Imprinted (Progress) by Sara Imes (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📖

her mouth to say thanks but was cut short by a voice. “Oh isn’t this touching.” It was Seth. He was wearing a rumbled grey t-shirt and black jeans with a hole in the knee. Next to him stood a girl, with Seth’s arm draped around her waist.

Hayden felt her heart plummet. Seth’s hair was messy, as if someone’s hands had been running through it continuously. The girl had golden brown skin, round sky blue eyes, and red curly hair that fell like fire down her back.. She was wearing a blue blouse, some of the buttons that were supposed to be there were ripped off, the strings sticking out.

She was also wearing blue skinny jeans, her feet bare. Hayden felt Natalie squeeze her hand tightly. Natalie said, “Kristen? What are you doing?”. Kristen? Then Hayden remembered. That was the girl she had cut deeply when she woke up from being knocked unconscious. Now the girl was staring at Hayden with a cheeky grin.

Hayden wanted to rip her head off right then and there. She would have, if it wasn’t for Natalie holding her hand so tightly. Kristen chuckled. “Oh dear Natalie, I didn’t tell you guys?”. Natalie didn’t say anything, but shook her head no. “Tell us what?”, Natalie inquired sharply. “Oh it must have slipped my mind”, Kristen said, purring. “I'm Seth’s new mate.”.

Chapter Thirty Two

 

Everybody felt Hayden tense. Jessica and October tightened their grip on Hayden’s shoulders. Hayden felt her hand tighten around Natalie’s, making the other girl yelp in pain and yank her hand out of Hayden’s. Hayden glared at Seth. He was staring back at her, a mischievous smile played on his lips. Hayden cleared her throat and forced her mouth to speak. “W-What do you mean ‘new mate? Seth, i'm your mate. Not her”, Hayden said viciously, jabbing a finger at Kristen. Seth shrugged. “Things change. Isn’t that right, Hayden.”. Seth said her name as if it was a name of evil. Wickedness. Seth eyes left Hayden’s and moved to look at his pack. “Sorry everyone. I'll be upstairs if you need me. Let's go babe.”. Seth turned to make his way back up the stairs, but stopped. “Oh and Hayden. I think you have stayed here long enough. Get out of my cabin and don’t come back. Go back to Jake”, Seth spat at her, then turned back, walking up the stairs.

Once Seth and Kristen disappeared, Hayden shot off the couch. Tears were spilling down her face. Her heart felt as if Seth had took it out of her chest and stabbed it in front of her,laughing bitterly as he did it. Hayden felt rage swell up inside her like a black fire. Hayden clenched her hand into a fist and slammed it into the wall, making it crack and splinter. Hayden drew back her hand, it was bleeding. The blood curling down her arm, onto the floor.

Hayden saw from the corner of her eye Jessica stepping forward, taking Hayden’s hurt hand into hers. Hayden smiled and turned to Jessica. “Hey Jessica, have you heard Bring Me the Horizon’s new song, Throne?”. Jessica looked puzzled at the question, but shook head yes. Hayden snatched her hand away from Jessica’s abruptly and walked over to the door, the pack hesitating, then following her.

Hayden opened the door with her uninjured hand and turned slowly, “Well the lyrics ‘Every wound will shape me, Every scar will build my throne’, sadly, there true”. Hayden smiled bitterly and walked out the door, slamming it behind her. After she left, nobody said a word, just stared at the door Hayden just exited.

 

Hayden was breathing hard. Her breath was coming in quick takes. She was leaning up against a tree, her hand in her hand. She couldn’t believe. Seth had moved on. Hayden didn’t think Seth ever would move on. But he did. He moved on so quickly too, as if to pour salt on the wound. Hayden had stopped crying.

She didn’t have any more tears to shed. Her heart, or what was left of it, was broken. Hayden was sure she could feel her heart shatter when Seth told her he had moved on. But no, Hayden still felt the thump thump of her heart in her chest. Stop. Just stop, Hayden, said a voice deep in Hayden’s mind.

Stop whining out here. Isn’t this what you wanted? Wanted for Seth to leave you alone? Well now you have it. The voice was right. She got what she wanted. But did she? Did she really want to say goodbye to Seth? The pack? Seth had awaken something inside of Hayden, Hayden never thought was inside her. However, Hayden peeled herself off the tree trunk that had gave her support from falling to the ground when her legs were about to give out.

Hayden took one step away from the cabin and heard a tree branch snap. She whipped around. No one was there. Hayden looked around, and after seeing no one there, she turned and started her walk back home. Then something hard came down, quick, almost like a flash. Hayden felt her mouth let out a quick gasp before she was pulled into a whirlwind of inky blackness. 

Chapter Thirty Three

Seth’s lips were numb from kissing Kristen. After Seth and Kristen went back upstairs to his room, Kristen was all over him. Seth knew that she had a crush on him, it was hard not to. Seth could tell by the way he caught her looking at him, how she casually tried to move closer to him, trying to make sure he didn’t notice. But he did. And now he was using it to his advantage. Seth was only using Kristen to get too Hayden, make her feel jealous and hopefully leave and never come back.

The only people who knew of his plan was Dylan and Ashley, and neither of them liked Seth’s plan of using Kristen like that, as if she was a tool only used when needed then thrown away. However, since Seth was alpha, his word goes. The easy part of the plan, getting Kristen to believe Seth liked her back, was easy. But telling Hayden off and telling her to leave was the hard part. Even though Seth hated her for breaking his heart, he still loved Hayden. He couldn’t help it. Once you imprint on someone, no matter how much you hate them, you can never stop loving that person. Kirsten bit Seth’s lip, dragging him back to reality.

“Ow”, Seth said, pulling away from Kirsten. She blushed and smiled, moving closer to Seth. “Oh sorry. Did I bite to hard?”, Kristen asked, trying to make her voice sound seductive, but failing. “No. You just surprised me, that's all.”. “Oh good.”, Kristen said cheerfully. Seth could taste the slight bitter tang of blood in his mouth. Seth inched away from Kristen again, wanting his own personal space, not caring if Kristen noticed.  She frowned, obviously noticing.

“What’s wrong? You were all over me and now, after we told that girl off, your all distant. What’s up with you?”. Seth shrugged, slightly getting irritated. Kristen was always nagging and complaining when he wasn’t either kissing her or in about two inches of her. “I'm fine, okay? I just need some space.”, Seth spat at Kristen. Kristen flinched, only slightly, but Seth still saw it. She then regained her posture and turned a blank stare onto Seth. “This is about her isn’t it? That freak who’s half vampire and half human”.

Seth let out a long sigh and ran a hand over his face. “Yes, yes it is. Even though I hate her, I still love her”. Kristen’s shoulders slumped. She looked to Seth with blank, emotionless eyes, but Seth could clearly see the hurt and betrayal in them. Hayden can hide her emotions better than Kristen, Seth thought. “So...So you were just using me? To get to her? I should have known…”, Kristen said bitterly. She was shaking her head, a bitter smile plastered onto her small lips. “Kristen please let me explain”, Seth reached out to touch her, but she jumped off the bed and went to the door, opening it and slamming it shut behind her.

The hinges on the door shook violently. Seth could hear Kristen’s angry steps as she ran down the stairs. Seth went to the door, about to go after her, but his phone rang, buzzing in his pants pocket. Seth’s hand instantly went to his phone, pulling it out, instantly recognizing the phone number. It was the Head Councilman.

He flipped it open and answered, “Yes sir? Is there another target we need to go after?”. “No. I want to know about the process of Hayden Rose.”, the Head Councilman's voice sounded feverish, as if he was excited about something. But what? The Head Councilman, as Seth had noticed with the many phone calls they shared, was that he never expressed what he was feeling. He always kept his voice in a neutral tone, never leaking his true emotions, rather they be angry or happy.

Seth made the mistake of thinking he was going to get a “thanks” the first time he completed in dispatching a target. But he was young and naive. Now he wasn’t. “We’ll sir”, Seth began. He didn’t know how the Head Councilman would react to this. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. Seth straightened his back and made his voice harden. “Sir, she escaped. The pack and I are searching for her now. I promise we’ll find her and get the answers we need from her”. The other line went eerily silent. Seth couldn’t even hear the Head Councilman’s breathing.

Then he heard a laugh. Was the Head Councilman laughing? Seth was sure that the Head Councilman would be furious. Even beyond furious. But he was laughing. The laugh made Seth’s skin crawl and a chill run down his spine, making him straighten his back even more until he was standing pencil straight. “Sir, aren’t you upset that we lost one of the targets?” The laughter died, then. Making the Head Councilman’s voice turn back to emotionless and dead. “No, i'm not upset, Seth”. Hearing his name come out of the Head Councilman's voice made him physically shiver. It was rare when the Head Councilman said his name. “Even though I am quite disappointed that your pack didn’t pay more attention to her. But, nonetheless, I know where she is.