Un.Requited (Claimed Series) (2 page)

Uneasy,
Hayden
eyed his elongated canines,
realizing
that everything she had been trying to deny was actually
real
.
For days,
she had heatedly tried to pass of
f her changes as
a mere coincidence
. But that ‘coincidence’ was
now
standing
directly
in front of her,
a cruel wakeup call
personified.

That August night had been a full moon
, a
nd t
hat wolf hadn’t been a simple
wolf.

He must have read her apprehension. “Yes,” he hissed in
delight
and
approached
closer.
L
ong fing
ernails curled around the swing
set
bar, bringing attention to the dirt
staining
his palms and finger
s.
“You remember now, don’t you?”

Hayden
remembered
.

I
t was impossible to forget
the wolf’s teeth carving into
her throat
and
the way she had laid there, knowing she would die. Her heart had stopped. She
knew
she had died, b
ut hours, maybe only minutes later, she had awoken in the same position
as
before. The moon had been bright and sardonic as she blinked up at the nightscape
, her body both trembling and
sweating like mad.

T
here had been no wounds on her
body.
The d
ried
blood and the
healed scar
across her throat
was
the only evidence of what had happened
. She remembered feeling two conflicting sensations at that moment
,
revulsion
and vigor. That night had been the start of something foreign, something
dangerous
and unfamiliar.

Hayden
had refused to tell her
aunt or her mother
about the incident, especially when she began noticing changes about her body that
wasn’t
normal. No matter how much she had needed to talk to someone, she kept it to herself, too afraid to acknowledge what was happening. 

“What do you want with me?”
Hayden
asked neutrally
as she
tightened her hold on the swings.

“I
don’t want anything from you.” The man’s eyes
grew hooded
. “
On the other hand,
Nicolas
ha
s
become very interested in you. Females are hard to come by, as
they rarely survive the transformation, especially ones that look and smell as
delicious
as—”

He cut himself off abruptly a
nd cocked his head.
With a sniff to the air,
he stiffened.
“Come. We must leave.” The creature, Tracer, took his hand from the swing and turned bac
k in the direction he came from.

He obviously expected
Hayden
to follow like an obedient dog, a
nd truthfully, she couldn’t imagine
not
following him. Her mind was distorted, cloudy, and the only thing she could comprehend was that she wanted to please this stranger.

However
, before her traitorous legs could lift from the swing, something clicked audibly behind her, snapping her from her stupor. 

“I wou
ldn’t try it. She’s
under Cole Slayter’s protection.”

Flabbergasted and relieved,
Hayden
turned around and immediately spied a gun pointing unswervingly at Tracer. The gun, she noted, smelt suspiciously like metal
, a toxic metal
.
W
hat was
even
more surprising was the man behind the gun, or more specifically, the
boy
.

Hayden vaguely
remembered him from school. His name was Gregory Martin, the resident nerd who never seemed to fit in.
He was currently wearing a tight stocking cap that flattened his hair against his face
, making him nearly unrecognizable
. H
is abnormally large nose
was
pointed
to the ground,
allowing his beady eyes an
easier path to his target.

Tracer barked and an amused grin slanted across his
mouth
. “
She’s under
Cole Slayter
’s protection
? Is that the best you can come up with, boy?” Even if the man was mocking Gregory, he still
glanced guardedly at the gun
. “Cole Slayter doesn’t give a damn about rogue werewolves. He’d rather kill them
before protecting
them.”

Gregory
was emotionless as he
watched Tracer. “
That’s not true.
As
you said,
she is
a surviving female. Cole is interested in her just as
much
as Nicolas is.” He placed a sure finger on the trigger. “If you don’t believe me, t
ry
taking
her with you and see what happens.”

Gregory’s scent
was painfully noticeable to her as he took a step closer
. With Tracer, she hadn’t felt the familiar hostility that she had
experienced
all day, but it was back with Gregory’s presence
. His scent wasn’t as strong as
others were
,
yet
just as tempting. She had a sinking suspicion that her
body’s
reaction was due to the fact that Tracer was a werewolf and Gregory was
a
human.

Tracer
scrutinized
Gregor
y for a moment longer,
contemplating
the issue. “
Nicolas
will hear of this,” he promised
. “
He
will
find it more than fascinating that Cole already has eyes on her, especially when
he
intended to mark her first.”

Mark her?
Hayden
’s earlier fear and timidity darkened into intense loathing. This man was acting as if
Hayden
were a simple possession, a prized female ripe for the taking.  

“Get away. Go.” Gregory jabbed the gun at Tracer, looking as if he wouldn’t hesitant
firing.

The beast-like man grinned spitefully. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you,” he addressed
Hayden
. With one lingering lick to his bottom lip, he turned his heel and disappeared into the surrounding trees.

She watched him go distrustfully, wondering how long he
had
been watching her. It was obvious that he had followe
d her from Montana to New York.
And
h
e probably even knew where
Hayden
lived, who her family was, and where her school was located. It was an unsettling thought to know someone like Tracer had been following her
without her knowing.

Gathering her composure,
Hayden
stood up from the swing. The hypnotic feeling that Tracer brought with him had disappeared as soon as he left, leaving
Hayden
exhausted, aggravated, but also more aware
tha
n she had been
.

Keeping her back turned,
Hayden
listened as Gregory approached her f
rom behind.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You can put the gun dow
n.” She pitched her voice
into a calm and convincing tone.
He was more than likely pointing his gun at her back, ready to fire if she made any sudden movement.

Chancing a glance over her shoulder,
Hayden
was surprised to see the gun
already pointing
uselessly at the ground. Gregory’s legs were shaking
frantically
and he was giving off a relieved
, yet hysterical
air.
The boy in front of her was certainly
different
from the young man who
had
confronted Tracer.

“How did I do?” He chuckled dryly,
his beady eyes looking in every which
direction.

Finding no threat,
he threw himself on the swing next to her, brea
thing heavily.
Groaning, he bent over at the waist, appearing na
useated. His lips pursed and an excess amount of spit gathered at the edge of his mouth.

Hayden
stood
there
dumbly, staring at him. “You don’t do that often, do you?” she guessed
. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she was
reluctantly
amused at his antics
.

He gave an obstructed laugh, his hands trembling. “If you mean threatening rogue werewolves with a gun loaded with silver bullets?” Chocolate brown eyes looked up at
Hayden
. “No, I can’t say that it’s a habit of mine.”

Gregory’s nonchalance when mentioning werewolves only made
the
situation all the more surreal.
Nevertheless,
the evidence was there.
Hayden
knew her body better
than anyone else did
and she knew this wasn’t typical teenage puberty. Eventually, she would have to stop thinking herself as a normal
human
but a…
a
werewolf.

The realization that this was reality, and not some parody of a dream,
was incredibly
difficult to come to terms with.
Her life
, her future
was
ruined.
The
very
thought of becoming
an animal
like
Tracer
made her cold with
fear
.
A small part of her even wondered wh
y she couldn’t have just died that night in Montana.

Pushing the
lingering uncertainties aside,
Hayden
approached the
panting
boy. “How did you know I was here with him?” While she was thankful
for
his intervention, she was also suspicious. His timing had been impeccable and he already had t
he loaded gun with him.

Issuing another nervous laugh, Gregory
began looking
anywhere but at
Hayden
. “Actually, I was told to kill you.
It’s a funny story, really, not as
morbid
as it sounds.
”

“
What
?”
Hayden
took a quick step backward,
wary
and enraged at the casual statement.

At seeing her sudden caution, Gregory’s eyes widened and he h
eld up his hands in surrender.
It appeared as if he we
re going to have a panic attack, as he was gasping and sweating excessively.

“Wait! I swear I’m not going to
kill
you. Please don’t take it personally.” Eyeing the scarf around
Hayden
’s mouth and neck, his lips trembled in
uncertainty
. “I watched you today at school. I mean…” His cheeks grew red. “I noticed the signs of lycanthropy.”

Hayden
forced herself to calm down and sit on the swing next to him. “Lycanthropy?” she pressed
with intrigue
. Gregory seemed to know a
lot
about werewolves, a certain knowledge
Hayden
lacked but was
reluctantly
willing to learn.

“Werewolf,” Gregory confirmed
with a fleeting
smile. “You distance yourself from humans, almost if you’re in pain. You really ju
st want to attack them,
right?
I know it’s hard to control. My brother was the same way as a newborn.
Unfortunately
, he had more trouble controlling himself
th
a
n
you do.”