,
Hayden
had imagined the perfect senior year; seeing her friends, dating potential boyfriends, even the classes seemed somewhat appealing.
Instead,
everything had turned out to be a nuisance, a mere annoyance. All she had wanted to do was escape the confinement of the school and run.
It was a restl
essness she wasn’t familiar with
and she couldn’t seem to shake it.
Suddenly, a shoulder bumped into her, causing
Hayden
to stumble ungracefully
to
the edge of the sidewalk. Inhaling deeply, she felt something stir hotly
in
her stomach. It was a raging feeling, an angry pain that refused to cool or calm.
Eyes flashing,
Hayden
turned to glare at the person who had bumped into her. The middle-aged wo
man flashed an apologetic smile, but it wavered as soon as
she
noticed
Hayden
’s hostile stare. Without any further eye contact, the stranger hurried past.
Trembling in both fatigue and suppressed anger,
Hayden
tugged
on
her scarf
, pulling it tighter around her mouth. Her teeth played with the material, pulling and chewing at it
anxiously
.
She hated
the
instant reaction she got when physical contact occurred. It had been this way since the attack this past summer. No one could touch her, no one could brush their hand down her arm, and even her own mother’s touch set
Hayden
’s teeth on edge.
Trying to pacify
her
rage,
Hayden
exhaled slowly and wandered into the gutter of the road. She needed somewhere to breathe easily, somewhere that didn’t involve busy sidewalks and clumsy pedestrians.
Crossing the street, she all but ran.
Her mother would be worried at her absence, but
Hayden
couldn’t
go home
just
yet
. Inside, her body was unsettled and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her family. These episodes had happened before and it wasn’t something
Hayden
knew how to control. Those around her suffered with her vocal outbursts,
yet
voicing her disagreement was the lesser of the two evils. There were times she just
wanted to lash out physically.
Huffing, she jogged toward the park. Up ahead, there were only a few children left at the playground.
Judging by the parents standing impatiently around the perimeter of the sandbox, periodically gla
ncing at the time on their cell
phones, Hayden assumed the kids wouldn’t be staying for much longer.
She stumbled her way into the sandbox and collapsed onto a swing. Clutching the chains on either side of her, Hayden began practicing deep, steady breathing.
The longer she
sat there
, the more her
pulse began to
regulate
and the cooler her body became.
“Why do you wear a scarf when it’s so hot outside?”
At the innocent question,
Hayden
slowly turned her head
, spying
the young boy sitting idly on the swing next to her. The
child
licked his
chapped
lips, looking
pointedly at
Hayden
’s scarf
before
he
gaped
at her eyes.
“And why are your eyes
gold
?” he asked
with
heightened awe.
She marveled at th
e wonders of child
ish
curiosity.
U
nlike the girls at school, the boy didn’t look nearly as
wary
of
Hayden
’s eyes as they had. Her classmates thought it had been an attempt
to appear fashionable, by wearing amber-colored contacts.
Hayden
had
simply played
along with them and tried to
convince herself that maybe she
had
subconsciously
put
contacts into her eyes.
“Come on, sweetheart.” A woman quickly marched over and took her protesting son by the hand. She spared
Hayden
a suspicious glare before
tugging
her ki
d cleanly off the swing
.
Through lowered lashes
,
Hayden
watched them leave the park
. She found
it
funny
that the mother kept glancing back, as if
she expected
Hayden
to
lunge after them like a lunatic. Only when they disappeared from sight did
Hayden
look away, smiling bitterly across the park.
Before she had much chan
c
e to contemplate further, t
he air around the playground suddenly turned warmer, thicker. Her relaxing body began acting up once again when
she
sensed the familiar aroma in the air. I
t was a woodsy smell, an exotic-
type of wood, and it was eerily similar to the scent of her aunt’s property in Montana. The aroma at her aunt’s
house
had only been this potent the night
Hayden
was bitten and attacked.
Swiftly
, her eyes zeroed in on an advancing figure across from her. The man seemed familiar, but
Hayden
couldn’t recall seeing him before. He certainly
was
a character she
would
rememb
er vividly if she had seen him.
H
is appearance
became
clearer
as he emerged stealthily from behind the monkey bars
. The leather jacket he wore
appeared
too small for his muscular torso, and with a profound shrug of his shoulders, he tried
t
o adjust the coat.
However,
the jacket wasn’t what
snared
her undivided attention
. It was the
elongated
,
yellow fingernails and the ash-colored hair that fell to his biceps in greasy kinks. His very presence
e
mitted a threatening air
, and e
ven the onlookers took the intuitive warning in stride, pulling their children out of the park and never looking back.
Hayden
wanted to follow them. She wasn’t stupid. Except, there was something making her stay put, an unfamiliar force keeping her obediently on the swing. Her amber eyes locked on the man’s gaze, fighting the fear that abruptly welled
inside her
.
His eyes were unnerving.
While one eye was brilliant amber, the other was a contrasting dark blue
. They held
Hayden
’s gaze, capturing and demanding her to stay immobile. Panic
swelled in
her chest
when
her body complied effortlessly at his silent and unspoken order.
The wolf that had attacked
Hayden
this summer
had the same eyes as his. She c
ould never forget those eyes as she convulsed underneath him in pain, in horror, in utter helplessness.
“
Hayden
Grey
, am I right?”
He
hadn’t raised his voice,
although
he was a good yard away.
The color of her eyes aside, her hearing had also
improved
, as did her sight
.
The
unusual
changes
had
alarmed
her
, y
et she
still hadn’t told anyone
.
Swallowing the lingering fear,
Hayden
raised her chin defiantly. “What’s it to you?” she
asked
lowly.
Her disbelief was beginning to overshadow
the earlier fear
she had felt
. Could the wolf in Montana really be here, standing before her
a
s a human? It was irrational and completely illogical, but something told her that it wasn’t
impossible
.
“You can call me Tracer,” he introduced unnecessarily before
considering her
. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
The
oily
smile that stretched
across
his lips revealed
his yellow-coated teeth. “Don’t you feel our
connection
?” h
e mocked with a dry c
huckle. “Our connection is what’s
making you sit so obediently for me.”