AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He felt the shiver run over her body as she leaned into him, hands pressed to his chest. “Hayden.” His name on her lips was the most beautiful sound he’d heard. He couldn’t help but imagine her moaning out his name instead of just speaking it. “I see you missed me.”
More than she could know.
He pulled away and cleared his throat, turning his attention back toward the small group. Liam and Rachel stood at either side of Mason’s large form, looking to him expectantly, no doubt wanting to share all that they’d found.
Normal Hayden wanted to hear every minute detail, every single perspective possible, no matter how obscure or out-there, and he would do just that, no matter how badly he wanted to pull Anna away and hold her close to him. What the hell was happening to him?
For as long as he’d remembered, he had one focus: protecting innocent life, destroying the UNR, righting his wrongs. To get caught up in these emotions felt… selfish. Especially when they told him to drop his usual focus and give it to the woman beside him, instead. He didn’t understand his own thoughts and feelings, and that was the real issue. After years of understanding everyone and everything, he couldn’t afford to lose that now. Not when they were so close to making a real difference. So close to his own redemption after he’d failed to take out Greene all those years ago…
Everyone gathered around the fire, sharing roasted meat from the day’s hunt, while Anna, Liam, and Rachel shared the things they’d found. Twenty guards outside the central compound. One officer every two to three blocks near the compound, every ten to fifteen blocks further out. Whispers of the Resistance’s takeover of the Central Stronghold, most positive. Two points of weakness in the compound, the barred windows at the rear, which were both unguarded due to heavy vegetation, and an emergency hatch that seemed to go under the compound’s large wall.
Apparently, Liam had found a spot where several uniforms laid out drying and rubbed poison ivy on the insides of them. Everyone laughed at that one, though Hayden wasn’t as amused. It was a foolish risk that yielded no reward, other than the laughs around the fire, now. The people around him weren’t brought up in battle, though, so Hayden kept his objections to himself. If it helped keep them motivated and made them feel like they were contributing to the cause, which they certainly were in other ways, then it wasn’t a big deal. Especially considering he hadn’t been caught.
Before he knew it, over an hour had passed, the sun leaving the sky and forcing them to put out the fire they all sat around for warmth.
“Can I put the things you were working on in one of the supply tents?” Mason asked him as everyone began getting up to get ready for sleep.
Hayden gave a nod, happy to not have to deal with them all himself. His own stuff, the tried and true bits of things that could help the cause, he took special care of. The rest of the stuff? He was less concerned. It was unlikely he’d find anything all that useful in the piles of warped plastic and rusted metal.
“Shall we retire, partner?” Anna scratched a nail down his back, and he swore his cock was about to bust through his zipper just at that small touch.
“Absolutely.”
He couldn’t understand what had gotten into him lately. He was always attracted to Anna, of course, but this need felt different. Pressing. It wasn’t a passing desire or a late night fantasy. It consumed him, changed him.
Hayden wasn’t a saint, but he had certainly never been on the edge just because of a small scratch or a flirty smile.
Maybe it was almost seeing her die. Maybe it was holding her for so many nights in a row. Maybe it was waking up from being taken, and all of his panic being directed toward her and whether she was okay. Maybe it was opening up to her about his greatest shame, the man he'd called father, and having her forgive him for it.
In the past several days, something had changed.
He didn’t just want Anna anymore. Suddenly, he cared about whether or not she wanted him. He felt a constant need to be close to her, to touch her. He felt… attached to her somehow. Despite his walls and his safeguards, he found himself afraid to lose her.
And that scared the shit out of him.
“You coming to bed, Mister Always-Brooding-Or-Scheming-Over-Something?”
He coughed out a laugh. “Yes,” he muttered, moving toward their sleeping bag and leaning over to untie his boots. “Yes, I am.”
Tomorrow, he’d fix the kinks in his armor and get his shit together. He’d piece together his splintering control and do some damage control after his mask slipped earlier in the day. He’d make a concrete plan to take out his father so that he could go home to his brothers and continue on with their mission—he was supposed to always be scheming, after all, and he’d done so little lately. He’d tell Anna, if she was still willing to hear him out, that he cared about her a little too much, and it was clouding his judgment. He’d figure out for himself how the hell he was supposed to deal with that.
Tonight, he’d hold her and pretend they could stay that way forever.
? ♥ ?
“Mmm.” Anna’s nails dug into his abdomen, waking Hayden up from his sleep. “Hayden,” she breathed.
It was still dark, not a hint of sunlight in the sky. They’d been asleep for… a couple hours? At most? “What is it?” he whispered back at her, unsure of why she’d woken him.
“Oh, god.” Her legs tightened around his thigh, reminding him of just how entangled their limbs had become in the night.
His cock jumped to attention at that, but he ignored it.
“Are you okay?” Was she hurt? Her voice was low, breathless. Her body moved erratically beside him, against him. “Anna?”
“Hayden,” she gasped, her movements jerking once more.
He grabbed her arm pushing her back as he leaned up over her. “Anna.” His voice came out more forceful than intended. “What’s wrong?”
