Imprinted (Progress), Sara Imes [essential reading txt] 📗

at the pack, arms crossed tightly across her chest, a look of fearlessness on her face. It was Ashley who broke the silence first. “Seth! Why is she here? Why isn’t she tied up somewhere where she can’t escape?”. Ashley made a move toward Hayden, but Seth stepped in front of her, cutting her off. Hayden looked up to Seth, staring at his back questioningly. Ashley looked up at Seth, confusion drawn clearly over her face. “Seth. What’s gotten into you? She”, Ashley pointed an angry finger towards Hayden. “needs to be tied up before she escapes!”. Hayden chuckled softly and smirked. “Look, if I wanted to escape, I would have done it already”. “No one was talking to you, vampire”, Ashley growled towards Hayden. “Uh. Excuse you. I have a name. And its Hayden, not vampire. Ashley’s eyes glowed a bright blue and her teeth started to grow at the ends into sharp points. Dylan instantly walked over to Ashley and turned her away from Hayden. Dylan looked back to Seth. A question written on his face. Should we tell them about the imprint?, Dylan said telepathically. Seth shook his head slightly. No not yet. But go ahead and tell Ashley all that happened. She’s my second in command. She has the right to know. Also, if she doesn’t know, she might attack Hayden. Dylan smiled and nodded, taking Ashley out of the living room. Making sure she stayed out of arm's length of Hayden. Once Dylan and Ashley left, Seth turned back to the rest of the pack, who were glaring at Hayden over Seth’s shoulder. “Look, Seth started, making sure his voice was firm and steady. “Hayden will be staying here until further orders from the Head Councilman.” The room was filled with unpleasant murmurs and growls. “However, Seth continued. “I don't want any fights springing out between any one of you. You guys don’t have to like or talk to her. All im asking is to coexist until then. Do I make myself clear?”. When no one said anything, Seth spoke more sternly. “I said, Do I make myself clear?”. Everybody then said “yes sir”, not including Hayden, of course. Everybody then started to file out of the living room, one by one. Each giving their fair share of glaring looks. Once everybody left, Seth let out a long and turned back to Hayden, making himself put on a smile. “So, wanna go see where you're staying?”, said Seth.

Chapter Eighteen

 

The walk up to the spare bedroom upstairs was silent and very awkward. Hayden was standing on the right side of Seth, twiddling her hair between her fingers nervously. Once they reached the room, Seth glanced over at Hayden, who was looking at the door as if this was her execution. Seth reached out and wrapped his hand around the knob, twisting it to the left. Seth slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

Hayden looked inside hesitantly, then stepping through the door frame into the room. Seth closed the door behind Hayden with a click. Seth turned back to see Hayden staring in awe at the room in front of her. The pack rarely used it. They only went into this room if someone was hogging the bathroom.

However, the room wasn’t awful. The walls were painted a comforting grey color. Their was a king size canopy bed, with white drapes cascading down around the bed, in the middle of the room. And in front of the bed, hanging on the wall closest to the door, was an HD tv. To the far right of the bed there was a bay window seat decorated with small white and red pillows and a white blanket.

To the right of the bed, was the bathroom. There was brown mahogany dressers alongside one wall of the room, and on top of it, was a small lamp. Hayden turned in circles as she took in the whole room. “Wow. This room is so…”. Hayden’s voice trailed off. “Amazing”, Seth finished for her.

“Yeah. Yeah it is. It’s the room I always dreamed of and wanted.”. Hayden smiled then, and turned to Seth. “Are you sure you didn’t know I was coming. I have a feeling you planned this.”. Seth laughed. Genuinely laughed, which he hadn’t done in a long time. “Phhssh!. If we knew you were staying with us, we would have created a steel cage, not this”, Seth said jokingly. Hayden laughed at that and said, “true, true”.

She then walked over to the bed, looking down at it thoughtfully. Hayden then jumped on the bed, groaning pleasantly against the soft material. Seth chuckled softly and followed Hayden over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. “What is this bed made out of? Clouds?”, Hayden said exuberantly. Seth raised an eyebrow as he watched Hayden roll back and forth on the bed. Her eyes showing a sort of blissfulness that Seth thought he would never see inside Hayden’s eyes.

Well...I saw that look in her eyes when I was about to kiss her…, Seth thought, thinking about the almost-kiss Seth and Hayden shared back in the interrogation room. Seth was so deep in the memory that he didn’t hear Hayden’s rising voice. “Hello? Seth? Earth to Seth!”, Hayden yelled. Seth shook his head softly and looked up to Hayden’s questioning eyes, “What? What’s wrong?”. Seth shook his head again, “Nothing. Just thinking about something.”.

“About what?”, said Hayden, sitting next to Seth on the edge of the bed. Her hand brushing up against his slightly. Even though the touch was slight, Seth still felt electricity pass through him. Seth wondered if the same thing happened with Hayden.“Oh nothing important.”, Seth shrugged nonchalantly, hoping that Hayden wouldn't see right through his act.

“You know for an alpha, you're a terribly lair”. Crap. “But. I think I know what you were thinking about”, Hayden said softly. Seth’s eyes snapped to Hayden’s bowed head. “You do?”, Seth said anxiously. Hayden shaked her head, making her hair swish along her shoulder. “Yeah. It’s about the almost-kiss isn’t it?”. Seth sucked in a breath. How did she know that was what he was thinking? “It’s written all over your face”, Hayden said, answering his question. Seth cursed himself mentally. Seth always made sure to conceal his feelings from his pack. How could she see right through him?

“Yes, it is.”, Seth said. Hayden smiled an odd smile. “Can I ask you something, then?”. “Yeah. Sure. Ask away.”. Hayden didn’t say anything for awhile. She only bowed her head more and started twirling her hair again between her fingers. She then breathed in deeply and said, “If I never lied to you about..about Jake, would you have stilled kissed me? I mean, not then, at that moment, I just mean…”, Hayden’s voice trailed off then. Her hands were shaking slightly. Clearly, Seth noticed, Hayden always tried to conceal her emotions from everyone else, too. Putting up walls to do just that.

But, now, in this moment, it seemed Hayden was taking a risk and taking down her walls. She then looked at him. Her eyes gleaming with a yearning Seth couldn’t quite place. “Yes...I would have kissed you. I would do it right now if yo-”. “Yes, I want you to kiss me”, Hayden said urgently, as if she knew that something was going to ruin this intimate moment they were sharing.

Seth nodded slowly, placing a finger under Hayden’s chin, pushing her head up to his. Seth closed his eyes as he leaned down to connect his lips with Hayden’s. Hayden pulled her head up as well, feeling her lips brush up against Seth’s. And again, before Seth could fully enjoy the softness of Hayden’s lips, there was an urgent knock on the door. Not waiting for an answer to come in, Ashley barged into the room shouting, “How did you manage to imprint on a vamp-”, Ashley’s voice fell away when she saw Seth and Hayden on the bed, lips brushed against each other.

Chapter Nineteen

 

Once Ashley brust into the room, Hayden and Seth jumped apart. Seth standing up and Hayden sliding back on the bed. Ashley was staring back and forth between the two of them, her cheeks red from anger. “What is going on in he-”, Dylan was standing behind Ashley when she barged into the room, staring wildly between Seth and Hayden as well. But now, he had his hand covering her mouth.

“Ashley, be quiet! The rest of the pack can’t know about this!”, Dylan said softly.. Ashley yanked Dylan’s hand away from her mouth and brushed past him to close the door, slamming it shut. After the door was shut, she turned back around, glaring at Seth, “How in the world did you imprint on a vampire?!”, Ashley whispered-screamed angrily, her face flushing a deep red. “Ashley, I didn’t let Dylan tell you what happened so you can get pissed at me. You know werewolves can’t control who they imprint on!”, Seth voice rose in anger, making Ashley’s head bow slightly in submission. Seth could feel his breathing come in quick paces, his heart beating faster and faster, with each moment his anger grew. Trying to control his anger, Seth started to pace back and forth in the room.

“I-i'm sorry.. Seth. I didn’t mean to blow up like this. I know we can’t control who we imprint on”, Ashley said softly. Seth nodded and turned back to Hayden, slowly. She was looking down, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. Seth could automatically tell that she put her walls back up. Seth could almost picture them, tall and cornering her, all around. With barbed wire around the top, making sure no emotions escaped. Seth bit his lip. Just one more moment, one more second...and he could have knocked down those walls, made Hayden trust her. But no, Ashley had to barge in and ruin everything.

Seth took a deep breath, feeling his anger starting to bubble up again. “So”, Ashley said awkwardly, “what are you going to do about..her?”, Ashley said, pointing carelessly toward Hayden. Hayden ignored Ashley’s pointing hand, staring intently down at the white silk bed sheets. Seth sighed, “she’s going to stay here until we get the rest of the answers we need-”.

“Why don’t you guys stop talking about me like i'm not here”, Hayden said harshly, cutting Seth off. “And I can’t stay here, I don’t have any clothes and besides”, Hayden glared at Ashley. “Im clearly not